Blackberry and Rosemary Focaccia
There is only one adjective I have ever found that truly defines the taste of a ripe, slightly tart berry warmed by the sun. It’s a made up word that somehow embodies the unique moment of finding, eating, and appreciating foraged goods. The overwhelming awareness of connection, both to the earth and to our bodies.
That word is delumpcious. Yeah, delumpcious. There’s something about its roundness, its playfulness, its generosity that feels deeply honest. It brings to mind the sound of walking on grass dried by the summer heat, nettles tickling threateningly at our knees and brambles swaying gently in the breeze, each warm gust bringing our chosen prize closer and further away.
Delumpcious is taken from my favourite book, Goodnight Mister Tom. It’s a novel I was lucky enough to never study at school, perhaps why it still carries a delightful quality for me. Goodnight Mister Tom follows the story of Will, a young and very shy WW2 evacuee from London who is thrust into the care of Mister Tom in the gentle village of Little Weirwold.
It’s up to zany Zach and gentle George to be Will’s guide to the English countryside. To Will, milk comes from a bottle, and a swallow is not a bird, but something you do when you’re trying not to cry. George and Zach introduce Will to the berries in the bushes this strange bird is perched on:
George gave a smile.
‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I’ll find you a good spot.’ He pointed to some bushes. ‘See them red berries?’
‘Rather’ said Zach. ‘They look delumpcious.’
‘De-what?’
‘Delumpcious. That’s a mixture of delicious and scrumptious.’
These delumpcious berries, it turns out, are precisely the ones that they shouldn’t be eating. But that evening, with the right guidance, Will makes jam for the first time.
I must admit that over the years, foraging has sometimes felt like a chore. As a kid, being drawn away from a game, a book, a TV show in order to walk for (what felt like) miles in the heat, under instructions not to eat too many, wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to do.
Now, in late summer, watching the berries beginning to turn, I have that same sense that making the most of them is something that should be done.
But as we ventured out in the midday heat I was reminded of a podcast episode that I heard recently - The Way Out is In.
Hosted by Joe Confino and Brother Pháp Hữu, it unravels some of the teachings of the late Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Whilst I’m not about to become a nun, I often find that there are little gems that stay with me.
Discussing our connection with food, Joe comments “I think people have a sort of a reverence for the taste of food, but not for the food itself.” Especially as we remain concerned by the cost of food, looking perhaps for the price and not the product first, it’s a good reminder to find my inner Will.
So out we go, on a Monday lunchtime, to find the blackberries waving in the hedgerows. The lower branches are stripped bare, locals more proactive than us having already baked their crumbles, made their jam. I’m up on my partner’s shoulders, in full negotiation with brambles, the nettles and an overgrown ditch.
Thankfully, nobody walks around the corner.
“Nature is a very good television. But it’s not about just watching it, but being in it” says Brother Pháp Hữu.
As we walk home with our tupperware-d haul, we’re noticing plants we don’t know the name of, spot the goats hiding behind the hedge and nod hello to a passer-by.
Late summer blackberries are tarter, smaller, and more shocking when looking for a mid-forage snack. They’re perfect for this focaccia, inspired by the cherry topped Italian equivalent. A reminder of food as something of reverence, both in its very being and its taste. They are, by definition, delumpcious.
Blackberry and Rosemary Focaccia
500g strong bread flour
7g dried fast action yeast
2 tsp fine sea salt
5 tbsp olive oil
400ml(ish) lukewarm water (I usually start with 1/3 boiling and 2/3 cold to make the right temperature)
Flaky sea salt
1 sprig rosemary
100g blackberries
Method
Tip the flour, yeast and salt into a bowl (salt and yeast on opposite sides). Mix together.
Add 2tbsp olive oil, and then the water. Keep mixing and adding water until you have a slightly sticky dough.
Sprinkle flour onto the work surface, and knead the dough until it is lovely and soft, still a little sticky.
Put the dough in a clean bowl, cover with a tea towel, allow to prove for 1hr or so (about doubled in size).
Oil a rectangular, shallow tin (I ended up doing mine in a Pyrex I use for lasagne, but just use what you have). Stretch the dough to fill the tin, and leave to prove for another 45 mins.
Set oven to 220°C. Flour your finger tips and make deep dimples all over the dough. Cover with the blackberries and the rosemary. Then drizzle over 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, and finish with a good pinch of flaky sea salt.
Bake for 20 mins, until golden. Then drizzle over another 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil whilst still warm.
Links and thoughts:
The Way Out is In Podcast - https://plumvillage.org/podcasts/the-way-out-is-in (also on Spotify etc.)
Goodnight Mister Tom - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/28305/goodnight-mister-tom-by-michelle-magorian/9780241524541