Plants

Yes finally! That perfect moment i’ve been waiting for. I have a week off and the weather in Denmark have been very favorable for my morning walks and picking up herbs.  Well, as I was walking in the forrest (Gram skov) I saw this field of ramson or wild garlic or ramsløg in danish.

I picked up some leaves and flowers to bring home and if you also want to pick up from the wild and this is your first time, be aware that there are poisonous look alike plant like Lily of the valley ( liljekonval ) and Meadow saffron (Wild saffron or Høsttidløs in danish) out there and unless they have flowers, it’s hard to identify them by just looking at them. But once you nip a piece of leaf and smell it then you’ll know that ramson have this distinctive smell of garlic and you can’t go wrong. But then again, there are some people who unluckily been poisoned by picking the wrong one.

Anyway, once you got it and thinking what the heck are you gonna do with it then here is one sure thing that you will definitely love (well I do anyway:) Make a PESTO!

Pesto is just the easiest thing to do once you have the ingredients of course and a mixer. Here’s the recipe you can do in under 10 minutes:

INGREDIENTS:

20 pcs. / stks. ramson leaves
1 dl parmesan cheese
2 spoonfool cashew nuts or any nuts you like (cashew is by far my favorite)
1 spoonfull of olive oil
salt and pepper (according to your taste)

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and blend them until you got a paste consistency. And that’s it. You got a very tasty pesto which you can butter your bread or burgers.

You can store it in cold place and last for a week but you can fill the top with olive oil so it can last for weeks in the fridge.

Hope you’ll enjoy it:) BON APPETIT

I never tasted rhubarb juice before and when I searched on the internet if you can drink the juice of this gorgeous plant and

Rabarber saft

yes, you can and it actually tastes really good. I tried now both with lime and without. I prefer it to be just pure rhubarb and of course organic sugar. This juice recipe is concentated so you need to dilute or add water in it when you are about to drink it. Here we go!

Well first, choose the most red rhubarb. There are apparently so many kind of rhubarb that varies in color. The one I used here is just a very light red and almost pinkish in color but you can just add red food color if you want it to be really red.  I prefer mine without any additives.

Hvis du vil have opskrift på dansk så har jeg vedh. en pdf fil klar til at downloade her…

Ingredients:

• 1 kl. Rhubarb – washed and sliced into max. 1 cm.
• 1000 ml water – as you can see the ratio is 1:1 for 1 kl. rhubarb you add 1L water
• Organic sugar (500g per 1 kilo of juice you will be collected)

That’s it! I want my recipes to be as easy and tasty as possible. Now, bring your sliced rhubarb on a big pot and add 1 liter water. Bring it to a boil and stir once in a while for around 20 minutes then set aside and let it stand for another 20 minutes.  Then filter it to remove all the rhubarb. Once you only have the juice then weigh it and pour into another pot. If you have 1 liter of juice then add 500 gram of sugar. Boil it until sugar is melted. Let it cool then transfer it to your prefered glas and store in the fridge and this will last for a week. If you want to freeze it so it can last longer then use a plastic bottle, I use any soda plastic bottles.

When ou are ready to drink it: Dilute 1 part of this juice in 3 parts water then add ice and there you go. It’s very refreshing:)

This is recipe if done properly, elderberry syrup will stay fresh without spoiling all winter long, with no need for refrigeration. This syrup is great for sore throats, coughs, colds, and flus. It can also be taken all winter long to prevent colds. It is high in vitamins A and C, flavonoids (anti-oxidants) and is anti-viral and anti-bacterial.

Ingredients

1 kilo Elderberries
3 dl Water
Honey (raw/local is best) (250g honey for 5dl collected elderberry juice)
Directions

Gather elder berries when they are dark purple, almost black (make sure you are gathering black elder berries and not red elder berries, which are toxic). Cut clusters of berries, leaving them intact on the stem for easy transportation. Approach and handle the elder with reverence and respect. Elder is an old European plant with a long history of lore and magical use. The first time I harvested elder, I wasn’t careful enough and I ended up with burdock burrs stuck in my hair! Six large clusters of berries will make about a cup of syrup.
Once you have your berries in the kitchen, remove them from the stem by popping them off with a fork, using it like a comb. Put your berries in a colander and rinse them thoroughly.
Next, place your washed berries in a large pot and add enough water (the cleanest you can get) to cover them by a few inches.
Bring the water and berries to a boil, mashing them as the water heats. They will break apart as they cook, but mashing them thoroughly will speed the process.
Let the berries simmer for at least an hour. You can add more water if the mixture begins to thicken to avoid burning your batch. Stir often.
After an hour or two, let the berry mixture boil down to a little less than the original volume.
Let cool slightly and then strain with a sieve or cheesecloth. Press out as much of the juice as possible.
Whatever volume of liquid you end up with, stir in an equal amount of honey while the berry concentrate is still warm.
Kept refrigerated, this syrup alone will last for a couple of months. I usually add alcohol to further preserve the syrup. 1/4 cup of grain alcohol or 1/2 cup of 100-proof vodka for every 2 cups of syrup is sufficient.
Store in a sterilized glass bottle in the refrigerator or a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.
Enjoy this magical and medicinal syrup all winter!