Once I started reading about traditional ways to preserve mushrooms around the world, one of the first ones I came across was salted wild mushrooms, an old stand-by used in plenty of places, but most notably Eastern Europe. It’s not that popular in America, but one trip to a market with an Eastern European ownership…
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Sicilian Chicken of the Woods
Think eating chicken of the woods is strictly an American thing? The continents separated a long time ago, but we still share many of the same mushrooms, at least as far as culinary purposes are concerned (specific species are another story). Doing research with Jesse for The Wild Harvest show as we planned Episode 3…
Fermented Grape Leaves
Have you ever had commercially pickled grape leaves? If you haven’t, don’t bother, I’m pretty sure they’re the reason some people claim not to like grape leaves, or things made with them like dolmades. Like plenty of commercial pickled things, I usually find grape leaves from a store shelf overly acidic, like the processor is…
Pheasant Back Fermented Soy Sauce
Prime pheasant back season is usually about over after the spring chicken of the woods pop, but just because they’re big and tough as nails doesn’t mean you can’t do anything with them, and pheasant back shoyu is a great example, especially if you like edible science projects. Shoyu and it’s cousin tamari (soy sauces…
The Wild Harvest | Episode 3: Early Summer
Episode Three of The Wild Harvest show is here: another dose of nature from the woods, rivers and fields of Wisconsin straight to you. Foraging meets culinary tradition: Cucina Povera Differing from Episodes One and Two, Episode Three has an underlying theme: Italian poverty food, or la cucina povera. If you’ve been following along with…
Tinpsila Harvest
I turned off the gravel onto the road–ghosts of tire tracks barely noticeable through summer’s tall yellow clover, it gave me the feeling the clearance of my city slicker “little Honda that could” might not be enough for what was to come, the caravan of trucks I was following having no problem. But, I’d just…
Minestrella: Italian Stew of Many Greens
She is the Tuscan queen of weeds. Over the past year I’ve stumbled on a few recipes using wild plants that really inspired me. At the top of the list is la Minestrella, a sort of ultimate foraged greens stew found in Garfagnana (Tuscany) I stumbled on while doing armchair research on the Italian names…
Angelica Blossoms (Zavirne)
“These angelicas grow wild near abandoned ruins and damp places. In February the Salentines go feverishly in search of them. This is the moment when the incipient flower-heads are still enclosed in their sheaths right up against the greenish-purple stem. You cut these sheaths with a knife”. –Patience Grey, Honey From a Weed. I love…
Baked Oyster Mushroom Croutons
At the tail end of morel season, we’ll start to see others coming up, especially if we get some rain in the Midwest like we did last week–it poured, and poured. My favorite are the first flushes of young chicken of the woods that come up, sometimes even while I’m out hunting morels, if I’m…
The Wild Harvest | Episode 2: Late Spring
Episode 2 is here! And she’s a beauty. Jesse and I loved episode one, but for episode two, we wanted to up the ante on all fronts: more food, more fun ingredients and shots in-situ, more macro footage–everything. May is a such an exciting month, as we were planned the episode I knew a great…