The Shropshire Plum

It's the time of year to scour the hedgerows around Holly Grove in search of autumn fruits.  In recent weeks I've spotted crab apples, sloes and damsons and have been waiting for them to ripen a little before foraging. 

Then I took my eye off the ball and was distracted by our courgette glut; finally I refocused and gathered some riper than expected damsons.  I say some but actually there was more than 5kg on the kitchen table when I finally managed to stop myself.

All this from two small and gnarled damson trees in our hedge; damson trees are prolific in this part of Shropshire, all over the hedgerows, no wonder they are known as the Shropshire plum.  Strange and magical little fruits, too bitter to eat au naturel, they are great for making jam, cheese, chutney, liqueurs etc and they look beautiful too!

You can see what use I put them to over at Holly Grove kitchen...