Bramble and Apple Strudel (Virgin Strudel)

Low-mileage Fruit

October is upon us and that means that my driving is rather more erratic than usual, as I swerve to investigate apple trees.

In the spring, I made a mental note of the locations of apple blossom and went back to check them last month. I was rewarded with some beautiful wild cooking apples. And what better to pair with them than Brambles (Blackberries to non-Scots).

I am very proud to say that both the apples and the brambles came from patches within 10 minutes walk of my house, so probably the lowest mileage of any foraged fruits I've ever used.

I made an apple and bramble strudel. This was my first ever attempt at making a Strudel, hence the Virginal aspect of the name. My name was also once misheard as Virgin Strudel, so it seemed particularly appropriate.

I used this recipe, although I found the dough very wet and added about 100g of flour whilst kneading it.

Another word of warning would be not to fold the ends of the pastry over the top, as this means the pastry underneath will be undercooked (if you'll pardon the pun).

I ate too much raw pastry while making this, so I don't think I'll be able to sample the cooked product until tomorrow. It does, however, smell delicious.

Wild Pear Part 5: Wild Pear and Bramble Leather

I got a message inviting me to relieve the bramble bushes of their fruit on a friend's land, so I dutifully obliged. As I still had a few pears left I decided to make some fruit leather. This isn't really a well-known treat in Scotland but my uncle used to send us dried fruit leathers from South Africa so they always remind me of my childhood. I guess they are similar to Fruit Roll ups or Humzingers, but without the preservatives.

I cooked the brambles and pears separately because I don't have a blender with filter to remove skin, seeds and other bits and pieces which would be detrimental to making a smooth leather. If you do have a blender with this facility then you don't even need to peel the pears - just chop them up and cook everything together then blend it all through the filter and continue with the recipe at the drying stage.

Wild Pear Part 5: Wild Pear and Bramble Leather

Ingredients:

• 1kg brambles, rinsed
• 1 litre of water
• 1kg pears, peeled and chopped
• Sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 star anise

Method:

• Cook brambles and star anise in 500ml of water until very soft
• Cook pears and cinnamon in 500ml of water until very soft
• Blend pears in food processor/blender
• Sieve brambles to remove star anise and seeds
• Add sugar to taste but remember that the leather will sweeten as it dries so don't over-sweeten it!
• Boil mixture until it becomes a thick sauce
• Line dehydrator trays with baking paper and pour mixture on top - if you don't have a dehydrator then line a baking tray, pour the mixture into this and bake at your oven's lowest setting for 8+ hours - checking frequently
• Dry until no longer sticky but still pliable (about 8 hours at 80C)
• Roll leather up and cut into bite-sized pieces

Wild Pear and Bramble Leather

And that's me finally add the end of my 5kg of pears and this ingredient's blog. Until next time xx

Wild Pear Part 2: Wild Pear Jelly Fruits

I used "Pam the Jam"'s alternative to Pear Cheese to make what she calls fruit pastilles. I was expecting a sort of hard sweet, like cough candies, but these turned out like fruit jellies. I was not disappointed by this outcome - I love fruit jellies - but when I make them again I'll use a deeper baking tray and cut out shapes. I think they would make nice seasonal gifts.

Wild Pear Jelly Fruits

Ingredients:

• Pear Cheese Mixture (see Part 1)
• Caster Sugar

Method:

• Line a shallow baking tray with greaseproof paper
• Pour mixture into tray and smooth out
• Cover with greaseproof paper and leave to set for 3 days

• Cut into small shapes
• Coat shapes in caster sugar

Coating shapes in caster sugar

Finished sweets

Next: Part 3: Wild Pears, Poached