Berry season has been good this year in Colorado’s high country. I've been cooking down all manner of wild berries—black currants and gooseberries, Oregon grapes, and black elderberries from Denver-area landscaping—and straining out the juice through a makeshift setup of cut, … [Read more...]
Wild tarragon in the weeds
I am in love. Wild tarragon. It is the same species as the cultivated herb, but grows wild as a native species throughout much of the U.S. and Canada. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it sooner. Wild tarragon is concentrated in the western United States—south to New Mexico and … [Read more...]
Sprouted goosefoot flour
I’d been eating a lot of quinoa while staring longingly at the seeds of its relative, the ubiquitous weed, goosefoot. In fact I kept a jar of the black seeds in my pantry for more than two years before attempting to eat them. Truth be told, I was stumped by them. I eat … [Read more...]
A fall for rosehips
Legions of soft, plump, frost-kissed rosehips hang heavy upon their slender, prickly stems. Many are perfectly ripe, slipping off the ends of their branches with a soft, orange gush, leaving a sticky paste to be licked off the fingers. First I made rosehip sauce by cooking the … [Read more...]
Fruiting forward
We went for wild plums in the cold, misty morning, gathering them with fingers freezing and lethargic, my feet squishing in icy, wet boots. It was worth enduring the thorny thicket, the musky scent of catnip tall around us, to come home with 20 lbs or so of plums, without making … [Read more...]
