Food available in the UK only - our seven day challenge

[Trinity]

Dear all UK dwellers!

I am soon about to undertake a challenge for seven days with my family.

The rules are that we are only allowed to eat food available currently in the UK (I expect that a large degree of creativity will come into practice).

The food has to plant food (no animals or animal products) and can be cultivated or wild and foraged.

I am going to document the challenge on a day to day basis, including any new recipes that we create as a result.

I'd like to compile a list of foods available in the UK. So if any come to mind.... PLEASE do share here and let me know.

We are doing this challenge with the view to making a permanent transition to using only local food.

Love and thanks
Trinity

[Trinity]

Hazelnuts
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Beech nuts
Barley
Oats
Rye
Haricot beans
Broad beans

[Tensing]

Potattoes
Tomatoes
Parsnips
Leeks
Sweetcorn
Grapes I Have some lovely ones in my conservatory)
Lettuce
Carrots

[Trinity]

Thank you Caroline... I hadn't considered grapes. I did see the most enormous grape vine recently during a country walk.
I haven't found too many UK grown fruits so far:

apples
pears
plums
blueberries
raspberries
red currants
black currants
quince
blackberries

[Trinity]

I'm doing a little better with salad produce:

beetroot
fennel
celery
cucumber
lettuce
rocket
watercress
mustard greens
burnet
nasturtium flowerfs and leaves
tomatoes
sweet peppers

[Trinity]

... and greens

cabbage
swiss chard
kale
nettles

[Trinity]

...and more veggies

runner beans
broad beans
green beans
broccolli
squash
cauliflower
courgette
celeriac
garlic
onions
kohlrabi
mange tout
swede
parsnips
turnip

and not forgetting mushrooms

[Shirley]

Interesting idea!

Where do you buy uk pumpkin seeds etc... the ones we get from suma are from USA I think.... or further afield.

I'd fail at this straight away because of my liking for red wine. Not much of that in the UK - is there any??

[Trinity]

Interesting idea!

Where do you buy uk pumpkin seeds etc... the ones we get from suma are from USA I think.... or further afield.

I'd fail at this straight away because of my liking for red wine. Not much of that in the UK - is there any??

That's a great question AND that is why it is a challenge...

I was thinking of shelling them myself (and this time of year it would be 'squash' seeds rather than pumpkin)...

Hmmmm. I might have to ditch the idea of pumpkin seeds! I've tried before and it was a very lengthy task to shell enough to make a contribution to a meal with!

Can't we grow red grapes in the UK? You could make your own (and we could all come round!) 'though we don't grow sugar cane to make sugar with in the UK either, an essential ingredient I think.

Trinity
x

[Trinity]

Hmmmm, this talk of wine has got me thinking about sweetner.

I wonder if there are any natural sweetners grown and available in the UK. Does anyone know of any?

Perhaps I may have to use local honey....

[Shirley]

I guess we could grow red grapes up here in Scotland but would need lots of polytunnels...

Mead anyone???

I guess you could use pear/apple juice as a sweetener too? Not sure. I seem to remember someone posting about making jams with apple/pear juice instead of sugar.

Is this a vegetarian 7 days of uk food? If not, you could add meat and fish to your list.

I'd definitely add eggs to my list if it were me, and don't forget your foraging skills... lots of stuff out there and it's FREE!!

[ina]

I wonder if there are any natural sweetners grown and available in the UK. Does anyone know of any?

Sugar - the most obvious one.

[Trinity]

Sugar - the most obvious one.

Oh, I didn't realise that we grew it in the UK. I rember seeing field upon field of sugar cane when I spent my winters out in Hawaii. Have never noticed any here. Where do they grow?

[ina]

Sugar beet - not cane! Plenty of that around...

[Trinity]

I guess you could use pear/apple juice as a sweetener too? Not sure. I seem to remember someone posting about making jams with apple/pear juice instead of sugar.

Hey, that's really interesting. My friend and I have been looking (without much luck so far) for a jam recipe using fruit juice to sweeten. Do you remember where it was posted?

Is this a vegetarian 7 days of uk food? If not, you could add meat and fish to your list.

For us, it is vegetarian yes, which does make it more of an interesting challenge. I've actually not eaten any animal products at all for 13 years... It works very well for us. I do think it would be somewhat different for anyone wishing to include UK grown animals or animal products. We would eat honey though, if it were local.

I'd definitely add eggs to my list if it were me, and don't forget your foraging skills... lots of stuff out there and it's FREE!!

Absolutely
there's nothing more satisfying than forgaging for a meal!!! I'm already eagerly revisitng my wild food books.

I also love creating new tasty and filling recipes and expecting that I will be having to rapidly come up with some new ones to satisfy the boys here!

The subject of just eating local food (or atleast that which is grown in the UK) comes up so frequently that I feel deeply moved to put it to the test.

Trinity
x