Next meeting Wednesday 12th October

We discussed at the last meeting what might be fun and useful to do at our next meeting. We decided it would be good to focus in on the coming festive season and what we can do to cut the cost of it both to our pockets and the environment. So we are bringing ideas together for things like recipes using local ingredients, presents and wrapping using recycled materials and other novel ideas for a more meaningful festive season. I'll bring along a sample and recipe for a sugar and oil scrub which I learned to make recently and it was really good for the skin and very therapeutic - cheap and easy! So come along and bring your ideas/samples. We would love to gather together the ideas and circulate them to everybody on the transition Alnwick list and put them here on the blog so even if you can't make the meeting we would love your ideas to share! Email transitionalnwick@googlegroups.com

As ever we are welcoming any other ideas for activities and actions we can work on locally to make our communities stronger and more resilient. We are thinking of organising a trip to a permaculture co-operative soon to see how some people are working on meeting the challenges but we need you and/or your ideas so don't be shy!!!

news from our Elderberry Evening

Well the thing is... the Elderberries weren't ripe so we couldn't make anything at that meeting. Anna and Jill brought lots of their stored potions and cordials for us to try and they were delicious (especially the ones with brandy) and full of variety depending on the recipe used. See below for some provided by Jill. I had prepared some rose hips to bring to the meeting because they were plentiful. I had destalked them, boiled them, crushed them, let simmer for 15 minutes and then sieved through muslin to produce a concentrate. We could have boiled them again with sugar to produce a syrup to keep away winter colds but Anna had heard of a novel recipe using the cordial, sugar and cornflower to make Rose Hip soup! So thats what we had and it was unusual and delicious.

Elderflower Recipes
Elderberry Cordial.

Ingredients: - Bucket of Elderberries, Granulated sugar, Cloves

1. Cut the Elderberries just below the stalks


2. Use a fork to remove the Elderberries from the stalks into a bowl.


3. Place the Elderberries in a saucepan with enough water to cover them.


4. Simmer for 20 minutes


5. Strain the Elderberry mixture through a muslin or straining bag, squeezing to make sure you get all the juice out.


6. For each pint of juice you get, add 1lb of granulated sugar and 12 cloves.


7. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.


8. Allow the Elderberry mixture to cool and then bottle in sterilised glass bottles, making sure that the caps have a plastic seal.


9. Add an equal amount of the cloves to each bottle you make up.

The elderberry cordial syrup will last up to two years.

Elderberry Tincture

Elderberry tincture is easy. I buy cheap vodka. I fill a wine-making demijohn with elderberries stripped from their stalks, then top the whole thing up with vodka. I leave it for two, three or four months then strain it, throw the berries on the compost heap and bottle the liquid. At the first sign of a cough, cold or flue we take a teaspoonful diluted in water and do so four or five times a day over the next three days or so. Usually it will stop the cold from developing, but if it doesn't it cuts the duration and severity by a long way.

Wednesday 14th September - Elderberry Evening

Our next Wednesday meeting follows on from our woodland walk when we decided that we would like to make something from a hedgrow harvest. On Wednesday 14th September we are making Elderberry cordial and you are all invited to come along, bring your Elderberries and join in.

Jill Schnabel will be helping us. Here is a link for information about picking and using Elderberries. Basically only pick Elderberries that are purple, not green and are hanging down. Uncooked Elderberries have cyanide in them so its not a good idea to eat them in that state(especially in quantities!).

So bring along any ripe Elderberries you can collect and a sterilized jar with a lid so you can take home some samples.

The meeting takes place at St James Church Centre in Alnwick at 7.30pm till 9.30pm. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Don't worry if you can't find enough ripe Elderberries. We will also be looking at making rosehip syrup.