BLOGS

I was out with Chef Jefferson Alvarez this week to hunt for unique, edible mushrooms.  We were actually foraging for bears tooth, but we found these beauties instead by the basket load growing in rings on the mossy forest floor.  The saffron milk cap or Lactarius deliciosus is enjoyed fried by Catalan chefs (called rovelló)…

Want to learn which wild mushrooms will create that perfect purple or moss green for wool or paper even? Here’s a list of wild dyeing mushrooms that you can find in BC.  Mushrooms can make some of the most gorgeous wool colours I have ever seen.  So let’s get picking! Vancouver Myco Society Show Fall…

The elusive thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) is bright red and looks like a raspberry.   They taste like an intense raspberry and strawberry combination and they make kick ass jam.  Also, Check out our Foraging 101 Free online videos if you want to learn more about wild foods. Where do I look? Thimbleberries are found at lower…

Chicken of the woods mushrooms are abundant in fall in BC forests. I stumbled upon a huge fruiting of them yesterday and it is one of the most beautiful, otherworldly sights to encounter. The Chicken of the Woods mushroom (Laetiporus sulphureus) is bright orange and really easy to identify for beginners. They are edible!  Ohpa! …

I just got back from New Zealand and bought a gorgeous bottle of Alpha Domus chardonnay there.  If you love a good chardonnay or want to turn someone into a chardonnay lover, this is the food pairing for that wine for sure.  This shrimp canape recipe is pretty punchy and will stand up well to…

Golden dashi broth Dashi stock is just seaweed and smoked, dried fish lightly simmered in water.  Simple!  Anyone can make it, I swear.  And with that gorgeous base stock you can add miso paste to make miso soup or just make a tasty hot pot by adding fish and vegetables to it.  It’s really fast…

It’s so simple to create a beautiful vinegar of fragrant edible flowers this spring. I’ve used flowering currant (kicks rose petal ass in my opinion) which is native to BC and smells like sweet sage. This vinegar is amazing to flavour rice or add to a vinaigrette or dip fish in.  Pick flowering currants in…

Hi everyone, Rumex obtusifolius – Broad-leaved dock – edible Broad-leaved dock (or bitter dock) is sprouting out of the ground around Vancouver. This weed is absolutely everywhere and is one of my favourite edible weeds to forage for. It’s similar to spinach, and is only good to eat in early spring before it gets tough….

I’d like to teach you about one of my favourite wild spices, sumac.  All down the Pacific Northwest from Vancouver to Portland to San Fransisco, chefs are using local herbs and spices.  Why?  Because they’re freshest when you harvest from close to home.  Lots of hot, new restaurants are using sumac to dust their wood…

It’s January in Vancouver and there are huge bunches of fall oyster mushrooms – Panellus serotinas – everywhere growing on dead or live trees for the eager forager to find.  Yup, if all the grocery stores disappeared, these would be like finding gold in the forest! ID: Olive green tops, growing in clusters, thin orange…

Chef Robin here again, we’ve been finding tons of honey mushrooms on our wild foraging tours this Fall.  And a lot of my Eastern European clients want to know how to find this edible species of mushrooms.   I’ll key them out here for you and also caution you to some poisonous look alikes.  These mushrooms…

This mushroom is so gorgeous, I found a double dozen of them in the forest today. It’s called Cortinarius violaceus or a Violet Cort and can be found in coniferous forests around BC. Okay, so you want to know if it’s edible, don’t you. It is edible, but tastes a bit like cigarette butts (not…