What I’ve learned about poison oak or Young foragers tales (as opposed to old wives tales)

1.  Just because you didn’t get it last time you were in the woods doesn’t mean you won’t get it this time

2. When you’re in the woods and feel the urge to relieve yourself, don’t.  hold it until you can wash your hands.

3. Clean and Clear cleanser keeps a rash down like nothing else (not sure why)

4. Don’t scratch your ear (or your stomach, or your face, or your legs, or your neck) when in the woods

5. The people who tell you to scrub the rash until it bleeds are completely insane

6. Baths are bad

7. Lukewarm showers are good

8. Red wine is bad

9. If there is a god, he is a spiteful god for making scratching feel so good.

10. Last word. Technu. It’s a miracle soap.

Mushroom Season Has Arrived!

It’s here, officially.  The rains came, then we waited, we went to mendocino, found nothing, then waited some more. But now it’s here. Behind every stray bramble, beneath every knotted pine, you’ll find them (or hope to).  We’ve waited through the months of cracked ground, dust storms (well, maybe not dust storms), and wilted greens, but now they’re here.

I, and a few like me, found our first mushrooms of the season today.  Porcini, oyster, many yet to be identified. As an aside, I also found some bullwhip kelp, which I am going to try once again to make into a pickle. The last attempt tasted about how you might imagine raw thick rubbery seaweed might taste when prepared incorrectly…raw, thick, and rubbery.It’s a very exciting time, discovering fresh fungus, after so many months of abstinence.  Like that first cigarette after you’ve quit for a month.  Almost worth the wait, just to experience it fresh.

on design

I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about design.  Website design, logo design, package design, business design.  So much is wrapped up in the design of a product label, so much time agonizing over logo color and package size. So many places to buy bags of different sizes and weights, and so many things to consider…recycleable vs. compostable vs. matte colored (apparently matte colored packaging is neither recyclable or compostable).  What all this really boils down to though is image. What kind of image do I want?  Do I want the slick hipster- pictures of little birds on wires with pastel colors, the hippie – tons of multicolored mushrooms and bubbly font, the minimalist – brown card stock with black block lettering?  Even as I write this I feel a hint of unneeded vanity in my search.  We have this feeling that all these decisions just spring naturally, but the fact of the matter is that they are often arrived at through months of careful deliberation.  Not that its a bad process, its always fun to create something unique. Think about that next time you decide which chocolate to buy (high package design indeed). Think about why you choose a certain one, and why. Is it the taste, or the shiny package, that temps your fancy?  Think about the designers, sitting around a table at some cafe, macbooks at the ready, flicking though color templates, deciding which red is the right red for the 1/2 inch (or should it be 1/3 inch) border that surrounds the vermillion blue (or was aqua better) hand drawn (or at least made to look hand drawn) leaf logo.  There is so much that goes on in business behind the scenes. We all try our best to make it seem effortless, because people are attracted to this confidence, but its a lot of sweat to make anything new, although that’s also what makes it fun and inspiring.   Making all these decisions, and knowing that each small success came your work.  It’s exciting to think that you are putting something completely unique out into the world.  That what started as a random idea one night while lying in bed has blossomed into a concrete object in the world.  Something people think and talk about.  It’s almost like having a child, but so much better, because you have all the freedom of design.  It’s amazing really, to think that everything that exists in the world was at one point just an idea in someone’s head.

p.s. if anyone has any great ideas for forageSF logos etc.., I’m all ears.

This Months Box

 

This is a very exciting time….MUSHROOM SEASON!! Unlike more rain regular climates, our mushroom season starts and ends with the water.  The winter is when they really pop, and with these early rains that is starting to happen.  In this months box we have…

In this months box we have

Fresh Golden Chanterelle Mushrooms

Apples, Oranges, Persimmons, Figs, and Lemons, all foraged from berkeley backyards

Fresh Huckleberries

Sea Beans

Fresh Local Black Cod

below are some recipes and info we sent out with the boxes this month

 

 

 

Sea beans (Northern California)

Pickle weed is a small succulent, with leaves that are waxy on the outside and full of moisture on the inside. Its leaves are long, thin, and round, like little fingers. Sea Beans flower between April and September, but its tiny yellow flowers can only be seen upon careful examination. Pickle weed grows in the low- to middle-tide zone in the marsh, which means that it gets covered up by water some of the time.  It’s delicious fresh as a garnish, or if you want to get creative in the early morning hours, check out the recipe below.

 

 

Apples, Oranges, Persimmons, Figs, Lemons (Berkeley)

 

All of these fruits were gleaned from the backyards of Berkeley. Picked yesterday, they are fresh and delicious, hope you like them.

 

Fresh Huckleberries (Mendocino)

Known to be a treat for humans and grizzly bears alike, huckleberries can only be found in the wild since they are not cultivated commercially. They’re often confused with blueberries because of their size and color, but the huckleberry is often more tart and carries larger seeds which give it a crunchy texture. It’s thick skin and seeds are all edible and the fruit can be interchanged in blueberry recipes.

 

White Chanterelle Mushrooms (West Coast)

Much like their golden cousin, White Chanterelles have a wonderful nutty flavor that tastes like fall (at least to me).  Think about the misty mountain oak forests where they are foraged when eating them, it really does make them taste better.

 

Sea Beans (Northern CA)

 

This may be the last time we see these until next year.  They are going out of season, deserting us for the time being.  Check out the recipe below for a new take on mussels

 

Black Cod (Northern CA)

 

Black cod, also known as sablefish or butterfish, is one of the best local catches we have.  With a nice strong flavor, its flavor holds up nicely to other strong flavored ingredients.  As is normal for this fish, these filets have pin bones that should be removed before cooking. Run your hand down the length of the flesh side of the filet to locate, and then remove with tweezers or pliers (pulling out towards you rather than up, this helps to keep the fish whole).

 

 

 

 

Chanterelle Ragout – from The Mycophile, recipe from the Noble Rot Restaurant, OR

 

2 pounds chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and diced

3 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 strips of bacon, cut in small dice

6 shallots, cut in small dice

1 T chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried)

1 cup dry red wine

2 T sherry vinegar

2 cups veal stock (or 4 cups Swanson’s low sodium chicken broth, simmered until reduced to 2 cups)

2 T butter
Chopped fresh chives (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss mushrooms with olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Spread the mushrooms on a sheet pan and roast for 15 minutes. In a large skillet, sauté the bacon and shallots with the thyme until everything is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the wine and vinegar to the shallot mixture and reduce over medium heat to a syrupy consistency. Stir in the stock and simmer until reduced by half. Finely chop a third of the mushrooms and stir them into the broth mixture. Cook for 4 minutes, then turn off the heat and fold in the remaining whole mushrooms. At this point, the mixture can be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to one week, if desired. To serve, swirl the butter into the hot ragout and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and some chopped chives, if desired. Serves 6 to 8.

 

 

Fennel crusted Black Cod with tomato/fennel broth

Ingredients

4 T. Olive Oil

1 bulb Fresh Fennel (sliced)

1 small Onion (sliced)

2-3 cloves Garlic (smashed)

2 ea. Bay Leaves

6 ea. Whole Black Peppercorn

150 mL White Wine

250 mL Chicken Stock

150 mL Tomato Juice

2 ea. Cod portions

1 ea. Egg white (scrambled)

Bread Crumbs

1 bunch Fresh Wild Fennel*

Salt & Fresh Black Pepper

 

 

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small pot over medium heat.

2. Add the fennel, onion & garlic and cook 2-3 minutes without browning.

3. Add the white wine and let reduce by half.

4. Now, turn the oven on to 180° C (400° F) to get warmed-up.

5. Add the chicken stock to your pot, throw in the bay leaves and peppercorns. Lower the flame and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

6. Add the tomato juice and keep the broth on a low flame.

7. Now – for the fish. Chop up the fresh fennel* and mix in with the breadcrumbs.

8. Season the fish on both sides with salt and fresh black pepper to suit your taste. Then bread the ‘meat side’ (the side which did not have the skin on it) by dipping it into the egg white, then pressing it into the breadcrumb mixture.

9. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. (A teflon pan is ok if you’re concerned about sticking – just remember not to use any metal utensils in the pan & if the teflon coating is coming off buy a new pan!)

10. Tilt the pan away from you so that the oil rolls to the opposite side of the pan and gently place the fish in the pan with the breading side down.

11. Cook for 3-4 minutes until you can see the edges of the crust getting nice and brown.

12. Gently turn the cod over and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.

13. Now, remove the salmon from the pan onto a baking platter or sheet and slide it into the oven.

14. While the cod is finishing in the oven, you can strain your tomato/fennel broth.

15. Adjust the seasoning of the broth with salt and pepper (I like to add a touch of anisette too).

16. I recommend another 3-4 minutes in the oven, although depending on the thickness of your fish and the degree of doneness you prefer this can alter.

17. I served my cod with rice and sautéed spinach, although you could use risotto or fettuccini or whatever you prefer.

 

Mussels mariniere with Sea Beans

50 fresh mussels, scrubbed and debearded

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

3 green onions, chopped

1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped

3 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb fresh seabeans

 

 

DIRECTIONS

Place mussels in a large bowl with cold water to cover. Let them soak for about 20 minutes to remove any dirt or sand.

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. Add garlic, and saute for one minute, but do not brown. Add the chopped green onion and tomatoes, cook for one minute, then add sea beans, and cook 4 minutes until onions are almost tender. Pour in the white wine, and stir in the parsley and butter. Bring to a boil, and allow to boil until the liquid has reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the mussels to the pot, cover and allow to cook until the shells are opened, about 10 minutes. Transfer the mussels and sauce to a large serving bowl, discarding any unopened shells. Bon appetit!

collecting ideas

I forage for a living. Collect. Glean. Hunt.  Rather than growing, I look out into the world to see what nature has to offer.  Instead of deciding what a plot of land will provide, I let the plants decide.  Choosing where and when they flower.  Wild mushrooms, acorns, blackberries, seaweed. All these and more are my stock and trade, the stuff of my life.  The changing seasons, from spring, with its abundance of greens, to summer, with seaweeds and Seabeans, to fall, with acorns and huckleberries, and finally winter, with the rains come an endless abundance of wild mushrooms.  Chanterelle, matsutake, hedgehog, wild radish, black oak, Salicornia pacifica, mychorizzal, minus tides .  Foraging has changed the way I look at the world.

Let me explain. A year ago I started a business/community, forageSF. I started it with the idea to bring wild local edibles to an urban population.  Creating fulfilling jobs for my neighbors, while exposing a whole new populace to the amazing wealth of wild foods growing just outside their doors.  Foraging changes the way you see the world.  With a little knowledge, a non-descript blanket of green is transformed.  It bursts forth, and becomes miners lettuce, chickweed, and wild radish flowers, all delicious salad additions.  From the trail-side “toadstools” burst chanterelles, matsutake, and morel mushrooms, some of the most sought after foods on the planet.  The winter rains cease to be a thing to lament, but instead something to yearn for,with dreams of your secret mushroom spots in full bloom.

Food  has become very important lately. From Slow Food to Weston Price, people are beginning to view food as more than simple sustenance.  People call it a movement.  The food movement.  A movement based around consumption . Not consumption in the sense that we’ve come to know the word, as the end result of our collective inhalation of the worlds resources. This is a consumption based on a keen awareness of what we’re eating, where it comes from, what it means, how it connects us to the past, and how it nourishes us both physically and culturally.  The life of the pig from birth to death is something that we have come to care about.  Wild boar is sought after, because we feel that animal had a full and healthy life.  This is revolutionary.  We’ve spent the last 50 years giving little thought to what went into our bodies. Ignoring thousands of years of accumulated human knowledge, we chose microwaves, frozen dinners, and twinkies.  Freeze dried, pre-packed “nutrition”, has replaced common sense. Our ancestors didn’t need to read a nutrition label to know something was good for them.  That knowledge was passed down through millennia of trial and error.  Generations of humans who had eaten and thrived off foods that nourish. The culture of our species is tied to its food, and for too long we have ignored that culture in favor of convenience.  In one generation we have forgotten the lessons of hundreds of past generations. Those who hunted, fished, canned, grew, foraged, and thrived.  Foraging is not a new phenomenon.  It is the oldest example of food. When we forage, we connect ourselves with a lineage that dates back to our first ancestors, and a cultural tradition that is in serious danger of being forgotten.

What it means to think about food

I recently heard an interview of an author who’s written a book called “where locavores get it wrong…”.  His basic thesis is that for someone who is concerned with the carbon footprint of their food, local is often not the right choice. It often is of course, but sometimes it makes more sense to import snap peas from Uganda than it does to walk down to the farmers market.  I guess this is true. I imagine the man did his research, as he was being interviewed on a show I trust, so I’m going to  take it as a given that he’s not lying. So that begs the question…why eat local?  If we can get snap peas year round from disparate corners of the globe, always snappy and fresh (or at least fresh-ish), and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint, why all this talk of eating local?

The answer that I’ve come to (full disclosure, Michael Pollan was also on the show, and he had a similar idea to the one I’m about to espouse, but I swear I thought it before he said it on the show) is that local food is about more than food. Wild food is about more than food.  People love wild foods, they’re clearly delicious, often more nutritious (and I believe if the author had done his research on foraged foods he would have found they are much more carbon efficient, but put that aside for a second), but I’m not sure that’s the main reason people love them. To me wild food is almost more about the connection to the place I live. I’ve lived in San Francisco for two years now (just had my anniversary), and I feel more a part of this place that almost anywhere else on earth.  I’ve explored more of the Bay than I have in VT, and I grew up there. I meet people every day that are interested in what I’m doing, and want to be involved. I know that a week after the first rains I’m going to mushroom forage, I know who I’m going with, I know what I will (or should) find. I’m honestly looking forward to going up to Mendecino next week to collect acorns, and making plans for the best way to get to the wild onions before the landscapers get them next spring. I feel a part of this place, and that has all sprung from my interest in the foods of this place.  I throw dinners that have become some of the most memorable meals of my life. I know chefs all over the city, and always know if I have a question about the food business I can ask Ian at Far West Fungi.  The people I call friends are the people who are actively working towards changing the way America eats. Creative people who, through their creativity, inspire people to see the world in a different way.

Local food is about much more it’s carbon footprint. That’s important of course, but what the local food movement is really about goes beyond the eating. It goes to a connection with the place you live, and the people that make that place important. When you buy a mushroom from a forager (or a farmer), you support that person, their community, expand your own community, and get to know the place you call home just a little bit better.

forageSF- story on snail foraging

check out the new story on alternet on forageSF. http://www.alternet.org/environment/142420/

forageSF on NPR

check out the dinner party download this past week for a bit of forage talk.  you can itunes the show, its episode 30.

Eat Real

My Eat Real marathon weekend of sea bean proselytizing is over.  It was great to get out and talk to people about what we’re up to, and really exciting to see how into people are.  Foraging is often a lonely pursuit, and I get the feeling that people are often a bit confused about just what it is we’re trying to do at forageSF, so getting face to face with people and answering questions about what we’re about was great.  So great in fact that I’m going to start a push to get into some local farmers markets. It was originally my intention, but the focus moved a bit over the last year, and it got put on the back burner.  The problem with selling wild food in a certified market (meaning that everyone there is the primary producer) is that no one actually produces wild food.  We forage it, so we are as close to producers as any human gets, but not close enough.  It’s a pretty funny situation to be in, what makes the food so interesting to me and to others is the exact reason it can’t be sold.  I talked to a couple farmers market managers who seemed to think we could find some common ground, so I’m optimistic.  So look for us at your farmers market soon!

August CSF

This months box:

Dried Porcini and Morel Mushrooms (Mendocino/Humboldt Valley)

Dried Mushrooms, left to refresh in water for about 20 minutes, can be cooked just like fresh. It takes about 10 lbs of fresh wild mushrooms to make 1 lb dried.  Drying actually concentrates the flavor of many mushrooms, such as the bolete.  The Boletus edulis mushroom (bolete) was first described in 1783 by the French botanist Pierre Bulliard and still bears its original name. The Porcini, or King Bolete, is always an exciting find in California since they’re rare and delicious. Porcini are great sautéed with a little (or a lot) of butter.

Orange and Foraged Lemon Juice

Foraged in our own backyard, these lemons were rescued from certain rotting.  We got some fresh squeezed OJ and added foraged lemon juice to give it a good sour bite.

Sea beans (Bolinas)

Pickle weed is a small succulent, with leaves that are waxy on the outside and full of moisture on the inside. Its leaves are long, thin, and round, like little fingers. Pickleweed flowers between April and September, but its tiny yellow flowers can only be seen upon careful examination. Pickle weed grows in the low- to middle-tide zone in the marsh, which means that it gets covered up by water some of the time.  It’s delicious fresh as a garnish, or if you want to get creative in the early morning hours, check out the recipe below.

Wild Foraged Bay Leaves

The very same bay laurel leaves that you see (and smell) all over California, can be used in cooking. The aroma is a bit stronger than store bought, so use sparingly in your favorite soups.

Wild Foraged Blackberries

That’s right, collected just yesterday…they’re delicious.  We had to exercise some serious self control not to eat them all as we picked.  These blackberries come from Mendocino county.

Seabeans Sauteed with onions

This week we wanted to give you an idea of a good way to cook those seabeans you get so often in your box. Here they are, sautéed with some onions, garlic, pepper, and just a pinch of sugar to cut the saltiness. Hope you like them.

Wild Foraged Mint

Use this just like regular mint, the taste is a bit more intense with the wild variety.