Candied Petals and Herbs
*This is a wonderful topping for cakes and desserts. I used candied Rose Geranium leaves and Rose Petals of many colors to decorate my wedding cake. Much more beautiful – and tasty—than icing flowers!
you will need:
granulated sugar, amount depending on how much to be candied
egg whites
fine mesh colander
large bowl
lipped tray, such as a cake pan
waxed paper
measuring cup, preferably with pour spout
plant material
tweezers
Suitable Flowers Include:
Borage (Petals)
Chamomile
Day Lily Petals (not Tiger Lilies: poisonous!)
Flavored Marigolds (lemon, lime, orange)
Lavender Flower Heads
Pansies
Rose Petals (unsprayed and scented)
Sweet Peas
Violets, or Johnny Jump Ups
Herbs That Candy Well:
Anise leaves
Anise Hyssop leaves
Basil (lemon, cinnamon, licorice)
Bergamot leaves
Catnip leaves
Horehound leaves
Hyssop leaves
Lavender leaves
Lemon Balm leaves
Lemon Verbena leaves
Sweet Marjoram
Mints (not pennyroyal!)
Pineapple Sage leaves
Scented Geraniums
Wintergreen leaves
Sweet Woodruff
How To:
1.Mix egg whites gently in a bowl – try not to make it foamy. A few drops of water may help thin it, but remember—you want the herbs to dry out and not to mold!
2.Cover the bottom of the lipped tray with a coating of sugar about 1 inch thick, on which to place the plant material after dipping.
3.Using tweezers, lift a petal, leaf or sprig and run it through the egg white, covering completely. Allow to drip for a moment to remove excess, then touch to the edge of bowl to remove last drop. (so as not to form a sugar clump)
4.Lay the piece gently in the sugar, and immediately pour a light stream of sugar from the measuring cup onto the piece to cover completely. Be sure to fill hollow spaces fully.
5.Continue in this manner until tray is full.
6.Slowly and gently use tweezers to remove each piece from the sugar tray and place on waxed paper.
7.Dump used sugar in tray into the colander which has been placed inside a bowl. This will remove any sugar clumps. Discard clumps. Replace one inch layer of sugar in tray. Fill measuring cup with sugar.
8.Go back to Step 3.
9.Continue until all plant material is coated.
10.Allow to dry in open air in a cool, dark, dry place for one week or more, depending on moisture content of material. (it will be quite crunchy when done)
11.Store between layers of paper towels in an airtight container in refrigerator until ready to use.
12.Can be stored up to two months, maybe longer. (Check carefully for mold or other signs of deterioration.)
Wild Foods
Cattail Hominy
*I call it thus because the taste and texture are very similar. It tastes vaguely like popcorn. Use the mature cattail heads, no longer brown and smooth, but after they have flowered and the tops are covered with white, cottony stuff. Scrape this off , rinse and dry on a paper towel, and use.
You Will Need:
Cattail buds, about 1/2 cup raw for each person
Butter, 1 Tablespoon per cup of buds
Salt, pepper, paprika and chopped onion to taste
How To:
--Melt butter in skillet or saute pan set on medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook a couple of minutes, just to soften.
--Add cattail buds, and cook until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add seasonings before dishing up.
*variation: Add equivalent amounts of chopped green and/or red pepper plus a bit of minced garlic to the onion when sauteing. Add a dash of chili powder or cumin and a dash of oregano to seasonings. Melt sharp cheddar cheese or jack cheese over the top. Yum!
Milkweed Recipes
Wild Broccoli
Milkweed Flower Syrup
Wild Broccoli
*The unopened purple buds of the milkweed flower make an excellent broccoli substitute. The taste is very similar, and the texture is a little less grainy, which, at least to me, makes it preferable to the "real thing". I have no experience with it raw, so please, only try cooked recipes .
How To:
--Harvest whole clusters of unopened buds in an area you are certain has not been treated with herbicides or other questionable chemicals. Rinse under cool water, drain, and use in any recipe for which you would normally use broccoli.
Milkweed Flower Syrup
*A delicious, tangy syrup to try on pancakes, over ice cream, as a fruit salad dressing, as an iced tea sweetener.....use you imagination!
You Will Need:
3 cups of fully opened, fragrant milkweed blossoms (snip away stem with scissors.)
Piece of cheesecloth big enough to tie flowers in loosely
4 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar
How To:
--Remove blossoms from stem. Rinse, and tie up in cheesecloth loosely enough to allow the water to circulate within the bag.
--Bring water and sugar to a boil, and add blossoms.
--Reduce heat, but allow mixture to simmer actively until reduced by about half.
--Remove from heat; when cooled, remove bag of milkweed and allow to drain into pot. (squeezing the bag will yield more syrup, but it will be cloudy)
--Store tightly covered in the refridgerator for 2-3 weeks.
Delicious Dandelion Greens
*There certainly is enough of it, so why not make it useful? Then, instead of feeling annoyed every time a patch of your garden is usurped by this wildling, you can snap it up for a delicious side dish with dinner! Plus, believe it or not, this is REALLY TASTY!
You Will Need:
Dandelion Greens, 3 small, young plants per person
Bacon, about 1 or 2 slices per person
Red onion rings, thinly sliced
Apple Cider or Red Wine Vinegar, 1 Tablespoon per serving
Salt and Pepper (and tarragon is nice, too)
How To:
--Fry bacon until crisp. Set aside to drain. Reserve 1/2 of the drippings in a large frying pan.
--Add the dandelion greens, well washed and cut away from their stem. Add salt, pepper and tarragon. Saute over medium high heat until quite limp.
--Add red onion rings and vinegar. Toss around for another minute to warm it up and mix it.
--Throw into a serving dish, and crumble bacon over top.
Interesting Ways With Liquor
Vodka, That Is
*Vanilla Extract:
1 piece of bean, about 1 1/2 inches long, per 1/2 cup vodka. Age 6 weeks.
*"Pickled" Ginger:
Chop up enough peeled, fresh gingerroot to fill container. Pour in vodka. Age 6 weeks. Good in mixed drinks, or in marinades.
*Angelica Liquor:
Fill a bottle with leaves and flowers. Pour in vodka. Age. The longer the better. Good straight, or in drinks, or drizzled over ice cream or mild custards or mousses. Try a little in the filling of a cobbler, or as the liquid in icing for a cake.
****This list will increase, as I acquire new recipes and try out *hic* new experiments.
How To Eat A Flower
Rose Omelette
*Here is a beautiful breakfast for special occasions or special guests. The roses don't seem to add any flavor of their own, but they do give a lovely color to the dish. As a hint to the diner, sprinkle a few whole, unblemished rose petals on the plate before serving.
You Will Need:
The petals from one large, red, preferably fragrant rose; reserve a few for garnish
Two eggs
One tablespoon butter
Salt and fresh clipped chives
Soft cheese, such as brie, gouda, gruyere, etc for filling
How To:
--Melt butter in a nonstick pan or omelette pan over medium low heat.
--Add all but a few rose petals, the cracked eggs and seasonings to a blender. Process on low until the petals are very fine.
--Pour into pan, reduce heat a little, cover and cook until set. Add cheese to center, fold over and slide onto plate. Sprinkle with reserved petals and serve.
Stuffed Nasturtiums
* Nasturtium flowers are more than just beautiful: they are delicious! They have a wonderful spicy, peppery flavor, a little like a radish, only sweeter and tangier. They are an excellent addition to salads as is, and the unopened flower buds are a good substitute for capers when pickled.
You Will Need:
Nasturtium flowers, about four per person, or whatever is available
1 block of cream cheese, room temperature
1 clove of garlic, minced fine
1/2 Tablespoon chives, fresh if you have them
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped lemon verbena or lemon balm
(or lemon thyme, lemon basil, lemon catnip.....etc.)
How To:
1. Make sure flowers are clean and dry. Pick as close to serving time as possible, but definitely the same day. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Mix cream cheese thoroughly with herbs. Place 1 or 2 teaspoons of mixture (depending on size of flower) in center of flower. Pull petals upwards to cover the cheese as much as possible. Press lightly into cheese to stick.
3. That's it! Ready to serve.
Mai Bowle, a Traditional May Day Punch
1 gallon apple cider or apple juice, fresh-made if possible
2 bottles sweet white wine
1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dried, preferably aged, sweet woodruff leaves
flowers and herbs for decoration
Heat two cups of apple cider or juice to boiling. Add the sweet woodruff, cover and remove from heat. Let steep, mashing occasionally with a spoon, overnight. Strain. In a bowl, mash the whole lemon, peel and all, with the sugar until a fine pulp is rendered (this may take a while). Add the rest of the ingredients. Chill and garnish with flowers and herbs, and orange slices studded with cloves. Can also be garnished with a frozen apple juice ring made in a bundt pan and filled with herbs and flowers.
Sweet Herb of Paraguay
Never heard of it? Neither had I, until I became interested in herbs. I discovered them in a catalog from Well Sweep Herb Farm in New Jersey. The plant is 300 times sweeter than sugar, and noncaloric. Plus, it lowers your blood sugar as you use it. It is a miracle for me, as a sugar junkie in a family full of cancer. (white sugar is bad, bad, bad for females in families with histories of female-type cancers) Why isn't this stuff in the supermarket, in twenty gallon drums between the sugar and the saccharin? According to Well Sweep, there have been problems with commercial cultivation. I don't know why. The stuff grows more vigorously than catnip in my bedroom window, with very little bother on my part. It responds to trimmings with flagrant, in-your-face explosions of new leaves.
Concentrate of Sweet Herb of Paraguay
You Will Need:
One packed handful (about 1/3 cup) of fresh leaves, or a scant 1/4 cup of dried leaves.
2 1/2 cups water
How To:
1. Put leaves in water in a saucepan. Boil uncovered until liquid is reduce to about 1/2 cup.
2. Place a coffee filter in a CLEAN(!!) coffee basket. place basket over a glass, making sure pour spout empties into cup.
3. Dump leaves and water into coffee basket. Let strain.
4. Refrigerate.
I am still learning the specifics on how to use this concentrate. For now, I keep a small cream pitcher-full in the refrigerator to use in tea and coffee: the two sweet things I consume gallons of daily. I have used it to make an all-fruit pancake syrup for my daughter as well--just put the fruit in a blender with some concentrate and a splash of lemon or lime juice, and "frappe". Tasting will let you know when you have added enough.
As my plant grows and I have more leaves to experiment with, I will design recipes and include them here. A cake recipe will probably be first--that should be easy.
Herbal Jelly
Very easy and very tasty, this recipe is great for a care package. Also good to have on hand for special dinners or for brightening up the menu on cold, dreary winter days.
Especially Good Herbs to Use:
Chamomile Flowers (delicate, apple-honey flavor, good on toast or fruit or cheese)
Peppermint, or other mints (try cooking peas in chicken stock, then adding mint jelly! )
Sage (Good on Meats, especially pork and chicken)
Scented Geraniums
Lemony Herbs, such as lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme, etc.
Rosemary---another good one for meats, beef included
You Will Need:
Jars of Apple Jelly
Fresh Herb Leaves or Flowers
Large, deep pot of boiling water and Tongs
Small Saucepan
How To:
1. Empty contents of one jar of apple jelly into saucepan. Heat over medium until melted and barely bubbling. Meanwhile, wash jar and lid and place in boiling water to keep sterile.
2. When jelly is well melted, remove jar from water and place a few herb leaves or flowers in bottom. Strength of flavor will be determined by how many you use. Experimentation is the only way to know how you like it best.
3. Pour hot jelly over herbs in jar. Retrieve hot lid from boiling water and screw on quickly.
4. Replace filled jar in boiling water and process for 10 minutes.
5. Best kept in refridgerator, just in case, but should do okay in the pantry. Always use your sniffer before you eat something home processed! Should be aged for at least four weeks for best flavor.
Herb and Spice Cookies
For best flavor, you can melt the butter or margarine over gentle heat with the herb or spice in it, cook for a few minutes, then cool in the refridgerator. Try lining a bowl with plastic wrap for the cooling--when just solidified, it can be lifted out in one hunk, instead of wastefully scraped out of a bowl which then must be washed. For crisp cookies, use real, unsalted butter. For chewier cookies, use margarine.
Herbs and Spices To Try:
Scented Geranium
Sweet Marjoram
Lavendar Leaves or Flowers
Sage
Lemon Herbs, like lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon grass, etc.
Thyme
Ground Cloves
Curry Powder
Chinese Five-Spice Powder
Ground Cumin
Ground Coriander
Ground Cardamom
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, or Pumpkin Pie Spice
Basic Recipe:
One stick butter or margarine, room temperature, infused with herb
One large egg
One cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
About 2 1/2 cups flour, more or less, depending on humidity.
How To:
1. Cream butter, sugar and egg until fluffy and well mixed.
2. Add soda, mix well.
3. Add two cups flour and mix well.
4. Turn out onto floured counter or board, and continue to knead in more flour until dough is workable and no longer sticky.
5. Divide into four balls, and flatten on floured counter.
6. With sharp knife, cut dough into thin wedges and place on cookie sheets.
7. Bake at 375 until set but not brown. Watch carefully!