Red Clover Vinegar and Vinaigartte

There are many methods of making flower or herb vinegars.  I started making clover vinegar when we started the foraging family project three years ago.  This recipe works well.

Fill a quart sized Mason jar with red clover blossoms. 

Add 2 cups white vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 3 tbsp honey to small pot.  Boil.
Pour over red clover blossoms.  Let sit.
The next day strain liquid back into pot.  Boil. Add liquid back to flowers in mason jar.  Repeat for 3 to 7 days until liquid becomes purpley pink.
Store clover vinegar in a jar without a metal lid--the vinegar will destroy the lid. The vinegar lasts a long time--I've used mine for over a year.

Red Clover Vinegarette:

I play around with the amounts in this recipe (usually eyeballing it), but try this to start--adjusting the amount of any ingredient to suit your taste.

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red clover vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

Shake well and serve over salad!

Where has the foraging family been?

 It has been nearly a year since our last post...what could we possibly have been doing in that time?

• Thag began a new job teaching biology and physical science to high school students.
• Ooga did a triathlon.
• Thag wrote and published several articles in the awesome magazine Northern Woodlands.
• Yub Yub started preschool.
• Thag wrote the first draft of a full length novel.

AND...

• Ooga had a baby!  

Yes, the foraging family has a new member--a beautiful boy--9 lbs 1 oz born in late April of this year.  He has yet to be given a cave name!

Burdock Stalk Recipe: Arctium lappa

Peeling burdock is like peeling a thin, 2-3 foot carrot. 

We've tried to eat many parts of the burdock plant in the past.  But when Arthur Haines mentioned a few weeks ago that the stalk was his favorite part of the plant, I decided that we had to try it.  Finding burdock was easy enough.  They grow all up and down our road.  I cut five robust looking stalks, tore off the large leaves and carried the stalks home.  (We've tried to eat the leaf-stalk, or petiole, before but found them impractical to peel.)  The stalks had an earthy smell that I found slightly unpleasant, but I sallied forth with, having recieved such esteemed recommendations. 

The outter tissue of the stalk is extremely bitter and must be completely and carefully peeled away to reveal the starching and mild inner core.  Imagine peeling a 2 1/2 foot long, thin and floppy carrot and you begin to get the idea.  It's definitely a fun novelty preparation, and I imagine that one could get skilled at processing this awkward vegetable with practice.  I'd read somewhere (I don't remember where) a favorable comparison between burdock stalk and new potatoes.  So we decided to try parboiling them and then sauteeing them in olive oil with garlic and onion.  I liked the flavor, but Ooga was the real test, she being much pickier than I. 

I started her off with a small portion and  . . . she asked for seconds.  We were ready to count this as a new family side dish. 

The next week, we were out walking, and I found a big patch of burdock.  I cut a few of the smaller stalks hoping to encourage the larger ones to propogate and bless us with hearty stalks in subsequent years.  I stripped them, carried them home and, since I didn't feel like eating them just then, stuck them in our refrigerator.  I found them again several days later.  They were a little wilted, but I wasn't scared.  I got out our trusty peeler and started on them hoping for another tasty mea.  Peeling these stalks was a real challenge though.  The fibers didn't come off anywhere near as easily.  And even though the stalks were narrower than the ones from our previous meal, they seemed tougher and drier.  After mangling two stalks into inedible stumps, I gave up. 

I'm not sure if the problem was my selection (of older, less tender stalks) or my storage (three days in the fridge).  From now on though, I'll plan to peel my burdock stalks shortly after picking it in hopes of enjoying a meal like the one pictured below. 

Our delicious first attempt at burdock stalk as a vegetable.