Lactarius deliciosus

Yesterday on my walk I noticed an orange delicious on the trail, it was way past its prime, but I took a detour home through an area I know they grow well in and caught the end of a decent flush, it seems a bit early for them, but also time has been slipping away oddly this year, so I picked all the good ones and plan to hit up some other known spots.

I love orange delicious (or saffron milk caps) they do have a pretty mixed reputation, I consistently read people who say they are barely palatable, and yet they seem to be highly prized in much of Eastern Europe. I find the ones growing in my area to live up to their delicious name.

I usually find them in early to mid fall, in spruce areas that are slightly disturbed and somewhat dry, most of my best spots are fairly open higher areas next to drainage systems, low spots or creeks.

They have a fairly mild flavor and I’ll use them in most anything that calls for some mushrooms, or even just sautee them in some butter, as they brown and crisp nicely. They are pretty firm and crisp, and will hold up well to even pickling.

I have had extremely good luck in preserving them by just thinly slicing and air drying them, and reconstituting them in water.

Salt cured and smoked beaver belly.

A nice fat, spring beaver would be best for this, but I’ve definitely made it with some leaner game. Making bacon is super easy and requires very little work, just a bit of patience. I usually omit the pink curing salt, but if you are looking for that classic bacon flavor it is essential to include. I like a little heat, but if that isn’t your thing just leave out the red pepper. After a few times you’ll want to start playing around with different flavors.

I almost exclusively use alder wood to smoke, because I have it available in abundance, but obviously apple, hickory, maple, cherry or mesquite would be all amazing, whatever is available to you.

Well, Smoked spruce grouse and grain-free dumplings, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. This was my first try at chicken and dumplings, I haven’t even eaten it since I was a child. Next time I will go creamer with much bigger dumplings.

My neighbor dropped off some carrots from the last gasps of her garden so I put them in. I added wild boletes and some spruce tip pesto to the base. The dumplings were mostly cassava flour. It ended up being pretty delicious.

Lox is one of my favorite foods and when we moved to a salmon river I knew I needed to master making it. This batch was made with chum salmon. Starting with fillets I pack them in a mixture of 1/2 Kosher salt and 1/2 brown sugar, wrap that up in plastic wrap with the end unsealed so that moisture has a place to drain out. Then I put them in a container and place a weight on them, I use a nice flat board with a rock on top but whatever you can improvise is fine, maybe a platter topped with a bowl of rocks. I then put it in a cold place. A refrigerator is ideal but I don’t have one so I use a covered hole in the ground. I leave it for several days, rotating them daily. The exact length of time will vary on the thickness of the fillets, usually 2 to 3 days, but they are ready when they feel firm throughout.

After they are cured, rinse off the salt mixture, and put it in the cold smoker for 3 or 4 hours, not long. The fish should be tacky enough to really pick up the smoke fast and too long will dry it.

Every year when we tap the birch trees in the spring we always end up with more sap than we can drink fresh, so one of the ways I preserve it is by making sodas. The sap already contains a lot of wild yeast and a tendency to ferment quickly, so I take advantage of that by adding some sugars to feed the yeast and some flavors this batch is all spruce boughs and ginger. After a few days the carbonation starts going and I have to burp the containers a few times a day until it slows down after that you have a lovely bubbly beverage. I tend to make mine knowing I’ll mostly be using them for cocktail mixers and shy away from higher sugar content.

Smoked black bear ribs when birch syrup-mustard barbecue sauce. Dandelion greens, sauteed and topped with the leftover bear crackin from rendering the bear fat earlier this week

Spruce tip cookies
Almond flour
Ghee
Eggs
Spruce tips
Caramelized spruce tip syrup
Baking soda
Salt

Yesterday was the first day the spruce tips were out. They are still really tiny, smaller than I would normally harvest. Although I almost never make sweets, I grabbed a handful and opened a jar of syrup I made last year. I decided to give the wood stove oven we found a try. I’m starting to get the hang of it

These were only barely sweet, and very buttery with just a hint of spruce, next time I’ll double the fresh spruce tips and infuse the ghee with them overnight.

Wildcrafted cocktail made with raspberry shrub from last summer’s harvest, vodka, and spruce soda made this spring by fermenting birch sap with spruce and ginger, shaken with some birch sap ice and garnished with a spruce twig.

Braised porcupine legs, curried rice, fireweed shoots, northern bluebell greens, and raisins.

Porcupine is an incredibly mild and tender meat, with plenty of fat making it a good substitute for pork. I used fireweed and bluebell because that isb what was available at the moment but any mild or peppery green would work.

Salmon Candy is one of the best treats, I mave been making mine with my own birch syrup and I love the darker smokey flavor it gets.