Winter foraging for festive foods and drinks

Pick up your basket and take a walk along your favourite stretch of the canal to forage for fruits, leaves and nuts that you can turn into festive foods and drinks. Enjoy them yourself in the lead-up to Christmas or wrap them up and gift them to your loved ones.

Christmas drink ideas from foraged finds

Forage for wild ingredients to create unique and seasonal drinks with nature’s bounty. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Pick sloes for gin

Sloes are best harvested after the first frost, typically between late October and November. The frost softens the berries, making their sharp flavours more mellow. You can mimic this effect by freezing them overnight.

Sloe gin recipe:

• 500g of sloes
• 250g of sugar
• 1 litre of gin

1. Wash and dry your sloes, pricking them with a fork
2. Fill a sterilised jar halfway with the sloes, add sugar, and top up with gin
3. Seal and store in a cool, dark place, shaking gently every few days
4. After a few months, strain and bottle your sloe gin

Collect pine needles to make vodka

Fresh pine needles can be foraged throughout the year, but winter is the perfect time for harvesting when their vibrant aroma is at its peak. Choose young, green needles from edible pine varieties, like Scots pine. Avoid yew and other toxic evergreens.

Pine needle vodka recipe:

• A handful of fresh pine needles
• 500ml of vodka
• 2 tbsp of honey

1. Rinse and roughly chop the needles
2. Add them to a sterilised jar and pour vodka over the top
3. Seal and let infuse for 1-2 weeks, shaking occasionally
4. Strain into a bottle and sweeten with honey

Make mulled wine with rose hips

Forage bright and firm rose hips in autumn for a unique spin on your mulled wine. Wait until after the first frost, which softens their texture and enhances their flavour. You’ll find them on wild roses in hedgerows or woodlands.

Rose hip mulled wine recipe:

• 750ml of red wine
• A handful of fresh or dried rose hips
• 2 tbsp of sugar or honey
• A cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves

1. Heat the wine gently in a pan, but don’t boil
2. Add the rose hips and spices, letting it simmer for 15-20 minutes
3. Strain and enjoy while it’s warm

Forage brambles for whisky

Blackberries are at their best from late summer to early autumn. If you’ve frozen a batch, they’re perfect for festive recipes during the colder months. Look for wild bushes along hedgerows or woodland edges.

Bramble whisky recipe:

• 500g of blackberries
• 250g of sugar
• 1 litre of whisky

1. Add blackberries and sugar to a sterilised jar
2. Add the whisky, seal the jar and shake gently
3. Let it infuse in a cool, dark place for at least a month, shaking occasionally
4. Strain and bottle

Christmas food ideas from foraged finds

Make your Christmas table unique with these wild and wonderful food ideas.

Make a crumble with crab apples

Crab apples ripen in late autumn. You’ll find these small, colourful fruits hanging from trees along hedgerows or in orchards. Look for firm, bright fruit with no signs of bruising or rot.

Crab apple crumble recipe:

• 500g of crab apples, peeled and chopped
• 100g of sugar
• 150g of flour
• 100g of butter
• 75g of oats

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Cook the crab apples with sugar until softened, then transfer to a baking dish
3. Rub together flour, butter and oats to form a crumble topping
4. Spread the crumble over the apples and bake for 30-35 minutes

Roasting acorns

Acorns can be foraged in autumn from oak trees. Choose firm, brown acorns without holes or cracks.

Be careful that raw acorns contain tannis which can be toxic. You'll need to leach your acorns to remove these tannins.

Roasted acorns recipe:

• Prepared acorns (soaked and boiled)
• 1 tbsp of oil
• Salt or cinnamon sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Toss acorns in oil and spread on a baking tray
3. Roast for 15-20 minutes until golden and season

Collect hazelnuts for nut butter

Hazelnuts are ripe in late summer and early autumn. Forage them from wild hazel trees, choosing hard, brown shells. Dry them for storage until ready to use.

Hazelnut butter recipe:

• 200g of hazelnuts
• 1 tsp of honey or salt

1. Roast the hazelnuts at 180°C for 10-15 minutes, then remove their skins
2. Blend in a food processor, adding honey or salt if desired