January ish
Starter: sheep and wood sorrel (taste apple-sour and sweet-citrusy, crunchy juicy especially stems)
Main: Dandelion espresso, Seabuckthorn Juice
Think of this as a kind of morning coffee and orange juice replacement. But very different.
Dandelion tastes more smooth, a bit like a gently spiced chocolate or sweet potato- adding milk makes a velvety latte. They take a while to find, and process but it’s worth it.
Dig up as much dandelion as you can find. The more like a carrot and less like a bit or string, the quicker this will be. Scrub up and trim any little bits off, you want to end up with little chopped cleaned pieces not too much smaller than 5mm-1cm diced. Put your pieces in the oven, it will look like a very meagre roast parsnip for a tiny person. Roast them and once golden, cool them and either grind, if you want to make a powdered drink, or simply boil them up in water. Keep on the heat and let them roll a little, less like a tea infusion, more like a chai. You won’t believe the smell from the roasting and boiling. Like a gently spiced hot chocolate. Its coffee-like, but not bitter. In fact, kids or those with more of a hot chocolate sweet tooth will love this over coffee. Pour a bit through a strainer to drink it. Add anything to the boil, other spiced and herbs. Hogweed seed gathered nearby will lend it a warm cardamom taste.
Seabuckthorn is a beautiful plant, to find and look at alone. Thin, silvery blue finger-like leaves - a willow type. The way it moves, like a fox’s tail, is incredible. Last summer, vivid orange-yellow egg-yolk coloured and creamy fleshed berries thickly group around the stems. Chop off a whole branch, then trim off the incredibly pointy thorns and freeze. The berries pop off so much more cleanly. Take the opportunity to eat one frozen, it’s like a ready-made sour grapefruit sorbet. Wash the berries in clean water and then put them in a blender, with a little water. Pour and squeeze the thick coulis-like juice through a sieve to lose the seed in the middle of the berry which somehow survives whole, and then the drink is ready. If you like it brutally bitter. Which is actually lovely.
Or, add sugar or honey- raw honey will boost how incredibly good for your immune system and skin this is already. Once a little sweetened, add an ice cube, and enjoy. Its still tart, bitter, sour and acidic but in that good way, and creamy decadent like a blend of mango, passionfruit and grapefruit. Mixologists will immediately want to make a cocktail. I’d add elderberry syrup instead of grenadine and then tequila for a hedgerow sunrise.