You have probably never heard of wild garlic potato pancakes. I like to think that’s because I made them up, but let’s face it, some other Greek chowhound probably experimented along these same lines before I did. But did they use WILD garlic? Skordalia is a traditional Greek dish made from either stale bread or potatoes, with garlic and lemon juice. It’s…
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Bee balm is the common name for two species of Monarda. M. didyma (aka Oswego tea) is a popular garden plant, with flowers available in red, pink, magenta, white, and purple. M. fistulosa is wild bee balm. Its flowers are lavender-pink and it’s sometimes called wild bergamot. Both plants are members of the mint family and have a strong herbal…
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Making a Merry Woodsman cocktail takes a little planning, but the flavor combination is enchanting and it’s totally worth a few days’ steeping and a little blending and boiling. The bright, lemony flavor of the spruce tips comes from two infusions: a spruce tip simple syrup and a spruce tip infused vodka. Elderflower liqueur adds a floral note, and ginger spices…
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The deep, rich green of nettle soup seems almost too vibrant to be natural; it’s worth serving for the color alone. Nettles are a traditional wild vegetable around the world. They’re high in protein and contain omega-3 fatty acids, as well as multiple minerals and vitamins. The flavor of nettles is dark and wild; you feel like you’re eating something rich…
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If you need to make a fancy looking appetizer that is surprisingly easy to put together, try this mushroom puff pastry. If you’ve read my pie crust philosophy, you won’t be surprised to learn that I don’t make my own puff pastry either. There are several, very good, ready-made, frozen puff pastry brands, and using one of them makes this…
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A podcast about plants with Ellen Zachos and C.L. Fornari