| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/21/2008 6:57:23 PM | | I passed a mulberry tree on the way to work today and that made me think that soon it will be time to make my mulberry liqueur. For those who don't know, mulberries look like blackberries and raspberries, but are sweeter and better tasting. And best of all they grow on bushes/trees that don't have thorns! Earlier this year I put out a recipe for honeysuckle wine. So now I'm wondering, how many of you out there like to use ingredients that are found in nature, not in grocery stores? What are they, and what do you like to do with them? | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/21/2008 7:23:27 PM | Mamaki tea.
Our unique Hawaiian teas are made with the indigenous Hawaiian herb -- Mamaki -- which is organically grown in the rich volcanic soil on the gentle slopes of Mauna Loa on the Big Island. Located in a lush valley, our plantation continues the tradition of time-honored farming methods handed from generation to generation in Hawaii.
Tea made from Mamaki leaves was highly regarded by ancient Hawaiians.
Supposed to aid in reducing high blood pressure. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/22/2008 2:18:16 AM | Hey VB... I have a large-ish mulberry tree in the yard, and if I can get to it before the squirrels and birds do, last pickings yielded about 5 or 6 quarts of berries. Didn't last long- after the neighbors heard about them  I like to either eat them as is, or add them to cereal. They can be frozen too- airtight bag and they'll keep about 6 months. Just right for adding to pancakes or oatmeal in the winter. Oh- and I have a HUGE patch of wild mint going on the side of the house. Add that to ice tea or lemonade, or bruised and finely shredded and added to a fruity-based pesto (Pine nuts, fresh mint, fresh basil, roasted garlic, a small handful of the mulberries, and olive oil). Use that over some simple light-flavored fish and grill/smoke with indirect heat and applewood.
Other than that- I used to collect morels, still get a few puffballs when I can. During the summer I get tons of sumac berries and leaves, raspberries and blackberries, mustard flowers, and birch root all grow wild within a few yards of where I spend my summers. The shrooms get fried in butter, and the rest usually end up as teas or infusions. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/22/2008 6:27:32 AM | Love to take the dogs for a walk through the bush on these beautiful spring days, shovel in hand, searching for wild leeks..........mmmmmm.....fabulous in classic leek and potato soup, salads, dips, and mashed with butter/olive oil as an alternate spread to garlic on bread baked in the oven. The leeks freeze very well, and I don't really know how long they keep, cuz we always use them up long before they tire of the freezer!! The flavour is very pungent...much stronger than the grocery store variety........I can remember kids being sent home from school when we were young for eating wild leeks!!!!!! (way back in the pioneer days, that is!!!) Fiddleheads and wild rhubarb both grow in the bush near me, but I must say, they truly take a back seat to those delectable leeks!!!!!!!!!
What a great idea for a thread VB!!!! | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/22/2008 9:07:53 AM |
searching for wild leeks..........mmmmmm.....fabulous in classic leek and potato soup,
I bought potato leek soup to go for years from a french restaurant that went out of business. Could never duplicate this one distinct taste in it. Didn't think it was the leeks. More like some esoteric herb. Maybe it was that they used wild leeks. Very interesting.
The flavour is very pungent...much stronger than the grocery store variety | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/22/2008 11:43:08 AM | | Mushrooms... there are dozens of edible varieties here.. those you find in a store are nothing in comparison... all kinds of berries... plums... nettles (yup, they make a delicious green soup)... even danelions are a good addition to a salad, in moderation. Saint John's wort, fireweed and a bunch of other herbs I don't know Engish names for. I don't know the local herbs very well though, could always use a lesson. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/22/2008 1:30:54 PM | I still have fond memories of a rhubarb patch that had sprung up alongside a friend's house where I grew up in Michigan. This was years before I cooked anything, but no rhubarb anything I have come across as an adult matches that wild tartness. Yum!
--Ms. Flis | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/23/2008 9:42:13 PM |
"If it was a French Restaurant it possibly had some Herb de Provence in it".
Thanks, I'll look for it.
We have a lavender farm just up the road. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 4:02:12 AM | Mmmm mulberries, I have some good childhood memories about them.
As kids we used to sneak into a neighbours yard on the way home from school and gorge ourselves on his mulberries. He caught us one day and sprayed us with the garden hose, we out-smarted him though...we wore rain coats the next day The things ya get up to as kids.
I sometimes go out and collect the mulberries with my kids these days and make mulberry pie or crumble.
Mango season around here isn't too bad either, I have a friend that makes the most delicious hot and spicy mango chutney. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 4:54:55 AM | Yes sitting in a mulberry tree stuffing yourself is something all kids should experience.
Round here quandongs grow wild. They're an Australian native, red tart fruit with a large pit, sometimes referred to as native peaches. You have to beat the grubs but they make really nice jam. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 7:21:36 AM | | i have been looking for a mulberry tree to plant and they do not sell them in my area :( | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 3:47:32 PM | bbw4luv:
i have been looking for a mulberry tree to plant and they do not sell them in my area :(
Try looking for them in mail order catalogs for plants like Burgess or online mail order. They sell them.
I grew up with a huge mulberry tree as my favorite hangout. It was right outside the kitchen window so my Mom could see exactly what I was up to. I often took naps in that tree & it felt like I was being cradled by it. I have a wild indigenous red mulberry (the white ones are imports from China) in my front yard by the gate, & I have left it to the birds so they will propagate the seeds all over my property (5 acres of woods). I want lots more & I do see little ones here & there. I put chunks of quartz around them so they don't get mowed. Viva la Mulberry!
I like to pick the wild dandilion greens out of my yard in the spring. I use lamb's quarters, dock, wood sorrel, & whatever shows up that's edible. They're a great spring tonic to cleanse the winter's toxins out & picked early aren't too bitter to be delicious. Dandilion flowers when they're yellow still, are nice washed, rolled in flour, & sauted with garlic & onions. You can do that with clusters of elderberry blossoms too.
Then there's poke salet. You have to be VERY careful NOT to get any part that is red. Pick ONLY very YOUNG leaves that have NO RED or you get sick. Otherwise, cook them like you would collards. They are incredibly nutritious & a small bit fills you up.
It's too late down here already, but Red Bud trees...when the buds look like little pink pearls, go great in a fresh salad mix.
There is so much to eat out in the wild. Those of you who live further north will have access to Ramps. Ramps are a type of wild green that doesn't like it as hot as it gets here in AR. MO & TN may have them, but it's just a tad too warm here. Once you try Ramps, you will crave them. Good stuff. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 4:15:46 PM | Wow that pesto for fish sounds great! Sumac berries thats a new one to me. My father called them shoemaker because cobblers used to use them for a die. Are they edible.
What is mustard flower? | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 5:38:20 PM | | abc6587: What are you doing with the St. John's Wort. I have a large patch of it growing in one of my beds. Haven't eaten that one yet. I know about some of its medicinal uses. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 5:41:09 PM | | Autumn dancer: Sumac berries make a nice infusion(tea) & are pretty high in Vit. C. There are some that have the clusters hanging downward & the staghorn type that are erect in an upright position. Both are edible. | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 5/24/2008 10:27:20 PM | Autum dancer- thanks, the mint pesto is light and fruity, almost sweet rather than the usual heavier, garlicky savory stuff. You could also substitute some honey for part of the oil and use it as a sweet pesto over puff pastry, fruit pies, ice cream or tapioca.
AuroraA got the sumac nailed- I use the berries for an infusion and sometimes as an herb to season light meat like pork or chicken. I've also used it as a dye when I was playing with raw muslin and sewing.
Mustard flowers are from a wild mustard plant. Little (pinky-nail size) yellow florets with pale green stems. I like to add them to wild salads for a bit of spiciness, it makes a nice counter to dandelion or ramps and compliments wild onion or leeks.
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 7/3/2008 5:03:56 PM | | My wild blueberries are starting to put on fruit & I have them growing all over most of my 5 acres of woods. The wild critters eat them before I get to them ususally. It takes multiple varieties to get any of them to bear fruit. I planted some cultivated varieties a few years ago, & now I'm getting blueberries on the wild ones too. I love my blueberries!!!! | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 7/4/2008 1:54:54 AM | | Good thread idea. I have non-fruiting Mulberry trees that grow like weeds on the few parts of my property not covered by concrete. I wish I had the kind that produces fruit that tastes like blackberries, my favorite. I have a cactus that makes pear shaped fruit as well. I tried eating one one day and it wasn't exactly tasty. Is there a certain variety that tastes good? | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 7/4/2008 3:27:52 AM | | I love mulberries and have had bushes in the past. Where I live now, my neighbour has a massive mulberry bush... more like a tree. The sulphur crested****toos love them too, then they poop mulberry juice all over my washing My white cotton sheets are no longer pristine.... | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 7/4/2008 3:38:55 PM | They are just turning red here so far. (mulberries) The wild birds are getting almost all of them though.
I planted a fig bush not long ago & it's not exactly a wild plant per se, but I do love figs. I don't really anticipate getting any fruit from it this summer, but it's doing so well, I think I might get a few next year.
My wild muscadines are looking pretty prolific again this year & are loaded with green berries still. They won't ripen until around late September or early October in these parts. It's sometimes the two legged critters that get the muscadines from my big mama vine on the front fence. We make jelly out of them some years, & mostly give it away. I love the spicy flavor of them. It's so unlike anything else. I like to eat them fresh & raw. My Uncle used to make a really nice wine with them, but he's passed away so no more homemade wine... Maybe I need to learn a new trick; like making wine. Well, that will have to wait until I finish my Master's.....as in no time soon. LoL | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 7/4/2008 4:52:55 PM | Anyone remember "gooseberries"? Sour lil things they were but in a pie? Yum! As a child we had many of those pies. Also there was once a huge mulberry bush. We would climb it and eat till our hearts content. Paid dearly the next day though...overdose of mulberries equals plenty of washroom time later!
Red and black currants. Fresh rhubarb stuck in pure white sugar. God, I long for those simple days sometimes! | |
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| Where the wild things are...
Posted: 7/6/2008 3:44:44 PM | "My wild muscadines are looking pretty prolific again this year & are loaded with green berries still. They won't ripen until around late September or early October in these parts...I love the spicy flavor of them. It's so unlike anything else. I like to eat them fresh & raw. My Uncle used to make a really nice wine with them, but he's passed away so no more homemade wine... Maybe I need to learn a new trick; like making wine."
This isn't wine, but it's very good. The recipe calls for blueberries (wild or tame), but in the fall I also use Concord grapes. If you loved Welch's Grape Jelly as a kid...this is the grownup version! I have to believe it would work equally well with Muscadines.
Blueberry Liqueur
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon zest (careful to remove all the white pith)
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 cup 100-proof vodka (I use Gordons)
1/2 cup brandy
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
Place blueberries in a clean 1-quart container. Add lemon zest, juice, vodka, brandy, cinnamon stick and set aside. Make a simple syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. When clear, remove from heat and let stand until just warm. Pour over berries, seal and let stand in a cool, dark place for one month before serving.
Also, last weekend I found some muscadine cider at a roadside stand in North Carolina. Great stuff! Something to think about for this fall.
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