Foraged sweetners?

[mountainm]

If I was compiling a "cook book" that only used foraged ingredients and I wanted to sweeten something what are my options?

Here's what I've got so far:

• Honey - good sweetener, but I don't fancy raiding a beehive
• Fruit - limited availability and not always very sweet. Plums and apples possibly.
• Sweet Cicely - Sweet, but not sweet enough to make too much difference.
• Roots - Wild parsnip etc. Sweet but quite floral, probably not much good as it imparts a lot of flavour.
• Birch sap - Need a lot and for it to be boiled down a lot, not really that useful
• Sugar beet - more likely to be found at the edge of a field than growing wild

I believe their are some grasses and reeds that have sugary piths, also I did wonder if there is any plant that would delivery a sufficient amount of sweet nectar to make a difference.

Any thoughts

Cheers

Mike

 

[Harvestman]

Richard Mabey talks about extracting sugars from the sap produced by reeds. You might also want to look at things like marsh mallow. Nectar probably isn't a viable option, but you could try dipping the flowers of things with heads in 'umbels' - I'm thinking elderflower, hogweed, hedge parsley etc.

Also try meadowsweet. The flower heads may work as above, and the dried leaves are a traditional flavouring for drinks that imparts a sweet flavour. If you can get it, woodruff is even better.

 

[Toddy]

Be careful with the meadowsweet though, it's an aspirin substitute much gentler on the tummy though.

Angelica leaves added to sour fruit and cooked with it, sweetens it without needing sugar.

Even very sour apples, if chopped and covered with water, simmered until they're pulp, and then strained. Simmer down that juice and you'll get a syrup very like maple but tasting of apples. Same with pears, which I think are actually better