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Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Finding the Forgotten Feast

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Dessert Recipes

A selection of recipes for snacks and desserts featuring wild edible plants. You'll find baked goods, ice creams, cookies and cakes, all using wild nuts and berries.

A plate of pine nut cookies.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

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•  Recipes: Ice Creams & Ices | Booze & Brewing | Cookies & Cakes | Wild Syrups

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Ice Creams and Ices

I love making ice cream with wild ingredients, and, where something creamy isn't appropriate, ices and sorbets.

Some of my favorites are wild mint leaf ice cream, paw paw ice cream, and black walnut ice cream, which is also great with butternuts or hickory nuts.

I also make a damn good gooseberry and blackberry sorbet.

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Booze and Brewing

Infused liqueurs, wild beers and wines, even wild champagnes are big favorites. It's an important way to preserve the aromas and flavors of many wild foods.

Some of my most popular recipes are elderberry wine, elderflower liqueur - and elderflower champagne - as well as spruce tip beer, and my all time favorite wild brew, a red ale fermented on wild juniper yeast I call Junipine.

Fir tip ale recipe
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

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Cookies and Cakes

I am not a natural baker, but I do have a few recipes for baked goods I am happy with, mostly cookies and simple cakes. Especially cookies.

The pretty picture at the top of this page is of my pine nut cookies, and some of my other popular baked goods include persimmon bread, huckleberry muffins, butternut cookies and anise cookies made with wild fennel seeds.

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Wild Syrups

One of the most versatile things you can do with a wild fruit or aromatic herb is to make a simple syrup with it. This brings out the flavor of the fruit, and is shelf stable.

My most popular wild syrup is prickly pear syrup, but I also make a mean spruce tip syrup, that also works with pine or fir, a simple blackberry syrup, and an intriguing fig syrup that is great on ice cream or pancakes.

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The Latest

A bowl of fig syrup.

Fig Syrup

By Hank Shaw on April 8, 2022, Updated April 19, 2022 - 5 Comments

Tired of maple syrup? Make fig syrup. You can use fresh or fried figs, wild or store-bought.

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Three scoops of elderberry ice cream in a bowl.

Elderberry Ice Cream

By Hank Shaw on May 30, 2021, Updated May 30, 2022 - Leave a Comment

I love ice creams. They are my main weakness when it comes to sweets, and I specialize in weird ice creams — herbs like yerba buena and fruits like this elderberry ice cream. Elderberries live in most states, and are ripe from June to September, depending on where you live. Only use ripe berries, as

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Blackberry panna cotta on a dessert plate.

Blackberry Panna Cotta

By Hank Shaw on May 12, 2021, Updated May 27, 2022 - 2 Comments

Blackberry panna cotta is a joy of summer, and can be made in several different ways that I’ll go through here. A traditional blackberry panna cotta would actually be a vanilla panna cotta with blackberry syrup and fresh or macerated blackberries on top, as in the picture. I prefer to infuse the blackberries in the

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A bottle of elderflower liqueur with a basket of elderflowers next to it.

Elderflower Liqueur

By Hank Shaw on May 27, 2020, Updated May 27, 2022 - 6 Comments

Making your own elderflower liqueur is a way to remember that moment when spring becomes summer, even in the depths of winter. Elderflowers are the color of butter and smell sweet and just a bit spicy. Their beauty fades fast, however. You will need to pick them before noon, as the aroma fades once the

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Candied angelica stems in a glass jar.

Candied Angelica

By Hank Shaw on July 3, 2017, Updated June 6, 2022 - 15 Comments

Angelica is a giant herb that grows wild all over the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Candying its hollow stems is a great way to enjoy angelica or lovage.

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Ripe manzanita berries

How to Eat Manzanita Berries

By Hank Shaw on August 14, 2015, Updated May 19, 2020 - 24 Comments

Manzanita berries are ripening all over California right now, but few know that they are not only edible, but are well worth your time to collect. The secret? Grind the dry, apple-like berries to make a sort of manzanita sugar.

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A tray of huckleberry muffins.

Huckleberry Muffins

By Hank Shaw on July 30, 2015, Updated May 21, 2020 - 12 Comments

It’s huckleberry season here in the West. And while my favorite way to eat hucks is in a bowl with cream, I also love huckleberry muffins. My version has a bit of a tang to it from sour cream.

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Mint leaf ice cream recipe

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

By Hank Shaw on July 2, 2015, Updated May 19, 2020 - 18 Comments

Mint ice cream is pretty common, but usually it’s made with mint extract. But if you make your ice cream by infusing the mint leaves into the cream overnight, you get a much stronger, more herby mint flavor you will not forget.

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Hank Shaw holding a rod and reel in the American River

Hi, My name is Hank Shaw; I’m a James Beard Award-winning author and chef. I started this site back in 2007 to help you get the most out of all things wild: fish, game, edible wild plants and mushrooms. I also write cookbooks, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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As Seen In

As seen on CNN, New York Times, Simply Recipes, Martha Stewart, Food and Wine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, and The Splendid Table

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