Soy sauce makes just about everything taste better, and there’s a lot of options to pick from. There’s aged soy sauce, shoyu and tamari, for starters, and then, pertaining to this post, there’s flavored soys. You can add soy sauce infused with ramp or wild onion leaves to the list. Before I made this, the…
Wild Herbs and Spices
Sweet-Scented Galium / Galium triflorum: A Wild Vanilla Substitute
For most of my career working with wild food I’ve ignored cleavers (Galiums) with one or two exceptions. Galium triflorum or sweet-scented bed straw is the exception, and I now harvest the plant each year for commercial projects and personal use. I struggle to think of a wild herb with as much potential as both…
Wild Vanilla Extract
Wild vanilla extract. Yes, you read that right. Everyone knows how indispensable vanilla is, especially chefs who buy the whole beans. It’s also no secret that the price has been rising, and a pound of vanilla beans can now run over 300$ a pound, which, depending on what year you compare it to, along with…
Golpar: Cow Parsnip Seed
The moment I smelled the aroma of cow parsnip seeds, I knew there was great potential to use the seeds as an herb. Indeed, the seeds of the plant are an ancient seasoning from the Middle East, but there was a lot more to them than I first thought before I’d looked at the plant…
Marinated Feta with Golpar and Herbs
I’d struggle to think of anyone I know that doesn’t like marinated cheese. This marinated feta is probably my favorite recipe from my book using golpar / cow parsnip seed. Typically the seeds are ground and mixed with cumin or another spice and used to season beans and a few other traditional dishes like whole…
Lentils with Golpar and Preserved Lemon
A simple salad of black lentils is one of the first recipes I made in which, instead of trying to cover up the flavor of the cow parsnip seeds/golpar, I used it—combining the cow parsnip seeds with a little cumin—and watched a group of hungry people gobble it up. After I tested the recipe on…
Sweetgale or Sweetfern Liquor
Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina) and sweetgale (Myrica gale) are both aromatics that deserve some play in your kitchen, and one of the easiest things you can start out trying is a simple macerated liquor. Both plants have leaves that give off a great aroma, but for me personally, the seeds are the best part of both…
Spicebush Gingerbread
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…
