Wild Cherry Christmas Mincemeat and Douglas Fir Icing Sugar

If you didn't make wild cherry brandy, supermakets will come to your aid. Foraging is seasonal, cherries may be long gone but the Douglas Fir is ever green and bonne chance with the chestnut hunt.
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Flickr: Ben Husmann

The Douglas Fir isn't a true fir, hence Pseudotsuga its Latin name. It is a native of the USA but one of the oldest Doulgas Firs in the UK is planted in Scone Palace in Perthshire, Scotland. Forage a few needle tips here and there, without being greedy or spoiling the beauty of the countryside. If you didn't make wild cherry brandy, supermakets will come to your aid. Foraging is seasonal, cherries may be long gone but the Douglas Fir is ever green and bonne chance with the chestnut hunt.

Wild Christmas Mincemeat

Makes 3 pots

What to find:

Lemon, Lime and Orange, well scrubbed- zest

100g dried apricots finely chopped

100g wild glace cherries

600g dried fruit: raisins, sultanas, currants

50g dried cranberries

100g chestnuts peeled and finely chopped

220g Light Muscovado sugar

200g shredded suet

2 eating apples cored and finely grated

Carrot, peeled and finely grated

Teaspoon cinnamon

Teaspoon nutmeg

150ml wild cherry brandy

What to do:

1.Put all of the ingredients apart from the cherry brandy in a baking tray and mix well. Cover and leave overnight.

2.The next day, cook the mincemeat in a low pre-heated oven: 120°C gas ¼ for 3 hours or until the suet has melted. Stir in the brandy and leave to cool

3.Blend the mincemeat briefly (in batches) in a food processor and pot in sterile jam jars. Seal with a lid or cellophane and store in a dark place.

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Douglas Fir Icing Sugar

Makes a small jam jar

What to find:

100g icing sugar

Handful washed and dried Douglas Fir needles

What to do:

Put the icing sugar and Douglas Fir into a food processor, cover with a tea towel (to avoid a fine layer of escapee white dust ) and blend well. Pot in a sterile jam jar and store until use.

Sift Douglas Fir Icing Sugar before use.

For extra pine flavour in mince pies, add a tablespoon of Douglas Fir icing sugar to a fat, rich shortcrust pastry (half lard and butter to flour).