Summer Food, Foraging & Putting Some By

Here is some purslane growing wild right before I picked it.

And here is some purslane for sale at the Park Slope Food Coop.

(low whistle). Dang, at those prices maybe I should go into the purslane business. There’s certainly plenty of it available during summer’s hottest weeks. I’ll be getting up a piece on purslane for nonabrooklyn in the next day or two. It will include a wild gumbo recipe (I use purslane instead of okra, plus homemade filé powder).

I’ve also been foraging for lots of sheep sorrel and wood sorrel.

I try not to use citrus too often since there aren’t any local citrus crops (our winters are too cold). I won’t say that the sorrels are “just like lemon,” but they do have a lemony tang that I enjoy in soups and sauces and salads.

The wineberries are pretty much over, but the elderberries are just starting to ripen. Also, the purple-flowering raspberries and blackberries. In the garden, my Heritage raspberries have finished up their first small flush of fruit, but they are loaded with berries that will ripen mid-August through frost.

Also in the garden, it’s tomato time. Yay! And of course, I’m growing lots of basil. Now I just need some mozzarella made with local milk…or maybe I just need to learn how to make my own. There’s an Italian guy up the street who teaches that.

The season’s abundance means lots of food preservation is going on, both in my kitchen and in the classes on that topic I’ve been teaching. If you haven’t checked out my food preservation site and are interested in putting up some of summer’s glorious harvests (both wild and domesticated), please do visit.

I’ve been posting lots of recipes and articles there, as well as step-by-step how-to’s for things like boiling water bath canning and pressure canning (if you’re not sure what the difference is, you definitely want to visit the food preservation site).

Thanks to all who emailed or commented wishing my grandma Nea a happy 99th birthday. It was a lovely celebration.

Cheers,

Leda

P.S. - My next foraging tour is on my birthday, August 6th. Come celebrate with me!

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