Walk on Box Hill Today

[exchemist]

Lovely walk in this beauty spot in the North Downs today. Clear sky and excellent visibility. 19C which was ideal for walking, especially as there was a long climb to the ridge which makes you a bit sweaty. I picked some wild garlic leaves to try this evening (I have never cooked with them before, though I have come across them in restaurants). I encountered a Turkish woman wearing gloves and with a plastic bag full of nettles, which she was gathering to make Turkish dish involving bulgur wheat. I told her I once made nettle soup at my son’s request when he was young, but that it wasn’t very interesting. However it seems nettles are used quite a lot in Turkey.

The name of the hill comes from the box trees* that grow wild there, almost the only place in Britain where they do, as box is really a Mediterranean plant. I suspect it may be a combination of the chalk and the steep southwest-facing slope.

Near the top of the climb of the track, in the trees, I came across an angel. Actually, just a remarkably beautiful teenage girl with pink hair, probably about 14 yrs old, who told me she had got lost, separated from her family. So I got her to walk with me to the top where there is a cafe and a car park, which was apparently where the rest of them would be waiting for her. We had a lovely chat on the way, mainly about growing vegetables, which she apparently does at the family home in Addlestone. She was very grateful for my help, and very sweet and trusting, which rather made my day (I don't have grand-children).

I returned along the chalk ridge, past the tombstone of a c.19th eccentric military man who insisted on being buried head down on the top of the hill. And so, back down the steep scarp of the Down to the railway station, to wait for a train back home. The walk took about 2hrs, a nice length and not too taxing. I may make it one of my regular excursions.

A very good day out. I’ll post a pic if I can shrink the file size sufficiently.



* I may have mentioned before that I recently discovered we name boxes after the wood, buxus in Latin. Boxes used to be made of the wood from box trees and thus the name of the article became synonymous with the wood they were made from. Not many people know that, as Michael Caine might say.

 

[TheVat]

Marry an oboist and you will likely discover early on the whole story of boxwood, from which baroque and classical oboes were made. Before this time of being hyper informed on all things oboe, I also had it backwards thinking boxwoods were so named because of growth pattern or usage OSLT. Modern pro oboes are made from grenadilla, of whose attributes I remain blissfully ignorant. Except that it projects better in a large modern concert venue - the old oboes had a softer and more intimate sound.

Do not get me started on reed cane. The topic of cane is one which Caine would find fertile ground for his famous epistemic catchphrase.

Nice slice of life posting. We are also grandchildless so far, but fortunate in having piano students troop through occasionally.

 

[exchemist]

Marry an oboist and you will likely discover early on the whole story of boxwood, from which baroque and classical oboes were made. Before this time of being hyper informed on all things oboe, I also had it backwards thinking boxwoods were so named because of growth pattern or usage OSLT. Modern pro oboes are made from grenadilla, of whose attributes I remain blissfully ignorant. Except that it projects better in a large modern concert venue - the old oboes had a softer and more intimate sound.

Do not get me started on reed cane. The topic of cane is one which Caine would find fertile ground for his famous epistemic catchphrase.

Nice slice of life posting. We are also grandchildless so far, but fortunate in having piano students troop through occasionally.

I never knew they made oboes from it. But I think it has a fine, dense grain or something, which is why it was used for boxes. I used to think it was just a low-growing shrub for hedging, until I saw the trees on Box Hill. So I had no idea one could use it for carpentry.

In London, those of us with ornamental box shrubs struggle with the box moth caterpillar, which can strip plants in a week. One can see the damage from them on Box Hill, but the full-grown trees there seem able to tolerate it, putting out enough new growth to compensate. I spray my little box shrubs with acetamiprid twice a year to control the caterpillars. That stuff is bad for bees but as box doesn’t have flowers I reckon it’s OK.

 

[exchemist]

The wild garlic leaves were very good last night, wilted with butter for a few minutes in a covered pan. But they shrink down a lot. I should have gathered more, really. I'll know for next time, but that may be next year as the wild garlic is now in flower, after which I understand the leaves can get stringy and bitter.

 

[TheVat]

The wild garlic leaves were very good last night, wilted with butter for a few minutes in a covered pan. But they shrink down a lot. I should have gathered more, really. I'll know for next time, but that may be next year as the wild garlic is now in flower, after which I understand the leaves can get stringy and bitter.

Didn't know that garlic greens can be used for cooking. So the traditional garlic clove is a storage leaf mass which the plant uses for a vegetative propagation, if I'm understanding this. And it concentrates the oils which carry the intense pungent flavor. So garlic leaves would then offer a softer, more delicate flavor, halfway towards a chive or green onion? At least when it's in flower.

Box: wonder if the box moth caterpillar has a natural predator which could be safely introduced? Looks like jackdaws are one. And, hahah!, wasps and hornets! (Be nice to your queen visitors?)

 

[exchemist]

Didn't know that garlic greens can be used for cooking. So the traditional garlic clove is a storage leaf mass which the plant uses for a vegetative propagation, if I'm understanding this. And it concentrates the oils which carry the intense pungent flavor. So garlic leaves would then offer a softer, more delicate flavor, halfway towards a chive or green onion? At least when it's in flower.

Box: wonder if the box moth caterpillar has a natural predator which could be safely introduced? Looks like jackdaws are one. And, hahah!, wasps and hornets! (Be nice to your queen visitors?)

Yes a bit like leeks but more of a garlic flavour. I think one can eat the leaves of all these alliums (allia?).

They are all from the lily family I think. But I doubt you can eat ornamental lilies. Lily of the valley is something else and definitely poisonous, and in fact can be confused with wild garlic, so something I was careful to watch out for when picking the leaves.

 

[geordief]

Yes a bit like leeks but more of a garlic flavour. I think one can eat the leaves of all these alliums (allia?).

They are all from the lily family I think. But I doubt you can eat ornamental lilies. Lily of the valley is something else and definitely poisonous, and in fact can be confused with wild garlic, so something I was careful to watch out for when picking the leaves.

We have swathes of wild garlic but I hardly ever bother with them.**There are "white bluebells" that grow in amongst them and I don't know how healthy they would be.

I think there are a few varieties of wild garlic and it may well be that our's are in fact more leek variety than garlic.

Same with the nettles
I often think of using them but hardly ever have.

They are nice enough just added to a basic soup recipe (potatoes ,onions stock and a little oil) but I always heard that you should pick them early on ,well before they flower.And I may even have heard that you can blanch them (with rafia ?) like dandelions to make them more tender and ,perhaps sweeter.

After the grass they are the first things to come in spring in the field but ,for some reason our donkeys never touch them.

**( they have bulbs too and I don't see why not to eat them as well.)