Happy December, food & foraging friends!
I can’t say I love this time of year. It’s too dark to go on my grounding nature walks after work, and my thoughts often turn a shade darker with the weather too. But winter has an important place in our annual cycle. Winter is not only a time to pause, but to plan. It’s time to take stock of what we have, what we want to bring into our lives, and what we need to let go of. What seeds do we want to plant in ourselves, and in the world? And on a literal note, it’s a great time for foragers and home chefs to take stock of what’s in our pantries!
The ultimate winter food to squirrel away, for nutrition and calories, is just underfoot: acorns. Historically acorns (the nuts of various oak species) have been an important food source around the world, including indigenous peoples here in North America, otherwise known as Turtle Island. I was delighted to learn that an acquaintance, Shawn Shafner, was holding a series of events to educate and engage the public on acorns in November. (Shawn and I share a passion for humanure and had connected through his project The Poop Project and my day gig with Bloom.)
Acornucopia culminated in a standing-room-only event in GWU’s teaching kitchen with a tasting and panel discussion that included chef Caleb Jang of the now-defunct Magpie and the Tiger, who discussed the acorn’s role in Korean culture. I was delighted to learn about and sample Dotori-muk, a traditional savory Korean acorn jelly topped with a spicy chili sesame sauce, as well as a delicious sweet acorn pancake and a delightfully bitter acorn coffee. Back home, I celebrated the acorn by germinating one in hopes of stewarding a red oak bonsai (see pic below)!
The event dovetailed nicely into a set of Atlas Obscura classes I’m taking. Part of my winter stock-taking is to invest in my own learning, after months of teaching, writing and organizing. The first class, Designing a Bizarro Dinner Party with artist and chef Jen Monroe, guides participants in creating a culinary event that delights and engages all the senses and challenges our assumptions of the dinner table. It’s been great food for thought for the seasonal forager’s supper club I started up this fall; I am excited to dream up a wild winter wonderland meal next month inspired by Jen’s class.
The other short course, Indigenous Foods of Turtle Island taught by indigenous chef and food activist Mariah Gladstone, is an exploration of native foods through the four seasons. I learned much already in our first class, focused on spring — starting with maple vinegar, which was traditionally made from the last of the sap. Vinegar was used to marinade fish in our class cook-along; I used crushed juniper berries and pine salt in my trout marinade, enjoyed alongside wild mallow with preserved lemon and zaatar, root veggies with wild onion butter, and a rosehip soda made from wild rosehip syrup, all ingredients you can still find now in the twilight between fall and winter.
Left/top: There are still many foods to forage in December, especially given the unseasonably warm days we’ve been having. Mallow, juniper berries, black walnuts and even mint can still be found in and around DC. Rosehips (bottom center) makes a great syrup for drinks, while hawthorn berries (bottom right), good for heart health, are great in vinegars, tonics, and more.
Right/bottom: Acorn served many ways, from Korean jelly, coffee and pancakes, and sprouted into a sapling at home. Bottom row, winter oysters (battered and fried here) and turkey tail are a few of the edible and medicinal mushrooms you can still find through winter.
Speaking of classes, there are still spots left for my workshops on working with evergreen needles at ANXO December 17 and January 7. Participants will learn how to ID different types of conifers, discover lots of culinary and medicinal applications of evergreen needles, and make an evergreen sugar scrub to take home, all while sipping on a delicious foraged cocktail crafted by Chef Julian. I hope to see some of you there — reach out if you want to buy tickets as a gift for the nature lovers on your holiday list!
My second plug for holiday gift ideas is to check out the wares by the chronically ill artists in my project, the Chronic Market. Many of these creators (all suffering from ME/CFS) are housebound and/or bedbound, and create to stay afloat financially and mentally under very difficult circumstances. I’m also running a global art card project, where anyone can sign up to make a card for a chronically ill person. It’s a simple way to exercise creativity, cultivate gratitude and bring joy.
Thanks for following along with my food and foraging adventures this year – I can’t wait to see what 2024 will bring!
Wildly yours,
April
PS: if you are new to my mailing list – welcome! You can find past editions here, or unsubscribe at any time using the link below.