Category Archives: Alchemy

Lunch at de Kas

Food, Restaurants

Restaurant de Kas is internationally acclaimed for serving homegrown and locally sourced organic food which is both seasonal and innovative.   The restaurant (housed in an old greenhouse) and its vegetable garden are situated in Park Frankendael. A set menu is offered which reflects the daily harvest (specific dietary needs are accommodated).  I have lived around the corner from this restaurant for several years, previously interviewed the manager for my MPH research but only ate lunch there today, for the first time!

Not only did the food and atmosphere exceed my expectations but the use of herbs was quite wonderful and I highly recommend it to other Urban Herbologists.  The lunch menu (without drinks or dessert) costs €37.50.  Have a look at their website for more details and Trip Advisor for some reviews.

Today we enjoyed three starters; Courgette flower fritters and soup, an asparagus dish and another of white fish, lobster and beetroot.

The main was mackerel fillet with a risotto and basil salsa.

The dessert was an absolutely mouthwatering bowl of panna cotta, Elderflower sorbet, strawberries and Rose petal chocolate.

As I hope you will see from the photos, each dish incorporated a liberal selection of flowers and herbs, most of which I am familiar with but also including unusual edible flowers such as Begonia – a little sour and very tasty.  The use of herbs and dressings was appropriate and really complimented the other flavours rather than overpowering them. This was a really delicious meal, for both the eye and taste buds – thank you Frank!

Rose Petal Cup Cakes

Food, , ,

In Amsterdam, Roses are currently in full bloom. They seem to thrive in the sandy soil and climate.  In my neighbourhood it seems that every other house has a rose or two, scrambling up the front wall, with roots often anchored in the tiniest of spaces. I am happy to have a Rambling Rector, growing in a roof terrace pot. It looks lovely against the chimney stack and produces a mass of tiny, white, fragrant blooms through May and June.

Even in windy weather it’s easy to catch the powerful scent of some of these city roses whilst walking along Amsterdam streets. It never fails to lift my spirits and is renowned as a tonic for the heart. As I see rose petals blowing around pavements on windy days I wish that more people knew how delicious and useful they are.

The simplest way to use them is raw, in salads or sandwiches.  Any scented (clean and pesticide free) rose petals will add velvety beauty to both. They have a pleasant, fragrant and astringent taste and can be used in a variety of foods.  At present my favourites are Rose Petal Cup Cakes and Rose Petal Butter.  More on the butter another time, for now here is the recipe for Rose Petal Cup Cakes – heavily inspired by a lovely baking blog called The Pink Whisk.

Rose Petal Cup Cakes (makes 12)

For the cakes
150g butter (that’s half a standard block)
140g caster sugar (that’s a lot – I’m working on a sugar free version)
100g self raising flour
50g plain (all purpose) flour
3 eggs
2 tablespoons Rose water
6 large pieces of Turkish delight (or dried apricots / crystallised ginger etc)

For the topping
Rosehip (NL: Rozenbottel) conserve
(such as the delicious, organic, sugar-free Fiordifrutta from Rigoni di Asiago)
Rose petals and stamens (scented, clean, pesticide free)

Preheat oven to 180 C and put paper cases into a 12 cupcake baking tray.
Cut the dried fruit or Turkish delight into twelve pieces.
Into each paper case add one piece of fruit or Turkish delight.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
Add eggs, flour and rosewater, mixing well until a smooth consistency is achieved (I use a handheld mixer for this but a spoon and elbow grease will do equally well).
Half fill the paper cases with cake mixture.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a clean knife, inserted into a cake, comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from the baking tray and allow to cool completely on a rack.
When you are ready to serve the cakes, smear the top of each with a little Rosehip conserve and sprinkle with whole or torn Rose petals and a few stamens.
Enjoy!

Flower Fritters

Food, , , , , , , , ,

You may already know about Elderflower fritters, even if you have never tried one. Did you realise that many other herb flowers can be used to make even more delicious fritters?  Today I have been on the roof and in the park looking for suitable flowers and I was not disappointed.  I gathered Lady’s mantle, Yarrow and Chive flowers from the roof and plucked Rose petals from pollinated wild Dog Rose flowers in the park. I also gathered a few Honeysuckle blooms and of course a handful of frothy Elderflower heads.

I must say that I think it a waste to make some flowers into fritters, some taste so wonderful, untouched in salads or deserts that I don’t think they need be tampered with.  Others are a little bit messy and these are the ones I suggest you try in fritters.  Elderflower and for instance, is rather an unusual mouthful in it’s raw form and Yarrow flowers are just too strong for my palate.  Turned into fritters they become something quite different; Dandelion flowers resemble artichokes, Rose petals take on a slightly meaty texture, Yarrow becomes a savoury delight and Chives become mini onion baghees.

Here is my recipe for flower fritters, many others are available, often including beer, liquor, sugar and so on.  Mine simply uses my Yorkshire Gran’s batter recipe (it makes the best Yorkshire puddings in the world by the way). It does not contain any sweetening or seasoning so you can add a little whatever you wish to the basic recipe.  I do encourage you however to try a flower in the basic batter alone, at least once.  This will allow you to appreciate the true flavour of that flower.  Perhaps have some yoghurt and honey to hand for dipping.

Here are a few suggestions:
(Please follow the foraging rules and remember that some beautiful flowers are highly poisonous)

Dandelion Fritters – I suggest that you simply wash the flowers (with a little stalk still attached), dip them into a little flour (I prefer Chickpea flour), shake off the excess and then fry gently in a little Olive oil.
Elderflower – the sweet classic. Perhaps use a splash of rosewater and a teaspoon of sugar in the batter
Robinia pseudoacacia (Black Locust tree, False acacia) – I have not tried this, many American’s seem to like it.  Don’t confuse with poisonous Laburnum!
Rose petals or Rose flowers – slightly astringent and fragrant. Wild and cultivated Roses are edible.
Ladies mantle – Much of the bitterness is lost in cooking
Mint – Dip sprigs of young mint in the batter. Great with chocolate sauce.
Mallow – Petals or whole flowers with a little stalk attached
Onion flowers on short stalks
Chive flowers on short stalks
Lime tree blossom
Honeysuckle
Yarrow – Strongly savoury
Valerian
Meadowsweet
And many many more!

Basic batter recipe:
(Courtesy of Edith Shore)

  1. Break one egg into 3 tablespoons of plain flour.
  2. Mix the egg and flour thoroughly, using a fork.
  3. Add three tablespoons of milk (one tbsp at a time) whilst mixing with a metal spoon.
  4. Ensure everything is well combined.
  5. Beating well with the fork.
  6. Add a tiny drop of water.
  7. Whisk up well.  You should now see plenty of trapped air bubbles in a smooth mixture.
  8. Cover and set aside to rest in fridge, for at least half an hour and preferably overnight.
  9. Just before using, whisk up again with the whisk or fork.

The dipping and frying process is very easy:
herb-flower-fritters-002Simply dip one flower at a time into the batter.
Place in a small frying pan which contains about 1/2 cm of medium-hot Olive oil and or butter.
herb-flower-fritters-003Several flowers can be cooked at once.
Keep a good eye on the pan and budge the fritters around a little with a wooden spoon.
herb-flower-fritters-004When they are golden brown they should be cooked through and ready to serve with a little of your preference – honey, sugar, cream, yoghurt, chocolate sauce…

Beltane Herbs

Food, Wild herbs, , , , , , , , , , ,

May Day, also known as Beltane in the Pagan calendar, is traditionally a day steeped in herbal lore. May 1st marks the end of the colder months and heralds the start of summer. It is a fire festival day where fires were burned on hill tops to encourage the sun’s warmth down to the earth. Beltane is half way through the Pagan year, it is strongly linked to fertility and many enduring customs pertain to this.

Not far from my childhood Bristol home, there still stands rather a phallic Maypole, on Iron Acton Common. Villagers will no doubt be dancing around it this Sunday and spectators may not realise that as those pretty ribbons are intertwined around the pole, a symbolic birth canal is being made around the phallus.  That part of the custom certainly passed me by as I enjoyed being an infant school May Queen.   In Minehead, Somerset and several Cornish towns, Hobby Horses (or Obby Osses) will be raising dawn sleepers, with raucous dancing and music over the few days following May Day.   The reason for this also evaded me whilst I lived in Minehead and tried to enjoy a good lie-in. I am pleased these traditions live on.

So back to the Beltane herbal customs and tasty treats…

  • May Dew: At sunrise on Beltane it is customary to rush out into the garden or fields and wipe your face in May Dew, particularly dew gathered on a Hawthorn tree.  This is thought to have magical properties, including the ability to beautify the complexion for the coming year.
  • Hawthorn: This beautiful and helpful herb tree is known by some as the May Tree.  Hawthorn boughs were often harvested at Beltane and the flowers used as gifts and to beautify homes.
  • Herb Gathering: Herbs start to flower a-plenty at this time of year hence Beltane is traditionally a time to go out with family and friends, a simple picnic, a basket and gather some wild herb flowers.  If you like the idea of this, please remember that annuals rely solely on those precious flowers to create seed for next year’s plants. Leave plenty, harvest just a few (perennials) and avoid rare and protected plants.  Try to use the herbs you harvest in some way or give them away to someone in need.
  • Flower Garlands: It is also customary to make beautiful flower garlands on May Day.  Why not choose plentiful daisies and dandelions?  Both are useful herbs, you may like to use when you get home or toss your flower garlands away with a wish, into flowing water.
  • May Bowl:  This is a delicious drink made from Woodruff (Galium odoratum – it looks very like cleavers (Galium aparine) but it is in flower at the moment, looking like swathes of sugary white froth across woodland floors – when you can find it!). Here’s the simplest recipe I know (many variations are available if you have a taste for it):
    8 cups of white wine
    2 cups of fresh, clean Woodruff – chopped, preferably in bud or flower
    1 tablespoon of grated orange zest
    sugar to taste. Pour the wine over the Woodruff and chill in a sealed glass container overnight. Strain off the Woodruff and add other ingredients. Drink in clear glasses, May Bowl is a beautiful pale green color and tastes fragrantly of Woodruff.
  • Oat Cakes (Bannocks): An old Scottish custom is to make a Beltane Oat Cake and to share it between friends who would stand around the Beltane fire and each break off a small peice of the nobbly cake.  They would then cast it over their shoulder whilst saying a line, asking that something precious be protected by something usually linked with it’s destruction (such as chickens or sheep to be protected by the wolves or foxes).
    Here’s a simple recipe (and photo) for Beltane Oat Cake taken from RampantScotland.com. They look very tasty! Traditionally this food would be cooked in the embers of a Beltane fire, a heavy based frying pan or oven will work well instead.

“Beltane Bannocks from Rampant Scotland.com
Ingredients
4 oz (125g) medium oatmeal
2 teaspoons melted fat (bacon fat, if available, butter or ghee will work well)
2 pinches of bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
3/4 tablespoons hot water
Additional oatmeal for kneading

Method
Mix the oatmeal, salt and bicarbonate and pour in the melted fat into the centre of the mixture. Stir well, using a porridge stick if you have one and add enough water to make into a stiff paste. Cover a surface in oatmeal and turn the mixture onto this. Work quickly as the paste is difficult to work if it cools. Divide into two and roll one half into a ball and knead with hands covered in oatmeal to stop it sticking. Roll out to around quarter inch thick. Put a plate which is slightly smaller than the size of your pan over the flattened mixture and cut round to leave a circular oatcake. Cut into quarters (also called farls) and place in a heated pan which has been lightly greased. Cook for about 3 minutes until the edges curl slightly, turn, and cook the other side. Get ready with another oatcake while the first is being cooked.

An alternative method of cooking is to bake them in an oven at Gas5/375F/190C for about 30 minutes or until brown at the edges. The quantities above will be enough for two bannocks about the size of a dessert plate. If you want more, do them in batches rather than making larger quantities of mixture. Store in a tin and reheat in a moderate oven when required.”

Additional note – 1st May 2011 – I made this recipe this morning and added too much butter so I couldn’t form a dough, it became more a crumble. Determined not to waste the mixture, I cooked it gently in a small heavy frying pan and then combined the rich oatmeal with some framage frais, feta cheese and finely chopped tomato.  It became a pate type consistency and was really very tasty.  It was also possible to shape into balls.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, NL:Paardenbloem) – Ways to eat it

Food, Foraging, Wild herbs

Dandelion flowers abound in Amsterdam! Don’t they just look wonderful?  Whether you find this plant a pest or a blessing, those woolly, yellow flowers, atop long toothed leaves, rarely fail to catch the eye and could help to keep you healthy.

Most people can easily recognise Dandelion, it has been used medicinally for hundreds of years and well worth understanding.  Taraxacum officinale is amongst the most common weed-herbs in urban areas.  Those magical clock heads, full of parachute assisted seeds, can spread far and wide from mother plants. It can colonise most urban spaces including balcony and rooftop pots. It loves nitrogen rich soil but can manage in most sunny locations. If you walk through a city park this week I am confident that you will be met by hundreds of cheerful dandelion flowers.

Dandelion is known as a bitter herb but it is also salty and sweet. It works as an internal cleanser. As with other bitter greens, the taste stimulates bile secretion. When first taking or eating this herb it can act as an effective laxative and strong diuretic. It loosens things up as Susun Weed says in her extensive writings on the herb in Healing Wise (also contains lots of recipes not listed here).  Amongst other things Dandelion contains high levels of several vitamins and inulin which can help to regulate blood sugar levels. It is packed with nutrients and is helpful for a great many disorders. Dandelions that are at least two years old contain higher concentration of inulin so are more useful medicinally.

A beautiful dandelion found it’s way into one of my roof terrace perma-pots last year. Its leaves and flowers will be gracing my table in the next few weeks – but how? What to do with Dandelion to  make it taste really good rather than just something that tastes good for you?  Here are a few ideas:

Italian Dandelions
Large Dandelions are apparently only eaten cooked in Italy and are known as Catalogna.  The toughest darker leaves are not eaten and Italian recipes call only for those closest to the heart of the plant.  Puntarelle is a smaller Italian dandelion variety which is sometimes eaten raw, served with oil, salt and pepper. With both sizes, the leaves cut into strips and the Puntarelle may then be soaked in cold water, whereupon they curl up attractively.  Serve dressed with oil, vinegar and perhaps chopped anchovy.

Italian cooked dandelion (From The Silver Spoon cookbook)
Cut the tops of inner leaves into strips.  If you have access to lots of Dandelions, allow about 200g (7oz) per serving. Cook through (15 -20 minutes) in salted boiling water and serve hot dressed with olive oil, salt and vinegar or lemon juice.

Dandelion with garlic and olive oil (From The Silver Spoon cookbook)
Cook 1 kg sliced dandelion leaves in salted boiling water for 15 mins.  Drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add 4 whole garlic cloves, stirring as they fry gently, to become golden brown but not burned.  Remove and discard the garlic cloves, reserve the resultant garlic oil in the pan.  Add the cooked dandelion strips to the garlic oil and cook on a slightly higher heat for a further 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste with chili powder if desired.

Dandelion with Parmesan (From The Silver Spoon cookbook)
Cook 750g sliced dandelion leaves in salted boiling water for 15 mins.  Drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  Chop coarsely and place in a warm serving dish.  Melt 65g butter in a small pan and when it turns slightly golden pour it over the dandelions. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

Other Ideas:
Add chopped Dandelion root to Kitchadi – Kitchidi is an easy to make, nutritious, easily digested, traditional one pot Indian dish. Lentils and rice are cooked together with some vegetables.  Find a recipe that appeals and add some chopped Dandelion root.

Ayurvedic dark leafy greens
Cook a good handful of Dandelion leaves in boiling water and strain. Perhaps save the cooking water for soup if not too bitter.  Then brown ½ tsp cumin seeds and then add 1 tsp coriander powder to brown lightly (in ghee) in a skillet.  Add to the drained greens and serve immediately.

Dandelion leaf Juice
If you enjoy making fruit and vegetable juices, consider adding a few Dandelion leaves to the mix.

Dandelion and Burdock cordial
There are many recipes online and in traditional British cook books.  Here’s a simple recipe.

Dandelion leaf  and flower salad
I think this speaks for itself.  Simply add a few Dandelion leaves and flowers/petals to salads.  It looks great and tastes far more robust than lettuce.

Dandelion flower fritters/pancakes
Simply add whole flowers or petals to a regular pancake or fritter batter.

Dandelion Flower Pickles
You need to collect tightly closed flower heads for this recipe.  Here’s a very interesting pickle making link.

Dandelion Confiture (Cramailotte)
Thank you Sonja for passing on this idea.  Here’s a link to the recipe in Dutch, others in English can be found online.

Dandelion Root Coffee
Made by roasting cleaned, chopped dandelion root.

Dandelion Wine
Delicious!  Many recipes available, here’s one adapted  from the Self Sufficientish website…

Ingredients:
About a bucket full of dandelion heads
2 litres of boiling water
Juice of 2 lemons
1kg sugar
1 teaspoon of yeast

Method:
Put flower heads within a muslin/jelly bag, in a bucket and pour over one kettle of boiling hot water.
Mash it ( with a masher and within the muslin/jelly bag) to extract all the “juice”.
Allow to cool and filter through more muslin into a demijohn.
Make up sugar syrup by mixing the remaining 1litre of water with the sugar.
Allow to cool again and add the yeast.
Top up the demijohn with water and insert airlock correctly.
Leave to ferment then syphon and bottle.

Dandelion leaf Tea
Used by some to treat various disorders such as eczema and as a general tonic. Chop leaves and infuse as a tea.  Can be taken freely.

Dandelion blossom tea
As for leaf tea.  The petals themselves are far less bitter and more pleasant tasting than the green sepals beneath so perhaps pluck the petals out and use alone.  Can be taken freely.

Dandelion Tincture
Pack a sterile glass jar with clean chopped dandelion herb (all parts) and fill all spaces with vodka.  Leave, sealed, in a coolish place for 4 – 6 weeks.  Strain and take as desired.  Can be taken freely but of course it is mostly vodka.  Most take a teaspoon daily.

Here are a few other online recipes which may be interesting…

Curried Dandelion

Dandelion Fried Rice

Dandelion Columbo

Dandelion Saute

Dandelion Sesame

Dandelion Flower Biscuits

The uses for Dandelion are apparently endless!  I am now off to try it as a skin tonic…

Last Chance Ramson Pesto (Wild Garlic, NL:Daslook)

Bulbs, Food, Perennial herbs, Wild herbs, , , ,

On Thursday I visited my freinds in De Hortus Botanicus and helped them to harvest some Wild Garlic/Ramsons (Allium ursinum, NL:Daslook). It grows vigorously in several parts of the beautiful garden and periodically is removed from paths and areas where it out-competes other plants in the Hortus collection.  I took home a large tub of whole Ramson plants; roots, bulbs, leaves and all.  I made a delicious batch of Last Chance Ramson Pesto.

So why Last Chance, you may ask?  In my local Frankendael Park, the Ramsons are currently in flower so it’s too late to harvest them. Ramsons are still edible when in flower but they taste rather unpleasant. The Ramsons in de Hortus are not yet in flower and they taste great!  In another week or so they too will be in flower and it will be almost another year until they are fit for the plate.  Another reason for my excitement is that I can only harvest Ramson leaves from the local parks.  Harvesting the roots and bulbs would destroy the plants so of course is completely out of the question for wild plants in their natural habitat.

Last Chance Ramson Pesto – vary the proportions as you wish.  Those stated made a good thick paste.

  1. Carefully wash the Ramsons (as you would spring onions), discard any odd squidgy bits from around the bulbs and trim off any really dirty roots.
  2. Roughly chop the clean Ramsons and place in blender.  I had about 150g Ramsons.
  3. Add Extra Virgin Olive Oil to blender. I added about 200ml.
  4. Add finest quality pine nuts (beware cheap ones, many people have a bad reaction to them). I added 50g.
  5. Add a good grating of rock salt and pepper.
  6. Blend gradually until a thick paste is made.  I needed to interrupt blending several times to scrape down the paste.
  7. When a homogeneous consistency has been made, add grated cheese and blend a little more to combine and break up the cheese (hard goats cheese for me, you may like Pecorino, Parmesan or similar).
  8. The result should be a paste which is thick enough to dollop into cooking mixes and thin enough to be stirred straight into hot pasta.  Add more Olive Oil or more cheese to obtain a better consistency if required.  I made about 650ml of pesto.  It will keep me going for quite some time.
  9. Store in sterile jars and refrigerate or freeze in ice cube trays.
  10. Use as a straight pesto on pasta or as a super garlicy seasoning in other dishes. I added two teaspoons of my pesto to this sauce for salmon and prawns.  It was delicious!  I understand that Michael used it on fresh cheese ravioli and I used it the next day in a risotto.  The list of uses is endless…

Cleavers Juice (Galium aparine, NL:Kleefkruid)

Foraging, Perennial herbs, Potions, ,

I while ago I posted about the benefits of Cleavers and how to use the herb, including how to extract the juice using a cloth.  Here’s a slightly high tech (and faster) method which I used this afternoon…

Firstly, please remember the foraging/picking rules and only harvest and use if you are 100% confident you have correctly identified the plant. Woodruff (Galium odoratum) looks like Cleavers but is tougher and grows low on the ground (it doesn’t climb). It can be used to infuse foods with a vanilla-type flavour. Beware of Madder (Rubia tinctorum) which looks more like Sweet Woodruff than Cleavers, but sometimes gets confused. That is used for dying fibres and should not be eaten. Here’s a useful post about the tiny seedlings of Cleavers (in January)

(12/1/25 – Today’s walkers – It was so lovely to meet you! I hope you find Cleavers – We didn’t see the little seedlings today but soon you will notice them, then the plants will grow up and tall. Let me know how you get on with your foraging 🙂

  1. Wash and drain a good handful of freshly picked cleavers
  2. Remove any unhealthy looking stems, rooty/yellowy ends, grass, other material etc
  3. If the cleavers seem very wet from washing perhaps blot dry with a clean tea towel.
  4. Roughly chop the stems.
  5. Add a little clean water to the blender, perhaps enough to half cover the blades.  This is just to prevent clogging. Then add the cleavers.
  6. Blend use the chopping setting, or pulse on full power, until it seems to be nicely pulverised.
  7. Strain through a jelly bag, muslin or clean tea towel, into your collection jar.  I also used a funnel to make collection easier but this is optional.
  8. The juice should run out quickly.
  9. Finally wring out any remaining juice through the jelly bag/muslin/tea towel
  10. Compost or return to the earth, the remaining pulp. This afternoon I used it to help mulch a balcony herb pot.
  11. Store the juice refrigerated in an air tight, sterile container. Remember to label the jar and lid clearly.  It should keep in a fridge for a few days but if you notice anything unusual, such as discoloration, changed smell or taste then pour it onto soil and start again.
  12. Please read the post about benefits and directions for using cleavers.
  13. Generally the dose for cleavers juice is 1tsp up to three times daily as a tonic.
  14. Start with a very small amount when you try something new and if you notice any negative reaction then stop using and water your plants with it. That said, this is generally thought of as a safe, nourishing and cleansing tonic which has been used in many countries, as a folk remedy for many many years.
  15. A handful of cleavers yielded about 200ml of juice today.  I plant to freeze some in an ice cube tray this evening as 200ml is more than enough for me to use as a tonic over the coming days.

Nettle Pasta – Strettine (Urtica dioica, NL: Brandnetel)

Food, Foraging, Perennial herbs, Potions, Wild herbs, ,

I love nettles and I love making fresh pasta. Here’s a little information about nettle and a great recipe which combines the two.

It is best to make use of stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) when they are young (in late March and early April – before they start to flower). I prefer to use them in strong overnight infusions, as a leafy veg in cooking and as a hair rinse.  The resilient perennial Urtica dioica is sure to be found fresh somewhere near you and dried nettle is quite easy to find from herbal suppliers.  It grows well in nitrogen rich soil, is present above ground almost year round but to avoid woodiness only harvest until it comes into flower.

This herb is packed with vitamins and minerals, is extremely nourishing and energises the body and mind. Taken regularly it can build strength in many ways.  I’ll post lots more about nettle in future but for now here’s a link to an informative post by Susun Weed about nettle and how to make effective, strong nettle infusions from dried herb. There are a many recipes available which include nettle, in my experience many are quite bland. However many traditional Italian recipes feature nettle and taste very good.  Here is a simple, tastey combination of pasta and nettle.  Stinging nettle tops are ripe for the picking at the moment, so it’s a great time to try this recipe.

Strettine – Nettle Pasta
120ml nettle purée
360g Italian tipo 00 flour
2 eggs
good pinch of salt
good pinch of black pepper

  1. Make nettle purée as follows: Harvest about 200g of healthy nettle tops, clean them before adding to a pan of boiling water. Boil rapidly for 2 minutes. Strain and place the wet, cooked nettles into a clean muslin, jelly bag or tea towel. Wring out until the nettles become quite dry. Blend the nettle in a food processor until smooth. You need about 120ml of nettle puree for this pasta, freeze the remainder for later use.
  2. Seive the flour onto a pastry board or clean worktop.
  3. Mix the nettle puree, salt and black pepper into the flour.
  4. Form a well in the centre of the nettle-flour mix and break the eggs into this well.
  5. Use a fork to lightly break up the eggs in the well and use it to start working the nettle-flour into the eggs.
  6. Use your hands to work the rest of the nttle-flour in with the eggs.
  7. When all is basically combined, knead the dough with your hands to form a smooth pliable ball.
  8. Wrap with a clean cloth or clingfilm and place in refrigerator to rest, for about 30 minutes.
  9. Now the pasta dough is ready to roll and cut.  Divide the dough into three roughly equal pieces and pass through the rollers of a lightly-floured pasta machine. Work through the machine several times until until you have obtained a smooth and elastic sheet, at least through roller setting number 3.
  10. Pass the rolled sheet of pasta through the tagliatelle cutting blades.
  11. Dry the taglietelle a little by spreading it out on a clean cloth or a pasta drying stand. Allow to dry at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
  12. Cook in salted boiling water for 2-4 minutes, until al dente.
  13. Strain and serve.

Tapping Birch Blood (Betula spp., NL: Berk)

Foraging, Potions, Trees, ,

This afternoon I was privileged to collect and drink sap from a mature birch tree in a friend’s Amsterdam garden.   Today’s tapping was something of an experiment, the process went quite smoothly and we managed to collect about 75ml of Birch Sap (Birch Blood) in about 20 minutes.  I shall certainly be trying it again on other trees, hopefully this spring.

[If you would like to learn more about this in practice, check out my blended learning apprenticeship course.]

Allergic to apples = allergic to Birch
It seems that those with an allergy to apples are very likely to be allergic to Birch sap and thus should avoid it.

Benefits of drinking Birch blood
Birch blood or sap is a weak solution of nutrients which were stored in the roots over winter and are pumped up through the trunk and branches in spring, for the tree to use in new growth.  The sap is drawn upwards through a system of vascular cells, from roots to crown by osmotic pressure. It is mainly water and contains some vitamins (mainly C), minerals (mainly potassium, calcium, magnesium and zinc), amino acids, fructose, glucose and other fruit sugars.  It is clear (not blood red), has a slightly soapy appearance when shaken and has a refreshing watery taste with a hint of birch aroma, a little sweetness and perhaps little bitterness in the aftertaste.  Some say it can taste slightly of Wintergreen, I’m not sure I could taste that today but there was certainly more to it than water.  Sugar content in Birch blood peaks in the middle if the tapping season.

Across cultures, there are a great many health claims associated with drinking Birch sap.  It is said by many to be an excellent spring tonic, to help prevent scurvy and rickets, to help relieve rheumatoid arthritis and gout symptoms, to ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis, to accelerate the metabolism, to help with diabetes myelitis, to help kidney disorders and to cure birch pollen allergy symptoms.  That’s quite a reputation to live up to!

I recommend Hedgerow Medicine by Julie & Matthew Bruton-Seal for further information about the virtues of Birch.

Which birch trees and when?
Sap should only be collected from healthy birch trees, with a base trunk diameter of at least 25cm.  The owner’s permission should be obtained before attempting to collect any sap and care should be taken to prevent further damage to the tree during and after tapping.  If drilling a hole, use a very clean drill bit and insert very clean collection materials.

If you can reach the branch tips of a birch tree in spring, you could break off the tip of a twig and watch for dripping sap.  If it happens quickly, this is a good sign that the sap is flowing well and that it may be possible to collect from the trunk.  Spring time, before the leaves form, is the best time to collect birch sap.  Some say that the best time to collect is when the nights are cold (below zero) and the days are warm.  The tapping season varies depending upon climatic region but it generally only lasts for a month or so.

Some say the same tree can be tapped yearly, others say no more than once every three years.  Be cautious and look after the tree.  One tree can be tapped continuously through one season (change the collection vessel regularly of course).

How to tap Birch Blood
(I used a cordless drill (thank you Herman!), part of an old but tidy metal olive oil spout, 1 meter of aquarium tubing from my local pet shop (cost 1€) or find it here on Amazon, used plastic baby milk bottles for sap collection and an old plastic tub to stop the baby bottle falling over).

  1. You must get the permission of the land owner first.
  2. The tree must have a trunk diameter of at least 25 cm and must be healthy and strong.
  3. Ask permission mentally or audibly of the tree itself.  If you are inclined as I am, then discretely make an offering of something precious to you and natural, to the roots of the tree.  You are taking some of it’s life force so be respectful, careful and only take what you need.
  4. Between 50cm and 1 meter up the trunk, drill a 1 inch deep hole through the bark, at a slight upward angle (about 30 degrees) with a very clean drill bit (about 6mm diameter bit).
  5. The sap will immediately or very soon start to flow out of the hole.
  6. Insert sterile, sturdy but flexible tubing (about 1 meter long), of the same diameter as the hole (this will be a little bigger than the bit size) into the hole.  Like me, you may like to insert a graduated metal tube into the hole to ensure a good seal and then fit flexible tubing over that short tube.
    N.B. Tubing and collection vessels can be sterilised in various ways; I choose to clean them well in slightly soapy water, then boil in clean water for about 10 minutes, then dry on a clean muslin or tea towel..
  7. Insert the flexible tubing into a sterile collection vessel such as a plastic drink bottle.
  8. Collect as much sap as required or possible in the time you have available.  If leaving the tapping unattended make sure to cover the collection vessel well (plastic bag and elastic band?) so that insects etc. won’t climb in.
  9. Seal the collection vessel and use the sap immediately or refrigerate or freeze.
  10. Carefully remove the tubing and or metal spout from the hole. See the following section about sealing or not sealing the wound.
  11. Clean your tubing, dry it and store for future use.

To seal or not to seal?
There are differing opinions about whether the hole should be plugged or not after tapping.  Some say the tree should be left with an open hole as it will seal it and heal itself best this way.  Recent research on Maples in Canada, suggests this is the best method.  Others warn against leaving the tree to literally bleed to death with an open wound.  Today we plugged the hole as best we could with a twig of the same diameter as the drilled hole.  It worked fairly well and stemmed most of the flow.  Beeswax is suggested by some as another way to seal the hole, I have not yet tried that.  Others suggest inserting a cork, I tried this before the twig today and it was ineffective; the cork had to be whittled to fit and then became too pliable and weak.

It felt better to seal the hole today, I didn’t like to leave all that beautiful sap running down the trunk, although as the weather is not too warm at present and any seepage from the wound runs down the trunk towards the roots, I can’t really imagine that the loss of sap would cause too many problems for a healthy tree.

An easier way to collect a little sap
Simply cut off the ends of some birch twigs or branches and point the cut ends into a bucket or ease them downwards into a bottle.  Sap will soon start to drip out of the cut ends.

Storing and using the sap
Birch sap should be consumed quickly and stored at refrigerator temperature.  The sap can apparently be frozen for some time.  Birch sap can be made into a delicious wine, be boiled down to make a syrup – rather like maple syrup and can be drunk fresh. I have also heard that some chefs like to make Birch vinegar from the sap.

Cleavers (Galium aparine, NL:Kleefkruid)

Annual herbs, Foraging, Potions, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cleavers (Galium aparine)
I remember having a lot of fun with cleavers or “sticky weed” as a child.  This is a wonderful sticky, annual plant that often grows wild and prolifically against fences, in hedgerows, crop fields, and beneath trees.  I know I was not the only child who delighted every time I found a patch of sticky weed, throwing it at my friends to see it stick to their clothes and hair.  If I had known then about how useful it is as a cleansing herb, I may have been more careful with it – or maybe not!

The leaves of Galium aparine grow in whorls of 4 – 8 around its stem, which can grow to 2 metres long.  The plant’s sticky nature comes from tiny hooked hairs growing out from the leaves and ridges of the stems.  It produces tiny greenish white flowers from May to October.  Seeds are set in small sticky hairy burrs and can remain viable in soil for up to 7 years.  The sticky hairs enable Galium aparine to grow upwards by clinging to other plants and fences. They also assist in seed dispersal.

Cleavers are held in high esteem as a spring tonic.  The herb is said to promotes lymphatic flow, to be cooling, soothing and cleansing. It is best harvested when young and prolific from early February.  It can be added to salads, though the hairs give an interesting effect, or cooked in a little water as a leaf vegetable.

Sometimes confused with…
As ever, when harvesting from the wild you should use a good field guide, be aware of look-a-like plants and follow the picking rules which I have mentioned previously.  I think the most likely plant to be confused with Cleavers (Galium aparine)  is Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum).  Sweet Woodruff is also a useful herb but unlike Cleavers it contains substances which can be poisonous in very large doses. Sweet Woodruff is darker green and has sticky hairs on its seeds, but the leaves tend to be smooth.  Sweet Woodruff is a perennial whereas Cleavers is an annual.

Cleavers juice – This is said to be the most potent way to consume cleavers. To make it all you need to do is to clean your harvested cleavers, chop it roughly and then squeeze out the juice through a jelly bag or clean tea towel.  The recommended dose is 1 teaspoon, 2 – 3 times daily as a tonic.

Cleavers tea – Again, clean your harvested cleavers then chop it.  Add 1-2 tsp of this per cup of boiled water.

Cleavers tincture – Harvest the top two thirds of plant when in flower or setting seed. Tincture in 100 proof vodka.  Dosage is 0.5ml – 1ml in water a few times daily when called for.

Cleavers has a folk reputation as a remover of lumps and bumps.  So enthusiastic were many claims that there has been some clinical research, in the hope that it could help reduce certain cancerous lumps.  However the results were not supportive of the traditional claims.

Cleavers is often used by herbalists for cystitis, swollen glands, swollen breasts, PMS, mild lymphedema, prostatitis and as a diuretic for a general spring clean.  Susun Weed reports that it can also be helpful in reducing allergic reactions.  Due to it’s gentle diuretic cleansing action, Galium aparine often also helps to ease some skin disorders such as psoriasis and eczema and gout.