Hunger and Thirst

Mushroom Fever

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:17:00 +0000

My first morel of 2013

After years of observing the seasons, the only conclusion I can draw about springtime in the Rockies is that it is invariably sudden. Last year, a switch flipped, and dry brown winter turned into dry brown summer. This year, it looked to be more of the same. Dry brown winter threatened another summer of devastating fires. Then something funny happened starting in March. It snowed every week, in great big wet storms. I watched as the rest of the country proclaimed spring, showing off pictures of flower buds and grasses. And every time I turned around, it was snowing, and freezing. Still, memory of the drought made me hold my tongue, as I dare not complain about blessed moisture.

So I waited, and waited, my foraging bone aching for the arrival of our spring. Each time the flakes started to fall, there was a tiny part of me that feared it would never actually come. And then, suddenly, came the turn. Within two days time, the ground became shockingly green, and all the trees had leaves.

I can tell, summer is in a hurry to get here, so spring is being compressed into just a few short weeks, which only increases its amplitude. This year is a big spring, booming and shaking across the prairie. The asparagus is growing like mad, the few trees that still feel the urge to bloom are doing their best, and the mushrooms are making a good showing.

Spring on a plate - asparagus, morels, and eggs with hollandaise.

And you know how I feel about mushrooms. I have it, the disease that overtakes people who covet fungus. At times like this, it burns at nothing short of a fever. Someone should probably fetch a cold cloth for my forehead.

See all of those nooks and crannies? It's like they were made for butter.

Heartbreak! Someone got to this morel before me.


Mochella esculenta, aka "blondies"

Pleurotus pulmonarius, oyster mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms on cottonwood stump

Calvatia booniana, giant western puffballs

Emerging shaggy mane, Coprinus comatus

Mature shaggy mane

Wild Mustard as Broccoli Rabe

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:49:00 +0000

After two straight months of weekly (big) snowstorms, spring finally let loose on my area. And it did so with abandon! Overnight, there were leaves on previously barren trees. The land changed from shades of brown and grey to full greens and blues.

I've spent every free minute this week chasing wild foods, and nibbling my way across the land. Asparagus has boomed. I came home with just shy of eight pounds of it yesterday. Morels are also starting to trickle into my kitchen.

But I've not forgotten about our friends, the mustards, the featured plants of Wild Things this month. I can't take a step in any direction without spotting at least four different kinds of mustard plants.

Lepidium draba at the perfect stage for eating

This year, I've come to appreciate one in particular, Lepidium draba (formerly Cardaria draba), also known as hoary cress, or whitetop. I noticed that in the early stage of flowering, while the flower heads were still tightly closed, that it somewhat resembled broccoli rabe. Naturally, I tried cooking it up simply, in the manner of broccoli rabe, with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. I found it to be delicious! It is even milder than broccoli rabe, possessing a slight bitterness and mustard flavor, while still being pleasantly green and friendly to the tongue.

In full bloom

If you can't find L. draba for this dish, use whichever mustard you have locally that looks similar, with meaty stems and flower heads that are still tightly closed. L. draba has lance-shaped leaves that have a slightly blue-gray cast. The basal leaves are attached to the stalk by a short petiole, but all the upper leaves are clasping (sessile). The plant has many small white flowers, that have four petals characteristic of the the mustard family. L. draba can grow to be 1-2' tall, but at the stage when it is perfect to eat, it is usually 6-8", in my experience. It is considered to be an invasive species in the US.

Lepidium draba (Hoary Cress) Sauteed in the Style of Broccoli Rabe*

4 c. (packed) young flowering Lepidium draba, cut into 2" pieces
4 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2-3 tsp. red wine vinegar

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. When the water reaches a strong rolling boil, drop in the hoary cress. Let it boil for a minute, then drain away the water.

2. In a heavy-bottomed skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once the pan and the oil are hot, add the minced garlic, and stir it until it becomes fragrant, only 30 seconds.

3. Add the blanched L. draba to the garlic and olive oil. Stir. Add the red pepper flakes and salt, and continue to stir the hoary cress until its edges take on a slight brown, about 5 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat. Splash in the vinegar, and stir it around. Adjust the salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.

*There are several places in the online literature that say that young leaves of Lepidium draba contain hydrogen cyanide. Trouble is, these sites seem to repeating the same information, word for word, in a way that is nonspecific. You see, sometimes when people write about foraging, but don't have any actual experience with the plant, they tend to repeat any cautions that they see. I don't disagree with this, as it is indeed better to be safe than sorry. However, in my research, which included asking my foraging mentors, I didn't find any definitive evidence that this is actually the case. I've eaten quite a bit of this plant this year, and have suffered no ill effects. Also, this recipe calls for hoary cress which is nearly in bloom, which means it is no longer "young." As a caution, I've included the initial boil and removal of water for L. draba. This is often recommended for wild foods to remove unwanted aspects of the food. All I can tell you is to eat this plant with these things in consideration, and also noting that every body reacts to every food differently. It is always wise to consume wild foods in moderation.

Wild Things in May - Mustard Family

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sun, 05 May 2013 04:05:00 +0000

Welcome to Wild Things in May. I have to confess that as of May 1, I had yet to decide which plant to feature this month. I put the question up on my Facebook page, asking if Wild Things in May should be about morel mushrooms, mustards, or black locust blossoms. I was quite convinced that people would favor morels, as they are such a sexy ingredient. When an avalanche of people voted for mustard plants, I was surprised. I was also pretty happy, because my own interest lies in exploring the possibilities of these common plants.

Worldwide, there are several thousand species of mustard, all of which are considered edible (Elpel, 2010), so you will have plenty from which to choose. I encourage you to think outside of popular mustard plants like watercress and black mustard, and explore some lesser-known varieties. While all species of mustard are edible, not every one may suit your tastes. Some are indeed quite pungent. I'd especially like to encourage people who live where garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) has invaded to consider sharing recipes. Of course it wouldn't be possible to eat all of the garlic mustard that has overtaken the land, but it could be quite helpful if at least people had good ways to use it in meals as they remove the highly invasive plants.

Mustard plants are fairly easy to identify once they have bloomed. Look for flower which have four petals that tend to present in an "x" pattern, and six stamen (four of which are tall, and two short). I know many people associate yellow flowers with mustard plants, but the color of mustard flowers is variable. Within a block of my house, I can find mustard different species which have yellow, white, and purple flowers. If you find that the flowers are too small to count the stamen with your naked eye, you can also recognize the characteristic spiral staircase presentation of the flowers (or later, the seed pods) on the flower stalk. Like so many "weeds," plants in the mustard family favor disturbed ground.

Need inspiration for cooking with your wild mustard? Think about how you'd prepare their gardened cousins - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale. Alternately, try using the plants' seeds as a seasoning.

Are you new to Wild Things? Here's the scoop.

In many countries, traditional foods are prepared for their medicinal effects. In most of these places, the foods prepared were wild foods that were cheap and easy to obtain. By default, they were local and seasonal. One of the problems with a lot of modern fad diets is that in order to actually follow the diet, one needs to fork out a whole lot of money. Most of us just can't afford to do that, especially not in this economy! Not only that, but it seems might suspicious that, in many cases, these products that are touted as panaceas have to come from half way around the globe -- noni from Tahiti, acai from Brazil, gogii from China. What are the odds that God (or the higher being of your choice) put all of the good stuff in Tahiti, and left us to fend for ourselves until the advent of globalization? Whether food or medicine, the majority of what we need can be found locally. It might not be trendy, but it will most probably be just as effective, if not more so. Wherever you are, you have with your reach an untapped resource - wild foods!

Welcome to the Wild Things Round Up*

As your host, I'd like to demonstrate that eating wild foods doesn't need to be a terrifying endeavor, and that our health and our diet needn't be dictated by financial status or geographic location.

A Few Notes About the Round Up

1. Wherever you are, you have access to Wild Things, even if this means clandestine trips to your neighbor's yard in the middle of the night**.

2. Foraging isn't only for hippies and luddites, though hippies and luddites are both very much welcome (Hi, Hippie! Hi, Luddite!). It's easy to assume that everyone who eats this way lives out in the wild, and shuns the material world and/or technology. But it just isn't true! This isn't a club exclusive to country mice. I live smack in the middle of suburbia. I'm a very well adjusted modern woman who loves my life, and happen to love nature as well.

3. This is not about trying to be a cave dweller. Though there are plenty of people in the world who successfully and gracefully live a life that is more similar to how people lived hundreds, or even thousands of years ago. I'm not one of those people, and I'll assume that for the most part, you are not either. It's easy to romanticize, but that is a difficult, hard working life. It's also not necessary to remove yourself from the modern world in order to be connected to nature. When it comes down to it, isn't that what we all want a bit more of -- connection, to nature, to community, to other people, to a higher power? Nature is everywhere. Life is everywhere. It's not outside of your touch. It's not only available to people who sacrifice modern convenience. You do not need to give up your makeup or latte.

A Few Foraging Rules

1. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT YOU CANNOT 100% IDENTIFY!!! I can't stress the importance of this point. People can die from this sort of stupidity. Let's not win any Darwin Awards here.

2. Know the foraging laws in your area. Call the city, call the forest service, call the landowner. Respect private property. Ask permission. Most people will gladly let you pull up some weeds for them. Most of them are delighted to get rid of some of the fruit that rots all over the pavement. Just ask.

3. Don't take more than you need. Never take rare plants. Learn what's in your area -- only take things what are abundant. This is important! Always think of the future, not just in terms of what you want, but in terms of the ecology of the system from which you are harvesting. These ecosystems have been around for millenia, since long before people got there. Don't be the one to change that in one generation.

Tools You Will Need

1. Scissors and/or pocket knife

2. A local guidebook (don't be tempted to grab a national guide), with pictures

3. Bags for collecting food

How to Play

At the beginning of each month, I will introduce a new Wild Thing. I will give pictures, descriptions, best locations, and taste, and also list any possible toxicity issues. The plants that I feature will be those with few, if any, toxic lookalikes. And if there are any, I'll give you ample warning. None of the plants I select will have any potential lethal lookalikes.

Over the course of the month, both you and I will go and find the featured plant, play with it in the kitchen, and come up with creative ways to use it. But don't feel like you need to invent a recipe in order to participate. Feel free to tell about your experience using a known recipe. But please do credit the originator of the recipe.

If you have a blog, post your recipe on your blog, and then share it with Wild Things. Also, mine your archives, and link old recipes.

If you don't have a blog, you are still welcome to participate. Simply introduce your recipe and experience with a few sentences, and then share your recipe. A picture is always nice, too, although not necessary to play along.

Before the end of the month (sooner is better, because your host has a day job!), submit your recipe to wildthings.roundup@gmail.com . Please send your recipe directly to that email address. If you send it to my personal email, or post it on Facebook, I'm likely to forget it.

At the end of the month, I will provide a round up list of everyone's adventures. Sound like fun? I think so.

*No association with Monsanto.

** Just kidding. I don't advocate stealing. Really, there's no need -- a knock on the door and a "Hey, I noticed that you have an apple tree full of rotting apples. I was wondering, could I take a few of them, or pay you for some of them, or mow your lawn for some of them?" will suffice. Most people are horrified at the thought of taking money for apples, and will drop big bags of them off on your front step for months to come.

Wild Things in April Round Up - Dandelions

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Wed, 01 May 2013 02:19:00 +0000

Isn't it lovely how dandelions, the featured herb for April, announce the arrival of spring with their cheery blossoms? This month, we've got all sorts of delightful entries in the Wild Things Round Up - recipes using all parts of the plants, from the roots, to the greens, to the flowers. Enjoy!

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My foraging bestie, Wild Food Girl publishes a fantastic wild food primer called the Wild Edibles Notebook. It just so happens that she also featured dandelions for the month of April in her WEN. If you haven't yet signed up for it, I highly recommend it.

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If you are like me, and tire of foraging and wild foods cookery always being painted like some sort of Summer's Eve commercial, let me introduce you to Green Gabro. You can count on her to tell it like it is. For dandy month, she's shared her account of making Dandelion mead, as well as a list with her experience in cooking and tasting all of the parts of dandelion in a post called How I Don't Eat Dandelions.

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Like any good nerd group in the age of the internet, the wild foods community is fairly well connected, and communicate their finds and creations on a daily basis. In a way this is a curse, because I constantly find myself jealous of what others are harvesting. But the blessing comes in constantly being excited by wild food and having my boundaries pushed. One of the people I find most inspiring when it comes to cooking with foraged foods is Heather. Remember the pine cambium donuts? Yeah, that was her! She's shared her recipe for Dandelion (Flower) Cheese Muffins this month.

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Herbalist Rosalee de la Foret of Methow Valley Herbs has all kinds of fantastic dandelion recipes to share. I'm most excited about her recipe for Marinated Dandelion Flower Buds, which is included here, along with recipes for dandelion pesto, and dandelion coffee. She has also shared her video about how to make dandelion wine!

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I always think that dandelion jelly looks like sunshine in a jar. The Independent Herbalist has shared her recipe for Dandelion Jelly using homemade green apple pectin.

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My friend Tim Furst made Dandelion Root Kimchi.

My friends are artists, but they aren't starving - their garden is too nice
for that. Unfortunately they have a car that starts even less often than
my cantankerous chainsaw so I frequently have a rider when I travel into
town. A few days ago when I brought Chris back home, Deb walked from the
garden & presented me with a big bag of turnip greens.

The next morning, already wet from cleaning greens, I sat in the confusion
that constitutes my garden and dug a bucket full of dandelions. I broke a
trowel trying to get the long roots, but since the trowel was purchased as
camping equipment in 1977 it doesn't owe me anything. The dandelion greens
were due to be braised with garlic and added to white beans &; lots of good
olive oil - Italian beans & greens. But, like Marco Polo, I went to a
different continent with the dandelion roots & turnip greens.

While I dug the dandelions, I filled a big stock pot with water & threw in
the turnip greens along with a big handful of salt. I had saved some juice
from a previous batch of home fermented kimchi. A rough chop of garlic (a
whole head), about a tablespoon of ground chipotle (for heat) and a couple
of tablespoons of half-sharp paprika (for flavor & color) went into a bowl
with a good dash of Thai fish sauce and the leftover kimchi juice. I used
my immersion blender to make a wet paste of the garlic & peppers. Korean
red pepper powder would have been traditional - I wasn't being an
iconoclast, I just didn't have any Korean pepper.

I scrubbed the dandelion roots, peeled the bigger pieces & sliced it all
very thinly. I also added about 3" of peeled ginger sliced like the
dandelion. I would have added daikon or another crunchy root, but I didn't
have any. Next, I drained the turnip greens & put them in my biggest bowl
with the sliced roots and tossed them together. I poured a good handful of
kosher salt into a small bowl knowing that my hands were about to become
too messy to handle the box. I kneaded salt & the garlic chili paste into
the vegetables & forced them tightly but carefully into quart canning jars
- this batch made almost 2 quarts. Pressing down with a wooden spoon will
forces juices to start to fill the jar but I never seem to get enough juice
so I add some brine to cover. Then, I filled a couple small bottles with
water & put them in the quarts to keep the neo-kimchi submerged. My
kitchen is still chilly & the kimchi is still sitting on my counter, slowly
fermenting - it has been 3 days, I'll probably taste it tomorrow.

I learned to make kimchi with an beautiful group of friends - we call
ourselves the kitchen witches - who are amazing with plants, potions, pots,
& pans. Unfortunately we are not so tremendous with documenting our
efforts and writing good recipes - this is mostly my fault because I have
worked on cookbooks before & I know how to test & write recipes. If you
are reticent about fermenting your own kimchi I recommend looking at the
books of someone like Sandor Katz as a guide. Then, using your own
intuition, add the flavors & ingredients that you have & that you like. I
have tasted dandelion greens in kimchi before (delicious!) but this is the
first time I have tried the roots. I'm pretty confident I'm going to like
it.

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I thought I had eaten sauteed dandy greens every which way, but Today's Modern Homemaker has introduced me to a new way to serve them - atop a bagel and cream cheese. I love the idea of those bitter greens mingling with sweet cream cheese. How good does this look?

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Lately, I've really been enjoying Wildcraft Vita, because I get to compare the wild foods that grow in my region with those in Italy. It makes for some interesting contrasts. The Diva has shared her recipe for Dandelion Mimosa Salad. Also, don't miss her list of 40+ Things to Do with Dandelions.

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I'm certain many of you are already familiar with Rebecca Lerner, the urban forager behind the blog First Ways. Did you know that she also has a brand new book just out entitled, Dandelion Hunter? It's a narrative account of her journey to becoming a forager. It's full of interesting plant tidbits, and I'm pretty sure her stories will inspire you to hit the streets and see what edible treats hang out in your neighborhood. You can get an autographed copy of the book here. Also, don't miss what she has written about dandelions on her blog.

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Here's my new favorite recipe of the spring, Dandelion Pizza. Lightly bitter sauteed dandelion greens mingle with a white garlic sauce, smoky bacon, and spicy pickled peppers to create a pizza you won't forget.

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You didn't think I'd show up to this dandelion party without a drink, did you? What kind of host would I be if I didn't offer you a Dandelion Bloody Mary?

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Marcy of the Backyard Patch Herbal Blog, who lives in Illinois is well acquainted with power of the dandelion. She made Sauteed Spicy Dandelion Greens . Also check out this page, where she has a few more recipes (including Dandelion Salad with Fresh Goat Cheese, yum!) and a few of her medicinal dandelion formulations.

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The Sneaky Magpie, who lives in England made a charming Dandelion Jam, which was inspired by the River Cottage Crew (one of my favorite sources of inspiration as well). This recipe includes directions for making a homemade fruit-based pectin to set the jam. I very badly want a jar of this in my pantry.

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Robin, who has a fantastic foraging blog called Eat Weeds, and also lives in Britain, contributed a recipe for Dandelion Vinegar which is made from both the leaves and roots. He says that dandelion vinegar is a zesty addition to salad dressings. I think I'd like to try dandelion vinegar as part of a marinade.

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AnkeB, of the blog Herbology, who lives in Australia came up with a really unique tribute to dandelion greens with her Chicken and Dandelion Soup. It's hearty and rustic, with both meatballs and slices of chicken. This is the kind of dish that would be equally at home served in a fancy restaurant or in a cozy kitchen.

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The Dyhanaverse is a creative soul after my own heart. She utilized roasted dandelion roots to make this Spring Cake. If your family is gluten-intolerant, you're in luck, as this recipe is gluten-free. For a bit fancier dish, try her Dandy Veloute atop Carrot Cloud and Polenta.

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Katie had a wild adventure this month. Not only was she lucky enough to harvest dandelions, but she also found morels (who me? jealous? why yes, very much so). She used these choice forages to make a stunning quiche. For those who are still uneasy about eating dandelion greens, I think using them in a quiche is the perfect introduction to their taste.

Morel and Dandelion Quiche

Ingredients:

16 dandelion blossoms, sans stem
16 small morel mushrooms, halved
1 roma tomato, hollowed and diced
1/4 cup of milk
8 oz. shredded cheese
4 eggs
1 tablespoon Bragg's liquid aminos (optional)

Soak dandelion blossoms and halved morels in saltwater for at least 30 minutes, dandelions no longer than 1 hour. Rinse well, and let dry as much as possible before continuing. Mix eggs, milk, cheese and liquid aminos in a bowl. Pour half of mixture into pie crust (you can make your own or buy one in the frozen foods section). Place tomatoes and morels on top of the mixture, and then lay dandelion blossoms, facing up, on top of the tomatoes and morels. Pour remaining egg mixture over the blossoms. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes @350, or until the top is a nice golden brown. Let cool before cutting.

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Brooke has a little foraging helper in her family. From their harvest came Dandelion Flower Vinegar, which is both delicious and medicinal.

"My daughter loves picking dandelion heads and wants to pick some for pancakes. I'll get back to you about that. Anyways, the dandelions all popped today and she couldn't resist picking. So I had a quart of Apple cider vinegar with the mother and lots of dandy flowers."

1 Quart Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother
20 Dandelion flower heads freshly picked

You might have to store a 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar in another container due to the space that the flowers will take up. Place a dandelion head at the top of the bottle and use a chopstick to push the flower heads into the apple cider vinegar. Let it steep for a couple weeks and use in regular recipes. Its a good way to get some of the benefits of dandelion.

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Alex, who lives with her family in New York loves Mark Bittman, and also loves her leafy greens. So, it's only natural that she chose to make Dandelion Greens with Double Garlic, one of Bitty's recipes.

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Herbalist Darcy Blue used to live a bit further north than a lot of us, but spring arrived in her neck of the woods just in the nick of time for her to make this fantastic and easy Dandelion Walnut Pesto.

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Rebecca, of King's Road Apothecary and the blog Cauldrons and Crockpots, who operates out of LA is a genius at knowing how to make a recipe sparkle. In this case, she added a few raisins to lift up the flavor of her dish, Dandelion and Fennel.

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I came up with a recipe to use dandelion buds and a little lacto-fermentation magic to create Dandelion Bud Mock Capers.

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Not one to turn down a traditional recipe, I transformed dandelion flowers into a crispy crunch yummy with my recipe Batter-Fried Dandelion Flowers.

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I took advantage of the coffee-like taste of roasted dandelion roots to create a Roasted Dandelion Root Rub for Meats, which I used on dove breast. But this versatile rub can be used on any strongly-flavored meat, from beef to game.

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I completed my tour of the dandelion plant by using the leaves to make Dandelion Green Soup with Roasted Garlic and Parmesan. This is a simple, yet boldly flavored soup.

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Hank Shaw, wild foods enthusiast, and author of the book Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, makes a mean cup of Dandelion and Chicory Root Coffee. I've dug a lot of dandelions in the last two weeks, and really enjoy the transformation the root makes when roasted, how it becomes deeper and sweeter, almost chocolate-y. So just imagine the pleasure of snuggling up to a big mug of dark dandy coffee in the morning!

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And last, but certainly not least, is a mind-blowing collection of dandelion recipes from Holly of Wild Blessings. Prepare yourself to see the terrific versatility of the dandelion, from root to flower, and everything in between. Apparently, the Cornmeal Fried Dandelion Stems were a huge hit. Sounds good right? Click through and enjoy all of her wild creativity in A Dandelion Celebration.

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Thanks to everyone who was inspired by, and participated in, the Wild Things Round Up. Can't wait to walk on the wild side with you next month!!!!

I'm sharing this round up with the Hearth and Soul hop, and Fight Back Friday.

Dandelion Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:46:00 +0000

I rounded out of winter with a serious hankerin' for dandelions. It's not just that they sounded sortakinda good. I had a bone-deep craving for them. January and February didn't cooperate. They were very dry and the plants weren't feeling the love. Then a weekly pattern of snow and cold set in, which further delayed the plants emerging. But you've gotta believe that when those first tender dandelion leaves poked through the dirt, I pounced on them (I was going to make the analogy, "like a mountain lion on a jogger," but I guess that probably wouldn't go over very well. If I only make the bad joke within the safety of parentheses, it doesn't count).

The first thing that struck me when I started harvesting the dandelion leaves was how much the leaves smelled like the dandelion flowers we all know so well. That surprised me. Had I forgotten it over the off-season? Was it something I simply took for granted in the past? After a long winter, that smell was downright bliss-inducing.

I guarded my little dandelion brood with great care. Each time the snow and freezing temps would revisit, I'd head out to the garden and cover them with a few inches of straw. When the sun returned again, I'd clear the straw away. My neighbors laughed at the attention I gave those silly "weeds." But those weed were to me like honey to a bear (see, a nice safe analogy).

At first, I'd just stuff the leaves into my mouth raw, delighting in their fresh greenness after eating pickles and preserves for so many months. Next, as they became more abundant, I'd saute up big pans full of dandelion leaves. I was still so hungry for them that I'd burn my fingers trying to sample bites right from the pan.

Eventually, as my dandelion cravings became slightly less desperate, I came up with this recipe. I'm pretty sure that I could get anyone to declare that they enjoy dandelion greens with a slice of this pizza. Imagine, the slight bitterness of dandelion greens set off by a garlic-y white sauce, smoky bacon, sweet onions, and spicy pickled peppers. It's so good that I'm tempted to describe it in an embarrassingly cliche way like, "it's a party in your mouth." Oh yeah, I went there! Don't worry, though. I won't go so far over the line as to start saying words like foodie or yum-O.

Dandelion Pizza

1 batch of your favorite pizza dough

1 batch of white sauce (recipe follows)

2 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
1 shallot, cut into thin half moons
4 handfuls of dandelion greens, cut into 2" pieces
a splash of white or red wine vinegar
salt

6-8 pickled peppadew peppers, sliced into slivers
1/2 c. shredded melty cheese (I used queso oaxaca, but mozzarella would also work)

1. Roll your pizza dough into a 14" circle.

2. Spread the white sauce over the raw pizza dough.

3. Heat a heavy bottomed over medium heat. Add the bacon, and let it cook until the fat has rendered out, and the pieces become crispy. Fish the cooked bacon pieces out with a spoon, and reserve them for later.

4. Add the sliced shallot the the pan, along with a pinch of salt, and stir it around to get it coated in bacon grease. Let the shallot cook in the pan until it becomes translucent and starts to take on a little bit of brown. Add the dandelion greens, and stir them until they are also coated in the bacon grease. Add another pinch of salt. Cook the dandelion greens until they have wilted and turned a deep green.

5. Turn off the heat, and add a generous splash of vinegar. This is very important, as it will help to tame the bitterness of the dandelion greens. Plus, it just tastes stinking fantastic.

6. Sprinkle the cooked dandelion/shallot mixture over the pizza. Use your fingers or a fork to make certain that the dandelions are evenly distributed.

7. Next, add on the pickled peppers (the sweet tangy heat of these peppers is key to the flavor balance of this pizza, I get mine from the local grocery store olive bar), the cooked bacon pieces, and the melty cheese. Press down lightly on the whole works.

8. Cook your pizza in the hottest oven possible until the crust is cooked all the way through. Look to your original pizza crust recipe to see how long this will take. All of the other ingredients are cooked, so you only need to bake the pizza long enough to cook the crust and make the cheeses bubbly.

White Pizza Sauce

1 T. butter
1 bulb wild onion, grated (or use garlic)
1 1/2 T. sorghum flour (or use wheat flour)
1/8 tsp. salt
several grinds of black pepper
1 tsp. dried herbs of your choice, I used Monarda fistulosa
1/2 c. whole milk
1/4 c. grated hard cheese, such as Romano or Parmesan

1. In a small heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.

2. Add the grated wild onion, and let it sizzle until it becomes fragrant.

3. Add the flour, stirring to combine it with the butter. Continue stirring, and let the mixture cook for a minute or two.

4. Stir in the salt, pepper, and herbs.

5. Slowly whisk in the milk. Continue to gently whisk the sauce as it continues to cook. Let it remain on the heat until it thickens to the consistency of pudding.

6. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the hard cheese.

7. Let the white pizza sauce cool to nearly room temperature before using it on raw pizza dough.

Small Bounties

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:29:00 +0000

This afternoon, on the way home from work, I performed what has become a weekly ritual of late - picking wild plants to fill the fridge ahead of the next snow storm. Despite the tumultuous spring we've had, I was able to come home with the bounty pictured above.

The photograph shows wild onions, violets, dock leaves, nettles, cramp bark, and a pile of dandelion leaves. You'd think that given the appearance of the photo I was foraging in Eden. The truth is that I'm foraging from spots that still look like this.

I also picked food out of my garden before the storm - tarragon, more dandelion leaves, lovage, monarda, and motherwort.

Looking at my harvest, you'd imagine my garden to be quite lush, right? Here's the reality.

It just goes to show you what is possible, even in the time before the green takes hold. The wild foods I harvested today will be combined with dry beans, tortillas, pickles, preserves, and some scraps of meat and cheese. It will be more than enough food to get through this next snow storm, and the rebound time afterward.

Foraging is so much more a dance than it is a conquest. As I've become more seasoned as a forager, I've learned to waltz through the seasons, balancing a number of variables - the weather, what's growing, which foods I truly enjoy, how much I can eat, how much I can preserve, and more. In turn, I've gained an even greater appreciation for the plants, for the tenacity and spunk they show in this place that sits at a high altitude, with a short growing season, an arid climate, and weather extremes.

Dandelion Bloody Mary

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:29:00 +0000

Spring is revealing itself in fits and starts. We're being blessed with a pattern of sunny days broken up by a weekly storm of a few days. The moisture is badly needed here, so we'll take what we can get, even if it means snow and cold temps. Last year in mid-April, the growing time was in full swing. We'd been picking asparagus for a month, and most of the spring plants were at their peak. This year, the plants are just starting to wake up, and keep getting beaten back by frigid temps.

Tonight, I had to prepare for another round of snow, which will be visiting us over the next three days. I mulched over my sprouting plants, and picked enough greens to get me through until the snow melts and they decide to grow again. Included in my night's harvest were three (entire) dandelion plants from the garden. I let the dandelions grow in my garden until they are threatening to get too big, or until they get in the way of something else that is popping up.

Over the next few days, as I watch the snow outside, I'll cook my dandelions in whichever way strikes my fancy. I'm guessing there will be an omelet and pizza made with dandelion. And I might just make another batch of dandelion bloody marys because they are just so darned tasty.

If you are someone who wants to eat dandelions, but are put off by their bitterness, this might well be your recipe. The spicy salty drink stands up well to the dandelion greens, and you can add fairly substantial amounts of the leaves without the beverage getting overwhelmed by bitterness.

I originally got the idea for this recipe from Discovering Wild Plants by J. Schofield, which had a recipe for a dandelion cocktail that used tomato juice, wooster and hot sauces, in addition to the dandelions. I decided to twist that recipe into a bull-blown bloody mary, and pump it up with all sorts of wild goodies. Drink it virgin or boozy. Also, I think dandelion bloody mary mix would be amazing as a sauce or soup with shrimp.

Dandelion Bloody Mary

4 c. tomato juice
1 tsp. ground sumac (or the juice from one lemon)
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. finely grated evening primrose root (or horseradish)
1 tsp. hot sauce
6-9 small lovage leaves (or 3x as many celery leaves)
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
a big handful of young dandelion leaves

Whiz up all of the ingredients in a blender until they are liquified. Mix with vodka, if you so desire (it's fab without!), and serve over ice with a garnish of your choice (I like a few dandy leaves and a sprig of lovage).

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Got a great dandelion recipe of your own? Share it with the Wild Things Round Up this month. We're celebrating all things dandelion. All you have to do to see your recipe included in the round up is email it to wildthings.roundup@gmail.com before the end of the month.

Life Lessons from Risotto

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:53:00 +0000

It's only been in the last few years that I've come to really appreciate risotto. Before, I didn't get it. Honestly, it seemed to me nothing more than uninteresting casserole. Then, my friend Eve clued me in to how I was messing it up. You see, I was making risotto without wine because it always seemed silly to purchase it for a single recipe. However, wine is essential to making risotto. Its acid keeps risotto from being bland and boring, like some middle-of-the-road casserole.

After my buddy helped me to solve the risotto riddle, I really started to enjoy the dish. In fact, it has become a bit of a celebration meal in my house. Whenever I harvest a perfect batch of wild food - whether it's mushrooms, asparagus, or milk weed pods, I like to honor it by making risotto.

I know what you're thinking. Oh, but it takes to long to make risotto. You've gotta stand there and stir it forever!

True.

Risotto takes time to make, but it also works its own magic, removes us from the cult of busyness and forces us to step back into our own skin. It says, forget about the trouble at work, leave the headache of bills and traffic jams behind for now. Be here, right here in this kitchen, with your toes pushing onto the floor and the refrigerator humming in the background. Etch zig zags in the cooking rice. Close your eyes and note the whispers of garlic and butter steaming up from the pan. Feel the breeze fluttering through the curtain and how it carries the giggles of birds into the kitchen. Calibrate your attention to this place in time.

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This risotto recipe is pretty flexible. Use whatever ingredients are fresh and delicious. These days, I almost always make risotto with mushroom broth, because I love its clean flavor. The other day, I came home with the first wild onions of the season, and made onion-y mushroom risotto by cooking the bulbs with the rice, and finishing with fresh chopped wild onion greens. If you are using tender vegetables that need only a bit of cooking, add them in the last five minutes.

Please note that I always use a $4 bottle wine and my risotto tastes better than some fancy foo-foo risottos made by chefs that I've tried. If you can afford better wine, by all means, go for it! But don't let the fact that you can't afford the good stuff keep you from making risotto.

Butter's Awesome Less-Than-Scientific Risotto Recipe

2 handfuls of dried porcini mushrooms
5ish cups of boiling water
a few pats of butter
chopped onions and/or garlic
1 c. Carnaroli rice
1/2 tsp. salt
cheap bottle of white wine
more butter
about 3/4 c. shredded hard cheese
another big pat of butter
chopped fresh herbs

1. Place the porcini mushrooms in a medium bowl, and cover them with boiling water. Leave them to infuse a nice strong broth for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottom skillet (I always use my 10" cast iron for this) over medium heat. Once the skillet is fully warmed, add the butter and let it melt.

3. As soon as the butter has melted, add your onions and or garlic, and cook them just until they are translucent, stirring constantly.

4. Add the rice and salt, and stir until the rice is coated with butter.

5. Fish the mushroom pieces out of their soaking water and throw them into the pan. Let them cook for another minute or two along with the rice, stirring frequently.

6. Pour enough wine into the skillet so that it covers the bottom. Keep stirring until the pan is not quite dry again.

7. Here is where you begin the process of adding the mushroom broth one big ladle-full at a time, stirring the rice until it is nearly absorbed, and repeating. You will use most if not all of the broth. The goal is to have the rice fully cooked, but stop short of it turning to mush. You want it to retain its shape and character, and still have have little texture when you bite into it. The finished dish should also be creamy and a little runny on the plate, not sit up like a mountain.

8. When the rice has achieved the correct texture, add in the cheese and the last little pat of butter, and incorporate them well. Taste a bite, and add more salt if necessary.

9. Serve the risotto immediately with a sprinkling of freshly chopped herbs like parsley or chives.

Wild Things in April - Dandelions Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:55:00 +0000

Two years ago, when Wild Things was in its infancy, I chose to highlight dandelions in April. For the first time ever, I'm going to repeat a featured plant. I've two reasons for this. First, last month's theme of trees was challenging, even for experienced foragers. Secondly, dandelions easy to identify and every part of them are edible.

One of the missions of Wild Things is to inspire and encourage everyone who wants to forage to be able to cook with wild foods. I'm revisiting dandelions this month so that everyone who has wanted to participate in the past, but felt some trepidation, has a chance to do so.

Most people instantly recognize dandelions, although there are a few plants like chicory that have similar leaves. If you are uncertain as to whether you have a dandelion, look at the underside of a leaf. Dandelions have no bristle-like hairs on the midvein. I've also found that dandelion leaves have the same fragrance as the flowers, a scent I know well from childhood. If you need further help identifying dandelions, have a look at Steve Brill's page about them.

As always, Wild Things is about people's real life experiences cooking with wild foods. Everyone, from first-timer to more experienced foragers are encouraged to participate. This isn't about being fancy or impressive, just real. You should also know that you don't even need to have a blog to participate. Entries about both food and medicinal uses of dandelion are welcome.

If you've not participated in the past, the instructions are below. It is very important (please please please!) that you send your entry to this address - wildthings.roundup@gmail.com

Are you new to Wild Things? Here's the scoop.

Welcome to the Wild Things Round Up*

As your host, I'd like to demonstrate that eating wild foods doesn't need to be a terrifying endeavor, and that our health and our diet needn't be dictated by financial status or geographic location.

A Few Notes About the Round Up

1. Wherever you are, you have access to Wild Things, even if this means clandestine trips to your neighbor's yard in the middle of the night**.

A Few Foraging Rules

1. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT YOU CANNOT 100% IDENTIFY!!! I can't stress the importance of this point. People can die from this sort of stupidity. Let's not win any Darwin Awards here.

Tools You Will Need

1. Scissors and/or pocket knife

2. A local guidebook (don't be tempted to grab a national guide), with pictures

3. Bags for collecting food

How to Play

If you have a blog, post your recipe on your blog, and then share it with Wild Things. Also, mine your archives, and link old recipes.

At the end of the month, I will provide a round up list of everyone's adventures. Sound like fun? I think so.

*No association with Monsanto.

Wild Things Round Up - Tree Party

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 23:21:00 +0000

Welcome to Wild Things in March! This month is a great big tree party, where we celebrate the food and medicinal potential of trees. You won't see any entries using leaves, fruit, nuts, of pollen this time, as they will have their own months as featured ingredients. This time, the posts will be about bark, sap, resin, catkins, and some of the more unusual trees that you wouldn't normally think of harvesting. This is exactly what you voted that you wanted to see in March, so get out your draw knife and enjoy all of the intriguing knowledge that is so generously shared by the contributors.

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Herbalist Renee, of Gold Roots & Threads has shared what she has learned from the teacher known as Douglas Fir. You find that her article contains information about how to identify the tree, its medicinal uses, and some great ideas for cooking with it as well.

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The Fellow Workers Farm Apothecary shared a posted entitled, Black Haw Kicks Ass. Intrigued? Click through to find out about how to use it to address tension headaches, spasms, cramps, and more.

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My buddies at Survival in the Wasteland have shared a really lovely account of their adventures tapping Silver Maples in Colorado, and also about the joys of getting outside in the late winter.

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Are you ready to have your mind blown? Heather at the Wild Raspberry used pine cambium to make doughnuts. Doughnuts, I tell you!

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Holly, of Wild Blessings, has been busy tapping sugar maples to make syrup. I think you're really going to enjoy seeing all of the pictures from her experience, from tree, through boiling, right up to syrup on sourdough french toast. Also, don't miss her recipe for Maple Butternut Squash Soup.

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My foraging Betty, Wild Food Girl, is a real culinary adventurer. Not only did she use a few twigs of black birch collected on a trip to Connecticut to make Black Birch Caramelized Onions, she was also clever enough to make a Pine Nut Shell Vodka Sauce.

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From Discovering the Worlds at My Feet, you'll find two entries about adventures with making medicine from trees - a willow bark tincture (how do you like that tincture bottle?), and infusing olive oil with cottonwood buds.

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From herbalist Kiva Rose, learn about alder as medicine, and how to harvest and make medicine from cottonwood bark, and conifer resins. And if you've not seen it before, look at her post about how to use conifer and bud resins to make your own incense.

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Here is my own entry about making Cottonwood Salve. I like to use beef tallow to make my cottonwood salve because it absorbs nicely into the skin and is solid at room temperature. You won't believe how quickly this salve can alleviate aches and pains until you try it for yourself.

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Cottonwood trees are abundant in my area, which is part of the reason I was so excited to discover that I could eat cottonwood catkins if I caught them at the right stage of growth. In this recipe, I've fried them tempura-style to create a nice little treat that looks like fried worms (a bonus in my book).

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Sending out a big hug and a thank you to everyone who participated in the tree party this month. I look forward to seeing what you bring to the party next time!

Homemade Instant Mushroom Gravy

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:54:00 +0000

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who grew up in a household that made frequent use of instant gravy mix. Instant gravy figured into dinners at least once per week, and even made an appearance at Thanksgiving. While I'll admit that I was never a fan of the stuff, especially when it arrived at the dinner table by the name of Salsbury steak (overcooked hamburger patties topped with gravy, always served with a side of ridiculously over-peppered frozen peas), it certainly was convenient.
There are absolutely occasions these days when I either don't have a pan of meat drippings close at hand, or don't have the time to infuse stock with flavor then turn it into gravy. There is something to be said for having quick access to a gravy, because sometimes you just need it to tie a whole meal together with something saucy and delicious. I've only used dried ingredients in this gravy mix, so that it travels well and can even be used while camping. The recipe is gluten-free and vegan, which makes it great for entertaining. What's more, this instant gravy actually tastes fantastic because it is full of richness from porcini mushrooms.

Homemade Instant Mushroom Gravy

1/2 c. dried porcini mushrooms, ground to a powder in a spice grinder (or dried mushrooms of your choice)
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. powdered sumac (or add a dash of vinegar at the end of cooking)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot
1 1/2 c. cold water

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together thoroughly. You can multiply the batch and divide it into individual bags or jars for storage.

2. To make the gravy, combine the dry mix with the cold water in a small pan. Whisk the gravy together, and continue to whisk occasionally as you bring it to a low boil over medium heat. As soon as the gravy boils, it should thicken nicely. No further cooking is necessary.

3. Taste the gravy, and adjust the salt if necessary. Serve immediately.

Blood Orange Sumac Tart

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:16:00 +0000

Yesterday was a snow day. All previous plans got averted due to nearly a foot of snow. I had thought that I'd use the extra time to work on some writing projects. But in the end, I realized that Mamma N. was giving me a big fat message - I was supposed to use the unexpected free time to revel in what may be some of the last cozy snowflakey moments of spring.

Instead of working, I did a lot of neighborhood shoveling, made a snowman with the neighbor kids, and took a long walk in the blinding snow. I tried hard to appreciate the beauty of the land with a white blanket thrown over it, the feeling of the blood moving through my extremities as I struggled to walk on paths drifted knee high, and the sensation of wind peppering snow into my face. I also thought about the most miserably hot days of last summer, and how I longed for the joys of snow.

Spring arrives in fits and starts here. Or at least, it does in the good years. March is usually the snowiest month of the year. Last year, we didn't receive so much as a spec of precipitation in March, and it set up one of the most devastating fire seasons on record. Although this March has been generous with snow, we've still not managed to pull out of drought conditions. It makes each snow storm feel all the more precious.

It is really lovely to experience snow storms and 70 degree days all in one week. Just a few days ago, I picked my first greens of the season. The landscape is still largely barren and winter-brown. But with some effort, I was able to come home with enough dock, dandelions, and wild onion greens to fill a brown paper lunch bag.

Isn't it just dandy?

Curly dock leaves emerging

Dock, dandelion, and wild onion greens

Then, overnight, the world looked like this.


Robins feeding on crab apples during spring snow storm

Looking up through Blue Spruce boughs

Kitteh thought he wanted to go out, but quickly changed his mind

My garden marker in the snow

In addition to spending some time cozied under a blanket with kitteh reading a book, I also baked like a mad woman on my snow day. I'm not known for enjoying baked goods, so this was an extraordinary day. It certainly yielded an extraordinary amount of dishes to wash. But I also ended up with banana bread, blueberry muffins, and a batch of cast-iron cornbread to go with the night's bean soup.

Lovin' from the oven

Finally, there was dessert, a tart so bright and tangy with blood orange, lemon, and sumac that it earned being called a tart. I had thought the combination of blood orange juice, lemon juice, and egg yolks would turn the tart pink, but it came out rather orange (perhaps due to those high-quality orange-yolked farm eggs). The filling was nicely contrasted by the lightly sweet crunch of a pine nut crust.

Blood Orange Sumac Tart

1 batch of blood orange curd made using this recipe that I posted a few years ago. Substitute a combination of blood orange and lemon juice for the called for 2/3 c. lemon juice. Also, add 1 tsp ground sumac and 1 tsp. blood orange zest to the curd, and strain it out through a sieve after the blood orange sumac curd has cooked.

1/3 batch of pine nut crust, from this Epicurious recipe via Bouchon. I substituted my own gluten-free flour blend into this recipe. Also, the directions on the Epicurious site recommend making a full batch, and freezing 2/3 because the full recipe only calls for one egg. I didn't have nearly enough pine nuts to make the full recipe. So I put my egg into a cup, beat it with a fork, and used what looked to be about 1/3 of it for the crust, saving aside the rest of the egg to eat with breakfast.

1. Butter and flour a 9" tart pan.

2. Press the chilled pine nut dough evenly into the tart pan. Run a rolling pin over the top of the pan to trim any excess dough and make for a neat presentation.

3. Bake the crust in a 350 degree (F) oven for 25-30 minutes, or until it is evenly golden. Remove the pine nut crust from the oven and let it cool while you are making the blood orange sumac curd.

4. While it is still warm, pour the cooked blood orange sumac curd directly into the cooled pine nut crust, and smooth the top with a spatula.

5. Let the tart cool to room temperature. You can either serve it at room temperature, or chilled.

Fruit Tree Bud Study

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Peach

In the last week, this area has seen two wet snow storms, followed in short order by several days in the 70's. That's our definition of a proper Spring. We had hoped the little bit of moisture would hold off fire season, but the first wildfire cropped up today. On a happier note, I took a walk with my Familiar and had a look at the fruit trees and shrubs in my neighborhood. It was really interesting to study them all at this stage of late winter growth.


Hawthorn

Pear

Rose


Apricot


Apple

Golden Currant (racing greyhounds)

Ditch plum

Crab Apple

My favorite bud - Kitteh

Cottonwood Salve

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:20:00 +0000

From the time I was a teen, I begged my Gran to write down her stories - the ones she told of living on the farm, and riding on horse-drawn carts in the time before every house had a telephone. At one point, I even bought her a mini-recorder so that she could record her history. She was the person I adored most in the world, and I knew I'd want that everlasting thread to her. I'm not good with details, and feared I'd never remember her stories well enough to pass them on.

To my knowledge, she never did write down those stories. Her little recording machine remained in its original packaging. When she died last week, she took those stories with her.

But grandmothers are infinitely wise, aren't they? I'm a conduit for sensation, an emotional sink. She knew better than to leave me with details. I'm the keeper of a different aspect of her history. This is what I know about the world because of Gran:

* When presented with the opportunity, always take off your socks, roll up your pants, and hold your feet in the icy waters of a mountain stream for exactly one minute

* Try to sample every dish at all-you-can-eat buffets, even if this means filling up four plates

* Adventure as often as possible, nap whenever that isn't an option

* Making gravy out of fish is a bad idea

* Laugh until you cry until you laugh again

In the end, what else do you really need to know?

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Some wounds are much easier to salve than the loss of a loved one. Take, for example, everyday aches, pains, bumps, and bruises. They are easily addressed with a simply-made balm, one made with resin-rich cottonwood buds.

I'm not an herbalist, but I have many friends who are. And as you already know, I spend a lot of time outside. So I've picked up a few lessons about healing with plants over the years. Cottonwood salve is a staple in my medicine chest.

Resin drop on a cottonwood bud

If you have cottonwood (Populus spp.) nearby, you will certainly recognize their shimmering leaves and rich springtime scent. Any time that cottonwood have buds (late fall through spring), wait until after a windstorm, then search for downed limbs. You should be able to find more buds than you'll ever need to make cottonwood salve (I supply everyone I know with only a pint per year). Look for the plumpest buds that have drops of resin on the outside.

Select a jar that you will use for making cottonwood salve every year, or a jar for which you don't have great affection. Cottonwood resin is nearly impossible to remove from the bottom of the jar when this process is done. Fill the jar 3/4 of the way with sticky resinous cottonwood buds. Cover the buds with beef tallow. I use beef tallow because it has little scent and stays solid even at a fairly high room temperature, and absorbs nicely into skin. If you don't have access to high-quality beef fat (clarified drippings from a good organic roast work) or don't eat beef, use olive, coconut, or almond oil, and add a little grated beeswax at the end of the process to help the oil set up.

The next step is to give the buds and tallow some gentle heat for a few days. I use a small electric coffee warming plate, turning it on for an hour or two at a time, then turning it off until the tallow returns to solid, repeating many times. When the tallow takes on a yellow color and becomes very fragrant, it is ready. Strain out the spent buds, and pour the cottonwood salve into small jars, tins, or chapstick tubes. A little cottonwood salve goes a long way. As far as I can tell, it keeps indefinitely.

Here's the awesome part. Cottonwood salve is an outstanding all-purpose boo-boo fixer. It is anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and analgesic. You can use it on small cuts and scrapes, bumps and bruises, aches, pains, strains, and more. You can even rub it on your chest when you have a cold, because it functions as an expectorant.

I always keep a small container of cottonwood salve in my backpack when I'm foraging, and it has saved me from more mishaps than I can count. I also use it on my knuckle, which tends to get sore and achy ahead of stormy weather. I just rub the knuckle with cottonwood salve, and ten minutes later, the pain and stiffness is gone!

To find out more about cottonwood medicine, have a look at what herbalist Kiva Rose wrote about it here.

To learn more about some of the herbal medicine I use day in and day out, read my article A Forager's First Aid Kit. This post also includes a picture of finished cottonwood salve.

Double Pine Salvadoran Quesadillas

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:35:00 +0000

I'm already starting to fill my freezer with goodies in anticipation of summer, when I won't be using my oven due to the heat. Every time I bake something now, I put half of it into the freezer - meat loaf, meatballs, pastry shells, cookies, banana bread, and more.

I first learned about these little breakfast cakes from El Salvador from my friend Kat of Chocolocateria, who brought quesadillas to a tea party because they are both terribly tasty and gluten-free. They are made with rice flour, and bake up tangy and rich, like a mash-up between cheesecake and pound cake. It turns out that they also freeze pretty well. I'm looking forward to enjoying quesadillas again in the summer with a cup of coffee.

Quesadillas are traditionally made with sesame seeds on top. I found the delicate citrus flavor of pine to be the perfect compliment to these ~~breakfast~~ anytime treats. This recipe is adapted from the one that appeared on Food52.

Double Pine Salvadoran Quesadillas

8 oz. butter, room temp
3/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. grated cotija cheese (or Parmesan)
1 c. rice flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. powdered pine needles*
big pinch of salt
pine nuts for topping

1. Use a mixer to cream together the butter and sugar.

2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

3. Next, add the sour cream and cheese, and continue to mix

4. Sprinkle in the remaining ingredients except the pine nuts, being careful to evenly distribute the baking soda over the ingredients so that it doesn't clump, and combine the mixture until it forms a smooth batter.

5. Evenly distribute the batter between 36 greased mini muffin cups. Embellish the top of each with a few pine nuts, gently pressing them partially into the batter.

6. Bake in a 375 degree (F) oven for 15 minutes, or until the edges take on a nice golden brown, which brings out the cheesy flavor of the quesadillas.

7. Let the quesadillas cool in their pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to finish cooling.

*Fresh or dried pine needles buzzed through a spice grinder, then sifted

Wild Things in March - Tree Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 01:29:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I did poll on my Facebook page to see whether people would prefer to see a redux of dandelion recipes for March, or explore the possibilities of trees. I was blown away by the overwhelming majority who voted for trees.

And so it is, March at Wild Things is dedicated to the delights of trees. Because they have been or will be featured as a separate month at Wild Things, no leaves, needles, fruit, or nuts this month, please. Instead, monographs or recipes for sap, bark (including cambium), pollen, catkins, and resin are welcome.

I'll admit that this is going to be a tricky month. But if you tap maple, birch, aspen, black walnut or any other tree to make syrup, this is your month! Also, I know that many of my friends who are herbalists have been exploring the possibilities of tree medicine lately and will have lots of good information to share.

My own experience here lies mostly with tree bark. I've done some experiments with making elixir and extracts with it, and have used them in place of vanilla in baking. If anyone out there is harvesting their own cinnamon, I'd be thrilled to hear from you!

You may have to do some research this month to find out what is possible in your area.

Are you new to Wild Things? Here's the scoop.

Welcome to the Wild Things Round Up*

As your host, I'd like to demonstrate that eating wild foods doesn't need to be a terrifying endeavor, and that our health and our diet needn't be dictated by financial status or geographic location.

A Few Notes About the Round Up

1. Wherever you are, you have access to Wild Things, even if this means clandestine trips to your neighbor's yard in the middle of the night**.

A Few Foraging Rules

1. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT YOU CANNOT 100% IDENTIFY!!! I can't stress the importance of this point. People can die from this sort of stupidity. Let's not win any Darwin Awards here.

Tools You Will Need

1. Scissors and/or pocket knife

2. A local guidebook (don't be tempted to grab a national guide), with pictures

3. Bags for collecting food

How to Play

If you have a blog, post your recipe on your blog, and then share it with Wild Things. Also, mine your archives, and link old recipes.

At the end of the month, I will provide a round up list of everyone's adventures. Sound like fun? I think so.

*No association with Monsanto.

Wild Things Round Up - All Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:35:00 +0000

This month, I set out a little challenge in honor of the month of love. In February, Wild Things was "all heart," featuring posts about plants and animals that are good for the heart, aphrodisiacs, and even actual heart recipes.

I think you'll be tickled to see the recipes that were submitted this month. Enjoy.

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Tim Furst shared his thoughts about how best to prepare freshly harvested oysters.

High school marine science camp in October is wet & chilly stuff. Wearing
hip waders while wading through the chest high water of Virginia's
Chincoteague Bay is even wetter & chillier so I was the first one to
scramble to the relative comfort of the exposed oyster reef. Next on the
mound of living shells was a classmate in a wetsuit who wasted no time in
using his SCUBA knife to wrest an oyster off the reef & lever it open. I
had experienced raw oysters before but, standing in the grey mist on that
oyster bed as the tide ebbed, first tasting the briny tang of the invisible
salt slick & then the rich smooth sweetness of the cool flesh, was as
pleasant & primordial as any culinary experience before or since.

Today I am the lone holdout - I live in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains while
the rest of my family have all moved to the Delmarva Peninsula. There on
the Eastern Shore, "double dip" does not refer to an ice cream cone but to
the method of dipping oysters into a buttermilk/egg mixture & then into a
seasoned cornmeal mixture. Then the whole process is repeated - double
dipped - before dropping the bivalves into hot oil to deep fry just until
the batter is crisp but before the plump oyster loses its moist metallic
creaminess.

But - except as a special request from special people - I rarely fry
oysters. I rarely broil them with Pernod & chopped spinach, I rarely add
them to reduced heavy cream & diced Cajun tasso, I rarely even poach them
just until the delicate gills curl in their own liquor, cream & butter to
make oyster stew.

No - usually if I cook freshly tonged oysters at all, I put them on a grill
- cupped shell down to save the precious juice - until they are almost
ready to pop open. They should need just a slight coaxing at the hinge
from an oyster knife & be warm but still engorged - it is OK if you wait
until they just begin to open. Mostly I just cut the muscle and slurp the
delicious meat directly from the shell - and mostly I do that to a raw
oyster. It takes some practice - and usually a little blood - to learn to
shuck the mollusks from their sharp stubborn shells but it is a skill that
will get you invited to the right parties. As far as embellishing oysters,
I don't go far from tradition - just a quick squeeze of lemon or a peppery
mignonette. One day I might try a few grains of tart sumac berries on an
oyster instead of lemon, I know it would look beautiful.

Sauce Mignonette

1/2 cup good vinegar, use your good stuff here, nothing too heavy though
1 small shallot, finely minced - I have used wild onions with great success
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper - fussy people sometimes use
white but I like black & fussy people probably aren't reading "Hunger and
Thirst"
Maybe a pinch of salt if the oysters aren't very saline
Just combine everything & let sit an hour or so to meld the flavors, use
your tiniest spoon to just moisten your oysters on the half shell.

I don't know if just shucked oysters are an aphrodisiac as legend suggests,
but they do make people happy. Sometimes, when people get happy
together... well, you know...

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The Diva at Wildcraft Vita has shared her recipe for Hawthorn Berry Liqueur, which has the intriguing addition of almonds. She's also shared a really delicious recipe for Shepherd's Purse Butter/Sauce. And, hello!, can I just say that her picture of shepherd's purse is one of the prettiest herbal pics I've ever seen.

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In honor of heart month, Wild Food Girl has shared several pink recipes, including Prickly Pear and Grapefruit Syrup, Sauerkraut Nachos, and Striped Bass Pinkened by Sumac.

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Herbalist Darcey Blue, who has a talent for making tea blends, has shared several of her favorite heart brews including Sweet Heart Tea, Fae Fires Haw Brew, and Heart Song Tea.

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Who's ready for a sweets break? You know Cauldrons and Crockpots has some of the sweets recipes around. Think I'm wrong? Have a look at her Hawthorn and Rose Turkish Delights.

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Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, Hank Shaw, knows just how to cook game heart. Even if you're new to heart meat, I think you'll enjoy Grilled Deer Heart with Peppers. I swear, it's just a lovely piece of muscle, a nice steak!

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Herbalist Rosalee de la Foret has shared her excellent monograph about hawthorn, as well as a recipe for Chocolate Syrup with Elderberries and Rose Hips.

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I love to collect wild asparagus with my buddy from Laughing Lemon Pie, which is why I'm delighted that she thought to submit her recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara with Wild Asparagus, and Gluten-Free Gnocchi with Asparagus and Mushroom Cream.

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Leave it to a farmer to figure out how to make the best of a plant that is more of a nuisance than delight. Have a look at what they do with hawthorn berries at Auburn Meadow Farm.

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If you're a chili-head like me, then I think you'll like my Hawthorn Guajillo Chile Sauce.

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Rose hips work really beautifully with meat, believe it or not. This is my recipe for Pork with Rose Hip Sweet and Sour Sauce.

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My recipe for Rose Hip Gelee was inspired by traditional quince membrillo.

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As you can see from my third rose hip recipe, I really enjoy the fruit of the rose. I even used it to make a fiery sauce for shrimp in Shrimp with Spicy Rose Hip Cashew Sauce.

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I'd like to thank all of the contributors for continuing to inspire each month with their wild creations. See you next month y'all!

Porcini Deviled Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:59:00 +0000

A day before a big snow storm swept through the area, I received an unexpected treat on my doorstep. The weather had been warm enough at that time for my friend's hens to start laying. I appreciate that eggs are a seasonal product, and try to always hold out for real farm eggs. My oh my does that ever make for a long winter, though!

The very first thing I did was poach an egg to put on a salad. The way an oozing egg yolk can elevate a simple salad is nothing short of magic. What a great way to kick off egg season.

Next, I got to try out a recipe idea I've had in my head since last fall - porcini deviled eggs. I love eggs. I also love mushrooms. So, what could be better than mushroomy eggs, I ask? Well, you'll have to try them to find out for yourself. I thought they were pretty amazing.

Porcini Deviled Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
4 Tbsp. mayonnaise (homemade is best, but I won't be a jerk and insist upon it)
2 tsp. minced shallot
10 rings of sliced pickled jalapenos, minced
1 Tbsp. porcini mushroom powder*
generous pinch of salt

1. Slice the hard boiled eggs in half. Remove the yolks and place them into a small bowl.

2. Use a fork to mash the yolks together with the remaining ingredients to form a smooth paste.

3. Spoon the filling into the egg whites (or pipe it in, if you're feeling fancy).

4. Top the porcini deviled eggs with a sprinkling of paprika or a few snips of chives.

*make your own porcini powder by whizzing up dried porcini in your electric spice grinder

Leaf Litter Caramel

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 05:20:00 +0000

Last month, I wrote an article for Zester Daily about how Magnus Nilsson had inspired me to try a new deep-winter ingredient - decaying leaves from the forest floor. Infused into water, they taste slightly bitter in a good way, like tea, and smell like the forest after an autumn storm. For the story, I created a rolled trout served in a tea made from leaf litter, and was won over by the sensual taste of the the leaves. After that, I started thinking about how else I could use those brown leaves that were on the ground everywhere I looked.

Enter my craving for Helliemae's salted caramel banana pudding. My buddy at Helliemae's makes caramels so good that they curl my toes with pleasure. Better yet, she makes banana pudding with a layer of her wondrous salted caramel on the bottom that is positively crave-inducing. If you get the chance, try the real thing, because Helliemae's has the voodoo. Unfortunately, my craving struck in the middle of the night, which is not the ideal time to go knocking on the door of the candy factory. I had to resort to making my own caramel. And never one to just leave a recipe alone, it occurred to me that sweet caramel might be the perfect place to add hints of rotting leaves.

Through experimentation, I found that I preferred the way decaying leaves infused into water, rather than in cream. I settled upon using a method described in this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen for making caramel, which uses apple cider as a base. Of course, I took the recipe way off the rails, and used a melted sugar for it's true burnt sugar taste, instead of relying upon brown sugar for the caramel-y aspect of flavor. I'll be the first to tell you that this is a pretty goofy way to make caramel. But I tested it several times, and it works just fine.

Leaf Litter Caramel

4 c. apple cider
15-20 decaying leaves*
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
8 Tbsp. butter
1/3 c. heavy cream

1. After washing them under running water, use a piece of kitchen twine to tie your leaves into a bundle.

2. Bring the apple cider to a low boil in a heavy-bottomed medium-sized pot. It will need quite a bit of time, between 30-45 minutes to reduce down to the desired syrupy consistency.

3. Add the bundle of leaves to the reducing apple cider. Let them boil in the cider for 10-15 minutes before fishing them out and discarding. If you leave them in there too long, the caramels will be too bitter.

Melted sugar

4. While the apple cider is starting to reduce, start melting the sugar. Pour the 1/2 c. of sugar into a small pan, turn your burner to medium, then just leave it be (no stirring) until all of the sugar has melted and turned the color of maple syrup. This is where the caramel flavor comes from. Be careful not to let the melted sugar heat for too long, because there is a danger that you can burn it.

5. Pour the liquid sugar into the boiling apple cider. Be very careful, as it will hiss and sputter. The sugar will seize and crystallize. But at this point, there is still enough water in the cider to melt it back into solution. Stir away here, and make sure all of the hardened sugar comes off the bottom of the pan and your spoon, and melts into the cider.

6. Continue to boil the cider until most of the water is gone, and it forms a thick syrup. There may be as little as a 1/2 c. remaining in the pan. You'll know when you've reached the right stage when the bubbles on the top of the syrup go from looking like those of boiling water to being bigger and more sticky in appearance.

7. Remove the reduced cider from the burner. Stir in the salt, butter, and cream until you've got an even, velvety mixture.

8. Before you go to the next step, fill a small bowl with cold water. This will be how you test whether your caramel has reached the stage you desire. If you think you are close, drizzle a few drips of caramel into the bowl of cold water. If it solidifies to the consistency of a thick pudding, you've reached the correct stage for caramel sauce. If it sets up so that you can squeeze it into a taffy-like ball with your fingers, you've reached the correct stage for wrapped caramels.

9. Return the pan of caramel to medium heat. Continue to boil it, testing along the way, until you've reached the consistency you'd prefer. Every time you test, it is a good idea to pull the pan off the heat, because in the time it takes you to drizzle a bit into the bowl of cold water, the caramel can go from being the perfect stage to being burnt.

10. If you're making candies, pour the finished caramel into a buttered shallow pan, allow it to cool, cut it into pieces, and wrap them in waxed paper. If you're making caramel sauce, it keeps well in a mason jar in the fridge for a few weeks. But really, it won't last that long, especially if you drizzle it over ice cream, cheesecake, or banana pudding.

*I've found that I enjoy the taste of linden and mulberry leaves, and that cottonwood and willow are far too bitter. Nilsson frequently mentions using birch leaves. If you'd like more ideas about which leaves to try, this chart might be of some help.

Dried Nettle Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:49:00 +0000

It's getting to be that time of year already - time to clean out the pantry. It looks as if spring is going to let loose on this corner of the world even more quickly than last year. Soon, I will be able to harvest fresh greens, and the roll into the growing season will have begun. Now is the time to eat the last of the frozen, pickled, and dried goods that are still lining the shelves. I'm a good little preserver, so there is plenty of food still to be eaten.

I've got an especially plentiful supply of dried nettles. I happened upon a great new nettle patch last year, and was able to eat my fill of fresh, as well as stick a lot of them into the freezer and dried goods shelves. Now I've still got an enormous two gallon tin full of dried nettle leaves, more then I could ever drink as a simple tea, or crumbling into my soups and stews. I need to make a serious effort at eating these nettles (oh, the horror!).

In the past, I've made a few batches of pasta with fresh nettles every year in the spring. But with some experimentation, I've found that nettle pasta is even easier to whip out with dried nettles, because I don't need to blanch, wring out, and pulverize the fresh plant. Instead, I can buzz up the dried leaves in my spice grinder, and incorporate them with the flour.

I don't usually do this, but I've included separate recipes for both wheaty and gluten-free dried nettle pasta, since they are such wildly different beasts. The wheatiful version turns out a thin, bouncy noodle that will remind you of spinach pasta. The gluten-free noodles are a little thicker and more rustic, but they remind me of homey egg noodles my Gran used to make for her chicken soup. Both recipes require that you fuss a bit with the amount of water added to achieve the desired texture. This varies greatly based upon the general humidity where you live. Don't be intimidated, though, the process isn't hard, and you'll be rewarded with deep green nettle noodles!

Nettle pasta stands up well to all manner of sauces, and is a great last-minute addition to soups. You can also use nettle pasta for making fantastic lasagna and ravioli. My favorite way to serve nettle noodles is tossed simply with a pat of porcini or wild allium butter.

All of the photographs in this post are of the gluten-free version of dried nettle pasta.

Dried Nettle Pasta

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. sifted nettle powder
3 eggs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 (or more) Tbsp. water

1. Dump the flour and nettle powder onto a clean countertop, and use your hands to thoroughly mix the two together. Gather the mixed flour and nettle into a pile, then hollow out a well in the center.

2. Gently add the eggs, olive oil, salt, and first tablespoon of water into the well.

3. With a fork, gently mix the wet ingredients. When they are somewhat evenly combined, start pulling small amount of flour from the inside edge of the well, and incorporate it. Bring more and more flour into the well and mix it with a fork until it is no longer possible to mix with a fork.

4. At that point, start combining and kneading the dough with your hands. It will be a huge mess at first, but the dough will eventually start to pull together into a ball.

5. Knead the dough for a good 5-10 minutes. If it seems raggedy and somewhat dry, add water a tablespoon at a time, and knead it in. The dough is the right texture if it is smoothly rubbery, like a piece of gum you've chewed for an hour.

6. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest on the counter for two hours.

7. Using a pasta machine, roll the dough out thinly, and cut into your desired noodle shape. It helps to cut the ball of dough into four pieces, and run them through the machine in batches. Alternately, roll the nettle pasta dough out as thinly as possibly with a rolling pin, lightly dust both sides with flour, roll it up into a log, then cut the log every 1/8" or so to create long noodles.

8. Use the noodles immediately, cooking to al dente in salted boiling water. Or dry the noodles over a dowel or long rod (I use ski poles propped between two chairs) until they snap, then store in an airtight container.

Gluten-Free Dried Nettle Pasta

1/4 c. sweet rice flour
1/2 c. arrowroot or cornstarch
2/3 c. buckwheat flour
1/4 c. sifted nettle powder
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. salt.
4 eggs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 (or more) Tbsp. water

Follow the directions for the wheat-based noodles. The gluten-free nettle pasta will never get as smooth as the wheaty version, and may not roll out to be as thin without cracking. It should, however, come together to make a nice even dough. The key is feeling out the correct amount of water to add. The gluten-free noodles benefit from the same rest time, obviously not to let the gluten relax as with the wheatiful version, but to give the various flours and nettle time to fully absorb the moisture. I've found this really helps make the dough a more desirable texture, and much easier to roll out.

Looking for more nettle pasta goodness? Have a look at Hunter Angler Gardener Cook's recipe for Strettine, or this recipe for Pasta Verde all'Ortica from Emiko Davies.

Early Stirrings

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 22:41:00 +0000

Motherwort, rawrrrr!

Seems to me to be entirely too early for leaves to be emerging, but clearly Mamma N is the one in control. The mild winter and lack of snow will have consequences that reach far into summer. But for now, I'll try to enjoy these first glimpses of green.

Alley-oop Allium!

Whassup dock?

That's just dandy.

Queen Anne's looking lovely.

Hallo mallow, I won't neglect ya!

Wild Things in February is All Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:58:00 +0000

Welcome to Wild Things in February! As always, Wild Things is dedicated to featuring what real people are cooking with their foraged finds. This month is extra special, as Wild Things is all heart. This month, you can submit recipes (or monographs, for my herbalists friends) about herbs which are good for the spiritual or physical heart, such as hawthorn (check out this post by Rosalee de la Foret to get you started). You may also share recipes using wildcrafted aphrodisiacs. My buddy at Kings Road Apothecary tells me that pine pollen is a nice aphrodisiac. If you harvest your own oysters, that would also fit the bill. Finally, I'd be happy to see a few recipes featuring actual heart muscle from game critters. It should be an exciting month, right?
Let me just be really clear that by "good for the heart," I in no way mean any sort of plant or recipe that is intentionally low-fat or diet-(crap)tastic. I will reject those entries outright. Think more along the lines of herbs that are thought to be heart-related in herbal medicine. Look to great herbalists like Michael Moore, Matthew Wood, and Kiva Rose for guidance.

If you're new to Wild Things, first of all, hooray and hello. Pleased to meet ya! Secondly, read this, as will tell you all about the round up, and give you instructions on how to participate. For the old pros of Wild Things, please, I'm begging you, send your submission to the official Wild Things email, and not to my personal accounts, social media, or through messaging.

Are you new to Wild Things? Here's the scoop.

Welcome to the Wild Things Round Up*

As your host, I'd like to demonstrate that eating wild foods doesn't need to be a terrifying endeavor, and that our health and our diet needn't be dictated by financial status or geographic location.

A Few Notes About the Round Up

1. Wherever you are, you have access to Wild Things, even if this means clandestine trips to your neighbor's yard in the middle of the night**.

A Few Foraging Rules

1. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT YOU CANNOT 100% IDENTIFY!!! I can't stress the importance of this point. People can die from this sort of stupidity. Let's not win any Darwin Awards here.

Tools You Will Need

1. Scissors and/or pocket knife

2. A local guidebook (don't be tempted to grab a national guide), with pictures

3. Bags for collecting food

How to Play

If you have a blog, post your recipe on your blog, and then share it with Wild Things. Also, mine your archives, and link old recipes.

At the end of the month, I will provide a round up list of everyone's adventures. Sound like fun? I think so.

*No association with Monsanto.

Wild Things Round Up - Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:56:00 +0000

I hope you all are settling into the new year, and that it is treating you well. The Wild Things Round Up this month is featuring all manner of tea recipes - from tasty tisanes, to medicinal brews, and beyond. In the world of wildcrafting, there are endless possibilities in this theme. I hope that this collection of recipes will inspire you to blend your own favorite tea from wild plants.

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Herbalist Renee Davis, of the Olympia Free Herbal Clinic, wrote this gorgeous post all about teas made from Trees, Lichen, and Fungi. You'll be inspired by her blends.

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This entry from Sherkhanchan is a perfect introduction to the world of tisanes. It also includes a few scrumptious recipes, including Wild Passionflower, Honeysuckle, and Satsuma Peel.

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My best foraging buddy, Wild Food Girl, explore the use of mullein as tea. She even proposes making mullein boba tea (kinda genius, right?).

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Meg has shared her recipe for Rose Hip Tea with Hibiscus and Ginger. If you're anything like me, you'll enjoy the story that goes along with this post at the Joy of Cooking Kitchen almost as much as the recipe.

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You are going to flip when you read this awesome post about herbal tisanes from Wildcraft Vita. It includes instructions for making your own adorable tea bags! The Diva also shared her experience with making ground ivy as tea.

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Esmaa, from Middleground Farm has shared three great blends. The first is a detox tea called Easy Resolution, This second post contains recipes for Esmaa's Even Keel and Sweet William (which she created for her hubby).

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Herbalist Rosalee de la Foret has shared a blend that is medicine for the heart. Given that it contains linden, hawthorn, goldenrod, and rose, I'm guessing it tastes pretty stinkin' good as well.

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My local wildcrafting friends Rico and Beth, of Survival in the Wasteland, have shared one of their favorite blends.

One slice of dried american licorice root
A healthy pinch of dried linden flowers
Dried wild mint, preferably mentha arvensis, to taste

A little goes a long way with th' mint, i sometimes use just one leaf,
brew just till it's cool enough to drink, then enjoy!

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Heather was kind enough to share some information about one of her favorite wild teas.

Not much of a recipe, but I love cedar tea! It's the only herbal tea
I've ever found that I love hot or cold, with no added sweeteners.
Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil, throw in a handful of cedar (Thuja occidentalis)
"greens", boil for 3 minutes, steep for 3 minutes, then strain. The
lady who told me about it (A wonderful Native American woman who has
made a study of "tree teas") said not to be tempted to let it boil or
steep longer, because instead of tea you end up with a cleaner (which
is also very good stuff)If I remember she said that a cup has more
vitamin C than a couple of oranges and it's a great detox. But you
shouldn't drink too much of it for extended periods unless it's a
drastic situation because it's not good for the kidneys (high
tannins). I also met someone once who said a friend had cured
themselves of cancer using cedar tea (I'm guessing the high C is the
reason).

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Lisa Rose Starner of Burdock and Rose, uses winter's woodland delights to make medicinal brews. This is herbal medicine at its best - a little of this, and a handful of that to cure what ails you.

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Patricia DeMarco shared this recipe.

Changing Woman Herbal Tea Blend

A calming and restorative herbal tea for the reproductive systems of
women going through hormonal transitions:

Measure out by dry weight:

2 parts Avena
1 part Hawthorn Leaf/Flowers
1 part Nettle Leaf
1 1/4 parts Raspberry Leaf
1/4 part Garden Sage
1/2 part Dandelion Leaf

Grind and/or sift. Store in glass container. Prepare as you would any
herbal infusion.
To give it more color, I like to add equal amounts of domestic red or
pink Hawthorn Flowers with the wild white ones. Plus, in the fall when
the raspberries are making their second comeback and there are usually
small red, hard or even dry raspberries on the vines, I'll remove
hardened berries and fresh leaves, dry them thoroughly and add to tea
mixture. Adds a sweet, hearty flavor. Of course, you could harvest and
dry the the berries when they ripen earlier; I like to use the fall
harvested ones.

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Maury Grimm, one of the foragers who most inspires me, has generously shared several of her favorites.

*Maddie's Mix:*
1 Tbsp crushed dried Rosehips
1 inch (more or less) Cinnmaon stick
1 inch Ginger (can be chopped or sliced)

2 Tbsp dried Nettles

Put Rosehips, Cinnamon andGinger in 3 cups of water to boil. Decoct about
3-5 minutes, covered. Turn off heat, put Nettles in (this can be
transferred to a tea pot) and cover, let infuse for 5-10 mins.

Add local organic honey, if desired! Enjoy. My daughter made this up and we
love it!

*Mom's Heartshaker tea:*
1Tbsp dried Hawthorn berries
1 inch Ginger, sliced
1/2 tsp Cayenne flakes
Local honey to taste

Boil berries & gunger in two cups water, covered about 5 mins. Add hot
pepper, cover and steep. Sweeten with honey and prepare to have your heart
move!

*Headache tea*:
Infuse dried corn silk in water. Drink cold for best results.

*Cold buster tea:*
I keep this is a jar, just adding ingredients as needed:
Dried Rosehips
Dried Elderberries
Dried Lovage leaves and/or ground root
Dried Goldenrod flowers (if you are not allergic)
Dried mint (I use catmint for its calming effect, and I have allot of it)

This is a fairly standard mix at my home. Sometimes I will add dried
dandelion flowers and dried Echinacea root, but only as needed (one never
wants Echinacea as a constant regimen).

*Sleepy Tea*
*Equal amounts of *
Lemon Balm
Dried California Poppy
Hops
Verbena Hastata
Catmint

This is another mix I keep on hand from wild and grown herbs. The Verbena
Hastata is bitter, so add enough mint to balance and honey when served.

*Cleansing Tea:*
*Equal parts: *
Lovage root, ground
Dandelion Root, ground
Fennel Seeds

Steep all and drink throughout the day, a cold infusion is best.

Be well and light

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Sandi Priest has a moon brew.

I use this tea during my menses. All of the herbs grow naturally where
I live in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina. Yarrow and Red
Clover grow in my yard and the Bee Balm grows by the creek just down
the road. I also have beautiful Wild Mountain Mint that grows in
abundance. I add a little to the tea to give it an extra strong mint
flavor some times. It can be substituted with peppermint, spearmint,
or Lemon Balm. The herbs are easily dried for use all year long.

Minty Menses Tea (use equal parts)
Bee Balm
Yarrow
Red Clover
Wild Mountain Mint (optional)

Bee Balm/ Scarlet Bergamot - reduces muscle spasms and menstrual
cramps. (ref. 1 pgs. 34 -35) The mint flavor is very pleasing.

Yarrow - is a stimulant which increases the energy of the body, drives
the circulation, breaks up obstructions and warms the body. It is used
for the treatment of painful or suppressed menses. (ref. 2 pgs. 37 &
211)

Red Clover - regulates sex hormones. Researchers speculate that
isoflavones that are found in Red Clover, may attach to estrogen
receptors, in the bladder, arteries, bones, and heart, relieving
symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, PMS, in some women. It has also
been used in the treatment of cancer. (ref. 1 pgs. 304 - 305)

Reference 1 (ref. 1) - National Geographic Desk Reference to Nature's
Medicine by Steven Foster and Rebecca L. Johnson

Reference 2 (ref. 2) - The Way of Herbs by Michael Tierra L. Ac., O.M.D.

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Can you imagine a mid-winter treat as fine as tea made with dehydrated wild strawberries and cream? Jump over to visit the Dyhanaverse to find out more about how to make this glorious tea.

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Herbalist Kiva Rose combines conifer needles, acorns, and juniper berries in her Wild Woodlands Morning Brew.

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Hunter Angler Gardener Cook Hank Shaw tackled a roasted chicory root infusion, aka Chicory Root Coffee.

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This is an older post from this blog, but it remains my favorite winter tea blend. Perhaps you'd also enjoy a cup of Butter's Favorite Tea Blend.

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This is another of my older posts, in which I talk about two of my favorite summer herb teas - Strawberry Leaf and Navajo Teas.

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Here's one I wrote about using red clover flowers to make Red Clover Sun Tea.

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Earlier this month, I became a little obsessed with pounded tea, or lei cha. It is made creamy by the use of pulverized nuts and seeds. Of course, I made my version with wild teas - Wild Pestle Tea.

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Did you know that you can ferment raspberry or blackberry leaves to make something more like a black tea at home? Here, I've used fermented raspberry leaf tea to infuse Goat Cheese Custards.

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I made these Wild Tea-Marbled Eggs using locally wildcrafted plants. Aren't they gorgeous?

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Thanks for the inspiration, everyone! See you next month. I think you'll be very *excited* by the theme (any guesses?).

Wild Tea-Marbled Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 03:35:00 +0000

So, tonight's post is going to be a quickie. But surely you value a good quickie - adjusts the hormones and relaxes you after all. No long story, no deep thoughts, just tasty food. In the end, what else endures?

Check that, I've got a short story. So, a few weeks ago, I was in a car with Hank Shaw, and mentioned something about how I wanted to make a wild tea-marbled egg, thinking I was having some sort of genius moment. Hank turns to me and says, "oh, like my madrone tea eggs?"

Oh yeah, right. Like that. So much for genius moments. I'll console myself with the idea that great minds think alike.

You can make tea eggs NorCal-stylie like Hank, or dressed up with Rocky Mountain flavors like me. But really, I encourage you to use the flavors of your own home. I used this recipe for reference.

Here's the long and short of it. Soft-boiled eggs. Break their shells with a spoon - tap tap tap. Boil them in a strong tea for a bit, then turn off the heat and let them infuse. You'll end up with eggs that are touched by your favorite flavors, and also have the rather awesome side benefit of looking like mini dinosaur eggs.

Wild Tea-Marbled Eggs

6 eggs
enough water to cover by an inch
1/4 c. porcini soy sauce
1/2 c. dried fermented raspberry leaf tea
1 4x6" chunk of Ponderosa pine bark
8 crushed juniper berries

1. Place eggs in a small pot, and cover with water by an inch. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat until it reaches a simmer, and let it roll for 4 minutes.

2. Fish the eggs out of the water, and place them in a bowl of cold water.

3. Once the eggs have cooled to the touch, tap each one with with back of a spoon. You want to thoroughly crunch the egg without actually tattering the shell into pieces. Get the shell well broken up without destroying it.

4. Place the porcini soy sauce, rasberry leaf tea, Ponderosa pine bark, and juniper berries into the same pot of water. Bring the whole lot to a boil, lower the bashed eggs in gently with a slotted spoon, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

5. Simmer the eggs for 30 minutes, turn off the heat, and let them sit for at least 4 hours.

7. I like these eggs served cold. Understand that part of the joy of these wild tea-marbled eggs is in peeling them, and revealing the alligator pattern on the surface of the egg and inside the shell. Ooooh, purty!

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Fermented Raspberry Leaf Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Butter) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 21:37:00 +0000

Blind friend-dates are a tricky proposition, the outcome of which seems to fall into extremes of decidedly good or decidedly bad for me. One time, I ended up on a blind friend-date with a pair of sisters. All bubblegum pink lipstick and painted nails, they turned their chairs to face each other, and left me ~~smirking~~ smiling from outskirts while they engaged in an elaborate gym rat pissing contest. "I'm so noodled, Muffy! I pumped out five spin classes last week!" "That's nothing Buffy, I spent so much time on the elliptical yesterday that they had to kick me off, tee hee hee hee."

Combined, they ate about five forkfuls of their lunch. They did, however, manage to tuck down several glasses of Diet Coke each, so it is probably no wonder that they didn't have room for their lunch and spent most of the time pushing the poor food around their plates. It would be tough to say whether the lowlight of the afternoon was their discussion of buffalo burger, "Eww, I can't believe they started adding fat to buffalo burger! I mean, the whole point is that it is low fat," or their lively recounting of a shared drinking binge in Vegas that resulted in them dancing on tables (apparently a moment of great pride).

Contrast that experience with yesterday's blind-friend date, where I met the friend of an internet friend. You could argue that was one heck of a shot in the dark, but I now measure these experiences against lunch with the Barbie sisters, and figured it could hardly be worse. We spent most of our time together poking around the woods, trying to identify winter-brown plants and trees. Being that she is a farmer (if you are in the Portland area, check out the Flying Onion Farm!), and in town studying botanical illustration, we had a large degree of plant-nerditude in common. The afternoon was strongly infused with cursing and sarcastic humor, and my heart smiled when she sang along to the Pixies. For me, the highlight came when I served my potato and goose pizza and goat cheese custards, and she clearly relished every bite. Honestly, few things could make me happier.

Fermented Raspberry Leaf Tea

Proper black tea, made with leaves from Camellia sinensis, is actually a fermented product. Camellia sinensis certainly doesn't grow here. I make tisanes from a whole laundry list of herbs, all of which are delicious. But none ever comes close to approximating that deep nuanced flavor of true black tea.

While flipping through my notebooks last summer, I found a recipe for fermented blackberry leaf tea from Heather Pier, and had an ah-ha moment. From my notes, she crushed and cut blackberry leaves. Next, she sealed them in a mason jar and put the jar in the back of her Jeep to heat, and thus ferment, for a few days.

I decided to apply this technique to raspberry leaves which, like blackberries, are a Rubus. I picked only bright fresh green leaves. First I ran the leaves through the roller setting on my pasta machine to crush them. Then, I sent them through the machine again on the spaghetti-cutting setting, shredding the bruised leaves into ribbons. No doubt you could accomplish the same thing with a rolling pin and a knife, but I doubt it would be as much fun. I then sealed the leaves in a mason jar, wrapped it in a towel, and put it on top of the fridge for three days, shaking it a few times daily.

At the end of this process, the leaves had turned a deep green-black, and smelled oddly like bananas. I dumped them out of the jar onto a baking sheet, and left them to air-until they were crispy. The resulting fermented raspberry leaf tea has stored well in a tin in the pantry. It does indeed taste much more like a black tea then any other plant I use. It makes a fine cuppa, but of course I've not been able to resist cooking with it either.

The fermented raspberry leaf tea perfectly compliments the grassy notes of the goat cheese in this custard recipe. Resist the urge to add vanilla, or lemon zest, or other herbs to this recipe, as the flavor is much too delicate for such things. Likewise, don't serve it with an intense topping, like berries or jam. It is lovely topped with a few ribbons of shaved apple, or unsweetened whipped cream. But truthfully, it is delightful served nekked.

I used David Lebovitz's recipe for this one because of its awesome simplicity. Also, so that you'd have actual measurements to use, instead of trying to figure out what I mean when I say that I chucked together cheese, cream, and egg yolks until it "looked right."

Goat Cheese Custard with Fermented Raspberry Leaf Tea

5 oz. soft goat cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. cream
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. powdered fermented raspberry leaf tea

1. Blend all of the ingredients until they are completely smooth. Use a stand mixer, hand mixer, blender, or even a whisk.

2. Pour the custard into four small ramekins (I also enjoy using tea cups).

3. Place the ramekins into a baking dish or pan, then add enough hot tap water to the pan to go half way up the (outside!) of the ramekins full of custard. Cover the whole works with a piece of foil.

4. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 15 minutes, or until the outside edge of the custard look solid, but the centers remain jiggly. This is the only fussy point of this recipe. You really don't want to overcook these little suckers, or the texture will be disagreeable.

5. Once cooked, remove the custard cups from the water, and let them cool completely. I prefer them served at room temperature, but they can also be enjoyed warm or cold.

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