Adventures in Food

I got this from Ulrike who has also been playing with her food: " Hello Sarah & Rob, I've made an adventure with food today: Black Salsify. Abel & Cole have delivered them with the small deluxe box twice in the last three weeks and today we felt adventurous enough to cook them! You boil them for about half an hour, and then peel the bark-like skin off: We've eaten them in browned goat's butter & parsley accompanied by an omelette: Tastes like jerusalem artichoke I find. According to Jules' research on the internet, salsify was Thomas Jefferson's favourite vegetable! I don't think it's as adventurous as your purple mushrooms or squirrel stew but I thought I'd share it with you, Ulrike xx " Ulrike then reported that she thinks the salsify didnt agree with her too well but maybe it was because it had been sitting in the box for three weeks. Thanks U!

Rosemary is not exactly food, its a herb. But you can eat it so for the purposes of this blog its food. You can also use it to make your jumper an interesting greeny-yellow-mustard colour. First you boil up some rosemary leaves (lots of them) in a big old pot. I got some from the garden, where someone had pruned the big rosemary bush. Then you add a spoon or two of potash(alum, or potassium sulphate). This is what's called a "mordant" or fixer. It makes the colour brighter and it fixes it so it lasts longer and doesn't run. Then you stick in your jumper or whatever it is and let it simmer for about an hour or so. When it comes out its a lovely greeny colour. I also decanted some rosemary juice (BEFORE adding the alum, whic is toxic!!) into a bottle to use as a hair tonic। Apparently it stops grey hair. I will let you know if it works or not. I will be able to tell you this because i have some grey hairs appearing and would like them to go away please.

taste the snow Originally uploaded by spidea there was plan to go on a wild food walk this weekend, in ashdown forest. But it snowed heavily so we could only eat the snow. I think that counts. It came in very useful for making tea as well.

Abel & Cole send us a box of unwashed vegetables and fruit every week. It is left in the plastic greenhouse outside the back door. Since Christmas they seem to have had a special deal with the orange suppliers of Spain as we have had streams of oranges (and clems, tangerines, etc) flooding through each week. Now I am not that into eating oranges. I normally eat biscuits and toast and things like that unless Rob cooks a nice pasta. (That;'s why I need to go on these diets because otherwise i eat all sorts of crap. Like right now, I am eating shortbreads that I picked up free at the local shop, they are past their sell-by date but taste none the worse for that!). Eventually we had a mountain of oranges piled up in the fruit bowl, one or two went mouldy of course as citrus does. And then Rob caught the epidemic flu-cough of Ealing. And I looked after him. And I saw those oranges, and my friend Anna told me that vitamin C helps during a cold (but not. apparently, beforehand, to bui...