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FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Soup

The Original Borscht, with Cow Parsnip

Cow Parsnip Green Borscht

Ukraine has been on everyone’s mind lately, so I thought it would be appropriate to dive into their national dish: Borscht (or maybe it’s Borshch?). As random as it might sound, borscht is something I’ve read about a fair amount about, as the famous tart stew of beets (and all its variations) are inextricably connected…

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Zuppa Ortiche (Italian Nettle Soup)

Zuppa Ortiche Italian Nettle Soup

Common stinging nettles are one of the most widely eaten wild plants around the world, and all it takes to unlock some new ideas for cooking with them is often a name, in the case of this Italian Nettle soup recipe, that’s the word ortiche, an obvious cousin to the Latin name Urtica. Do a…

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Pasta Fagioli Soup with Nettle Pesto

Pasta Fagioli Soup with Stinging Nettle pesto and cheese

Of all the Italian soups I was taught to make, pasta fagioli will always be one of my favorites. Adding common stinging nettles instead of the lacinato kale we would typically use, is a great way to sneak in some of your foraged greens. If you’re one of the people who enjoy wood nettles as…

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Classic Stinging Nettle Soup

Classic Stinging Nettle Soup or nasselsopa

Stinging nettles are one of the finest wild greens you can use to make soup, and there’s plenty of recipes out there. Some are good, some are ok. Most of the ones I’ve tried have tasted mostly of potatoes. This one is the strongest tasting nettle soup recipes I know of, and it’s my version…

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Nettle Soup with Pickled Chanterelles and Ramp Butter

Wood nettle soup with pickled chanterelles and wild onion butter

A few years ago I had the pleasure of having dinner at my friend, Author and food writer Stephen Hoffman’s house. We started the dinner with the visual and interactive French classic eclade de moules (mussels cooked in pine needles) moved onto a nice salad with anchovy dressing, and a dish of slow-cooked halibut with…

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Chicken Soup with Galinsoga (Ajiaco con Guascas)

Ajiaco with turkey and guascas or dried galinsoga

Ajiaco, a stew of multiple types of various potatoes, poultry, and corn, is a famous Latin American dish probably best known around the world as being Colombian, although there are different permutations enjoyed in different places, like Peru and Cuba, to name a few, each with slight variations.  A riff on the Colombian version is…

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Pheasant Back-Spring Vegetable Soup

Pheasant back mushroom soup with fiddleheads and green garlic recipe

Here’s a great recipe to celebrate some of the young growing plants of spring: a simple, brothy soup made from green garlic or wild onions, pheasant back mushrooms, a spring shoot/vegetable of your choice (I used fiddleheads and elm samaras) wild rice or another grain, and a little meat broth or whatever you have on…

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Nettle Soup with Ham from Extramadura

Spanish nettle soup with ham

I’ve been in love with researching traditional uses of nettles around the world, and soup is one of the standbys that seem to be omnipresent wherever nettles are eaten. This delicious Spanish nettle soup scented with Jamon Serrano and thickened with cornmeal is a bit different than others I’ve come across, and can make for…

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
streaming on @tastemade

Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
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