Foraging
Harvesting Bull Pine Nuts
The more I work with wild nuts, the more I appreciate the ones you buy in the store. Shelling wild pine nuts is not the most exciting thing I've ever done, but I'm glad I did it.
Mushrooms
Foraging for Blewit Mushrooms
Another foraging trip and another edible mushroom under my belt! Two good stashes of blewits last week gave me a great introduction to this mushroom.
Mushrooms
How to Identify and Cook Honey Mushrooms
I don't eat unknown mushrooms lightly. But when I spotted these honey mushrooms, I knew, somehow, they were edible. Turns out they're a prime pierogi ingredient, too.
Foraging
Black Walnuts and Holiday Cheer
Of all the things I hunt, fish or forage for, nothing requires as much effort as shelling black walnuts. But it's worth it. Black walnuts are to regular walnuts as a diamond is to cubic zirconium.
Foraging
Hunting Oregon Truffles
Think you can imagine the thrill of unearthing a truffle? Sorry, but you can't. Not unless you've panned for gold. Or dug diamonds. It's the same feeling, complete with the whiff of rapacious greed...
How-To (DIY stuff)
Acorn Eating Revisited
It's been another year of learning and experimenting on the acorn front, and the more I learn, the more I love working with "oak nuts."
Mushrooms
Cooking Chanterelle Mushrooms
Chanterelles vie for my favorite mushroom with the great porcini. Chanties are the light to porcini's dark, pheasant not beef, white wine not red. Our season has begun!
Italian
Making Mirto, a Sardinian Liqueur
The first time I drank mirto, the dark, herbal-tasting Sardinian liqueur, I fell in love with it. Little did I know then how easy it was to make, and when I found a myrtle bush, it was game on!
Foraging
Curing Olives: Don’t be Afraid to Lye
Most of the olives I cure each year are done in a brine. But this year I tried curing green olives with lye. I was scared at first, but after some experiments, I'm now a believer.
Foraging
Berries of the Coastal Range
I went to Marin County in search of huckleberries. I left with a full huckle bucket, but also something I'd never seen before: Salal berries. It pays to keep your eyes open.
Berries and Fruits
Berries of the Sierra Nevada
The high Sierra, or really any Western mountain range, is a treasure trove of summer berries. We recently found four different kinds on one trip.
How-To (DIY stuff)
Berries of the Central Valley
I've been on a wild berry rampage this month. This will be the first of three berry posts, starting with picking elderberries and blackberries here in the Central Valley.
