Wild blueberry..juice? Yes. Reduction? Double yes. Wild lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) are by far the most abundant wild fruit I harvest that needs really no processing at all. Wild plums I can gather in larger quantity, but they require much more effort to process and make them delicious than wild blueberries do. When I was speaking…
Wild Grape
Wild Berry Cassis
I have a tendency to miss some berries during foraging season. Black caps (Rubus occidentalis) especially I love, but never seem to take the time to pick enough. This year I found a great new patch though, so I made sure to try a few new things that weren’t jam or jelly. Wild berry cassis…
Wild Fruit Cider Panna Cotta
Fresh out of Episode 5 of The Wild Harvest. Wild berry and or grape cider panna cotta is a long name for dish that’s a study in a few different things. Panna cotta is nothing new, nothing revolutionary. But, it’s easy, approachable, most importantly for our purposes here, infinitely adaptable and dependable crowd pleaser. Everyone…
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…
Stuffed Grape Leaves with Wild Fruit and Nuts
There’s dolmas, dolmades, dolmasi dolmathakia, dolmathes, sarma, sarmasi, and probably a few other names I haven’t seen them travel under. Whatever you call them, if you put some in front me I’m going in for more than my share, because I love a good stuffed grape leaf. They may be small nibbles, but they’re rich…
Sweet and Sour Wild Cherry, Berry or Grape Syrup
Sweet and sour syrup, or gastrique as it’s known among chefs, is a little-known cousin to your typical wild fruit preserves that is one of my favorite to keep on hand all year round. It’s a simple, easy way to put up your wild fruit, and i’ve especially designed this one to work for fruits…
Fruit Scrap Vinegar
If you harvest your own fruit–any kind of fruit–you know how many leftover skins, seeds, pits, cooked stuff, raw stuff, and all kinds of other things are leftover from processing. So much scrap, from so much good fruit. If you’re anything like me, you may have wondered if there’s anything you can do with it….
Wild Grape, Aronia, or Elderberry BBQ (Spicy!)
I love gathering fruit, especially wild fruit I can extract juice from like wild grapes, aronia berries, and elderberries. After the hustle and bustle of harvesting, when it comes time to use up what I’ve put away, I know I’ll make a few jellies and other preserves, but there’s always a part of me that…
Hunter’s Borcht with River Grape and Wild Caraway
Winter, also known as “clean out the freezer” season for foragers. If you’re a chef, have game in the freezer, or buy large quantities of meat from a local producer, you’ll experience with the scenario of having a little of this, and a little of that. last week, what I had, was one lone Canadian…
Wild Grape Reduction
The new land I’ve been exploring in Wisconsin (an abandoned dairy farm) has a couple patches of wild grapes that dependably give fruit, so I had to mock up some sort of version of everyone’s favorite, slightly dated 90’s condiment. Since this one isn’t fermented, it’s closer to saba than balsamic but unlike saba, the…
Bison Braised in Wild Grape Juice
A few months ago I had the priviledge of cooking dinner for some elite female explorers, including the first two to travel the landmass of Antarctica. The group was from around the world, congregating at the beautiful Horst Rechelbacher Estate near Osceola. The estate has a commercial kitchen and helpful staff, so I knew executing…
Wild Grapes
Wild grapes will always have a special place in my heart: they’re the first wild fruit I ever picked, tasted, and really enjoyed cooking with. I first read about wild grapes that grow in the Midwest in the book The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer. After I was primed to notice them, like a lot…