Of course, you might be wondering why I'm wittering on about music when this is supposed to be about my Herbal Apprenticeship. Well, the truth is, I'm procrastinating because I'm very behind with my Apprenticeship tasks. I've only managed to do two of March's seasonal tasks. I did make a bramble leaf and root vinegar, which was a bit of a trial. The root was very thick and I had to get a wood saw on it. Even though I scrubbed it thoroughly, it still looked a bit earthy, but I must have done a better job than I thought, because although I was expecting the vinegar to taste 'muddy', it is fine. I've been using it on seasonal salads of various mixes of nettles, ransoms, cleavers, sorrel and lovage, all from the garden.
I cheated on Sarah's task of designing my own nettle soup recipe by adapting the one I blogged about last month to be suitable for vegans. This does at least serve the purpose of being a trial run for the soup we are making in our Nettlefest workshop. We usually use Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe for soup to sell, but we've been specifically asked for a vegan recipe for our workshop. The soup is OK, but could really do with the addition of some stronger flavourings. We'll probably leave it is as it is for the workshop, and just talk about additional ingredients when we're there. I shall be championing chilli :)
As far as April's tasks go, I've made a dandelion root and leaf tincture from some of the blanched dandelions Nyrees posted about below. Those leaves were really delicious raw, and I'm going to blanch some dandelions in my own garden by covering with a plant pot. The tincture has turned a lovely green now, this photo is when I first made it.
Anyway, as we are utterly unable to pass by a charity shop, we had a happy morning mooching, and thanks to Nyrees's eagle eye, I picked up this lovely book for a mere £3. Bargain!
Annie