As a food grower, forager and home cook I love to ensure every meal has a fresh and local twist. I use fresh herbs, leafy greens and home grown fruit and veg wherever possible. I was a vegetarian and vegan for much of my adult life. Cooking with an abundance of vegetables, herbs and spices, and unusual ingredients is a joy for me! I will also share adaptations for ease, and for meat eaters to add meat.
I studied traditional diets and the associated remedies that are often part of traditional food systems and also like to share remedies. Here I will share easy to make recipes, wild foods, skin care & natural beauty.
I will only share tried and tested recipes and remedies that work well for me! Feel free to share your favourites too!
I will add the latest recipes and remedies here to the top of the page.
Classic Elderflower Cordial made with lemons and orange – or any citrus you like!
This is undoubtedly my favourite cordial, alongside blackcurrant, although this year, I have also experimented with hawthorn and lilac too. Recipes to follow!
My first love in the plant world is foraging and there’s no time more delightful than when all the flowers are out. Elderflower is on it’s way out now in the cities (a little more slowly in the countryside – it’s the heat island effect in the city) so either grab your local urban flowers soon or head to some woods nearby quickly if you want to make this one!
I love all kinds of citrus and so love the addition of orange juice and zest (I just slice the citrus as long as the fruits are organic and unwaxed and unsprayed) and I imagine this would be amazing with lime or bergamot too!
Finally this is a delightful cordial on its own but citric acid really does make a difference in this kind of cordial too and it’s easy enough to get from a pharmacy or supermarket.
Enjoy on it’s own with other cordials, juice or as a spritzer with a spirit and lemonade or sparkling water or tonic!
Keep coming back for easy to make recipes, remedies, wild foods, skin care & natural beauty
Green mole made with pumpkin seeds and fresh green herbs
As a food grower, forager and home cook I love to ensure every meal has a fresh and local twist. I use fresh herbs, leafy greens, home grown fruit and veg wherever possible. I was a vegetarian and vegan for much of my adult life. Cooking with an abundance of vegetables, herbs and spices, and unusual ingredients is a joy for me! I will also share adaptations for ease, and for meat eaters to add meat.
I studied traditional diets and the associated remedies that are often part of traditional food systems and also like to share remedies. Here I will share easy to make recipes, wild foods, skin care & natural beauty.
I will only share tried and tested recipes and remedies that work well for me! Feel free to share your favourites too!
I will add the latest recipes and remedies here to the top of the page.
Keep coming back for easy to make recipes, remedies, wild foods, skin care & natural beauty
Home grown ingredients make the best Green Mole (said mole-ay). Nevertheless it is easy to find the majority of listed ingredients. You should find fresh coriander and parsley at Asian supermarkets or mainstream supermarkets usually. Finding epazote or tomatillos in the UK is harder.
What else to use instead of epazote and tomatillos?
You can make this recipe, which will still be delicious without epazote, and you can cheat by buying ‘salsa verde’ from many supermarkets now. The sauce contains tomatillos, but they’re also very easy to grow. I can recommend many organic seed suppliers, such as Real Seeds, Garden Organic and others. Green tomatoes, will also work well, instead of the tomatillos.
It is not so easy to find epazote in the UK. It is native to, and popular in, Mexico and Guatemala, but it is hard to find in the UK. It’s Chenopodium ambrosioides or Dysphania ambrosioides, a member of the goosefoot family. Unfortunately many know it by some names, referring to it having an unpleasant smell to many, who are not used to it.
I have to admit I find the smell a little odd to me too, but it fits well with ‘cuitlacoche’ (corn smut) or ‘flor de calabaza’ (squash or courgette flower) in vegetarian quesadillas. A lot of flavours in Mexican cooking are very smoky and strong, so that may be why it seems to go so well in Mexican food.
It’s a very typical herb used in Southern Mexican cuisine, particularly in Oaxaca. If you can’t find it I wouldn’t worry, as chances are, if you haven’t had it before you may not like it.
Plus unless you want to buy from one of the online Mexican grocers, supplying the UK, it is unlikely you will find it! The recipe includes oregano and cumin seeds which give it plenty of flavour and are easy to find.
Visit regularly for easy to make recipes, wild foods, skin care & natural beauty!
Keep visiting for easy to make recipes, wild foods, skin care & natural beauty!
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