Hell, if you’re going to have REALLY fresh food, why not do “Forest to Table”?

Nature’s Bounty

Thaddeus went on his annual trek into the mountains this year to find the prized morel mushroom.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, all of his morel hunting spots had stopped fruiting mushrooms, and we have had to resort to buying our morels from more successful fungi hunters around the country.

But fortunately, there’s a fine delicacy that can be harvested at about the same time as morels, in similar environments…the wild ramp.

If you’re unfamiliar with wild ramps, it’s an onion-like plant with a broader, non-tubular leaf that can be found growing in forested areas.

Ramps are a bit difficult to pull from the ground.  Their bulbous roots grow deep into roots and rocks and also require a lot of cleaning, as the root collects a large amount of forest-floor detritus.  They also have a very strong oniony/garlicy aroma when they’re first picked.  I always think they would completely overpower a dish with this strong flavor.  But fortunately, I always think wrong…they create a very subtle flavor that I enjoy immensely.

We always soak the roots for a few hours in a large bucket of water.

We then lay them out for a good power-spray of water to remove as much of the dirt as possible.

And while the leaves are edible, Thaddeus doesn’t use them in his famous Morel Ramp Risotto.

I’d tell you that the bread was baked using wild wheat found on the outskirts of the forest and hand-ground into flour, but that would be a lie.  Neither was the butter churned from forest-herded wild goats.  But the risotto was exquisite.

Current Knitting/Crocheting

I have been loving the color-block baby blankets I’ve seen (mostly for sale as completed blankets or kits for making them) done in all garter stitch.  So I decided to start making some using colors I find interesting or appealing.

This blanket will have one more color added at the top…any guesses on what that color will be?