Category Archives: Foraging and Wild Foods

“The rich bounty of the wild – the hundreds of edible or otherwise valuable things found as near as one’s backyard…”

Gather Ye Wild Things: A Forager's Year by Susan Tyler Hitchcock

Gather Ye Wild Things: A Forager’s Year by Susan Tyler Hitchcock.

Foraging and Wild Foods, To-Go-Withs

Wild Rice: The Gourmet Grain

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From The Song of Hiawatha

 

Unmolested worked the women,

Made their sugar from the maple

Gathered wild rice in the meadows…

Then Nokomis the old woman

Spoke and said to Minnehaha:

‘Tis the moon when leaves are falling

All the wild rice has been gathered…

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

BASIC COOKING DIRECTIONS

Cooking up a perfect pot of rice seems easy enough, but it is in fact a fine and gentle culinary art. Wild Rice can be particularly challenging, and our best efforts are not always fully rewarded. With that being said, wild rice perfection is possible if you use some simple and basic techniques.

The goal, of course, is a light, palatable dish of distinct grains that is neither mushy nor chewy. A small attention to plan and detail will provide a completely satisfying “gourmet grain”.

Bon Appetit!

RINSE

Drop one cup of wild rice into a large pan, and scrub under cold running water for two or three minutes. Transfer the washed rice to a sieve and rinse well with tap water. Shake vigorously to remove excess liquid and let drain for about 10 minutes.

HEAT AND RINSE

Bring to boil two cups of salted water in a saucepan and stir in the drained rice. Simmer for five minutes, remove from heat, and pour into sieve. Wash in cold water for two or three minutes, shake, and let dry for ten minutes.

HEAT

Bring to boil 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and add rice. Bring again to boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes.

REST

Remove from heat and rest for a few minutes to let the moisture redistribute evenly throughout the dish.

A close-up of a bowl of cooked wild rice
A Gourmet Grass

 

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Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty

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Forget Your Aspirin? – No Problem, There’s Always Willow

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Hunting, fishing, and other kinds of outdoor fun may have little in common with a bottle of aspirin, but not from my somewhat jaded point of view. A rugged outdoor lifestyle can leave some marks, and at this point in my sporting life I can barely imagine one without the other. It is a small price to pay for a lifetime of wild rewards.

Perhaps I have more nagging and bothersome pains than most, but then again, perhaps not. I just know that I have some issues and several points of contention with my otherwise healthy body, like a little toe that likes to remind me at every step that it is not so happy on a steep uphill grade. Or a neck and lower back that tend to tighten, burn, and throb after a short hike with any kind of weight in my pack.

We all have them, those little nicks and troubles. We nurse them along and suffer through the pain and inconvenience of it all. Making the best of it is the outdoor way, but what  do you do when diet and exercise or body treatments haven’t helped?

Call me trite or unimaginative, but I choose painkillers. Nothing too strong of course, just a couple of  small white pills…the breakfast of champions… a little marine candy…, and more coffee, always coffee, if I can get it.

The problem is I tend to forget it more often than not, a sure sign that many of my springs’ have already sprung which is one of the reasons that I needed the aspirin in the first place.  I usually realize that I forgot it when I am far enough from the truck for my body to finally remind me that I can’t be without it, while at the same time being too far from it to endure the pain to go back and get it. Or something like that.

This can lead to a long, uncomfortable day in the field, wincing at every step while promising my burning brain to never ever ever forget such a small but crucial little item again…until next time that is.

Some things in life are simply not fair, and rarely do they change.

So, if you are like me, take heart. The remedy may be right under your nose, where is exactly where you will want to put it…and it’s called “Willow”.

 

Nature's Pain Killer
Nature’s Pain Killer
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