I once read a note that a new technology for creating a living green coating for roofs and walls, otherwise “edible walls”, is gaining popularity in the United States. The idea was suggested by the trellises that were fashionable in medieval Europe — bushes and trees that completely covered the walls. Metal panels, separated into cells, are filled with earth, sown with seeds of vegetables and herbs and hung vertically. In addition to the obvious gastronomic benefits for those who do not have a place for a garden and a vegetable garden, such walls improve the insulation of the house and, accordingly, reduce heating costs.
The creative idea of the creators of such “farms at home” is certainly worthy of admiration. But why am I once again looking for my own “third way of development”? I read it — and immediately I was drawn to the forest for birch juice, to the nearest meadow for sorrel in soup, to the garden for young plantain leaves and currant buds in a salad…
Rather than climbing the walls in search of healthy food, maybe it’s better to learn to understand and accept with an open soul everything that grows under our feet, what nature gives as a hospitable hostess, take it — I don’t want it? By the way, this is even more economical: the costs are minimal!.
Elderberry in the dough
Rub the egg yolks with sugar, beat the whites into a tight foam. Add a pinch of baking soda (baking powder), water to the flour and knead the batter, which is combined first with the yolks, then gently introduce the whipped whites.
Take the cut inflorescence of black elderberry by a twig, dip it in the dough and lower it into a boiling deep fryer (in hot oil in a saucepan, deep frying pan). With scissors, cut off a twig and turn the resulting “pancakes”. It remains to flavor with powdered sugar or dip in jam on the way to your mouth.
They say that fragrant bunches of white acacia are prepared in the same way.
Horsetail soup
Striped columns warn: where we grow, it is sour and damp. That will not prevent us from harvesting the harvest given by nature and cooking horsetail soup.
For 1 liter of water: 300 g of freshly picked horsetail “pestles”, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 2-3 potatoes. You can not continue further, any hostess will guess in what order it is all cut and cooked. Everything else, like pepper and garlic – to taste. Yes, don’t forget the sour cream!
Cucumber herb salad (borago) with horseradish
To do this, chop 60 g of cucumber grass leaves, add slices of boiled potatoes (30 g), put grated horseradish (1 tbsp) on top, a spoonful of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste.
Light vitamin salad
Horseradish is generally able to improve the dish. What is a hot sour cream sauce with horseradish for baked pork?! Or here is such an unassuming vitamin salad. On a small grater, grate 2 carrots, 2 apples without peel. Add the grated zest of one lemon, which is previously ground with sugar (1 tsp), pour lemon juice into the salad, add a pinch of salt and a couple of spoons of grated horseradish root.
Choose bright, convenient and practical dishes for culinary experiments in the country! In such plates, even simple dishes look more appetizing and attractive.
Omelet with nettle
An unexpected recipe is an omelet with nettles. And the result from its use can also be unexpected.
You will need:
- 100 g nettle
- 100 g of parsley
- 100 g of dill
- 100 g of green onions
- 1 onion
- 2-4 eggs
- salt, pepper to taste.
Scald the leaves of young nettles. Finely chop the greens and onions. Add salt and pepper, put in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil, pour lightly beaten eggs. Cook like a regular omelet.
I advise you to share a meal with a dearly loved one, since the effect of such an omelet will exceed all your expectations. And not only culinary…
Weeds on our table
Experts from medieval Europe to Freud attributed not only pumpkin seeds, onions, garlic, mushrooms, nuts, but also dandelion (both leaves and yellow baskets), quinoa, burdock to the same miracle remedies as nettle, which qualitatively change the habitually tired relationships of the sexes!
Finely chopped leaves of sour and sorrel, boiled stems of young snyti are a good idea to add to a classic vinaigrette. Sourness will give piquancy to a salad of young nettles, the leaves of which need to be finely chopped, mixed with green onions, carefully ground, salt and season with vegetable oil. Mint or lemon balm leaves are added to a potato salad with green onions and sour cream.
Note that all dishes with the participation of edible wild plants are very simple to prepare: they do not have an abundance of ingredients, sauces of thousands and hundreds of overseas islands are not used for dressing, reducing the taste of the dish to something sweet and sour in the mouth. Everything is simple and extremely simple — clean, clear, unclouded and, what to hide, almost unknown to us taste.
And finally, a couple more recipes from the arsenal of herbalists.
Elderberry honey
4 cups of black elderberry flowers pour 1 kg of honey and insist for 24 hours. Add 1 cup of boiled water, heat to a boil and cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes, insist for another day. Honey, of course, will lose half of its medicinal properties, since it does not tolerate heating, but it must retain its own aroma and soak in the aroma of elderberry.
“The drink of centenarians”
1 tablespoon of dried black elderberry berries is cooked for 15-20 minutes in 0.5 liters of water. After filtering, 2 tablespoons of honey are added to the hot broth and immediately drunk. The power of persuasion and natural optimism of the consumer of this drink, coupled with the healing properties of black elderberry, should certainly work.
I wish you long years and a joyful perception of life!
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