Damson jam

Simply weigh your damson haul and then weigh out the same amount of sugar. Add your damsons to a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and heat gently until all the fruit have softened – if you are fussy about stones, you can pick them out at this point. Then add your sugar and make sure it completely dissolves. Boil rapidly for 10 minutes and check whether the jam is at setting point (put a teaspoon of it on a cold plate and slide a finger through it. If it wrinkles, it’s ready). Take off the heat pour into clean jars that you’ve warmed in the oven.

Damson gin or vodka

Follow this recipe for sloe gin substituting your damsons for the sloes.

Hazelnuts

Grown in clusters, hazelnuts have edible kernels inside hard-shells that are prized by hedgerow foragers; although small mammals often reach them first. Wood mice nibble a circular hole in the nut, squirrels split it neatly in half vertically, bank voles gnaw off the pointed end. If you’re lucky enough to beat the squirrels, the best way to deal with hazelnuts is to carefully shell them, then roast them in a hot oven.

Why roast? Well, it improves the flavour by, give or take, 1,000 per cent. Essentially, it removes the water content making them crunchier and intensifying the nutty flavour. Try 200°C for 15 minutes, checking after 10. The smell of roasting nuts will fill the house and they will turn a perfect shade of brown. And so delicious – especially crushed and sprinkled on ice cream.

Sloes

The fruit of the Blackthorn tree, sloes are abundant in October. They are notoriously bitter when eaten straight from the branch, and make a fun highlight to family walks to see who can chew for the longest without making a face. The berries should be picked when ripe: a deep purple colour and easy to squash. A promising sign is seeing fallen sloes around the tree.

Sloe gin is a staple among homemade Christmas presents. If picking for this reason, you should traditionally wait until after the first frost so that the frost splits the skins and you don’t have to bother pricking them. But if you’d rather get ahead, pick them in autumn and freeze the berries for the same effect.

• Try our recipe for perfect sloe gin
• Blackthorn guide: how to identify, folklore and uses
• Best foraging courses in the UK

Rosehips

Commonly found in hedgerows, rough grass and scrub, rosehips can grow up to 3m (10ft) high. The leaves grow in pairs of toothed leaflets, the flowers are pink or white, and the fruit is orange-red and oblong shaped. Although not poisonous, eaten raw rosehips aren’t pleasant. Instead cook and turn into a delicious rosehip syrup.

Mussels

An acquired taste – some people can eat bowlfuls, others are put off by the shape, texture and strong flavour of these shellfish. October is a good time to forage for these beautiful deep blue molluscs with their orange flesh inside as they are plump after a summer’s rich feeding.

There are two things to watch out for:

1. Make sure you’re foraging on a clean shoreline or beach. Mussels really are what they eat and as filter feeders, this can be a problem. Never forage near a sewage outlet or a beach that has a low environmental rating. Blue Flag beaches are best.

2. Watch the tide. The best mussels are usually found on rocks at the lower point of the tide so be acutely aware of the tide timetable and make sure you have plenty of time to get back to dry land.

Foraging and eating mussels

Some don’ts: don’t pick a whole patch bare of mussels and don’t take anything smaller than the length of your little finger (as a very rough guide) – it won’t be worth it. And don’t take too many full stop. Scrub off the beard and any barnacles and simply steam in seawater for 2-3 minutes. Discard any that don’t open.

 

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