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I spent a lovely afternoon (well, an hour of it) in our field, picking gorse flowers. The intention is to make gorse wine, having had some success with elderflower, rose petal, orange blossom and blackberry a few months ago (am drinking the elderflower as I type, it's the last of last year's - got the blackberry lined up for the next glass, may soon be incoherent). Just wondered if anyone else is taking advantage of the gorse season? It's really easy (once you get the flower picking technique right - I only bled twice today!). You need about 2 litres of gorse flowers (that's 2 litres packed loosely, but if you have more, all the better - more flavour), a bag (a kg) of sugar, the zest and juice of a lemon, a handful of sultanas or raisins, an optional 100ml of white grape juice or concentrate (from a home brewing shop), 1 tsp yeast nutrient (ditto), and some white wine yeast (ditto)

Give the flowers a bit of a wash in a sieve, them put them in a big pot with a gallon of water and the sultanas. Bring to the boil, simmer for 15 mins, take off the heat, add the sugar and stir until it's dissolved. Cool it a bit, then add the lemon zest and juice, the grape juice/concentrate, if using, and the yeast nutrient. Cool to room temperature, add the yeast, cover and leave for 4 days. Strain through a sieve and funnel into a demijohn, fit a bubble lock, and leave for a month. Rack into a second demijohn (racking means siphoning the liquid off the sediment (the lees), put the bubble lock back on, and leave until cleared before bottling (or not, in my case, very few of my wines make it into a bottle).

In other foraging news, the wild garlic is great this year, loads of it about (also known as ramsons). It's wonderful in an omelette with a bit of cheese, and can be frozen for use later in the year. All of it is edible, from the leaves to the stems to the flowers - can make a pretty addition to a salad. If you're near the sea, samphire should be around now too (not had a chance to look myself).

My husband has taken to calling me The Witch after I spent 2 hours today mixing juices (12 x 10 ml, all different) followed by the gorse picking and brewing At least, I think that's why he's calling me it...