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A baby hedgehog which found itself stuck in a crisp packet has been released after a three-and-a-half hour rescue involving six people.



The animal became trapped after it crawled into the empty wrapper in a railed off area near steps in Weston-super-Mare.

A shopkeeper heard rustling and saw the hedgehog - now named Crispin - stick his nose out.

Workers had to cut through the railings and help rescuers reach the hedgehog.

Jules Bishop, from Prickles Hedgehog Rescue, said Crispin crawled into the area as he was attracted to the warmth of the packet and the smell.

"He's thriving now and will be here all winter as he's so tiny," she said.

"I want to thank all the people involved because obviously without their commitment and dedication this little hog would have had no way to survive.

"He was very, very cold and dehydrated when I emptied him out of the crisp packet."

Crispin the Hedgehog
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Roast hedgehog and nettle pud - a slap-up feast for ancient Britons


Everyone loves hedgehogs, with their snuffly little noses and punky hairdos. But research into Britain's oldest recipes suggests our ancestors loved them in a rather different way - roasted.

A team from the food science department at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff has discovered that, along with nettle pudding, roasted hedgehogs can be traced back thousands of years. The researchers spent two months scouring Britain's culinary history to reveal what our forefathers ate and drank.

Research suggests nettle pudding may be the oldest known recipe, dating from 6000BC, closely followed by smokey stew, meat pudding, barley bread and roast hedgehog.

The research was commissioned by UKTV Food to mark the start of new series The People's Cookbook. The programme, fronted by Antony Worrall Thompson, gives an insight into tastes over the ages and reveals that some of the dishes have been passed down through the generations, evolving into modern staples.

Ruth Fairchild, who led the research, said that however off-putting the Neolithic dishes might sound, many were forerunners of the food we enjoy today.

"The way our ancestors cooked hedgehog - wrapped in a casing of grass or leaves to stop the meat burning - is an early version of many modern recipes which involve meat being wrapped or coated, such as chicken kiev, beef wellington or cornish pasties," she said.

Dr Fairchild has been experimenting with some of the recipes, and said the savoury nettle pudding tastes rather like a dumpling. But she drew the line at cooking with hedgehogs.

"I have five baby hedgehogs in my garden and I wouldn't like to regard them as a meal, or even a starter."

The series shows that some dishes, like pancakes and pottage, a thick soup or stew, have survived changing tastes and still feature on menus today. But others have disappeared from the British dining table, including garum and liquamen, sauces made from fish guts and heads; smokey stew, a combination of bacon and smoked fish; meat pudding, a mix of offal, fat and herbs; barley bread, an early form of unleavened bread; and in mitulis, a Roman equivalent of moules marinière.

Roasted meats (Hedgehog)

"Hedgehog should have its throat cut, be singed and gutted, then trussed like a pullet, then pressed in a towel until very dry; and then roast it and eat with cameline sauce, or in pastry with wild duck sauce. Note that if the hedgehog refuses to unroll, put it in hot water, and then it will straighten itself."

From medievalcookery.com/oddities

Nettle pudding

Ingredients

1 bunch of sorrel

1 bunch of watercress

1 bunch of dandelion leaves

2 bunches of young nettle leaves

Some chives

1 cup of barley flour

1 tsp salt

Method

Chop the herbs finely and mix in the barley flour and salt. Add enough water to bind it together and place in the centre of a linen or muslin cloth. Tie the cloth securely and add to a pot of simmering venison or wild boar (a pork joint will do just as well). Leave in the pot until the meat is cooked and serve with chunks of bread."

· From Prehistoric Cooking, by Jacqui Wood (Tempus, 2002)