Category Archives: Foraging

The Saga of Takuan-Zuke, Part 3: The untimely end.

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Well, the takuan-zuke experiment was stinky and interesting, but ultimately a failure due to inadequate storage environments.  I was going to store them outside in the cold where it would have been more consistent of temperature, but opted not to because I thought the smell of fermenting daikon would offend my neighbors.  So I kept it inside…where it was too warm…and surprise, surprise– they grew moldy friends.

At first it was just white mold on the top of the daikon greens on the top of the crock, which I’ve heard is generally harmless, so I skimmed that off and kept it going.  But then when I was ready to take them out, the top layer of rice bran had blue and white mold.  Not being able to tell whether or not that kind of mold was poisonous (because I’m not a scientist with a microscope!), I just had to err on the side of caution and ditch it all.

Sad.

Very, very sad.

But that isn’t to say that I didn’t try a couple tiny slices from some of the daikon that were farthest away from the mold.  Ultimately, they were too salty.  This is probably because I kept adding salt to the top of the crock in an (obviously unsuccessful) attempt to ward off the mold.  However, they did turn that odd yellow color and taste like rice bran.

So, the moral of the story is…if you’re going to make takuan-zuke, store them somewhere cold while they ferment, like a cellar.  I also wouldn’t weight it quite as much as I did (I had a lot of pressure squishing the whole thing down) because my daikon got sort of compacted and dry and had a weird texture.  Otherwise you’re just going to waste a lot of daikon. Well, at least the whole experiment probably cost me less than five bucks since I grew the daikon. The thought of those beautiful daikon going to waste just makes me sigh. At least I can grow more and it cost me less than five bucks.

But I don’t like to end on a sad note, so here’s a picture of some orange juice I made with oranges I got for free from someone’s tree prunings!:

Thanks, random lady down the street for trimming your tree and then telling me which of the oranges on the pile of branches were tastier.  You rock.

I haven’t posted any recipes or anything lately. I guess I’ve been somewhat lazy.  I did make some larb gai and recommend this recipe highly if you’re looking for some Thai.  This week it’s back to being primarily vegetarian, though, so maybe you’ll see more recipes.  I’m thinking lentil soup?

Lemon Marmalade

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I know there has been a distinct lack of posts lately…school has been sucking up all my free time.  I’m still cooking delicious things for myself, I just don’t have much time to even do dishes, much less blog.  However, today is the last day of my spring “break” (a.k.a. work more but don’t go to class but still have tons of reading time period) and I promised folks (well, my mom at least) that I’d post about my Lemon Marmalade expedition before the end of break.  This was actually my first attempt at legitimate canning.  I feel pretty vindicated that it came out well!

As you saw in the previous post, I found some amazing lemons in my neighborhood.  I think they’re lemon-orange hybrids (but not Meyer lemons).  I pretty much literally went with the first recipe on Google, which was from About.com.

The major difference was that I added half a packet of Sure-Jell pectin to the fruit and water mixture because the reviews said it didn’t thicken up enough.  I’d say you could add a quarter packet– half made it just a bit too jelly-like in my opinion.  I also added in a bit more sugar and a few mandarins I had lying around as well just because I needed to use them up.

This recipe was not that easy, mostly because you had to try to get the zest without the pith and removing all the seeds (which the recipe doesn’t say to do, but it would be rather unpleasant if you didn’t).  You also have to let it sit for a few hours and then simmer for quite a while longer.  I did notice that you don’t have to let it sit for the full time indicated in the recipe in the fridge– at least with my lemons.  It softened up just fine in a little less time.  According to another recipe, it all doesn’t have to be so complicated…I’d be curious to try “Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories’ ” version of the recipe with oranges sometime.

The result was a zingy, slightly bitter, very delicious marmalade.  It made 11 quarter pint jelly jars full– a select lucky few got them as gifts, but I’m keeping a few for myself.  I’m anticipating making some apricot jam sometime in the future too, since we have a fruitful apricot tree in the backyard and now I know I can make jam!

The only thing I was surprised about was how not yellow it turned out.  It’s more of a copper color.   Regardless, the result is still pretty and delicious!

Lemon me at ‘em!

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Wandering around my neighborhood today, I found a big lemon tree with tons of lemons in the parking lot of a moderately large apartment complex.  I generally consider these sorts of trees to be “communal” and don’t mind gleaning a few fruits (but not a ton of course) from them.

This lemon tree had the most beautiful lemons I’ve ever seen.  They almost remind me of yuzu!

The skins are so nice and thick and they smell so good that I think they’d make good marmalade.  Too bad I don’t have marmalade making capabilities!

Fall means Foraging!

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My birthday tends to mark the beginning of the fall season, and around then is when foraging starts being at its best.  It is harvest season, after all!

Today I took a walk to go see what sorts of things I could collect in my new neighborhood.  I have a lot more competition since I live in a big city now, but there’s still tons available.  I found where all the citrus trees that will be fruiting in a couple of months are and a fig tree and an avocado tree, along with some walnut trees.

 

Some people in my neighborhood have pomegranate trees and grapefruit trees in their backyards that look under utilized…man, I want to ask them if I can have some of the fruit so badly.  They’re just letting it all drop on the ground…

Loquat Butter

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(c) Kestrel Dunn, 2011At long last, the rain has stopped and the loquats have begun ripening in the landscaping around the area.  The loquat, or 枇杷, is an evergreen fruit tree native to China, but was introduced to landscaping in the U.S., most likely due to its textured foliage and brightly colored fruit.  It’s vaguely related to the apple/pear and stone fruits.

Photo of a loquat tree, (c) Lori_NY, from Flickr

Why is the loquat awesome?  The fruit is soft and quite juicy, with thin skins, and a tangy flavor that I can best describe as a cross between a pear and an apricot.   They’re quite fragrant, in a good way.   This is what keeps me going back into different apartment complexes’ landscaping and collecting bagfuls.

Given that it’s somewhat close to an apple, I figured I’d try my hand at making some loquat butter.  Loquats being more fragrant, however, I personally don’t think you need to add any cinnamon or anything.  It just detracts from their natural flavor.  My recipe below will yield a tangy, smooth butter.  If you like apple butter and you like apricot jam, you’ll probably like this.

The Loquat Butter Ratio

4 parts loquats, seeded and destemmed, skins retained
1 part water
2 parts sugar

(4 cups of  loquat meats will yield about a pint of loquat butter)

Loquats are ripe when their skins are as orange as they can get (not as orange as a pumpkin, but definitely not yellow) and they come easily off the tree.  You can easily seed them by digging your thumb into the fruit from the bottom and popping out the shiny brown seeds.

Always remove the seeds!!  Like apples, their seeds contain cyanogenic compounds.  Yes, cyanide.  But as long as you remove them, you’re good.  Leave the skins on, though, because they give it a pretty color, and I suspect they have the most vitamins.

Once you’ve got all your seeded loquat meets, add them to a pot with the water and sugar, mix well.  Bring to a boil.

Reduce them to a simmer.  Let them simmer away for a good hour or so, stirring occasionally, until they somewhat disintegrate.

Then, throw all of this in a blender or food processor and give it a whirl.  (If you’re more patient and have a crock pot, you might be able to skip this step and just let it cook forever. Not sure if the skins would break down enough though.)

Put all of this back into your pot, or into a frying pan like I did.  Let it simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour, stirring more frequently than before.  It should reduce down by about 1/4-1/3.

Use whatever canning method you like.  If you’ve made one pint and you plan to use it within a few weeks, just throw it in a jar and keep it refrigerated.  If you want to keep it longer or give it away as presents, use some sort of legitimate serious canning method.

I, however, am not going to wait.  I am going to eat my seasonal prize, the result of my being looked at funny for standing knee deep in English ivy to reach a tree with particularly voluptuous fruit.

Loquats are also awesome in cocktails, fruit salad, or on ice cream.

You can eat that?!: Nettles

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Tromping through the woods as a kid, I had my fair share of nasty run-ins with the leafy vengeance of the Stinging Nettle.  If your bare skin runs into it, it will cause an obnoxious itchy sort of pain (and in my case, gives me little blisters that fade away after a bit).  As unpleasant as it is, though, I consider it the ‘wasabi’ of the pain-inducing-plant world, because the discomfort usually subsides in less than 30 minutes…unlike the everlasting misery of poison oak.

As per Wikipedia‘s illustrious description, the mechanism for this action is:

“The plant has many hollow stinging hairs called trichomes on its leaves and stems, which act like hypodermic needles that inject histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation when contacted by humans and other animals.”

Fun times, right?  Now you’re totally thinking, “how awesome, I want to eat tiny hypodermic needles that inject histamines into me!”  Well, the good news is that if you rinse them thoroughly and cook them (only for about 5 minutes), those chemicals go away and you’re left with a tasty vegetable that causes no pain.  It has flavor somewhat like a herb-y, mellow, very fresh spinach and a nearly melty texture.  I think it is best described as the “sophisticated cousin of spinach”.

The optimal time for picking nettles is early spring when they’re still fairly small, because they’ll be the most tender and not gritty.  My family is located in the Pacific Northwest, spring tends to start a little earlier here thanks to the temperate, moist climate.  It’s only the end of January but there are already flowers blooming and frogs croaking…and nettles that are about 10″ tall.  Perfect!  My dad and I grabbed some gloves and a bag and went for a walk, picking the nettle tips.  I have to give him credit for teaching me how to pick them without causing that annoying discomfort (use gloves, and apparently the underside of your hand is less susceptible to the stinging parts).

Tip: only use the very top, budding leaves.

We brought them back and cooked them, then ate them with dinner.  They were fabulous!  I was thinking they might make a delightfully mellow pesto (cooked first of course) and could see how folks in Europe could like making a creamy sort of soup of it.  It could also make a spanakopita type thing, who knows!  Too bad their best season is so fleeting and there certainly aren’t any near me in the bay area.  Those of you on the east coast are lucky– You probably have a month or so to wait for that snow to go away, then you can go out and harvest some yourselves!  Plenty of time to plan some good recipes.

Rinsing

Sorting out the larger leaves for tea

Cooking in water

Some of the Best Things in Life are Free

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Having grown up in a fairly rural area with a family that possessed both culinary adventurousness and ingenuity, I have a deep seated appreciation of foraging.  While the things you can get in a more rural area in the Pacific Northwest are a little different than you can get in the suburbs of the San Francisco Bay area, all of California is really blessed with an abundance of edibles just waiting for the taking.

Over the past two years living in the ‘burbs, I’ve kept my eyes open to see what was around me.  There really is a crazy amount around, if you’re just willing to look.  Many people have fruit trees that are unmaintained, the fruit going to waste in their yard.  If you just ask, they’ll often let you pick some.  Other bushes grow over fences and onto the sidewalk.  My general rule of thumb is, unless I’ve asked, it has to be A) obviously going to waste (lots of fallen fruit) and B) somewhat in the public domain (over sidewalks, on city land, etc.).

I don’t just walk into a random person’s yard without their permission and jack their peaches.  In fact, that tends to anger me.  We have a very nice, huge avocado tree in the front of our complex, but someone who didn’t speak much English was there with a professional fruit picking poll with the obvious intent of selling them for profit.  Thus, even though I pay rent to live where I do, I don’t much get to enjoy the abundance of avocados on that ancient tree.

Anyway, since about September, I’ve been a bit more into documenting my foraging activities, so here are some pictures.

September

black mission figs and lemons, all in my shirt.

October

mission olives from my friend Ben's tree (turned out to be somewhat of a bust, thanks to olive fruit flies)

November

chanterelles near my parents' house

December was a little busy and full of rain, so there wasn’t a whole lot of time for foraging.

January

citrus critical mass: lemons, meyer lemons, yellow grapefruits, and mandarin oranges

To me, it almost seems crazy to buy fruit now, just because of the overabundance all around.  There are a number of benefits to foraging: 1) You know where your food is coming from 2) A carbon footprint of near zero if you walk or bike 3) Most of these fruits are grown without pesticides 4) People with fruit trees in their yard also tend to get sick of the fruit after a while, and if you asked if you could take or buy some, they’d probably be pretty glad.  One thing to keep in mind though, is to pick sustainably.  This generally means being nice to the trees/bushes/fungi and not ripping them to shreds or beating them up, leaving some for others and so that the source can keep producing for years to come.

Anyway, I’m not going to tell you where my foraging locations are.  That’s somewhat top-secret, just because if there are too many people hitting up the same trees, bushes, or mushrooming grounds, there just won’t be that much left!  My best advice is to just wander around your neighborhood, get to know your neighbors, and keep your eyes open.  There’s plenty out there waiting for you.

Any ideas on what I should do with all this citrus? :)