Recipe: Wren's Faery Berry Jam

As there are so many connections between faeries, elderberries and blackberries, I named this jam Wren's Faery Berry Jam.

WREN'S FAERY BERRY JAM

Ingredients:
800g Blackberries

200g Elderberries

1kg Jam Sugar (has added pectin)

2 Lemons, juiced

Butter, small nob (optional)

Method:

1. Put a saucer in the freezer.

2. Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and berries.

3. Heat on a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

4. Turn the heat up and cook on a rolling boil for ten minutes, being sure to stir, so that no fruit burns or sticks to the pan. Skim off any scum.

5. Put a small blob of the mixture on the saucer, and leave aside for a minute. 

6. Push the mixture with your finger - if it wrinkles the mixture is ready.

7. If it doesn’t wrinkle, cook for another 5 minutes and then try again. Keep trying until it’s ready.

8. When the mixture is ready, stir in the butter to dissolve any scum. (I personally don’t bother).

9. Pour into sterilised jars, top with a waxed disc, and add the lid. Do this when hot.

10. Store in a cool, dark place. 

NEXT - Recipe: Elderberry Vinegar
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Blackberry
NEXT - Review: Witchology Magazine - Mabon 2020 Issue
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Foxgloves 

Recipe: Elderberry Vinegar

The elderberries are out! At least they are in my part of the Midlands.

‼️ Please be aware that elderberries should NEVER be eaten raw or undercooked, so please avoid the common advice to put them in muffins or apple pies. They must be cooked thoroughly at heat to handle the cyanide-inducing glycosides. Failure to do so can result in nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Here is a gorgeous recipe using elderberries that we love at home - I like to put this stuff on my chips!

ELDERBERRY VINEGAR

Ingredients:
200g Elderberries

500ml Red Wine Vinegar

50g Sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the berries.

2. Remove from the stalks into a pan using a fork. Mash slightly. Add the Red Wine Vinegar.

3. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down a little, simmering on a high heat for 10 minutes.

4. Decant into a sterilised jar and leave to cool before closing the lid.

5. Store in a cool dark place for 1 month.

ONE MONTH LATER...

1. Strain. Use the berries in stews, soups, salads, or discard.

2. Decant the vinegar into a sterilised bottle

- or -

add back to the pan with the sugar, heat until the sugar has dissolved, and bottle.

Don’t forget to Save this post for later. You can actually create folders of Saved items to find them easier later. This one is good for “Autumn Recipes”.

The elder is associated with the Faerie lands and is sacred to many goddess traditions, especially to the goddesses Venus and Holle. 

NEXT - Recipe: Wild Garlic Pesto
NEXT - Review: Traditional Jams & Preserves by Eve Parker
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Cleavers

Natural Remedies: 15 Ways to Use Dried Lavender

Lavender is an extremely versatile herb. Like lavender essential oil, there are many uses for dried lavender, here are just a few:

• Sprinkle over floors before sweeping/vacuuming. Your vacuum bag and/or bin will smell lovely! 
• Use as an insect/moth/silverfish repellent in wardrobes and cupboards. Hang lavender bags or make a pomander.
• Add to letters and cards for a scented surprise. 
• Create scented candles by adding dried lavender and some essential oil to heated wax.
• Add to other dried herbs plus some frankincense and myrrh to create incense.
• Make Lavender bath salts. Add 1/4 cup dried lavender to 1 1/4 cups of Epsom Salts, and a few drops of essential oil. Combine and store in a tightly closed jar. Pour into a muslin bag before adding to bath. Keeps 6-9 months in a cool, dark place.
• Make lavender bags. Place in drawers to keep clothes fresh or by your pillow as a sleep aid. Squeeze the bag regularly to refresh the scent.
• Lavender bags make great wedding favours. You can coordinate the bag material with your theme. 
• Lavender bags also make great car air fresheners.
• Add culinary grade dried lavender to your favourite drinks to add a floral flavour. Add to green tea or floral gins. 
• Add culinary grade dried lavender to salads, cakes and chocolate.
• Use in place of rice or paper as wedding confetti. Fragrant, a pretty colour, biodegradable, and perfect to take to a wedding if you’re not sure on the venue rules. Create confetti cones and leave in a basket for your guests on your big day. 
• Make lavender infused oil, perfect for restless legs, dry scalps, and itchy bites. Fill a jar half way with dried lavender. Cover with a carrier oil (I recommend Grapeseed). Cap and store somewhere cool for 4-6 weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain, and use within 9 months to a year.
• Use lavender oil made from dried lavender to create balms and salves.
• Use lavender on stalks for smudge sticks, or loose with other herbs to create incense.

NEXT - Natural Remedies: Nettle & Rosemary Hair Rinse
NEXT - Review: Magical Aromatherapy by Scott Cunningham
NEXT - Flower Magick: 52 Floral Magickal Correspondences 

Natural Remedies: Nettle & Rosemary Hair Rinse

Nettle is rich in nutrients and antioxidants. It contains silica and sulphur which together make hair shinier, thicker and healthier. Nettle boosts the circulation, meaning more oxygen (and therefore nutrients) reach the hair follicles. The antioxidants get rid of damaging compounds and inhibit the formation of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), an androgen (type of hormone) that causes baldness in both men and women.

Rosemary is also believed to prevent DHT from bonding to hormone receptors that enable the hair follicles to be attacked. Rosemary contains ursolic acid which increases (scalp) circulation. It is unsurprising, then, that hair re-growth has been observed in trials using rosemary oil. Its antibacterial properties cleanse the hair and increase shine.

Working together nettle and rosemary do amazing things for the hair.

This recipe has been in my Book of Shadows for over 20 years now. It seems a bit odd rinsing your hair after washing it with what is basically tea(!), but it will add body and shine.

• Step 1 - Add a handful or two of Nettles, and a handful of Rosemary sprigs, to a heat-proof bowl. Add 1L of boiling water and leave over night to steep.

• Step 2 - Strain. At this stage you could add 50ml raw apple cider vinegar if you wanted, but I don’t bother.

• Step 3 - After shampooing rinse your hair with this mixture, no need to wash out. Use all in one go, this mix isn’t for storing.

‼️ CAUTION: this beautiful reddish-brown mixture will stain ceramic bathroom ware, so please be careful. Rosemary can darken blond hair over time; so if you’re blonde - and enjoy being so! - you might want to avoid frequent use. 

NEXT - Natural Remedies: Women's Blend Diffusion
NEXT - Flower Magick: Using Flowers in Cooking
NEXT - Rose Magick: Correspondences 

Recipe: Wild Garlic Pesto

For those that missed my Instagram Reel earlier in the week, here’s the recipe I used for Wild Garlic Pesto: 

WILD GARLIC PESTO

Ingredients:
150g Wild garlic

Zest of half lemon 

Juice of half lemon 

2 x Garlic cloves 

150ml Rapeseed oil 

50g Parmesan cheese 

50g Pine nuts

Glass jar with lid

Method:
Rinse and pat dry the wild garlic.
Roughly chop the wild garlic.
Prepare the other ingredients - mince the garlic cloves, zest and juice the lemon, measure out the oil, grate the cheese.
Add the ingredients to the food processor, including the lemon juice and oil.
Spoon into the jar and label and date.
Stir the pesto through cooked pasta.

The pesto will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge. Please don’t pull out the bulbs - take one leaf from each plant. 

NEXT - Recipe: Apple Cake
NEXT - Wild Garlic Magick: 7 Bear-Related Correspondences
NEXT - Honouring Nature: The Forager's Code

NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: The Major Oak

Sticky Willy Magick: An Abundance of Folk Names

Sticky willy, also known as cleavers, is an edible herb found in Europe, North America, Asia, Greenland, and Australia. Its tiny, prickly hairs give it a sticky feeling when you touch it, one that is not left on the fingertips.

It has an abundance of folk names. I personally know it as “sticky willy” and “sticky Bob” ~ not to be confused with a herb robert, which is known as “stinking Bob.”

It is also called goosegrass, hayriffe, hedgeriff, catchweed, scratwees, hitchhikers, barweed, bobby buttons, whippy sticks, Velcro plant, clivers, bedstraw, hayruff, sticky weed, mutton chops, sticky bud, sticky back, sticky Jack, sticky grass, grip grass, robin-run-the-hedge, everlasting friendship, robin-run-in-the-grass, loveman, and goosebill.

It is a valuable herb that is helpful for treating inflammation, disease of the urinary organs, scurvy, psoriasis, and skin diseases. It has a soothing effect and induces a quiet, restful sleep.

Celtic folklore says that drinking a cleavers infusion for nine weeks would make you so beautiful that everyone would fall in love with you, and taking a bath infused with cleavers would make a woman successful in love. It has been used in the past to treat gonorrhoea, and as a hair tonic; it is said to help hair grow abundantly.

The plant is often infused in hot water and drunk as a tea, roughly 2-4 grams of the herb being infused to 60 to 120 milliliters of water is a good measurement, although I just grabbed a bunch and infused it. The infusion, hot or cold, is taken frequently, up to three times per day.

It is a powerful diuretic, so should be avoided when diabetes is present. Please check with a clinical herbalist before ingesting herbs of any kind.

Recipe: Apple Cake

A blessed July everyone!

This is a post from the Solstice which I am only sharing on the website today:

“Today marks the longest day of the year. We celebrate the peak energy available at this time, but it is a bittersweet moment. Despite the joy and abundance of this time, the energetic scales are tipped; and once again we will begin the descent into darkness."

Whilst there is a definite sense of making merry at this time ~ celebrating the abundance of summer and enjoying time outside with friends and family ~ it can be a time tinged with sadness for many, including myself. For those of us with chronic illness who are solar powered, and are only really just starting to feel healthy, well and energised, it’s frustrating to know that the days will start to draw in, in a few days’ time.

But let us put those thoughts aside for now, and revel in this peak moment of light and warmth!

Rather than a traditional Honey Cake, I made an Apple Cake this year. This will grace our table many times between now and Samhain. In many ways it’s more like a pudding than a cake. It is delicious served warm with custard. I have tried this recipe successfully with Gluten-free flour, but not vegan substitutes. I’m sure it would work well.

APPLE CAKE

Ingredients:

225g Self Raising Flour

110g Caster Sugar 

170g Bramley Apples, chopped 

85g Butter, melted 

150ml Milk

1 egg 

1 tsp Cinnamon

Method:

Line an 8 inch tin, preheat the oven to 200c 

Sift the flour into a bowl with the spice and sugar 

Beat the egg and add to the milk and melted butter 

Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, mix well 

Add the apple, mix well 

Spoon into the tin, sprinkle some sugar on top 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean 

NEXT - Recipe: Stinging Nettle Crisps
NEXT - Natural Remedies: Stinging Nettle & Rosemary Hair Rinse
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Bird's Foot Trefoil

NEXT - Simple Magick: The Shadow

Recipe: Stinging Nettle Crisps

Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are one of the UK’s most abundant wild foods, and they grow absolutely everywhere, making them an easy forage. They’re extremely nutritious, they contain lots of Vitamin C, and they’re one of the richest sources of iron you can find in a plant or vegetable. They’re ten percent protein, which ~ apart from hemp ~ is more than any other vegetable.

Today I made some Stinging Nettle Crisps, the perfect accompaniment to a lunchtime sandwich, or a bowl of Nettle Soup.

Ingredients:
Stinging Nettles
Oil
Seasoning

Method: 

Using gloves and scissors snip the nettle leaves directly into a bowl or a carrier bag. We’re not washing these nettles, so they need to be clean and free from bird poo, bugs, dog excrement and other nasties. Pick from the top of large bushes and away from popular dog-walking routes.

Remove the leaves from any stalks. Arrange them on a baking sheet. Remember that the leaves still sting at this stage, so be careful!

Spritz lightly with oil, or use a pastry brush to apply a small layer of oil to the leaves. Sprinkle over salt, pepper and chilli flakes (optional). You could probably get really inventive at this stage!

Place in the middle of the oven and cook at about 130c until they go crisp. You may want to turn them over during cooking.

Nettles are extremely delicious and there are lots of crisp recipes online, with various ingredients added, such as tahini, paprika or nutritional yeast. 

NEXT - Recipe: Faery Berry Jam
NEXT - Honouring Nature: Winter Foraging
NEXT - Review: A Spell In The Wild - A Year (& Six Centuries) of Magic By Alice Tarbuck

Media Appearance: Witchology Magazine - Sun Biscuits for Yule

Witchology Magazine - New Issue!

Perfect for a little bit of Solstice Magick, find the recipe for my warming Sun Biscuits in the latest issue of Witchology Magazine, print copies now available.

The “Transformation” edition, celebrating new beginnings, is packed full of spells, interviews, rituals, recipes and other festive ramblings for the period Yule to Imbolc.

Digital copies coming soon!

Head over to @witchologymag on Instagram to stay up to date with all the latest news and updates, and go to www.witchologmagazine.com to order your copy.

Recipe: Faery Berry Jam

Tread quietly,

O people, hush!

For don’t you see,

A spotted thrush,

One thrush or two,

Or even three,

In every laden elder-tree?

They pull and lug,

They flap and push,

They peck and tug,

To strip the bush;

They forsaken

Snail and slug;

Unseen I watch them, safe and snug!

The Elderberry Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker

As there are so many connections between faeries, and elderberries and blackberries; I call this my Faery Berry Jam.

FAERY BERRY JAM

Ingredients:

800kg Blackberries

200g Elderberries

1kg Jam Sugar (added pectin)

2 Lemons, juiced

Butter, small nob (optional)

Method:

1. Put a saucer in the freezer.

2. Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and berries.

3. Heat on a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

4. Turn the heat up and cook on a rolling boil for ten minutes, being sure to stir, so that no fruit burns or sticks to the pan. Skim off any scum.

5. Put a small blob of the mixture on the saucer, and leave aside for a minute. 

6. Push the mixture with your finger - if it wrinkles the mixture is ready.

7. If it doesn’t wrinkle, cook for another 5 minutes and then try again. Keep trying until it’s ready.

8. When the mixture is ready, stir in the butter to dissolve any scum. (I personally don’t bother).

9. Pour into sterilised jars, top with a waxed disc, and add the lid. Do this when hot.

10. Store in a cool, dark place. 

NEXT - Recipe: Elderberry Vinegar
NEXT - Autumn Equinox Blessings!
NEXT - Magickal Places: The Goddess Temple - Glastonbury

Recipe: Elderberry Vinegar

Autumn Equinox blessings to you all! As we enter this liminal space of balance, may you gather abundance in preparation for the darkness ahead, and may the seeds you plant now bring you cheer next year.

Equinox blessings to our brothers and sisters in the Southern Hemisphere, also; have a blessed Ostara!

I’ll be celebrating today by bottling the Elderberry Vinegar that I started last month...

ELDERBERRY VINEGAR

Ingredients: 

200g Elderberries

500ml Red Wine Vinegar

50g Sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the berries.

2. Remove from the stalks into a pan using a fork. Mash slightly. Add the Red Wine Vinegar.

3. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down a little, simmering on a high heat for 10 minutes.

4. Decant into a sterilised jar and leave to cool before closing the lid.

5. Store in a cool dark place for 1 month.

Method - One Month Later:

1. Strain. Use the berries in stews, soups, salads, or discard.

2. Decant the vinegar into a sterilised bottle

- or -

add back to the pan with the sugar, heat until the sugar has dissolved, and bottle.

What are you doing to celebrate the Equinox?! Do you have any special traditions for this time of year?

Wishing you an abundance of love and good wishes! 

NEXT - Recipe: Beltane Carrot Cake
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Fairy Rings
NEXT - Pagan Holidays: 65 Samhain Magickal Correspondences

Pagan Holidays: Lughnasadh

A blessed Lughnasadh everyone!

The first of three harvests, this time of year feels somewhat paradoxical; the Sun is at its zenith, but waning. The crops have reached their peak, but will soon be cut. The bounty of our land is at full swing, but soon it will be winter. This is a time of great abundance, but also loss.

It’s a time to give thanks; a time to reap what you have sown, literally and metaphorically, and to celebrate and share what you have achieved.

I baked my own recipe ~ Wren’s Lughnasadh Bread ~ to celebrate this special sabbat. Whilst I kneaded it, I reflected on what I have achieved this year, and what seeds I would like to sow for next year. I kneaded in my intentions.

This recipe will be available in the Lughnasadh (August) issue of Witchology Magazine @witchologymag - so be sure to check it out. 

NEXT - Journaling: Harvest Reflections for Lughnasadh 

NEXT - Turning the Wheel - Samhain is Coming

Recipe: Beltane Carrot Cake

Each Sabbat I like to cook something special or seasonal. For Beltane I made a Carrot Cake. It actually took me all day to make this, as I kept getting distracted, but I got there in the end, and it was well worth it.

I’m going to give you the original recipe, but obviously you can swap certain ingredients out to cater for Gluten-free or vegan diets.

BELTANE CARROT CAKE

Ingredients:
235ml oil
100g natural yoghurt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 orange zested
265g self-raising flour
335g muscavado sugar
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
265g grated carrot
100g raisins
100g walnuts roughly chopped
100g unsalted butter
300g icing sugar
100g full fat cream cheese

Method:
1. Line two 20cm cake tins. Heat the oven.
2. Whisk the oil, eggs, yoghurt, vanilla, and zest together in a jug.
3. Mix the flour, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl.
5. Add in the carrots, raisins, and half the nuts.
6. Split into two tins and bake.
7. When the cakes have cooled and are ready to ice - beat the sugar and butter together. Work the cream cheese into the mixture but by bit. Ice the cake and sprinkle on the nuts. 

NEXT - Recipe: Wren's Autumn Apple Cake
NEXT - Pagan Holidays: Beltane
NEXT - Review: Witchology Magazine (Spring 2022)

Natural Remedies: Lavender Oil

On Beltane Eve I completed the first step in making Lavender Salve. I’ve shared the recipe for Lavender Salve before, but I didn’t go into much detail in making the oil. This is really easy, with only a few steps to follow.

Step 1 - add your plant or herb (eg. Dandelion or Lavender) to a canning jar, halfway. It’s really important that your ingredients are bone dry, therefore no moisture in the jar, as this can lead to mould.

Step 2 - cover with carrier oil, cap, and leave in a place out of direct sunlight for at least 10 days, but up to 4-6 weeks if you can. You can use any type of oil, but olive oil is safe on the skin and great for infusing.

Step 3 - strain into a clear jar using a strainer or cheesecloth. In a cool, dark, place your oil should keep for up to a year, but you may wish to use it immediately if part of a recipe for body products or cosmetics.

You can repeat the process if you want to make the oil stronger; simply strain and add to a new batch of dried plants. You can add a few drops of Vitamin E oil at the end of infusing to extend the shelf life. 

NEXT - Natural Remedies: Lavender Salve
NEXT - Chamomile Magick: 9 Protective Correspondences
NEXT - Natural Remedies: 15 Ways to Use Dried Lavender

Flower Magick: Using Flowers in Cooking

Today I took inspiration from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Cookbook. He talks about flowers and how they can be used in cooking to flavour, colour, and garnish. Broom Buds, Elderflowers, Crab Apple Blossom, Primrose and Wild Roses can all be used to create culinary delights, and of course each flower comes with its own magical properties, too.

I decorated these vegan muffins with icing flavoured and coloured with rose petals, and sprinkled a few on top to decorate.

Roses are used to enhance female intuition since the Rose is closely associated with with female, or ‘Yin’, energy. Roses attract love, health, and good luck; and enhance self-acceptance and self-esteem. They protect, and relieve personal tensions and conflict.

To create Rose water for your recipes and potions add some edible rose petals to a bowl, pour on boiling water, and leave to steep. 

NEXT - Rhododendron Magick: 13 Beautiful Correspondences
NEXT: Rose Magick: Correspondences
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Spring Blossom

Review: Traditional Jams & Preserves by Eve Parker

At this time of year ~ when I am waking up and coming out of hibernation! ~ I start to think about the gifts of Mother Nature throughout the year, which ones I will use, and what I will do with them.

Elderflowers, Elderberries, Blackberries, Ramsons, Rosehips, Nettles, Apples, Chestnuts, Cherries - so many lovely things!

I love this simple book; it is full of tasty recipes for Jams, Conserves, Chutneys and Butters.

Apple & Elderflower Jam

Ingredients:
1kg Cooking Apples
500g Elderflower heads
400ml water
500g preserving sugar

Method:
Rinse the Elderflowers, shake dry. Pull the flowers from the stalks and tie in a square of muslin.
Placed the peeled, cored, diced apples into the pan with the Elderflower bag.
Add water, bring to a simmer. Cool for 20 minutes, or until the Apple is pulped.
Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes, making sure the jam is bubbling on the surface, stirring occasionally to stop it sticking to the pan.

Test for set. When ready pour into sterilised jars, add wax disc, and screw lids on tightly. Leave to cool.

NEXT - Review: The House Witchy by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

Natural Remedies: Lavender Salve

To create Lavender Salve you must first create some Lavender Oil:

Fill a jar halfway with dried Lavender. Cover with carrier oil, cap, leave in cool, dark place (shaking occasionally) for 4-6 weeks. Strain.

To make the salve you will need:

LAVENDER SALVE

Ingredients: 
100g/3.5oz Lavender Oil.
15g/0.5oz Beeswax - or half as much Candelilla Wax for a Vegan alternative.
A heatproof tin or jar.
Small tins or jars.
Lavender Essential Oil (optional).

Method:
Put the wax into the jar/can.
Put the jar/can into a saucepan containing an inch or two of water.
Place on a medium heat until wax has melted.
Mix in the Lavender Oil.
Add in a few drops of Lavender Essential Oil (optional).
Pour into small tins or jars and leave for a few hours to harden.

The salve will last approximately 9 months to a year. Use to soothe bug bites/stings, on temples for headache relief, on wrists and neck for perfume, and to reduce sunburn healing time. 

NEXT - Natural Remedies: 10 Ways To Use Dried Lavender
NEXT - Natural Remedies: Lavender Oil
NEXT - Lupin Magick: 12 Correspondences for Growth

Moon Magick: Making Moon Water

The simplest potion there is: Moon Water.

The Moon is an amplifier, its energy strongest at Full Moon, and it has strong cleansing properties. Moon Water is simply water that has been charged by the Full Moon and bears these properties.

You can use Moon Water for all sorts of wonderful things; energising crystals, blessings, rituals or spells that require water, moon baths, perfumes, charged drinking water, watering plants and magical herbs... the list is endless.

Collect water in your chosen vessel and leave out under a Full Moon for an entire night. Bless your water and set your intentions. 

What do you use Moon Water for? 

NEXT - Moon Magick: New Moon in Aquarius
NEXT - Cancer The Crab: Magickal Correspondences 

Recipe: River Cottage Rosehip Syrup

Rosehips are a great source of Vitamin C, and have been found to benefit those who suffer with osteoporosis. It is also used orally to treat stomach problems, infections, obesity, and applied to the skin for stretch marks, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these other uses.

Aluminium is found to react with rosehips, so it’s important to take rosehip two hours before or four hours after antacids. There are also other medicines that interact with Rosehip (Oestrogen, Fluphenazine, Aspirin, Lithium, Warfarin), so please make sure you do your research before you use it.

River Cottage Rosehip Syrup:

Sterilise a couple of bottles and vinegar-proof screw-tops or stoppers by washing thoroughly in hot soapy water, rinsing well, then putting them on a tray in a low oven (at 120°C/Gas 1⁄2) to dry out and heat up.

Roughly chop the rosehips in a food processor in batches, then transfer to a large saucepan and add 1.25 litres water.

Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for around 15 minutes.

Strain through a double layer of muslin, letting the pulp sit for a good half hour so that all the juice passes through.

Wash out the muslin, or cut a fresh piece, fold to double it and pass the strained juice through it again.

Measure the rosehip juice into a large saucepan.

For every 500ml, add 325g sugar.

Heat slowly, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes, skimming off any scum if necessary.

Decant immediately into the prepared bottles and seal.

Label when the bottles have cooled completely.

Use within 4 months and refrigerate once opened.

Try it for breakfast trickled over porridge, pancakes, drop scones, or eggy bread; use it to sweeten plain yoghurt (with some chopped apple if you like); or for a delicious pud, trickle it on to hot or cold rice pudding or good vanilla ice cream.

Recipe: Wren's Autumn Apple Cake

It’s cold, dark and wet outside, so we’re inside enjoying a slice of my Autumn Apple Cake. It’s moist and stodgy, perfect for those times when you need a bit of comfort.

I thought you guys might like the recipe.

WREN'S AUTUMN APPLE CAKE

Ingredients:
225g Self Raising Flour
110g Light Brown Sugar
170g Chopped Bramley apples (I like to put more in!)
85g Butter, melted
150ml Milk
1 x egg
1/2 tsp Cinammon

Method:
1. Line an 8 inch tin, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
2. Sift flour, spice, sugar
3. Beat egg, add to milk and melted butter. Mix well, and add to the sifted flour mixture
4. Add the fruit
5. Spoon into the tin, and sprinkle some sugar on top.
6. Bake until golden colour, and check with a knife (it should come out clean).
7. Enjoy.

Obviously you can swap out some of the items for gluten free and/or vegan alternatives. 

NEXT - Recipe: Wren's Faery Berry Jam
NEXT - Word Magick: The Season of The Witch
NEXT - Review: Sunflower Journal (Autumn 2022)