Monthly Archives: May 2012

Miner’s Lettuce Smoothie

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I’VE GOT SOME hardcore smoothie fans at home. Smoothies are both a great way to deal with leftover fruits and yogurt, and a way for parents to disguise nutritious foods that might otherwise get snubbed.

Miner’s lettuce, loaded with vitamin C, is just the ticket for a healthy smoothie—you know, in case scurvy is going around at school.

1 cup miner’s lettuce
1/2 ripe pear
1/2 ripe banana
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
Yields 1 tall smoothie

This smoothie retains a bit of the wild green bite that you’d expect from the miner’s lettuce, but the fruits—the banana in particular—tone it down so that the flavor is fresh, sweet, and probably unlike anything you’ve tasted before.

Vanilla Leaf Tea

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IF YOU HAVE spent even a little time wandering lower and mid-elevation trails in the Pacific Northwest, you’ve seen vanilla leaf (Achlys triphylla), a common native plant that can grow in lush, luxuriant carpets of jaunty green on the forest floor.

 

When you find a good dense patch, it doesn’t take long to collect enough for a year’s supply of tea. Just grab the young leaves in bunches and snip the stalks with kitchen shears. When you get home, you can trim the rest of the stem if you prefer.

Native Americans used vanilla leaf as an insect repellent and to perfume their homes. Once in the dehydrator, the plant’s common name rings true: the room fills with the slightly sweet and calming aroma of vanilla. As a tea, it has the same affect. It’s laid back, with a reserved herbally essence that’s mellowed by the hint of vanilla. Really, it’s a wonderfully soothing tea, like a chamomile. You can adjust the flavor to suit your own taste by mixing in other wild ingredients such as rose hips.

Quick Asian Pickled Fiddleheads

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THIS IS A SIMPLE way to put up lady fern fiddleheads.

I’ve used other pickling recipes in the past, but this is my new favorite for its ease, texture (i.e. crunch), and a perfect balance between salt and sweet.

One of the benefits of the quick pickle method is that the fiddleheads aren’t subjected to a withering hot water bath. The obvious downside is that this is a refrigerator pickle and you can’t keep them in the cupboard.

2 packed cups fiddleheads, cleaned
1 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 half-pint jars

A note on cleaning fiddleheads: It’s imperative that you remove as much of the brown, hairy, and bitter-tasting sheath that adorns the fiddlehead as possible. The easiest way to do this is to immerse them in a bowl of water and then rub each fiddlehead with thumb and forefinger to clean. Neatly trim the ends afterward.

1. In a pot of salted water, parboil cleaned fiddleheads for 30 seconds. Drain and shock in cold water before draining again and removing to paper towels.

2. Mix pickling brine of rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. You can omit the salt and sugar by using pre-seasoned rice vinegar, or experiment to taste.

3. Pack 2 half-pint jars with fiddleheads and cover with pickling brine. Refrigerate overnight.