Violets



White with purple veins,
see the "butterfly" shape?

 There are hundreds of species of violets growing in the temperate northern hemisphere, which makes it difficult to identify them specifically. They all belong to the genus Viola, and the colors can range from yellow to white to blue and purple, with some mixing of colors. Violets tend to grow in shade or partial shade, and like a moist environment. They are perennial herbs, and will often overtake lawns. The flowers open in early spring, lasting until June, while the green leaves last until the frosts come.

Purple violet clusters

The leaves are slightly toothed and heart shaped, each up to 5 inches across. The leaves and flower stalks grow directly from the rhizome underground. Flowers have 5 petals, and a spur at the back of the flower. The flower is roughly butterfly-shaped, with the fifth, lowest petal being the longest, with deep veining. The young leaves are edible raw or lightly cooked, but tend to be bland and sometimes gummy in texture. The leaves contain vitamin C and vitamin A. The flowers are very lightly perfumed and delicate, a wonderful trailside nibble. The flowers look really nice in a salad, or on top of a cupcake. They can be dried to use later in the season for tea, or candied with egg white and sugar. We collect them in quantity to make a brightly hued syrup or jelly, the recipe can be found here.

Violet Jelly on buttered bread

Violet Recipe - Violet Jelly

Violet Jelly spread over buttered bread

We gather purple violets from a shady park, even though there are plenty growing in most peoples' lawns. I give the violets a quick rinse in cold water, and a spin dry to remove bugs or sand before making the infusion for the jelly. Before making the infusion from the flowers, I don't remove the green parts behind the flower, but do try to remove as much of the green stem as possible. Some of the  species of violet we have in our area are very pretty but not strongly scented, so we tend to just eat them raw in salads. This jelly is more sweet and tart from the sugar and lemon juice than flavorful from the flowers-- but they do contribute a mild floral flavor. This is an updated version of this recipe.

Violet Jelly             makes about 11- 4 oz. jars

2 c. packed violet blossoms, stems removed
2 c. boiling water

1. Pour the boiling water over the violets and allow them to steep at least 2 hours, overnight is best. Squeeze the water from the violets, and measure out 1 3/4 c. violet infusion. It will be very dark blue.

1 3/4 c. violet infusion
1/4 c. lemon juice
4 c. sugar
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin (3 oz.)

2. Put the violet infusion, lemon juice, and sugar in a large pot. You'll notice the dramatic change of color from dark blue to electric purple! Bring it up to a rolling boil.
3. Add the Certo pectin, and bring the mixture back up to a rolling boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove the jelly from the heat and ladle into hot, sterilised jars. Cover, and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Jelly

Japanese knotweed Jelly served over yogurt

This recipe took a few tries to get correct, and we are very happy with the final product. One characteristic of the knotweed is that it is not very juicy. Usually when you make jelly, you are using a fruit juice. This is made with more of a knotweed infusion. Through trial and error, I found that I needed to start with a lot of water and even more chopped knotweed than you would think to end up with enough "juice" for the jelly recipe. The color is surprisingly pink, we were expecting green.

Japanese Knotweed Jelly    makes 6- 8oz. jars

4 c. water
8 c. chopped Japanese knotweed stalks, leaves removed

1. Add the water and the chopped knotweed stalks to a large pot. Bring the water up to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool, then hang the stewed knotweed in a jelly bag or in cheesecloth, and allow it to drip for an hour or two. You need to end up with 3 1/4 c. knotweed juice.

3 1/4 c. knotweed juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 box Sure-Jell powdered pectin (1.75 oz.)
4 c. sugar

2. Put the knotweed juice, lemon juice, and pectin into a large pot. Bring it up to a rolling boil.
3. Add all the sugar at once. Bring it back up to a rolling boil, and boil 1 minute while stirring constantly.
4. Remove from the heat and ladle it into hot, sterilized jars, cover. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes, cool.

Ramps Recipe - Stuffed Ramps Rolls

Stuffed Ramps Rolls

The leaves of the ramps that we have picked this spring have been especially large, and we thought it might work if we tried to stuff them like cabbage leaves. What follows is a loose recipe of what I put together for a filling, although there is a lot of room for substitutions. I had some cooked quinoa in the fridge, but you could use rice or another cooked grain. I used a vegetarian ground-beef substitute, but you could use ground beef, pork or sausage in it's place. Finally, I served these with a yellow tomato sauce we had made last year, but jarred pasta sauce would be fine.

Stuffed Ramps Rolls    makes 24-30
24-30 cleaned ramps leaves
1/2 c. chopped ramps bulbs, or onion
1/2 pound ground beef substitute, ground beef, ground pork, or sausage
2 c. cooked quinoa, cooked rice, or cooked grain
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. chopped ramps greens
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
1 c. yellow tomato sauce, or pasta sauce

1. Sautée the chopped ramps bulbs or onions in a bit of oil, cooking until they are translucent. Add the ground meat substitute or ground meat to the pan, and cook it fully.
2. Put the cooked meat mixture in a bowl, and add the cooked grain, beaten eggs, chopped ramps greens, and the breadcrumbs. Mix it all together, and add some salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to rest a few minutes. If it is still too wet, add more breadcrumbs. You want to be able to form loose balls with the filling.
3. Take a ramps leaf, and run the back of a spoon along the center rib to lightly bruise it. This makes the leaf easier to roll. Take about 3 T of filling and place along the bottom of the leaf. Roll up the leaf around the filling, leaving the ends open. Carefully transfer the roll to an oiled baking pan.
4. Spray the tops of the rolls with cooking spray, or brush oil over them to prevent the rolls from drying out. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Serve over warm tomato sauce.

Foraging Report 04/29/2011

Ramps leaves

April showers bring . . . May edibles. There has been lots of rain this past week, and not too many sunny days. The late winter and wet spring has produced some very hearty wild food this season so far. We noticed the many, many ramps (Allium tricoccum) patches that we visit have been growing especially thick this year, the stalks of the greens are thick and strong, and the leaves are wider than usual. The leaves are so substantial we have had to gather less leaves to chiffonade and freeze, and have considered stuffing the leaves like cabbage.

Nettle dumplings for soup

Nettles (Urtica dioica) are finally getting tall enough to pick in large quantities. We have several bricks of blanched and chopped nettles in the freezer to use throughout the year. The nettle beer is bubbling along happily, we hope to give it a try next week. We have nettles drying for tea in paper bags. I hope to get more nettles this weekend for soups, and I would like to try the bagel recipe with chopped nettles. We made some vibrant green soup dumplings, and are working on the recipe for sharing.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is another abundant mid-spring green. The flowers on the flower stalks have started blooming, so we won't gather any more of them as they are getting tough. Now it is the triangular leaves near the tops of the flower stalks we can pick in vast quantities and boil as a side dish. I have remarked on how some foragers do not like the triangular leaves or the flower stalks due to bitterness, and we still disagree. Robert and Gillian tend to like bitter things like dandelion and burdock root, but I really do not. I do, however, love the garlic mustard stalks and leaves. I have a hard time even tasting the garlicky properties of the plant, and enjoy the green flavor very much. I suspect that climate, geography, and growing conditions as well as personal taste prevents us all from agreeing on the edibility rating of some plants. Soon after the flowers bloom, in early June, the seed pods will elongate and we'll pick those to eat while they are still green and tender. We really are trying to do our part in preventing the spread of this invasive plant by eating it's reproductive parts.

Dandelion flowers

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) greens and flowers seem to enjoy the abundant rain. Robert picked greens for boiling and flowers for making jelly this week. Picking the flowers for wine or jam is really time consuming, as the yellow petals have to be removed from the flower head without any green bits, which impart bitterness. This task leaves us with aching shoulders and blackened fingertips as we hunch over bowls for hours to end up with enough flower petals for a recipe.

Violets

Violets (Viola species) are carpeting lawns and shaded grassy areas. The early leaves are edible, but not our favorite. It is the pretty flowers that get our attention. They can be tossed into any salad, used to garnish desserts or yogurt, and Gillian likes them because they are purple. We picked a large quantity to make some electric purple violet jelly.

Japanese Knotweed, proper size
for gathering and cooking

Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) is just now getting too big and tough to gather. To use the plant in food, it has to be tender, but to make jelly I suppose a slightly larger and tougher plant is acceptable since the pulp is strained out of the juice. The jelly is surprisingly pink, not green as we expected. Robert loves it, I think it is OK, but I tend to not love most of the things we make with knotweed. The taste is hard to describe and compare to other things, it really is unique.

Now is a good time to take notice of fruit trees growing in wild places as they are blooming. We pass by accidental apple trees, landscaped plum trees at parks, and soon will notice the wild cherry trees in bloom.

Ramps Recipe - Ramps Pesto Potato Salad

This is a great green potato salad to make in the spring when our bodies are craving green things. I just tossed some cooked russets with ramps pesto and boiled eggs. This would also be tasty served with bacon crumbled on top.

Ramps Pesto Potato Salad          makes 6 servings

6 russet potatoes, diced
1/2 c. ramps pesto
olive oil
2 boiled eggs, diced
salt and pepper
6 strips bacon, cooked and diced

1. Boil the potatoes until tender and drain them Toss the hot potatoes with the pesto, adding a bit of olive oil to keep the salad moist. Add the diced boiled eggs, salt and pepper, and crumbled bacon, if using.

Ramps Recipe - 3 Onion and Beer Soup

This is similar to a French onion soup, although this version is vegetarian. The three onions we used were some accidentally pulled up ramps bulbs along with the greens, spring onion bulbs, and garden chives. The spring onions are the ones you see growing like crazy in the early spring all over people's lawns. The small bulbs are good to pull up very early before they start sending off smaller bulbs. This soup can be a bit bitter, but the addition of the Swiss cheese mellows it out nicely.

3 Onion-Beer Soup        makes 4 servings

2 c. mixed chopped onions, ramps bulbs and greens, spring onions, and chives
3 T olive oil
2 T flour
1 1/2 c. oatmeal stout beer
1 c. vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
croutons for serving
1/2 c. shredded Swiss cheese

1. Sautée the chopped onions in the olive oil until they are translucent and wilted, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the flour to the pot, and cook to create a light roux. Pour in the oatmeal stout and vegetable stock, whisking to prevent lumps. Bring the soup up to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Serve with croutons and shredded Swiss cheese on top of the soup.