Ramping Up the Pandemic Pantry

One thing we could do well, and safely, while isolating was get out in nature 

and forage our little hearts out.

In this case some generous young foragers shared their bounty of ramps aka wild leeks.

Pretty, aren't they?

We made a pesto-like concoction.

Spread it on flatbread from the freezer. Added a bit of cheese. 

And voila. Perfectly pizza from the wilds of Wisconsin and our well-stocked store of staples.

Urban Syrup

There is no acceptable substitute for real maple syrup.
However the price of real syrup is somewhat dear, 

so last March we put our giant West Hill Norway Maple to work. 

With the perfect combo of cold nights and root-warming sunny days, 

the three taps produced more than three gallons of sap a day.

The end result was thirty gallons of sap over a few short weeks,

that we were invited to add to the collection of a Master Gardener friend's hundreds of gallons,

from over a hundred trees she taps.

Boiling it down is a family affair.

We got in on a little time tending the operation in the woods on a day when family had other obligations.

When the numbers and the taste test converge to say it's time to pull off the syrup it goes through the woods, into the house.....

and comes out like this!

Fire up the griddle!

Think Spring 2020

Think Spring Garden Seminar 2020 

Y'all come. 

Trumpet Fan Fare

It doesn't look like much of an indulgence, 

but these Black Trumpet mushrooms 

dried and mixed with course salt give everything from scrambled eggs to your 

bloody Mary glass rim the flourish to take them from ordinary to extraordinary.

When this is gone we'll have to wait for quite awhile until we can make more.

 Trumpet salt definitely gives added incentive to next fall's foraging!

Berries with a Chance of Bears

The Up North young people discovered a beautiful blueberry patch. Easily accessible, and bordering a lovely woods with just the right amount of potential for bears to come out and join in the picking. A hint of danger makes one pick faster so a pail was filled in no time at all. Let the baking commence!

 

We heard once that the average number of recipes that people use from a cookbook is three. Seems low, but realistic given that there is only one recipe we consistently use from The Berry Cookbook. T'would be a shame to tear out just that page, so here it is in our digital recipe record for when that cookbook finally winds up in the thrift sale pile. We give you:

Bessie’s Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins

From The Berry Cookbook - Carol Katz

Makes one dozen

1 ½ c. sifted flour

¼ t. salt

1 T. baking powder

1 egg, well beaten

¾ c. loosely packed light brown sugar

½ c. milk

1 T. melted butter or margarine

1 ½ c. blueberries, well drained after washing and dredged in a little flour

Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease a muffin tin.Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine the egg, brown sugar, milk, and butter, then mix into the dry ingredients.  

Stir with a fork until the mixture is moist but still lumpy. Fold in the blueberries.

Fill the greased muffin tins two-thirds full and bake for 15 minutes, or until done.

Please note:

Very little fat is used. 

We have substituted orange juice for the milk with good results. 

If you do not have a blueberry patch nearby, grocery store berries work just fine too.

Enjoy!

Fenceline Fiddlehead Forage

Beautiful, tightly wound fiddleheads arising from their ostrich fern base.

Pick only one or two from each so the plants don't suffer. Make sure they are ostrich ferns!

Blanch in boiling water for a few minutes.

Saute in butter. Yum!