I am a forager. As I whiz down the highway (I’m not telling how fast) I want to stop every time I see the flat, white umbels of elderflowers or the rich, red cones of sumac berries. The saturated yellow of cattail pollen makes me swerve to the shoulder and pull out my waterproof boots. God forbid I should spot…
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The first time I found morels (Morchella species) I’d been standing on top of them for at least five minutes before I saw them. It’s not just that they grow under leaf litter, they’re also well camouflaged to blend in with their surroundings. Morel hunters move slowly when they find a patch of mushrooms. One false move and you might…
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Horchata is a Spanish and Latin American beverage traditionally made from ground nuts, seeds, or rice, combined with sugar, spices, and water. In this foraged horchata recipe we’re infusing milk with carob powder to make a carob horchata. There are as many horchata recipes out there as there are horchata makers, which means I didn’t feel too guilty about messing with…
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I don’t call this a brownie because then you’d expect a deeply chocolate treat and you might be disappointed. (Life and dessert are all about managing expectations.) Carob is NOT a chocolate substitute and anyone who tells you otherwise is a big, fat liar. At the risk of sounding heretical: chocolate isn’t the only worthy dessert flavor out there. Carob…
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I grew up thinking that carob was something hippies ate because chocolate was a commercial product controlled by “the man.” Ok, ok, I thought that until the beginning of last week. Then I visited Israel to research a new book project, and I learned a thing or two about carob. Carob doesn’t grow where I live or forage, although you…
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A podcast about plants with Ellen Zachos and C.L. Fornari