Edible Tulip

Forbes Wild Foods

This is a photo from a life passed. Not the fungi's life, mine! I lived in a fairly musky fairly dark cabin on a stretch of land that lined a river and backed into a cedar forest. In early spring and early fall, when the moisture was high and the sun wasn't in the sky long enough to shed light on all that was dormant.

Forbes Wildfoods reminds me of the spring and fall seasons. They are a Canadian company who forages for the every morsel they use in their products. They stress sustainable practices, they utilize local (often aboriginal, mostly rural) folks to seek out rare wild foods, plants, roots and seeds. And what they pick they replenish through propogation. Their food is 'organic' without the new-agey price attached. It's natural most of all.

Examples of their products:

Balsam jelly (this is a jelly made from the juice from Balsam needles taken from fir trees - it's yummy with lamb in lieu of that old standard mint jelly and has a refreshing distinctive fir tree tanginess)

Saskatoon Berries (these come from the Prairies and are sweet like an august blueberry)

Spruce Tips (literally these are the tips off the new shoots from spruce trees - used like capers, they can be chopped up and used in a sauce for fish)

Wild Mushroom Mustard (the ultimate mustard for a grilled chicken sandwich with french chaumes cheese... and arugula or alfalfa sprouts... ummm....)

Cedar Jelly (similar to the balsam jelly but this is made from the juice of the cedar branches. All I can say is that it tastes like what cedar smells like. Utterly delicious used with salmon.)

Ox-Eye Daisy Capers (prepared like capers in a vineger, they are lovely buds . Add to salads with cheese.)

Milkweed Pods (these are still pods at their most tender, small and flavourful. Put out on an hors d'oeuvres spread with olives, cheese, daikon radish, and smoked trout.)

Also try the wild grape jelly (from river grapes not concord grapes - excellent with cream cheese or peanut butter!) and the Birch Syrup (instead of Maple syrup, this is very sweet, and a bit spicy and excellent as a kick first thing in the morning).

Forbes is under-publicized. It's local, original, true to itself, eloquent, small-scale, and brave. Check out their website and order some products for Thanksgiving or Christmas. They make excellent and inventive hostess gifts.

Messing with Mustard

If there is anyone who knows anything about messing with mustard it would be Anton Kozlik. He began making mustard in Northern Ontario in 1948 and since then his mustard empire has grown to encompass over 50 different varieties and they are sold in fine food shops around the province as well as having their own stall at the St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto. I was smitten years ago when I passed the stall -- the shelves are lined high with the trademark jars with black lids and black and white labels. They always have platters of fried back bacon and pretzels to swirl into the little petri dishes of mustard samples. On any given day you might be able to contemplate how to utilize balsamic fig & date mustard in your daily eating habits or think about slathering some amazing maple mustard on a piece of sourdough layered with melting Balderson old cheddar or basting a piece of salmon with the lime and honey mustard or perhaps enjoying pretzels at home dipped into the Triple C mustard (three kinds of mustard seeds soaked in Canadian Club!) while having a cocktail after work.

Canada produces 90% of the world's mustard. And while mustard has certainly come along way since French's yellow bottles lined most of our grocery shelves I'm always impressed when an immigrant to our country has the light bulb of a brilliant idea on how to utilize something that is so abundantly available (mustard seed) in our own land. Way to go Anton! You've certainly added some zing to my pantry.