My Secare Survival Knife has just arrived from the talented custom knife maker Stuart Mitchell.

It's a stunning knife and an amazing piece of craftsmanship.

The blade is made from SF100 Steel (Surgical Steel). The handle is made from G10 and the sheath Kydex.

I am really pleased with it and can't wait to try it.

All of Stuarts knives are handmade to order.

He consulted several survival experts for the Secare design, including I believe Bear Grylls.

Absolutely stunning!

http://www.stuartmitchellknives.com/phone/index.html

Another wonderful recipe kindly passed on by a friend. And one that I must try making with my children.

Primrose Curd

Two generous handfuls of unsprayed clean primrose petals.

450grms sugar

450grms Bramley apple

125grms unsalted butter

4-5 large eggs

The zest and juice of two lemons.

Day One

Finely chop the primrose petals and place them with the sugar in a container and stir through the primrose flowers. Cover and leave for at least 24 hours (this will allow the flavours from the petals to be released into the sugar.

Day Two

Peel and chop 450grms of apples, put them in a pan with 100ml of water and the lemon zest and juice. On the hob, gently cook the apple until it is yieldingly soft and then mash it into a purée.

One third fill a pan with water and place a snug-fitting heat-proof bowl on the top of the pan. Add the apple, butter, lemon juice and primrose sugar mixture to the bowl. Heat the pan and stir the mixture until the butter has completely melted.

Turn off the heat and add the eggs to the mixture through a sieve. Stir the eggs in thoroughly with a balloon whisk.

Put the pan back on a gentle heat and stir the mixture for about 10 minutes until it thickens. (It will thicken further as it cools). Pour the curd into sterilised jars, seal immediately and store in the fridge where it will keep for up to a month. Sieve the curd whilst pouring the curd into the jar.

It looks delicious and apparently takes amazing. A superb and very interesting wild harvest recipe in my opinion.

Eva and I caught a wild from trout from the Bristol Frome this evening. We rarely take Trout from the Frome, but I took this small trout this evening for Eva's dinner. I tend to only take small fish (less than 1/2lb) for my children's dinner. All big fish go back.

We made a Wild Onion, Elephant Garlic, Smoked Elephant Garlic and Wild Garlic Pesto and Eva had it for her tea. She couldn't stop praising how it all tasted!

Eva also made a giant Lesser Celandine chain and we had a fire by the river. Happy days!!!

The Pesto ingredients;

Pine nuts

Hazel nuts

Olive oil

Vinegar (slash to preserve)

Elephant Garlic

Smoke Elephant Garlic

A small bunch of Wild Onion Leaves

Wild Garlic

A wild salad made up by Eva (my 9 year old) - Hairy Bittercress, Sorrel, Lesser Celandine, Wild Onion (Leaves & Bulb), Wild Garlic (leaves & buds), Young Hawthorn Leaves, Hedge Garlic, Ground Elder, Cow Parsley, topped with a handful of Sweet Violets and Primrose. We ate it with Merguez, Cooking Chorizo and Burdock Root.

King Alfred's Cakes Fungus - when dried it will store an ember for hours. You simply just light it. It can then be transported to another site. By blowing on it it quickly turns into a glowing ember which can be used to start a fire in another location.

A modified supermarket recipe from a friend of mine - spicy pear chutney.

I threw in some ground cinnamon, cloves, plum tomatoes and cashew nuts. I didn't have star anise. Would probably reduce the sugar a bit if I made it again, because it's quite sweet.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 35 minutes    

Makes: 1kg (4 x 250ml jars)

Ingredients

1kg bag essential Waitrose Conference Pears

300g light muscovado sugar

500ml cider vinegar

2 medium red onions, roughly chopped

40g peeled, grated, fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp salt

250g pack Waitrose LOVE Life Cherries, Raisins & Nuts

2 cinnamon sticks

3 star anise

1 X ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Put 4 x 250ml clean jars and lids on a baking tray and place in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes to sterilise. Remove the tray from the oven and set aside to cool.

2. Peel and core the pears then chop into rough chunks. In a large pan, bring the sugar and vinegar to the boil, then add the pears and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer over a low heat for 1 hour uncovered, or until thick and glossy.

3. Decant the chutney into the sterilised jars and screw the lids on. Allow to cool completely, then store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Plum liqueur:

1. Place the vodka, plums and sugar in a large saucepan.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

3. Transfer the vodka plum mixture into two bottles and store in a dark, cool place for 3 months.

4. Optional: Strain the plum vodka through muslin and bottle in 2 clean bottles; or keep plums in liqueur to make a compote.

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle of vodka

450 g plums, halved and stoned

225 g sugar

Elderberry wine; they are plentiful at the moment. It tastes better than it smells ;)

Ingredients:

1.5kg Elderberries.

1.5kg Sugar

1tsp Citric Acid.

4.5l Water

1 sachet of brewers Yeast and 1 teaspoon of Nutrient

Method:

Strip the berries from the stalks using a fork.

Crush them in a bowl and pour on the boiling water and add the sugar.

Let it cool to until warm (21 degrees approx) then add the yeast, nutrient and citric acid.

Loosely cover for 3 days and then decant into dark bottles (stops the wine losing its colour) and leave with either an air lock or cotton wool until the vigorous ferment has completed.

Once the ferment has completed siphon off into the final dark bottles to lay down for a minimum of 6 months.

Enjoy on its own or as an addition to a summer martini!

A great way to use up those pears!

Pear wine:

1. You will need a white 9 litre capacity plastic bucket with lid, wooden spoon, 2 x 4.5 litre glass demijohn, rubber bung (with hole), plastic air lock, plastic siphon tubing, sterilising powder, large plastic funnel, 2 x empty 2 litre screw top plastic bottles, 1 x empty 1 litre screw top plastic bottle.

2. Pour the boiling water over the pears, pressing well to extract the juice. Leave for 4-5 hours.

3. Add the pectic enzyme. Cover and leave for 4 days to infuse.

4. Strain the pears through muslin and pour the liquid through a large funnel, into the demijohn.

5. Add the sugar and lemon juice.

6. Add the yeast and yeast nutrient and fit the airlock. Keep in a warm room.

7. After about 7-10 days, when the wine begins to clear and the bubbles have slowed down, siphon the wine off the 'lees' (the debris in the bottom of the demijohn) into a clean demijohn.

8. After about another 3-4 days, when all fermentation has stopped (no more bubbles through the air-lock), siphon off the 'lees' into clean demijohn. Add a Campden tablet - Campden tablets are used to kill naturally occurring wild yeasts and undesirable bacteria.

9. Stopper the jar and leave in a cool place for a further 10 days. The wine should be clear.

10. Siphon the wine into clean empty plastic bottle and store in a cool place. The wine should be ready after about 3 months.

INGREDIENTS:

4.5 litres boiling water

1.8 kg pears

2 tsp pectic enzyme

900 g sugar

2 lemons, juice only

1x7 g sachet dried yeast

3 tsp yeast nutrient

1 campden tablet

I have just made some pear & lemon preserve for the 1st time, OMG it's lovely! Would be great used as a jam, or served with pork or Stilton.

Ingredients

2 kilos (4 and 1/2 pounds) of pears, peeled, cored and chopped

3 medium lemons (strained juice and zest)

1 kilo (5 and 1/4 cups) of granulated jam sugar

1 litre (4 and 1/4 cups) of water

Instructions

Prepare the pears and place in a large covered bowl, to stop them browning.

Remove the zest from the lemons carefully to avoid adding the bitter pith. Set zest aside.

Squeeze the lemon juice and strain.

Add the water, chopped pears, lemon zest and juice to a large heavy bottomed saucepan.

Simmer very gently until the pears are just soft.

Pour in the sugar and stir over a medium/low heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Bring the heat up to a rolling boil.

Allow to boil hard for ten minutes before testing for a set.

If it has not reached setting point (what is setting point? See Tricks and tips below) continue to boil rapidly, checking for a set every four minutes or so (set the timer for this).

When the jam has set remove from the heat.

Allow the jam to stand for a few minutes and pour into warmed sterilised jars (how do I sterilise jars? See Tricks and tips below).

Cover with screw top lids or wax disks and cellophane tops.