Late summer is drawing near and what a great time to get outdoors foraging. With so many plants ripe with juicy fruits, it’s the perfect time to practice your foraging skills and learn about gathering and eating exactly as Mother Nature intended. Let’s take a look at some of the best natural gifts on offer amongst the colourful, brimming hedgerows, along with some tips on foraging etiquette.

BLACKBERRIES

Blackberries are already ripening and almost ready for picking from amongst the brambles. You’ll find them in abundance throughout woodland, in hedgerows and around parks right up until around mid-September.

Blackberries are perfect for baking and jam making, that’s if you can steal yourself from munching them as you pick! Here’s a lovely blackberry cake recipe from The Happy Foodie. Enjoy!

ELDERBERRIES

Once the flowers of the elder tree have faded, the small, purple-black berries start appearing in clusters between August and October. Take a look around your local woodland or park hedgerows and you should spot them now, ripe for the picking.

Elderberries are perfect for making into delicious crumbles, pies, syrups, sauces, chutneys and jams and even liqueurs. You’ll need to remove the berries from the stalks – a fork does the trick – but take care as the juice is like ink and prone to staining.

The Woodland Trust has listed a few elderberry recipes which look rather tempting; why not give them a try?