I use Alfalfa interchangeably with Clovers, and truly enjoy it. However, many modern authors caution against all consumption of Alfalfa. Honestly, I think their concerns are over-wrought. I have enjoyed eating Alfalfa sprouts, especially, since childhood…. And have likely eaten my weight in them several times over. Alfalfa sprouts were a popular health food and salad ingredient in my mother’s generation and she included them in most every salad and sandwich. The flavor of Alfalfa is not only something I enjoy, but is connected with many food memories. I continue to sprout my own seeds and to harvest both the tender spring leaves and blossoms of wild plants.
One of my favorite ways to eat Alfalfa sprouts is on a sandwich. I love a good sandwich and I think this recipe could help set the tone for this book. I am by no means a vegan… in fact, I live mostly on meat, fish and seafood. I enjoy vegetables and fruit for nutrition and for the flavor they bring to a dish. The nice thing about using Alfalfa sprouts on a sandwich is that they press together and act like a sponge for condiments and sauces. While a traditional turkey club is excellent made with lettuce, it is much better with Alfalfa sprouts and so is a BLT or ham sandwich. I like to make a mustard vinaigrette for these sandwiches and use home made mayonnaise to get that mix of acidic and rich.
Mustard Vinaigrette
Start with a good Salad oil like olive or walnut oil and a good vinegar such as wine vinegar.
We want a mix of about three to one vinegar to oil and about 1/3 mustard to oil.
You can play around with the proportions, but this is a good ballpark measurement.
On their own, oil and vinegar only mix briefly and then separate. Mustard, either prepared or dried, will ensure an emulsion that keeps the dressing together and makes it work. Without an emulsifier, a vinaigrette will simply not stay together and coat the salad. That said, salads should be dressed fresh, at the table and never left to sit in dressing as fresh dressing has a much better consistency and will cause the greens to wilt if dressed too early.
So, very basically, mix those three ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste and whisk into a dressing. That is basic, but the dressing will still be exponentially better than anything store bought, especially if you use good oil and a vinegar that really tastes good to you. I like red wine, sherry and rice wine vinegar most, but I never turn up my nose at apple cider vinegar. Of course, balsamic is excellent, but expensive. The one vinegar you want to avoid is distilled white vinegar. It has acidity but little flavor and can actually irritate the stomach.
To the basic mix, I always add fresh, crushed garlic and some either fresh or dried herbs.
Parsley is essential for me, as it enhances the flavors of everything to which it is added. The same is true of either celery salt or fresh celery leaves. Carrot seeds are similar.
Other herbs I enjoy are oregano, basil, dill, fennel tops, chives, tarragon, sage, rosemary…. Basically anything that smells good and that I have on hand.
While we may use Mayonnaise mostly as a condiment, it is actually a classic French sauce. Making mayo takes a bit of practice. While you can make it in a food processor or blender, I prefer to use a bowl and a whisk. Start by separating two eggs, being careful not to include any of the white with the yolks. In a bowl, beat the yolks with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar (I really prefer lemon juice), and ¼ teaspoon of salt. At this point, you can also add ½ teaspoon or so of dry mustard powder or some Dijon style mustard, if you like. The mustard makes the mayo a little more “fool-proof”, but it is not essential and you may prefer the flavor without it. I like a little mustard in my mayo. Slowly add 1 cup of olive oil or other good oil… and, I do mean slowly! Like, a drop at a time, and whisk until about a half cup of the oil is entirely incorporated into the emulsion. Once you have whisked in about half of the oil, and the mayo is getting thick, you can relax a bit on the whisking and add the rest of the oil in a slow, thin stream. If you add the oil too fast, or use too much oil, the mayo will “break” which means the emulsion has separated. If that happens, beat another egg yolk with a teaspoon of water and start an emulsion by slowly dripping in 1/4th cup water, then add your broken mayo to that, a little at a time.
You can make dozens of variations on basic mayonnaise. You can add garlic, any herbs you like… whatever. I suppose, if you really have to, you could mix it with ketchup to make a sauce some call “special”.
Bread
I usually bake Bread once a week. I use a modified recipe that I learned from a book called, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I highly recommend that book. While I do not mind kneading bread, I have had better and more consistent results with their no knead method than most others. Beyond that, it is remarkably convenient to mix up some dough once a week and leave it in the fridge until ready to bake. Their “basic master recipe” consists of 3 cups warm water, one packet of yeast, 1 and ½ tablespoons of kosher salt and 6 and ½ cups of AP flour. You mix it all together, without kneading. You let it rise at room temp for two hours, then put it in the refrigerator in a lightly sealed container. When ready to bake a loaf of bread, you pull out about 1/3 of the dough, form your loaf and let it rest on the counter, at room temp, for 45 minutes or so before baking. You lightly flour the raw loaf, make a few slashes across the top to help it rise, then bake for 30 minutes or so at 450F.
My modifications began with realizing my oven wasn’t accurate. I found that baking at 425F for 35-40 minutes worked better for me. Also, rather than baking boules, baguettes and other shaped loaves, I found that using a loaf pan worked best for me. I shape the loaf simply... sort of a football shape, then I fold the ends under and pinch all the seams to seal. I put it in a buttered loaf pan and allow it to rest/rise for an hour or so before baking. You have to shape and smooth the loaf for a good crust. Dusting and gently rubbing flour on the surface before baking helps, too. I like a softer crust and a lighter loaf so, I add a little oil to the dough when I'm mixing it together, I also let the loaf rise about 15 minutes longer, in a 150 degree oven, and then I bake the bread in a dry oven – they recommend adding water for steam. I also found that I like ¼ teaspoon more salt in the dough. The big thing though, comes down to the yeast.
In the beginning of the COVID lock downs, yeast became almost impossible to buy in my area. I only had a couple of packets of yeast left. I thought about how the Fleischmann brothers had figured out how to dry yeast from beer brewers and market that to bakers. Knowing that yeast multiplies as it digests sugar and starch, I began to wonder if I could use something like George Herter’s sourdough technique to keep the small amount of commercial yeast I had multiplying and usable for baking multiple batches. While I love sourdough bread, this technique of utilizing wild yeasts requires daily “feeding” of the sourdough starter. Facing shortages at the store, I was no longer sure I could afford to use flour just to keep the dough starter alive. So, I made a batch of no knead dough. After the initial two hour rise, I pinched off a golf ball sized chunk of dough, put it in a jar, covered it with cold water and put it in the refrigerator. Mr. Herter had written that sourdough starter could be kept refrigerated, and would only need a weekly feeding. I wondered if this would work. A week later, I used the refrigerated dough ball to bake the next batch, adding no additional yeast. The dough had become so saturated in the water that I could stir it together into a slurry. I counted that slurry as part of the water used in the recipe. I crossed my fingers and waited…. The dough rose just as if I had used instant yeast!
That began the cycle of baking and holding back a chunk of dough to start the next batch, and that has continued for around three years so far. Sometimes, I wait two or three weeks between baking. So far, the dough starter has worked every time. The best thing though, is that each batch of bread I bake becomes more flavorful and aromatic as the dough starter ages. Like sourdough, it has developed rich, tangy, cheesy notes. Traditional European bakers will know that I did not invent the wheel – they have used such starters called a biga or poolish for generations. But, I figured it out on my own, in an emergency… and it worked!
To make the Sandwich
It is best to slice your bread a bit more thinly than the pre-sliced bread you buy from a store, because homemade bread is a bit more dense. Just toast it a bit to firm it up and to melt the butter… I absolutely hate cutting my gums on hard toasted bread! Butter your bread on at least one side. If using mayo, you may want to only butter the outside. Of course, you can also butter and fry your bread as you would a grilled cheese. I like to sprinkle on a little celery salt on the buttered side; I make celery salt just by adding celery leaves to salt and letting it all dry together. After that, it is totally up to you. I like to spread mayo on one slice of bread and put sliced tomato on top of that so the tomato juice forms a sauce with the mayo. Then, I add finely sliced onions or ramps. Then, comes the meat – bacon, ham, turkey, etc. On top of the meat I add sliced pickles so the pickle juice soaks into the meat, and a slice of Swiss, provolone or other good cheese. Then put down my alfalfa sprouts, or a leafy vegetable, and drench them with the mustard vinaigrette. A few extra fresh herbs, a little extra salt and pepper, and the sandwich is good to go. BTW, pickled onions are even better than raw onions.
Of course, sprouts of all kinds are good in stir fries or as a garnish. You can also mix alfalfa seeds into bread dough to add nutrition. In a bad, really survival situation, sprouts of all kinds could save your life. If you are a prepper or a homesteader, or anyone who is trying to have more food security, these little items that were once the domain of hippies and fine dining restaurants are very important. Our ancestors always faced the “hungry gap”, when the stores of fresh, vitamin rich vegetables were depleted and it was either too early to plant or the seeds just planted would still take weeks or months to grow and mature. Canned vegetables and fruits and fermented vegetables can go a long way to prevent scurvy, support the immune system, keep the eyes bright and energy levels up. But, these take planning in advance and some level of skill. If, today, you were to buy just a few pounds of sprouting seeds like alfalfa, mung beans, lentils, etc., any time you needed a fresh salad or some vegetation with your eggs, within just a few days those seeds could be sprouted and ready to eat. As little as a tablespoon of seeds will make a full bowl of sprouts. Microgreens may be grown from the seeds of many vegetables – all the brassicas, salad greens, radishes, beets, etc., as well as amaranth and chia, which produce a ton of seeds from a small plot. Microgreens may be grown in the light from a sunny window, covered in an additional layer of plastic or glass to create a micro-greenhouse. Or, they may be grown under grow lights. We pick them when they are just an inch to a few inches tall, and they are full of nutrition. What is even better about this “prep” even if you have to buy all the seeds you use, you will rarely spend more than a few dollars per pound of seeds. Once you have the seeds, save some to plant outside in the spring, and you will have sprouts and microgreens for life! I certainly would not wish to live on sprouts and microgreens, but they are quite tasty with some salad dressing, maybe some cheese, a hard boiled egg or a few sardines. I would consider them almost as essential as dried rice, beans and canned fish.
Here is a list of seeds to consider for sprouts and microgreens (but this is barely scratching the surface):
Cress, Red Clover, Green Peas, Broccoli, Adzuki Beans, Lentils, Mung Beans, Garbanzo Beans, Sunflower Seeds, Caraway, Parsley, Wheat Grass, Kale, Alfalfa, Mustard, Barley Grass, Chard, Beet, Onion, Radish, Cabbage, Carrot, Fenugreek, Arugula, Chia, Cilantro, Chives, Flax, Quinoa, Amaranth.
Alfalfa also has medicinal uses. Plants For A Future States:
Medicinal use of Alfalfa: Alfalfa leaves, either fresh or dried, have traditionally been used as a nutritive tonic to stimulate the appetite and promote weight gain. The plant has an oestrogenic action and could prove useful in treating problems related to menstruation and the menopause. Some caution is advised in the use of this plant, however. It should not be prescribed to people with auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. See also the notes above on toxicity. The plant is antiscorbutic, aperient, diuretic, oxytocic, haemostatic, nutritive, stimulant and tonic. The expressed juice is emetic and is also anodyne in the treatment of gravel. The plant is taken internally for debility in convalescence or anaemia, haemorrhage, menopausal complaints, pre-menstrual tension, fibroids etc. A poultice of the heated leaves has been applied to the ear in the treatment of earache. The leaves can be used fresh or dried. The leaves are rich in vitamin K which is used medicinally to encourage the clotting of blood. This is valuable in the treatment of jaundice. The plant is grown commercially as a source of chlorophyll and carotene, both of which have proven health benefits. The leaves also contain the anti-oxidant tricin. The root is febrifuge and is also prescribed in cases of highly coloured urine. Extracts of the plant are antibacterial.
This article is an excerpt from
The Spring Foraging Cookbook: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-spring-foraging-cookbook.html
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Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing on this site has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I am not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and their is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm just a guy who studies herbs. I am not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write is accurate or true! I can tell you what herbs have "traditionally been used for." I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb helped me. I cannot, nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use any herb I, or anyone else, mentions you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, sensitivity or underlying condition that no one else shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything, ever.
