Foraging With Friends - Apricots

This is not exactly foraging, but it is something like it!  During July in Kamloops there are so many people who have trees in their yards that are loaded with apricots.  We live in close proximity with bears here so it is very important to keep your fruit trees picked to discourage the local wildlife.  Since we have no land to plant trees of our own I feel very lucky to be here when people are trying to get rid of all their excess fruit!

In this case I was also happy to have a chance to spend some time with a good friend and introduce her to my baby.  Hopefully this year we can see each other more than once during apricot season!

Little Forager really enjoyed his first taste of apricots!  They are the perfect size for his little hands and the fruit is a great choice for babies since the skin is virtually nonexistent and it all turns into mush pretty quickly anyway.  He gets this really thoughtful expression when he tries new foods that makes it seem like maybe he doesn't like it, but I guess he is just processing it all.  We know he likes it when he goes back in for more!

Canada Day Long Weekend

We kicked off our weekend in my family's traditional style with a big pancake brunch.  With my mom's special recipe; homemade rhubarb curd and candied pecans; Tree Island yogurt; and fresh local eggs, bacon, and cherries it certainly was a feast!

I believe these are rainier cherries, but they are redder than most I have seen, and tastier too.  I think they must pick them earlier for commercial sale.  Maybe they do this with most cherries, but on the rainiers the difference is really pronounced.  One time in Lake Chelan I bought this type of cherry from an orchard and they were also this colour.  The taste difference is enormous and if they are allowed to get to this point I think these cherries are some of the best for fresh eating!

Last year I had access to a huge amount of free rhubarb from a friend, and I made all kinds of different things with it.  One of my favourites was a rhubarb curd and I still have a couple jars in the freezer.  Obviously it is not at its peak flavour anymore, but it is still so delicious!

Little Forager enjoyed hanging out on the grass in the park and trying his first taste of watermelon.  Despite his rather thoughtful expression he really enjoyed it!

After brunch we headed down to Riverside Park for the Canada Day festivities.  I was so excited to see that the Korean Church had their booth set up since their bulgogi beef is really delicious!  To me Canada Day is all about everyone sharing our different heritage and culture, and celebrating how a nation of immigrants and indigenous people can come together as one nation.

There was a lot of different international food on offer as well as "Canadian Food".  Mr. Forager finally had the Chinese food he has been craving for months!  (I'm not sure why it took this long, but for some reason we haven't tried any of the Chinese restaurants since moving here!)

Since we have been working through about 60lbs of local cherries, I made an attempt at making some naturally fermented cherry soda, and it worked!  Since it was red and bubbly it seemed like a fitting festive drink for the evening before we headed out to watch the fireworks.

The next day was a great family day where we shopped at the farmers' market, and had our breakfast at PDK Cafe.  This place is named with one initial from each of the owner's children, and they make some of the best doughnuts around!

Then it was off to Lac le Jeune for some BBQ, fishing, swimming, football, and fun!

We hope you all had a great weekend as well and a happy Canada Day!

Grow Write Guild No. 6 - Landscapes

I have traveled a fair amount for someone my age, and have fallen in love with many different landscapes.  The craggy mountain terrain of Scotland stirred my heart.  Mt. Fuji was enthralling.  I have fond memories of long road trips through the United States and Canada and each new scene was exciting.  I love my new semi-arid desert landscape here in Kamloops, but there is something about the West Coast that I don't seem to be able to get past.

It doesn't seem to matter whether it is in Canada or in the USA.  North or south makes no difference.  The west coast of North America is just so special.  Whenever I get a chance to go back - even if it isn't to a shore where I actually lived - it feels like coming home. 

The cities and places I love to visit are diverse, but there seems to be a certain west coast attitude that makes them all feel familiar and comfortable be it Vancouver, Seattle, or Portland.  I have to say I have not been more south than Portland for a very long time, so my memories of those areas are rather dim, but very fond.

Most recently a coastal place I have fallen in love with is a little place called Long Beach in Washington state.  It is just north of the more well known Astoria, Oregon.  The contrast between the quaint town and the vast expansive landscape makes an interesting juxtaposition.  The sandy windswept beaches are perfect for kite flying, horseback riding, and roasting marshmallows over a fire.  Since it is part of the highway system, you can actually take your car out on the beach which is a really interesting experience for someone more used to the rocky coastal areas near Vancouver.  Running parallel to the beach is the 'Discovery Trail' forged by Lewis and Clark on their quest to find the pacific opening of the Columbia river.  Walking or riding a bike along it is a great way to spend an afternoon.  If you look closely you can find beach peas, and wild strawberries all along the trail!  I have never been there when they are in season, sadly, but they are so plentiful.

Just a little further along the trail (or you can use the highway) there are unique places like 'Waikiki Beach' - a small cove only similar to Honolulu in that there are surfable waves - and Cape Disappointment where there are many hiking trails and the Lewis and Clarke Discovery Center.  In the area there are something like 2000 shipwrecks, and some of these are actually visible from the beach.  At the right time of year you can see whales migrating past the cape. 

I actually like visiting here in the winter or very early spring because the misty rain, wind, and fog seem really appropriate as the waves incessantly crash against the sand.  Apparently the waves bring sand along with them which keeps making the Long Beach peninsula longer.

I hope to go back one day soon and enjoy my favourite landscape with a cup of warm, freshly roasted coffee from the local Long Beach Coffee Roasters.

Eating Foraged Food - Elderflower Cordial

I nearly missed the window for foraging for elderflowers entirely!  As you can also see the blossoms I did get are almost past their prime, but I'm going for it since elderflower is one of my favourite flavours!  Next year I will do better especially since I bought my own little black elder (Sambucus Nigra).

If you live in the Okanagan or the Thompson Nicola valley you should be able to find some elder growing wild (or you might have a neighbour with a shrub in their yard).  The two types native to BC are the blue (Sambucus Canadensis) and red (Sambucus Racemosa) elders.

In my hurry to make sure I got some flowers I forgot to take a photo of the elder I was foraging from, but they are easy to google to find out what you're looking for.  Blue and black elder have large flat umbels of tiny white flowers, but in red elder the flowers are arranged more like a lilac.  Have a care to discard as much of the stem as you can before using the flowers for culinary purposes since it is quite toxic.

There is some controversy about using red elder for food purposes.  It seems there are conflicting reports regarding whether or not the berries are poisonous.  I have read that Native American groups used them for food, but considered them inferior in taste and would mix them with other berries to make the tastier ones go further.  Do your due diligence and research the various sources before deciding if you want to eat red elderberries or flowers.  I could find very little evidence about whether or not the flowers were considered at all toxic, but that is probably because using elderflower is mostly foreign in concept in North America.

I am using the tiny amount of flowers I gathered in some elderflower cordial.  This is basically a thick syrup used for flavouring drinks.  I love to simply splash some in with my soda water or mineral water for a fizzy, refreshing drink.  There are many other uses including elderflower champagne and elderflower jelly which I fully intend to try out next year.  For now I made up my own cordial recipe based on some others I read.  The reason I didn't simply follow another recipe is that most of them are made for larger quantities of flowers.  All I did was make a few cups of a 1:1 simple syrup and while it was still boiling I poured it over all my flowers and one sliced lemon.  I let that hang out on my counter covered for a couple days, strained, boiled it again and put it in a bottle in my fridge.  Next year when I have some in greater quantities I am going to be looking into recipes that are safe for water bath canning.

Foraging for Asparagus

Since moving to Kamloops I have been aware of the fact that asparagus grows wild in the ditches, but for two and a half years I hadn't been able to find any!  I have a friend who decorates her house in the fall with the full grown plants when they dry out to a brilliant gold, so I finally asked her this year where she finds them.  People are typically very secretive about their foraging finds, but thankfully she took me on a walk and taught me all about foraging for wild asparagus.

When we found the first spear I wasn't surprised that I hadn't been able to find any before.  First it helps to have an eye for what the old dead plants from the previous season look like.  If you look at the photo below there is a good example of what to look for.  One plant is dead and the others beside it are fully grown.  This plant has been dead for a while I think since in the fall they usually look more beautiful than that with all their frilly foliage and bright red berries.  When you find the dead old ones - and here you have to be a bit discerning since there are a few other things that look similar after the winter (looking at you, wild mustard) - look around the base in a radius of about a foot.  If you've identified it correctly as asparagus and it is the right time of year you should see some tiny asparagus spears. 

In most places right now the asparagus will be gone to seed like the photo above, but you might be able to still find some.  Where I go there were still a few new spears poking up beside the larger, older plants.  If I had been more consistent going back to collect it last month there would still be more to be had, but one person can only accomplish so much!

Even though these grow in the wild they look almost identical to the asparagus you would find in a store or market since they are actually the same thing!  Apparently someone's garden asparagus went feral once upon a time, and now it has naturalized in the landscape.  I feel really lucky since we are renting our home and I have a very limited growing space for my garden (see previous posts) and when something like this grows naturally around me it is almost like my garden is extended!  Cook them exactly the same way as you would any store bought asparagus.  My favourite ways include: roasting them wrapped in bacon, pureeing them into soup, pickling them, or chopping them up to eat with eggs.

Wild asparagus has the most amazing taste.  I imagine if you grow it in your garden and have it fresh you might have the same experience.  It tastes so fresh and sweet, not unlike peas.  I think the taste is also heightened by the sense of victory you get from going outside and finding your own food.  I used to think I didn't like asparagus but that is likely because I always had the type that languished too long on the store's shelf due to its high price tag.  This is something altogether different and beautiful.

If you don't eat them right away store your spears in jars with a little bit of water in the bottom and keep them in the fridge.  They will actually keep for quite a while like this, but it tastes so good you probably won't have to worry about that! You'll eat it all long before it goes bad!  Asparagus also can be frozen, but you will want to blanch it first to destroy the enzymes that will cause it to break down during storage.