Wild blueberry upside-down cake made with hazelnut meal, finished with a spoonful of meadowsweet infused cream is a dessert focused on combining acidic soil-loving ingredients of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Soaked in wild blueberry juice, the cake tastes like summer at it’s peak. This was the finale of the meal I cooked for an upcoming…
Sweets
Green Pumpkin Pie
Come mid-to late August, green pumpkins will start to show, and one of the most interesting things I’ve made with them is green pumpkin mock-apple pie. While I was writing the garden portion of my first book, I came across a few different references to squashes and gourds being cooked in their unripe stage-mostly pickles…
Green Black Walnut Jam / Preserves
Green walnut jam isn’t a jam in the typical sense most people will recognize. A preserve of whole, unripe walnuts in syrup, it’s one of the most interesting things I’ve made with the unripe black walnuts to date. Unlike other recipes that use green walnuts, like nocino, ketchup, or vin de noix, walnut jam allows…
Spruce Tip Key Lime Pie
Bright green, creamy and bright, spruce key lime pie is one of the most enjoyable spruce tip recipes I’ve made. I love spruce tips, but cooking with them is kind of a misnomer. Besides making syrup (which is great) I don’t really cook them much. Just like paw paws, spruce tips keep their flavor and…
How to Make Traditional Hickory Nut Milk (Kanuchi)
Hickory nut milk (hick milk for short) is the best nut milk I’ve ever tasted, and, unfortunately for non-foragers, I doubt it will ever be on a store shelf. It’s hard to put into words how fascinating it is, and, to be honest, to me, the name nut milk undersells the product, as well as…
Spicebush Gingerbread with Pumpkin Mousse and Butternuts
I asked people on Instagram what they’re favorite things to do with spicebush (Lindera bezoin) was, and I got a big range of answers. One thing that popped up more than others though, was gingerbread, and, I have to say it’s pretty fun. I do think though, that the flavor of spicebush is much more…
Maple Black Trumpet Mushroom Jam
Black trumpet jam is a fantastic sweet and savory recipe using fresh or dried black trumpet mushrooms that can change the way you consider cooking with your haul. Earlier this summer, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Chad Hyatt, chef turned freelancer and author of the book The Mushroom Hunters Kitchen. At the event…
Maple and Acorn Flour Torte
When I sat down to write the nut chapter on my book, I knew I had to do some fun things with acorns, and I really wanted to make a dessert to illustrate how acorn flour can be used as a substitute for chestnut flour Italians use to make things like castagnaccio, the chestnut flour…
