The Free Radical

In the past few days I’ve been cranking out some pretty heady stuff. This promises to be a little lighter in nature. We can classify this as a Foraging Update.

Throughout the winter I was able every day to forage at least two different edibles along my path, and now that the snow has melted, that’s up to three. Although the rose bushes are thorny and mostly barren, there are at least a few clusters of rose hips hanging on from last season in every thicket. Those that aren’t dried and shrivelled actually improve their flavour through freezing and thawing numerous times. Additionally, their outer skin and soft flesh are easier to remove, leaving the core of hard seeds in a convenient state to spit out intact. The well-aged flesh tends to taste like a combination of strawberries and apples with maybe just a hint of cherry. Typically, I’ve been grabbing about a half dozen every day at the very beginning of each walk. Oh, and Sitka really likes them too.

Ever since the majority of the snow melted, I’ve been surprised by the number of bearberries I’ve been finding. The bright red berries are difficult to spot in the fall since the tiny shrubs they grow upon are heavily leafed and the berries develop underneath the foliage. Once winter has ravaged a bit of the greenery, the berries tend to stand out like dog’s balls.

Now, if anyone’s tried bearberries before, they might think I’m nuts for eating them. Their skin is more of a shell, and their insides are filled with powder and seeds. For the most part in the summertime they taste utterly bland and tend to be thoroughly ignored as a result. Once the frost performs some kind of voodoo magic however, the powdery insides turn to something resembling pure sugar. I just crack them open in my mouth, allow the sugar to dissolve and then spit the seeds and shells out. They are extremely excellent in combination with ripened juniper berries.

Juniper berries are rather unique in that they take a full two years on the branch to fully ripen. They are definitely worth the wait! The only ones worth picking are the very darkest ones which are nearly black at times.

I’ve spoken at length previously about their remarkable flavour, but it bears repeating. Most people are familiar with juniper’s gin flavour. In fact, that’s what gin is made from. For the past two years however I have discovered that the ripest berries move right on past that classic gin flavour and take on a sweet cinnamon/clove/black pepper delightfulness. It’s really an exotic bit of foraging ecstasy!

The trick with junipers is to find the specific bush which has an abundance of berries that have hung on through two full seasons. For the past four months I was harvesting a couple of dozen of them from the same bush along my walk every day. Yesterday it finally ran out; I had to find a new bush. The one I found immediately upon establishing my intent is the one pictured above. The berries are the very best I’ve ever tasted. I’m still blown away by the fact that I can make my Forest walk every day through what appears to be the most barren landscape with just the greatest taste in my mouth.

I’m looking forward to learning more about the extensive abundance awaiting my discovery this season!