Green Walnuts for Cordial, Sweets and Schnapps

Several weeks ago I found some green walnuts and wanted to try out to make cordial,  schnapps and sweets (black walnuts) from them.  The thing is,  you can make it zero-waste if you know how to.  

I started by poaching them with a teaspoon of salt to leach out some tannines,  which create the bitterness in the green walnuts.  

I pricked the outer shell,  which is rather soft still and put them into salt water for three days.  After that,  I put them into plain water for a week,  removing the water every day and changing to fresh water. 

The water can be used to wash your face to clean your skin.  Take care and watch out for any irritations! 

Then I covered the already blackening nuts deliberately with sugar.  You could also use honey,  molasses or brown sugar.  

After another week there was a nice brown cordial already developing.  

I strained the nuts and put some more sugar on top and a bit of water.  

I boiled the first cordial and reduced it to a honey-like consistency.  

Constantly stirring,  I added a bit of vanilla and cinnamon and quenched (don't forget to keep stirring) with a cup of good rum (whisky would work,  too). 

Then,  I added a little of white brandy.  This will need to ripen for three weeks.  In the meantime,  there will be another batch of cordial developing that I will use for cordial.  Also,  the nuts will be leached out enough to make a formideable treat.  

To be continued😉. 

Enjoy!  

How to clean and sharpen your knife - with dirt

I had used my beloved friction folder pretty hard.  For those of you that are new to the blog, I made it several years ago,  from a titanium handle and an O1 blade, and I do love it to bits.  But it got rained on and sweated on,  so I could,  for the life of me,  no longer call it a patina,  but rust,  and I just didn't realize,  and I just noticed in the woods.  Bummer,  because of course I didn't bring neither a strop or a whetstone. 

But you can be a doofus as much as you like,  just as long as you know how to get out of the fix.  😉There was some dust lying around not doing anything,  and a dry bramble.  I whittled a flat surface onto the sprout,  spit into my palm and made just a bit of mud.  Cleaned off the rust and gave the edge a little once-over,  restoring a pretty good edge sharpness.  This works because the bramble has some silicate in it. You want some fine,  but sandy sandstone  dirt (it is best when you can see a bit of twinkling reflexion) with just a bit of loam in it in order to create a little binding. Rub the surface of the blade or use just like you would use a steel strop.  

And just like that you remove the rust,  without ruining your patina too much.  

The making of the knife you can see here 

http://fimbulmyrk.blogspot.com/2020/11/chaos-and-imminent-death-and-still-alive.html

Take good care out there,  and see you soon!

Carving a coat hanger from yew

Sitting beside the creek,  I brought myself some aged yew for a coat hanger.  The branch needs to have another branch forking away asymmetrically.  I split it with my bushcraft knife (Casström Sweden SFK 10). 

Shortened the fork with a saw.  

Then I added a little heart at the end to add that extra dose of whimsy 😉. 

Like so.  😉 I carved into the grain and got lucky! 

For the small radiuses it is more recomnendeable to use a Slöjd knife, because it typically has a more slender tip.  This one is my all-time favourite by some of the awesomest craftspeople I know,  Elsa and Svante Djärv . 

Bit of carving later,  I added some details.  

Now it is ready for a first oil coating and drying out completely in a bag of shavings. 

 And I earned myself another cuppa.  😉

Even though I do have to live through some pretty nasty times at the moment,  projects like that do go a long way in order to keep my resilience.  The place beside the creek wasn't too shabby either.  Don't let something like that be taken from you.  

Resilience is resistance.  

A Slöjd knife from HSS steel and some thoughts

I had some HSS steel (DMo5) lying around,  pre-hardened to 64HRC and gave it a go to make some carving knives from it.  Now you often hear that this is a recommendeable project for beginners,  but it is pretty hard to achieve without overheating or ruining tools.  I used an angle grinder and constantly cooled the piece,  fixing it on a 4x4 with Carpenter clamps.  

Made a "pencil"-style handle for it and gave it a high convex bevel to zero.  Pretty hard to do,  but eventually succeeded,  even though it is not exactly beautiful.  The handle is from lilac from the old man's garden.  

Tested it,  and man, is that a slicer.  

Then I started a sheath from hazel.  

Fixed the halves with twine originally,  which has been replaced with silver-plated wire in the meantime.  

Thing is,  that little slicer is pretty versatile.  The blade being just 2 mm thick,  it just sails through the wood.  The blade is about 60mm long.  I also tend to use it in the kitchen or for foraging.  

 Thing is,  it does a lot of things really great.  So much in fact,  that I sometimes ask myself if we got it back to front with bushcraft knives.  I mean,  well,  it can not do batoning.  Or prying.  But you can carve everything you need with it,  including gluts.  It is so light you don't notice it is there at all.  I would not dismiss my Garberg or Casström knives for it or my Puukot,  but it certainly is a reality check.  

An iron age garment -does it work in the woods?

Some time ago I took out the old sewing kit.  I had this felted wool cloth lying around not doing anything for ages,  and I wanted to save it from the moths.  Also,  I have been pretty intrigued by an iron age garment used by Irish and Scottish woodsmen,  but also widely used in Rome,  Greece and Scythia,  Dacia and across the known world,  as Cuculla,  lending its name also to the Genii Cucullati,  personifications of the Asclepian Digits, and the Flamen Digitalis (according to C.G. Jung). In Eiriks Saga Rauða there is a mentioning of two Irish or Scottish fast runners who were dropped off at the Turtle Island coastline to look for resources.  They had minimal equipment and were clothed with a garment called "kjáfal", a sort of open Poncho,  fastened between the legs with a loop and toggle.  I wanted something between those two concepts,  and obviously will not wear it as only piece of clothing (although it would work) and wanted a bit more warmth,  so I stitched together the sides.  

The garment is really comfortable and offers a lot of freedom of movement,  while providing a lot of warmth. You could wear it in winter as only piece of clothing,  if you stayed active,  and Irish and Scottish scouts were famous for that.  

It offers a great insulation due to the air pocket created by the wide folds.  

Also,  other than a German Wetterfleck or Weather coif,  it doesn't make you thread on the hem. 

Also,  I really do like the Strider or Dhú Síthe vibes... 😜

Need to seam the hem,  and I want to sew in some secret pockets.... 🤪😜

 

Making mushroom patties from oyster mushrooms-delicious!

Came across a tree full of wonderful oyster mushrooms and took home some of them.  

I gave them a quick boil and boiled some red lentils (about one teacup) until they split. 

Added some all-purpose flour and a bit of stale bread.  Seasoned with salt,  pepper,  wild garlic,  lovage,  cumin,  turmeric,  finely diced onions and paprica.  Made a stiff dough. 

Fried them in sunflower oil until golden brown. 

 I really like those! 

Delicious Chicken of the woods Steak with wild herb spinach

On a recent hike I came across a really nice specimen of chicken of the woods (laetiporous sulphurea, in German: Schwefelporling), grown on some fallen cherry.  

Took home a good piece of it (please do forage responsibly and only take 25% ) 

Cleaned it thoroughly. 

Boiled for ten minutes.  

Marinated in olive oil,  salt,  pepper,  cumin,  turmeric,  onions,  wild garlic,  ground ivy,  and ground elder, a bit of lemon juice and lovage over night.  

Chopped an onion and three handful of nettle,  wild garlic,  and ground elder.  Glazed the onion,  quenched with water,  miso and lovage, added the wild herbs and cooked for five minutes.  Added a spoon of peanut butter. 

Fried the mushroom steaks until crispy on the outside and soft inside.  

Absolutely delicious!