Toronto Gone Wild

Directions

1. Pick 1-2 clusters of staghorn sumac berries.
2. Carefully separate sumac berries from the stems; crush slightly.
3. Place 1 cup of sumac berries in a large pitcher.
4. Pour 6-8 cups of cold water over sumac berries.
5. Stir well.
6. May be sweetened with sugar or honey; may also add a few sprigs of mint.
7. Strain and serve.

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups young dandelion greens
• 2 tablespoons white or rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil (may substitute another oil)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Salt to taste
• Optional: toasted sesame seeds or chopped peanuts for garnish

Directions

1. Wash and dry dandelion greens.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, cayenne, sugar, and salt.
3. Pour over dandelion greens and toss to coat.
4. In a skillet, heat oil at medium heat, drop in dandelion greens and sauté until just wilted.
5. Remove from heat and serve immediately, with toasted sesame seeds or chopped toasted peanuts for garnish.

Adapted from Berndt Berglund and Clare E Bolsby, The Edible Wild (Pagurian Press Limited, 1971).

Ingredients

• 500 grams Jerusalem artichoke tubers
• 1-2 tablespoons walnut oil
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions

1. Scrub 500 grams of Jerusalem artichoke tubers.
2. Rub tubers with walnut oil; add salt to taste.
3. Roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes until tender.
4. Serve hot with butter.

Adapted from E. Barrie Kavasch, Native Harvests (Dover Publications, 2005).

Ingredients

• 2-3 kilograms ripe crabapples
• about 5 cups sugar
• about ½ cup lemon juice

Directions

1. Wash crabapples; stem and chop coarsely; leave peels on.
2. In a deep, wide pot, bring crabapples to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally, until crabapples have softened.
3. Strain softened crabapples through cheesecloth; to extract the most juice, hang over a bowl for 2 hours or overnight.
4. Measure resulting juice; pour into a deep, wide, non-reactive post.
5. Measure one cup of sugar, and one tablespoon of lemon juice, for every cup of crabapple juice; set aside.
6. Bring crabapple juice to a boil; pour in sugar and lemon juice; return to a rolling boil and continue boiling until the jelly begins to set. 
7. Skim off any foam.
8. Ladle into sterilized jars; will keep in the fridge for several weeks.
9. Follow contemporary food safety guidelines for water bath processing if you intend to store jars on the shelf.

Adapted from Sarah B. Hood, We Sure Can (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2011).