Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Blackthorn along with all the Blackthorn containing recipes presented on this site, with 11 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Blackthorn as a major wild food ingredient.

The Blackthorn Prunus spinosa (also known as Sloe) is a large shrub belonging to the Rosaceae (rose) family and is a close relative of the damson and plum. It is a native of Europe, western Asia and north Africa whose common name is derived from its dark bark and skin, and from the thorns or spines that it bears. It is very noticeable in Spring, as from March to April the tree is covered in pure-white flowers that appear before the leaves. Indeed, it is often one of the countryside's first flowering trees. In Britain it is a common hedgerow plant as this spiny shrub is impassable to domestic animals.

The leaves are alternate and oval and can vary in colour from lime to dark green. The mature tare dark purple and resemble tiny plums and these are called sloes. they are very tart, too tart to be eaten raw (though you do find plants with sweeter fruit). However, they are very useful fruit that make wonderful preserves and can be made into a clear jelly that goes well with game meats. However, if sloes are deeply frozen much of the tartness disappears and the resultant thawed sloes can be used for making tarts and desserts (a sloe and blackberry tart is an excellent winter treat). Sloes can also be preserved in vinegar, which results in a preserved fruit that's similar to Japanese umeboshi (pickled ume fruit) traditionally used in the nori-wrapped rice balls, onigiri. The leaves leaves can be used as a tea substitute and the dried fruit can be added to herb teas (the fruit will naturally dry on the tree later in the season).

However, the most common reason for picking sloes is to make sloe gin. It is said that the best time to pick sloes is just after the first frost of autumn as this softens or blets the skins, making them more permeable. However, by the first frost most sloes will have disappeared. It's better to pick them in mid September and either pick the skins immediately or place them in the freezer for a couple of weeks. Be careful when picking though as the thorns are very sharp.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants