Granted, sea buckthorn is a bit of an acquired taste, but I am firmly in the ‘love it’ camp. The stuff is abundant in coastal areas and is often considered invasive, so if you forage it you’ll be doing everyone a favour! It has a lip-smacking sour taste, but the trick is to serve it with something sweet to offset the sourness. The berries are rammed with vitamins and antioxidants and goes so well in desserts that would usually contain lemon.
You can find the bushes with its bright orange berries all over the North-East coastline. It is a hardy plant and bears fruit well into winter. If you are planning on foraging it, take some gloves and secateurs, because the thorns are lethal! The berries are extremely fragile so if you try to pull them off the branches, they'll just pop with the slightest of contact. The easiest way to pick the fruit it is to cut the branch and freeze it whole, then the berries will come straight off. To make the sea buckthorn juice, heat the berries in a pan with some water (500g berries to 250ml water should do it) and when they have softened, pass through a fine sieve. Alternatively, you can buy the juice online, but it is still quite pricey - a £10 bottle is the equivalent to around 4 or 5 branches.
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