Feeling happy with our homemade blackcurrant juice.
The fruits were growing in the back garden where we are staying so it was a very lazy foraging expedition!
However my daughter and I took turns over several days to gather the gradually ripening fruits and stored them in the fridge until we had enough to use.
When our bowl was full we simply washed them and put them in a pot of water with sugar on the stove top. My kids and their cousins supervised the ‘experiment’ as we made our own syrup which we could then dilute and use for juice. Everyone was red-lipped and happy with the results.
I’m here with the blackcurrant bush and posing with the delicious drink it gave us, feeling such gratitude and joy that we took the time to use this feral fruit that would have otherwise been wasted.
My kids who have not had any fruit juice since being in the UK found it an especially big treat! (I had already discussed with them in advance that we would not be buying manufactured fruit juice or making our own as much as we do at home, so we stick to water and herbal tea)
We could have more fruits coming our way soon though as we think we found a wild cherry tree on our walk home yesterday. We took a leaf to cross check in our foraging guide book and it looks like a match so we are going to check it out again within the next few days to see what we can harvest from it.
Small steps taken to live with awareness and appreciation of nature, feed the soul as well as create delicious drinks.