Happy New Year and all the best in 2016

I must confess that I took holidays, so I have no blog post this morning. However, neither did I receive any recipes from anyone. Please send me recipes using wild berries, flowers, leaves, roots that you gather or that your family used. Image below is of blueberries as depicted by Maria Morris Miller. Painting from the NS Museum History collection.

Recipes!

My next project will involve edible wild plants and app technology. For the NS Plants book we crowd-sourced images. While I may need a few of those again, mainly I would like to crowd-source family recipes using wild plants or plants gathered from the wild. You may send your recipes to me and credit will be given to those submitting them.

Wild Berry Ice Cream Toppings

Given the warm temperatures we are enjoying, I think it's time to come clean. I have been guilty of hoarding....hoarding these recipes since last summer. If you love to wildcraft, consider gathering these berries for ice cream toppings. I know you won't be disappointed. There are more, many more...and I did sneak a drink or two in as well.

BERRY WILD SYRUPS for MILKSHAKES or SUNDAES

Foxberry Syrup

1 c. foxberries, ½ c. water, 1 c. sugar. Boil and cool. Good over icecream, pancakes, etc.

Wild Cherry Syrup

4 c. black or choke Cherries, ½ c. water. Boil, blend then strain. Return pureé (about 2/3 c.) to pot, add 2/3 c. water, 3/4 c. sugar and a couple of drops of almond flavouring. Reheat and stir until sugar dissolves. Cool and serve over cheesecake, ice cream or pancakes.

Bunchberry Syrup

4 c. bunchberries½ c. water.Boil and mash, sieve pulp. Return to pot and add 1/4 c. sugar, ½ tsp. Salt, 1 tsp. Cinnamon, 1 tbsp. Lemon juice and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Heat and serve hot with pork, or cold over ice cream.

Huckleberry Sauce

Heat 2 c. huckleberries with 1/4 c. water, and 1 c. sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Delicious on pancakes, ice cream or by the spoonful with unpleasant medicine!

Blackberry sauce

- same as for huckleberry sauce. Can strain some or all, to remove seeds.

Sheep Sorrelade

Boil 5 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar and add 1pound of fresh leaves. Boil rapidly for a couple of minutes. Let steep for 2 hours before straining. Strain and chill another 2 hours. Mix with soda water and serve over ice.

As with all wildcrafting endeavours, follow the 5Ps to collecting: plant, part, place, preparation and proper. For a refresher, read my list here.

photo by Martin Thomas, Bunchberries

Foxberries, photo by Eugene Quigley

Huckleberry, Ross Hall

Sheep Sorrel photo by Martin Thomas