Foraging for favorites

[kayb]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

That's a terrible shame about your apple tree. Is its crop cyclic also? I hope the tree recovers.

 

 

I appreciate the thought(s), but I'm not crazy about applesauce except as the occasional fat substitute. I'd like these best, I think, if I could keep the crunch. I've considered a relish, chutney or salad. I think they'll be good cooked in a small tart. As it happens, today was utterly consumed by non-food tasks, so nothing more has been done since this morning's optimistic post.

 

FWIW, crabapple jelly is absolutely marvelous. And no, I don't have a recipe, but there are several that turn up, via Google.

 

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, gfron1 said:

That's so odd that they're that far north. I didn't realize they were any higher than say Ohio...I guess its not that much further though.

 

According to Stark Bros they are good up to USDA Zone 4.  Which is pretty damn cold.  https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

[heidih]

@Smithy  I just remembered the jars of spiced pickled crabapples that grandma used to buy. They were so pretty. No coring and leave stem on. They turn a nice drak pink color. I think you need to prick them so they don't burst.  Like these  https://www.thespruceeats.com/spiced-pickled-crab-apples-3059143

[Kerry Beal]

58 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

According to Stark Bros they are good up to USDA Zone 4.  Which is pretty damn cold.  https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

The Royal Botanical Gardens had a workshop about growing them a couple of years back - here. Theres a great link there with lots of advice. Looks like there a couple of places in Niagara on the Lake when you can get them. 

 

Nice description here from the University of Guelph Arboretum.

 

 

[TicTac]

I am officially going on a paw-paw patrol!

 

Tropical'eque fruit....growing in....Ontario!?

 

This I must find!

 

 

[Anna N]

40 minutes ago, TicTac said:

I am officially going on a paw-paw patrol!

 

Tropical'eque fruit....growing in....Ontario!?

 

This I must find!

 

 

I feel exonerated for my boring posts.  I’ve sparked a fire.

[dcarch]

56 minutes ago, TicTac said:

I am officially going on a paw-paw patrol!

Tropical'eque fruit....growing in....Ontario!?

This I must find!

 

 

Pawpaw can survive to zone 8.

I am growing two in my garden. You need at least two for pollination.

 

dcarch

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 10/7/2018 at 11:39 PM, Smithy said:

 

That's a terrible shame about your apple tree. Is its crop cyclic also? I hope the tree recovers.

 

 

I appreciate the thought(s), but I'm not crazy about applesauce except as the occasional fat substitute. I'd like these best, I think, if I could keep the crunch. I've considered a relish, chutney or salad. I think they'll be good cooked in a small tart. As it happens, today was utterly consumed by non-food tasks, so nothing more has been done since this morning's optimistic post.

 

What about spiced crab apples? I swear we used to buy these commercially canned when we lived in Vermont, but search as I might, I cannot find any available now. We had a couple of trees in the front yard at one place we lived. These are so delicious with roasted or grilled meats, especially poultry and pork. The spring flowers on the trees are so pretty too. Ours were pink.

 

Recipes here and also here. Don't feel like canning? There is a suggestion for freezing in the Mother Earth News recipe. They say that worked fine.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

17 hours ago, Anna N said:

 This will likely only interest a minuscule portion of our membership —  those who live in southern Ontario. Still I was startled to learn that pawpaws grow wild here. 

 

Here.

 

"These are actually the first wild pawpaws that I've seen," he said. "I first read about pawpaw trees. It just seemed like this exotic tree that seemed too mythical, too bizarre to be true."

 

 

 

It's interesting to me, because we have pawpaws down here in the South US, and I am amazed that they are hardy that far into the Great White North.

[heidih]

Funny I loved the book "Beyond the Paw Paw Trees" as a child and always assumed even from that age that they were the North American mango!  Beyond the Paw Paw Trees, by Palmer Brown

Edited October 9, 2018 by Smithy
Adjusted link to be eG-friendly (log)

[chefmd]

Picked up these while walking today

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Beautiful, beautiful @chefmd but I hope you put them down again.  Or have your liver donor lined up.  I love mushrooms as much as the next girl but I'd be scared, very scared.  (And selfishly I'd like to get a ride again from you someday.)

 

 

[Shelby]

What kind of mushroom is that?  I did a quick google search and came up with Russula emetica?  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

She's not reported back...that's not a good sign.

 

[chefmd]

6 hours ago, Shelby said:

What kind of mushroom is that?  I did a quick google search and came up with Russula emetica?  

I think you are correct.  I used to forage them with my Grandma in Russia. They are called сыроежки.  @JoNorvelleWalker scared me a little.  I pickled the shrooms and have not eaten them yet :).

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, chefmd said:

I think you are correct.  I used to forage them with my Grandma in Russia. They are called сыроежки.  @JoNorvelleWalker scared me a little.  I pickled the shrooms and have not eaten them yet :).

 

I googled them a bit.  Russula are rarely fatal.  At least if they are cooked.

 

[Kerry Beal]

11 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I googled them a bit.  Russula are rarely fatal.  At least if they are cooked.

 

I'd be a little nervous around something called 'emetica'.  

[chefmd]

14 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I'd be a little nervous around something called 'emetica'.  

They can cause nausea unless parboiled or pickled.  But alas, y’all convinced me.  Buying Whole Foods chanterelles will be my my future foraging adventure.

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, chefmd said:

Foods chanterelles will be my my future foraging adventure.

Good plan. 

"There are old mushroom hunters
and there are bold mushroom hunters
but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters."

 

 No idea who the credit for this. 

[Fernwood]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

Good plan. 

"There are old mushroom hunters
and there are bold mushroom hunters
but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters."

 

 No idea who the credit for this. 

 

I have heard the same saying with "electricians" for "mushroom hunters".  Both versions make sense to me. 

[gfweb]

Mushroom foraging is so risky.  Liver and kidney damage potential. Not un-do-able.  There rare so many great and safe cultured mushrooms, why even consider taking the risk?

[gfron1]

Now calm down y'all...mushroom hunting and eating is safe as anything else with proper education. Always have a mentor that you can use for verification (I still do this even after all these years). Always do a full identification from a true guidebook (yes, even the spore print). And only cook those mushrooms that you know how to properly prepare. Once people start saying, "You need to do x,y, or z with a specific mushroom to make it safe..." that's not one for you to cook unless you're an expert. But once you get past that, oysters, lobsters, chanterelles, morels and a few others are easy to identify and easy to prepare. *Then I add the asterisk that says there's a thing called a false morel. It looks nothing like a true morel, but for some reason every season us mycos have an annual argument about their safety. I don't/won't eat them because why risk it. But a morel?...heck yeah!

[gfweb]

35 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

Now calm down y'all...mushroom hunting and eating is safe as anything else with proper education. Always have a mentor that you can use for verification (I still do this even after all these years). Always do a full identification from a true guidebook (yes, even the spore print). And only cook those mushrooms that you know how to properly prepare. Once people start saying, "You need to do x,y, or z with a specific mushroom to make it safe..." that's not one for you to cook unless you're an expert. But once you get past that, oysters, lobsters, chanterelles, morels and a few others are easy to identify and easy to prepare. *Then I add the asterisk that says there's a thing called a false morel. It looks nothing like a true morel, but for some reason every season us mycos have an annual argument about their safety. I don't/won't eat them because why risk it. But a morel?...heck yeah!

 

I'd trust you completely, gfron. But not some perhaps careless, perhaps ill-trained jabroni.

 

If I wreck my liver it'll be done the old fashioned way.

[chromedome]

8 hours ago, gfron1 said:

*Then I add the asterisk that says there's a thing called a false morel. It looks nothing like a true morel, but for some reason every season us mycos have an annual argument about their safety. I don't/won't eat them because why risk it. But a morel?...heck yeah!

 

Actually two kinds. Gyromitras are basically edible if you cook the hell out of them, though some people do react badly to them. Verpas are just bad news.

 

It's not hard to tell real morels apart from either kind of "false morel," though.

[heidih]

I was shocked when I spied a bright green patch under some old orange trees. Our current lanscape is parched and barren. My dad must have watered the trees heavily before he left town for the winter. It is young but a bit too tough for raw eating so I'll probably use in a soup or sauteed/steamed.