Sweet Things

Gooseberry Sorbet

Gooseberries are among the tartest, most aromatic of all our berries. No matter what variety you find, grow or buy, you can make a pretty sorbet from the juice of the berries. Perfect for a hot summer dessert.

Berries and Fruits

Foraging for Gooseberries

Ah, the gooseberry, an unloved berry if there ever was one -- especially here in North America. We have more than 100 varieties here, yet few people, even foragers, both with them. Pity. Here's what you need to know to gather ye gooseberry in style.

Berries and Fruits

Chinese Plum Sauce with Wild Plums

A Chinese style plum sauce made with wild plums. This stuff kicks the crap out of store-bought, and is even better on Peking Duck than the more common hoisin sauce. But hell, this stuff is so good it'd be awesome on an old tire.

Recipe

Swedish Salmon with Peas and Vattlingon

Behold, one of the most vividly beautiful recipes I've made in a long time. Salmon Swedish style, with vattlingon. It screams Christmas, right? Wrong. This dish can only be made in springtime. Read more to find out why...

Recipe

Partridges with Cranberries and Rosemary

This dish, inspired by Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson of Faviken, is nothing short of a revelation in its simplicity and in the technique of cooking the partridges. If you are an upland bird hunter, or like to eat Cornish hens or quail, you must read this.

Recipe

Dorado a La Paz

Let's face it: It's cold in most of the country. But down here in California, both avocados and prickly pear fruits are in season. So why not combine them with some mahi mahi -- dorado in Mexico -- and make a dish dedicated to sunny Baja?

Foraging

Wild Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce has been part of the American holiday tradition for more than two centuries. It is a perfect accompaniment to roast turkey or venison, pork, wild boar or bear. And while this is a pretty classic recipe, it is made with real wild cranberries from New England.

Sweet Things

Wintergreen Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips

Wintergreen ice cream. Why not? I love regular mint ice cream, and after my friend Nate and I foraged for a bunch of wintergreen berries on Cape Ann in Massachusetts a couple weeks ago, I reckoned this would be a cool way to use them... no pun intended.

Recipe

How to Make Elderberry Wine

If you want to make your own fruit wines - wines worthy of the snootiest wine snob - this is how to do it. I've been making fruit wines for 20 years, and here is my method. It requires some special equipment, a lot of patience, and a little math. But the result is more than worth it.

Berries and Fruits

The Great Hollyleaf Redberry Mystery

Hollyleaf redberry is sweet, pretty and abundant. It is also a mystery. I am confident about eating this berry now, but it took some research -- the kind of research anyone who dares eat something unknown ought to do before popping it into your mouth.

Berries and Fruits

How to Make Elderberry Syrup

It's elderberry season, and making elderberry syrup is the first thing I do once the berries turn ripe every year. After all these years running this blog, I thought I'd finally write down the recipe.