Caraway
Wild Caraway is excellent – it is a bit more tough and stronger in flavor than its garden counterpart, but if you like the taste of celery and fennel, you’ll love it! However, Caraway, like Carrot and Parsley, is in the same family as Poison Hemlock and Fool’s Parsley, which are among the most poisonous of all plants. Proper identification is absolutely essential. If you cannot be sure of it, do not eat it. If you are very sure you have true Wild Caraway, the tender leaves are excellent in salads, even mature leaves are just as good as a potherb, and the seeds are a great spice. Caraway seeds pair perfectly with potatoes and sauerkraut.
My favorite potato soup:
Ingredients (adjust quantity to your needs – I usually make a big stock pot full around late winter or early spring and enjoy it for lunch each day until it is gone)
1 stick of butter or 1/4th cup olive oil or other fat
3lbs of your favorite potatoes – russet, Yukon gold, red, Irish white, etc – each have their own unique characteristics.
Chicken (or other) broth or stock – 1-2 quarts… or even water if that is all you have.
3lbs onions or a mix of onions and leeks
1 head of garlic
1 bunch celery
About 1/4-1/2 head of chopped cabbage
At least 2 tablespoons each of Caraway Seeds, parsley and celery tops and chives
1 quart whole milk or 1 pint each milk and cream (or half and half)
Salt and pepper to taste.
1 lb bacon (optional)
Grated cheese (optional)
Heat a large pot on medium/high and cook the bacon. Remove the bacon and add the butter or oil. Be careful not to burn your butter – I usually add a spoonful of oil to the butter to prevent burning if I don’t know the pot and stove very well if I am not using bacon; no worries if you have bacon fat. Toss in your chopped onions, leeks, celery stalks and cabbage – you can add chopped carrot, parsnip, turnip, etc. if you like. Cook them down in the fat and add the peeled and crushed garlic once the onions are translucent. Add the broth and bring to a low boil. Chop your potatoes (I don’t peel them, but just cut off any bad spots) and add them to the boiling liquid along with the Caraway Seeds and herbs. Boil until tender, then remove the pot from the burner. Mash it all up until smooth. Return to a low heat and add the milk/cream and bring to a simmer. Serve topped with crumbled bacon and grated cheese. A dark beer and some good, crusty toasted bread goes very well with such soups on a cold, wet day. I think this is a must for Saint Patrick’s Day!
Sauerkraut
Kraut is cabbage fermented with salt, alone. Although, I suspect some store brands use vinegar, because they taste far too sour and not very salty. You can add spices, caraway seeds, even green apple or garlic to your kraut. But, all that is necessary is cabbage, and a way to keep air out. You can grate your cabbage fine or, as I do, chop it into very thin ribbons. Choose a good, firm, medium sized cabbage. I usually wash the cabbage, then peel off maybe four outer leaves and reserve them. I slice the cabbage in half, then into quarters. As I chop each quarter, I add it to a large bowl and sprinkle a spoonful of plain salt over it. So, when I am done, I have 4 layers of cabbage between 4 layers of salt. I save the core and put it with the outer leaves.
For your first batch, you will likely want to use 1 teaspoon salt per pound of cabbage (which is usually around 2 tablespoons total). I usually use plain, non-iodized, table salt. But, kosher salt and sea salt (etc) have a bit nicer flavor. Just make sure it is plain, non-iodized salt because iodine can interfere with your fermentation. Work the salt into the cabbage with your hands. You can pound it in with a mallet if you are doing larger batches. Either way, the goal is to thoroughly bruise each piece of cabbage so that the bowl fills with brine as the salt pulls it out from the leaves.
Next, you have to pack the cabbage into a container tightly. I usually use glass jars, but a non-reactive crock is more traditional. For your first batch, I recommend a very clean, glass quart sized jar. Really pack the cabbage in tightly and then fill the jar with the brine. If you estimated the volume right, the cabbage and brine will completely fill the jar. If not, fill the “head space” with the outer leaves you saved, folding them and pressing them down, along with the core pieces if necessary. Now, we have to seal all the air out, but allow the carbon dioxide that fermentation will produce to escape in order to avoid a bubble over or explosion.
If any air can get inside, it will oxidize the cabbage it touches, and could even cause rot. That is another reason for adding the outer leaves and core pieces – if, they turn dark, you can discard them and the kraut under the brine should still be fine. If you have a jar lid with an air lock specifically made for fermenting kraut and pickles, use it. If you have a pickling crock with a weight that goes on top to keep your kraut under the brine, use that. If you have none of the above, you can slip the opening of a rubber glove over the mouth of the jar and secure it in place with a rubber band. The rubber glove will keep air out and will inflate with carbon dioxide. Or, you can come up with the myriad ways I have tried to solve this problem over the years, and probably some I never thought of! I think the rubber glove method is very good for beginners, because you will see it inflate and you will know your cabbage is fermenting. It also makes the project more fun for kids.
Put your kraut in a place where it is protected from direct light and the temperature will remain fairly stable – neither too hot or cold, like room temp. Whatever you use, your kraut should begin to bubble within 1-5 days. You may need to sit the jar in a bowl or plate if some brine seeps out. After 10 days or so, you can give it a taste. If it is sour enough to your taste, transfer it to the refrigerator to slow (nearly stop) the fermentation. If it needs more time, let it go – if no air got to it, your cabbage will now be preserved and good to eat for years even if stored at room temperature. One spoonful of your homemade kraut will have more, and a greater variety, of probiotic bacteria and fungi than an entire bottle of supplement capsules.
That is a great start. Take it from there and try out different additional flavorings. Figure out the perfect sourness to your taste. But, what if you want your kraut to be less salty and more crunchy? What if you even want a hint of sweetness left in the Kraut. Then, you will need to kick start the fermentation by adding either whey (a byproduct of dairy ferments) or kombucha. I prefer to add kombucha because it is also tannic. The tannins help keep vegetables crisp, which is great for kraut, but essential for pickled cucumbers. I recommend making your own kombucha and adding some sour kombucha to all vegetable ferments. Be sure to save some brine from your kraut though, because you can also start ferments with that and sometimes you may prefer the specific flavors of the kraut brine.
Of course, you can use any plant in the brassica family to make kraut – not just cabbage. So, be sure to experiment with wild brassicas as well as the many we enjoy from the garden such as mustard, turnip, collards, kale, shredded broccoli stems, brussels sprouts, etc.
Cardamine pratense
I decided on using the Latin name for this plant, as it has several colorful common names. The flowers really perk up a salad. This wild edible has a strong flavor, so I would not include more than a few blossoms… it is a bit peppery. So, I like to use it as I might Watercress. Few things combine together as well as Watercress and boiled eggs, so I came up with an egg salad recipe using this plant.
Ingredients:
A handful of Cardamine pratense… sometimes called Cuckoo Flower
3 boiled eggs
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise, depending on taste
1 teaspoon pickle relish
½ teaspoon or so of mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Anchovies and herbs (optional)
I prefer my eggs basically medium-hard boiled. For the best results poke a thumbtack into the end of each egg to let the sulfur gas out as they boil; otherwise your egg yolk may have a green tint and the eggs will smell bad unless they are very fresh. How long your eggs take to boil depends on your elevation, so you will have to experiment. 10 minutes is about right here at 5,000 ft. Regardless, put your eggs in a pot, fill it with cold water and then bring to a low boil and cook until done to your liking. Cool, peel and mash up the eggs – I use a fork. Mix in mayo and mustard, chopped Cuckoo flowers (etc), and chopped pickle relish. Salt and pepper to taste. Of course, you can add any herbs you like. I usually toss in some parsley, chives, dill or marjoram, depending on the herbs and spices used in the pickle relish. A couple of canned anchovies mashed up and mixed in makes it perfect for my taste. You can substitute Watercress or Nasturtium flowers for the Cuckoo flowers. I like to serve this egg salad on a sandwich made from lightly toasted and buttered homemade, sourdough bread with heirloom lettuce or another mildly bitter salad green like dandelion or chicory. Sometimes I add a slice of tomato and bacon. This is a VERY good sandwich, and not one you can buy!
This article is an excerpt from
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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.
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