Sloe or Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is a small bush that grows in hedges in Brittany (France). It blooms between March and April. They can help against a difficult digestion or a light constipation.

No wonder as Blackthorn is the brother of the plum tree.



The fisrt recipe is done with fresh flowers.

Massage oil done with fresh flowers of Blackthorn (digestion).

Ingredients :
One third fresh flowers of Blackthorn
Two third of olive oil (better an organic one)
3 weeks

Once you picked the flowers, put them in oil. Open the bottle every day so that humidity will evaporate and the flowers won’t mould. Shake every day.
After three weeks, use it to massage your tummy when you have digestive disorders. You can use it for your children too.

Recipe of herbal tea with sloe flowers (constipation).

Once you’ve dried the flowers, you need : 2 teaspoons in simmering water. Let it infuse for 10 minutes. Drink it 3 times a day during a week.

Read it in French : Recette d'huile de massage et recette d'infusion à base de felurs de prunelliers

It's summer ... the best season to enjoy veggies and fruits ... because they're plenty...because the fruits are sweet and juicy... And because you can prepare nice cold salad with so many different kinds of products.... because it's the best diet... to loose weight (Vegetables and fruits are low in calories) or to feel fit and healthy... Natural vitamins for a beautiful complexion and a nice skin. The best time to eat fresh food.

You can still eat Beets, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes and Onions as they can be preserved all year long but try to enjoy some other ones...
As the weather is nice and warm, enjoy eating cold... outside...

You can also enjoy collecting what you would like to eat by going to farms where you can pick what you want to eat and savour... In Brittany, it's possible, in many places...

You can also when walking around, collect blackberries, sloes and other nuts and chestnuts ....

Remember that exotic fruits do not grow all year long....

Here is your monthly calendar... July, August and September. For free and full of nice local recipes...

Blue links are connected to vegetables and fruits produced in the region... and the culinary specialties...

Vegetables

Asparagus, Artichokes, Batavia, Broccoli, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Fennel, Garlic, Green beans, Lettuce, Peas, Peppers, Radishes, Rockets, Salad, Spinach, Tomatoes, Zucchini

Fruits

Apricots, Blackberries, Blueberries, Cherries, Currants, Melons, Nectarines, Peaches, Plums, Raspberries, Rhubarb, Strawberries
Exotics Bananas

Vegetables

Artichokes, Broccoli, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Fennel, Green beans, Lettuce, Peas, Peppers, Rockets, Squash, Spinach, Tomatoes, Turnips, Zucchini

Fruits

Apricot, Blackberries, Blueberries, Currant, Gooseberries, Grapes, Figs, Melons, Mirabelle, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Raspberries, Strawberries, Sloes

Vegetables

Artichokes, Cabbage, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Fennel, Green beans, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Peppers, Pumpkins, Spinach, Radish, Salads, Tomatoes, Truffles, Zucchini

Fruits

Apples, Blackberries, Blueberries, Currants, Figs, Grapes, Melons, Mirabelle, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Quinces, Raspberries, Sloes, Strawberries
Chestnuts, Hazelnuts, Walnuts
Exotics Bananas, Pineapples

Prunus spinosa (also called sloe or Black thorn) is a small tree you can find in lots of Breton hedges. And it has its specific uses here in Brittany…

The tree is quite an old one : during the New Stone Age, stones were found in the houses of our ancestors…
It has other specifities : birds and insects like to rest or even more... in the bushes as it is full of spines.



Its bark was used to dye wool or flax in red. Its flowers are helpful when one suffer from digestive disorders or constipation.



In Brittany, its more common use is to make an alcoholic beverage…with its fruits.

Read it in French : Le prunellier : un arbuste aux qualités multiples

Want to eat unusual pancakes… with a spring flavour…

The elderberry flower will give a very light sweetness to the crêpes. And hurry… the season of flowers elderberry flies (a good month of May and June).

You need two to three large clusters of flowers to put in the dough.

Ingredients
250 g flour
250 ml of beer (the same amount of flour)
500 ml of milk (the double )
4 eggs
Salt
Some alcohol of your choice
Mix everything and let it rest a bit.
Add the flowers in batter. Heat the pan. With some oil on a tissue, grease the pan each time you make a crêpe. Pour a ladle of batter. When the edges turm brown, turn it. Let cook a minute.

Place on a plate, sprinkle with sugar (which will melt with heat) and add so on your pancakes. Eat them when they are cold (the flavour of flower is light, when eaten warm, it does not taste as much !).

You can find eldertrees everywhere in Brittany along paths, in cities and on the coast. So just go for a walk and pick them.
Be careful when picking them to find the right eldertree. The one you want is two to five meters high, it blooms in May and June, the white flowers custers smell nice and the berries, later are black.

Pick them with stems, it is easier to cook and cut it down before eating. It is still edible but not very good.



Here is the recipe for about 20 flowers clusters :
180g of flour,
1 egg,
200 ml of water,
some rum,
a yeast packet.

Mix all the ingredients and leave the batter resting for one to two hours .
Cook oil and when it is warm enough – let a drop of your batter into the oil, if it comes back up, the oil is ready. Take a cluster and dip it in the batter.




The batter must be liquid to wrap the small flowers delicately and to make a light fritter where you will still taste the flower; if the fritter is too thick you won’t taste the flowers. Drop the cluster full of batter in oil, wait one or two minutes, when it is brown, it is done. Then strain it on paper, cut the green stems and serve it warm with green salad.

You can also eat it sweet. You do exactly the same and just add sugar on the fritters when they are done.

Read it in French : Recette végétarienne de beignets à la fleur de sureau

The elderberry flower gives a very nice and light sweet taste to pancakes. Season of flowers elderberry goes so quickly… then hurry ...

You need two to three large clusters of flowers that you will shell in the dough.

Ingredients

250 g flour
500 ml of milk (the double of flour)
250 ml of beer (the same amount of flour)
4 eggs
Salt
Some alcohol of your choice

Mix the ingredients and let rest the dough. Once the dough rested, shell flowers in batter.
Put on your stove. With an oily tissue, grease the pan. You will reuse it for each new pancake. Pour a ladle of batter. When the edges of the pancake turn brown, it is time to return it. Let cook a minute.

Place on a plate, sprinkle with sugar (which will melt with heat) and add so on your pancakes.

Read it in French : Recette de crêpes aux fleurs de sureau

You want to try recipes with walnuts, well learn too about the tree that produce them. It is a nice one…



The walnut tree comes from Asia and is known in France for several centuries already (800). Charlemagne wanted it throughout his empire and thanks to him it was spread out in Europe ...

The walnut is native to warmer lands (Asia), he does not like the cold weather. When it blooms in April or May, the flowers do not like frost ... Otherwise the precious harvest of nuts may be compromised ...

Nut is very nutritious: 60% fat for 20% protein. They were advised for women seeking fertility ...

The walnut tree has a nasty reputation ... We strongly advise against taking a nap under its shadow ... not for fear of receiving nuts during your sweet rest, but rather because under it, vegetation grows with a lot of difficulty. The grass is sparse and the flowers wither. If you want to plant with a walnut tree around, do it but at a certain distance.

The tree can life 70 years to … 300. It produces walnuts with 20-25 years… It is 20 to 25 meters high.

In the Middle Ages, people used the walnut oil for massage to relieve pain of rheumatism or arthritis: 4 to 5 kg of nuts per 1 liter of oil ... Peeling and peeling again and again.

Walnut oil is very good, very tasty ... but it turns rancid very fast.

For longer storage, it must be stored in a cool place, away from light in a dark bottle. It helps by adding a few grains of salt in the bottle.

Use it as seasoning, as salad dressings, it is excellent, it can not stand to be heated.

The walnut wood is highly prized by carpenters. The quality of its wood and itsdark color are valued for furniture, table, desk, library ...

The walnut is a producer of nut husks : the green envelope that protects the fruit. The liquid it emits is used to produce inks for dark stained wood.

Inside the husk, the shell hides the edible part : the kernels.

The nuts have interesting nutritional benefits : they provide good essential fatty acids (the so-called omega 3 and omega 6), vitamins and minerals (especially magnesium).

Want to try my recipe : mashed potatoes and nuts in the oven.

Read it in French : Le noyer un arbre remarquable à planter dans le jardin

Beauty

Anti cellulite massage: massage areas of your body with a old tight full of salt . Ready for the beach!

Health

Remedies against mouth ulcer : wash your mouth several times a day with a teaspoon of salt in 25 ml hot water.

Hot salt compresses against pain : heat salt in a saucepan. Pour into a thick sock (tennis sock) the pain (sprain) for 15 minutes.

Headaches : pour water into a hot tub and add a handful of cooking salt. Immerse your feet and ankles in it. And try to keep them it has to be really hot. Continue till the water is hot

Wellness

Need a relaxing bath! Add a large handful of cooking salt in your bath. It works very well for children.

Tips

If your silver jewelry get black : in a plastic or glass pot, put your silver on an aluminum foil, pour a handful of cooking salt and cover with boiling water.

Your tea will have more flavor if you drop some salt in the teapot.

Embers of the barbecue do not smoke and remain red if you throw a handful of cooking salt on it.

Read it in French : Remèdes et astuces avec du gros sel

Green tomatoes left, what can I cook with them ? a nice chutney, a French recipe !!!



Ingredients for a small pot :
200 g of tomatoes (green and some redish)
1 tablespoon of honey
4 tablespoons of vinegar
Pepper
Ginger powder
2 tablespoons of Rum


Recipe :
Slice the tomatoes in small pieces, add rum and let macerate for an hour.

Put the sugar,honey, vinegar, pepper and ginger into a large pan. Bring to simmering point and simmer for almost an hour. It has to be thick and caramelized.
Eat it with strong tasty cheese such as roquefort or dry goat cheese. Or with poultry or foie gras. Pot them and sterilized them.




Read it in French : Recette maison de confit de tomates vertes et rouges

April is the month for harvesting dandelions. Take your knife and pick flowers, some buttons and young leaves. You’ll make the meal of the day. Try to avoid to places where dogs like to … or where foxes run (the disease they transmit is hard to heal) or where cars leave their gaz…



The jelly is so nice. It looks like honey (colour, smell and texture) and it is really good.
No wonder because the flower is melliferous (it attracts insects that make honey). Taste a flower. It is honey…

Well the recipe now

Quantity for a mug of flower well packed. Harvest as much mugs as you want and add the quantity necessary.
250 ml water
175 g sugar
A quarter of lemon in slices

Remove stems. Wash the flowers.
Pour into a saucepan with the water. Boil softly (5 minutes for a mug, 10 for 2…). Filter and strain the flowers to collect all ther liquid.
Add sugar.
Cook over low heat until the consistency of a syrup. Times varies on the number of mugs you used (for 2 mugs about 45 minutes). Transfer to pot and let cool upside down . Store also upside down.



Salad with buttons of dandelions, leaves, potatoes, soft-boiled eggs and bacon

Like bitter salad. You’ll love it… Pick some young leaves and buttons.



Ingredients
Dandelions
Lardons
Eggs (2 per person)
Potatoes (2 to 3 per person)
Dressing (with french mustard)

Wash them. Cook the potatoes in slices, the eggs (6 minutes). Fry in a sauce pan the lardons.
In the bowl, put the salad, add the potatoes, the lardons and the eggs cut in half. Finally the buttons of dandelions.
Delicious, is n’t it ????

Read it in french : Miel de pissenlit et salade aux boutons et fleurs de pissenlit

Do you know that dandelion is a french name… dent de lion which means lion teeth… because of the shape of its leaves.

In April, land is covered with dandelion flowers. Yes indeed, this plant is useful and the wonders of the dandelion are to be discovered…

First of all it is an easy plant to find…It grows almost everywhere, even in weird places like walls or concrete…



But be careful not to confuse them with other plants : more than hundred species are alike and have also yellow flowers. But they are not as tasty or even they can be toxic.

How to recognize a dandelion ?

The flower smells honey and if you eat its heart, it slightly sweet and taste like honey.
The stem is hollow and oozes a white liquid.
There is only one flower per stem.
Once it’s faded, the plant has fine hairs… that’s the best way to recognize them.



Its leaves are dentated : that’s the origin of its name, remember…
In French we call it pissenlit (piss in bed) because of its diuretic properties.
What to do with it ?

In France, the classical salad with potatoes, bacon and eggs.
The leaves can also be eaten cooked as spinach.
The roots were used during the second world war as a substitute to coffee.
The flowers, melliferous (plants that bees used to make honey), are used to make a wonderful jelly.



Read it in French : Vertus des plantes sauvages : le pissenlit