Dandelion coffee ice cream is one of the coolest things I’ve made in a while. It tastes like wild espresso cookies and cream, and the best part is the dried roots, which you leave in the ice cream.
The roots of dandelion coffee go back a few hundred years to the 1700’s. It caught on in a few places and you can still buy dried dandelion roots in the bulk section at coops.
Recipe’s on my site this week.
#dandelioncoffee #chicory #foraging #thatswild #foragerchef
I FINISHED THE MANUSCRIPT
Fauna, the carnivorous sibling to my first book on plants will release in 2027. 100k words. ~170 recipes? 300 image placements, with more instructional images than we would ever be able to fit. Time will tell how it works with the design team.
I spent all of 2025 working on the book, but was so caught up with recipe development and ingredient sourcing that I didn’t start to edit until way past when I should’ve.
On Dec 1 I realized that even if I worked harder than I ever have for the foreseeable future, I wouldn’t be able to hit my book deadline. Not a great feeling, but something I only have myself to thank for in hindsight.
For the next 50 days straight, 12 hours a day I worked on the book, editing images, polishing the manuscript and finally working on the introduction and the art log. I haven’t worked like that since I closed a restaurant and even then it wasn’t for such an extended period of time.
When I finally turned the manuscript in two weeks late, I felt like I’ve been hit by a train and I had trouble acclimating back into a normal schedule. It takes a special kind of person to be able to work for yourself and actually get stuff done. In my case it can mean that you work for a boss that demands the impossible sometimes. There were hard days when I didn’t think I’d make it to the finish line.
To everyone that sent me dm’s & messages: thank you. I’m all good, just needed total focus.
Thanks to everyone who pitched in: @11mitch22 with venison and pheasant, Dr Eric Ruhland and Boden for wild turkey, my Mom for sending emails and doing dishes. @isubtil for editing assistance. Sandy for culling images and moral support. @pilargerasimo With help on the intro. The 100+ recipe testers who took time out busy schedules during the holidays. And as always, @huntgathercook for all the advice.
#authorproblems #cheflife #foraging #foragerchef theforagerchefsbookoffauna
80 edible plants growing in my yard right now. Actually 84 as I forgot Hawthorn and Lilac, nodding onion and wild garlic. Didn’t count garden veg.
A couple like wisteria and maypop have specific edible parts, if you have a q, drop one in the comments.
This is my second year of gardening/growing my own plants. Everything pays rent here, so non-edible plants are in the process of being removed as I have time.
#payrent #foraging #edimentals baby’s first #foodforest #plantsofinstagram #plantnerd
Hunting black morels in an aspen clear-cut in N WI yesterday with my buddy, filmmaker @jesseroesler .
It’s a different ball game from harvesting naturals with elms, cottonwoods, etc. Instead of being around specific trees we were excavating them randomly from underneath piles of branches and debris where they were insulated from the elements.
Fun fact: black morels are the most widely sold commercially, but not these. M. septentrionalis is the only morel I don’t serve the others. They have a quirk where a decent amount of people experience emesis (projectile vomiting) when consumed with alcohol.
#morels #foraging #mushroomhunting #blackmorels #foragerchef
Beets, blood orange vin, tarragon, magnolia petals, red sorrel, miners lettuce, chickweed and endive.
After I tasted the spicy-floral-ginger-cardamom flavor of the magnolia flowers I wrote down a few things I’d pair the flavor with, then I made a salad. Next time I’d switch fennel for the endive. Maybe goat chz too.
The floral taste is there, but calmer than the canapes (see previous post).
Special thanks to Maurice Smith from @dragsmith.farms for letting me dig the sorrel from his green house. I see it every day, and remember you.
#beetsalad #magnoliaflowers #minerslettuce #foraging #foragerchef
Magnolia petals treated like endive. With goat cheese that could’ve been piped better, sumac, crunchy salt. Just enough fat / dairy to cut the flower taste so they’re not like eating perfume.
#magnoliaflowers #mugwort #canapes #foraging #mertensiavirginica (flowers)
Patience dock stems with wild hazelnuts, @smudeoil miner’s lettuce, lemon and parm.
Pascal Baudar has a fun prep for these in his first book, making some thin cuts in thick stems and soaking in ice water to perk the up like scallions or radishes. Works with lots of stem veggies.
They’re fun raw with a dipping sauce but the slits help them soak up a dressing or marinade after a quick blanch too.
#rumexpatienta #foraging #smallplates #minerslettuce #foragerchef
Wildflower spring rolls are so much fun.
It’s a good, interactive way to eat all the edible flowers in the yard and such a good teaching example. Usually when I make them the flowers are more of a garnish, but I was lucky enough to grab a bunch of thick magnolia blossoms this week and i knew they’d be perfect in a batch. Props to my friend Jordan for letting me grab those.
Instead of filling the rolls with noodles I like to make them with all plants. Some whole or shredded leaves, maybe a thin slice of cooked mushroom, prosciutto or a ham I’ve made (heresy!) and lots of leafy greens and herbs.
Really liked the shredded sorrel in this version too.
#foraging #foragerchef #magnoliaflower #johnnyjumpups #springrolls
Two Ways to Grow Ramps in Your Yard
1: Bulb Tips
Leave 1/2-1 inch of bulb on the root when trimming. Soak in cold water. Plant them. This has a lower success rate and produces small ramps that will take years to be of harvestable size.
2: Whole Thing
Buy or harvest ramps with roots attached. Soak in cold water until perky, then plant the whole thing. Produces full size ramps the next year, if they take. Digging them is better than buying but both can work.
Mine are fine in the sun and shade. I dug a few this year but not many and I’ll put in more whole plants this week.
#foraging #mnspring #alliumtricoccum #edimentals #springephemerals
Making sweet and sour rhubarb with the first ramps from my yard.
It turns into a sort of thick, juicy compote that’s as good with a pork chop or chicken as it is with grilled cheese sandwich.
Nice break from sugar-laden rhubarb treats if you have a big plant in your garden. Recipe’s on my website.
#rhubarb #foraging #mnspring #springcooking #foragerchef
This weekends @tastebudswithstephanie has us foraging with the @foragerchef Alan Bergo author of Flora! He makes his morel mushrooms ala cream on toast slathered with delicious ramp butter Watch now on @youtube@tubi or on @fox9 Saturday 8:30 am
