Tag: recipe

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Finnish Forest Soda

Finnish Forest Soda fermenting natural carbonated bubbles. Made with herbs picked while hiking in the forest, honey & yeast. So easy and you can make this too for a taste of Your Local Forest. This soda has: Spruce, Pine, Lingonberry, St Joans Wort, Heather, Blueberry leaf, Wood Sorrel, Labrador tea, Yarrow. Tastes like finnish forest. Recipe from Pascal Baudar’s book The Wildcrafting Brewer. Basically you just pick your herbs, clean your jar, utensils & hands. Place herbs in jar, add spring water, honey, yeast, mix. I used 79 g honey per L water. Add 1/2 ml yeast per L. Place paper towel on top to keep bugs out & stir 4 times a day with clean spoon. Wait 1 day for fermentation bubbles to appear. Strain into bottle, seal it, let sit 1 more day to ferment even more bubbles. Then refrigerate. Drink within a few days. So Delicious!! Also contains naturally fermented bacteria that are beneficial to intestines plus all the healing properties of the herbs. And how sweet to taste your own local forest plants while they are in season, a reminder of the time you were there walking through the forest….

Finnish forest Soda
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Rosebay Willowherb Rose Honey Drink

Rosebay Willowherb Rose Honey Drink, recipe adapted from Helsinki Wildfoods … I like this because its a Pink Drink and therefore it delights the little kid in me. Pour 1 liter boiling water over 1/2 liter Rosebay Willowherb. Add 1 TBSP fresh lime or lemon juice. Let sit for a few hours (I let mine sit overnight in refrigerator). Strain. Add sweetener. I added rose-infused honey as the sweetener. Rose-infused honey is made by filling a clean jar with fresh wild rose petals then covering in honey. The flavor of roses infuses into the honey and the taste is seriously divine. The honey is ready after just a few days of infusing but you can let them infuse for months if you want. You can strain the honey or leave the petals in as they are edible. Also, theres lots of critters living on the herbs so after harvesting its good to spread them outside in the shade so they can walk away..

Rosebay Willowherb
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Spruce Ground Ivy Mint Pastilles

Spruce, Ground Ivy, Mint pastilles. These pastilles melt in your mouth and open up clogged sinuses and soothe sore throat. They are made with spruce infused honey, ground ivy, peppermint, thyme and marshmallow root. Just grind the dried herbs into a fine powder, mix with spruce infused honey, form into balls and then coat with powdered mint. I put them into the refrigerator to ‘set’ and become firm. But they do not need to be kept refrigerated. Oh! And they are also a tastey breath-mint or sugar free candy. They store well in the freezer so you can make a bunch and freeze them for later. … Also! The botanical name of the Ground Ivy is Glechoma hederacea. Its Not the regular creeping ivy. And you can omit Ground Ivy from this recipe if you cant find it. Feel free to experiment with other culinary herbs for different flavors such as Rosemary or Fennel Seeds or Cardamom. Each herb has its own unique properties but the common culinary herbs in the Mint Family are all safe to experiment with. Enjoy!

Spruce Ground Ivy Mint Pastilles
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Lilac Flower Lotion

Hand-made lilac flower lotion. You can do this, just 3 simple ingredients: oil infused with lilac flowers, water, bees wax. I used lilac flowers that grew in my yard but you can use any flower or herb that you like to infuse in oil. I used rose water, but you can use any floral water hydrosol that you like or simply use plain water. This lotion is silky smooth and feels wonderful on your skin. Recipe: clean all utensils & equipment that you will use. Measure 3/4 cup flower infused oil, 1 cup floral water hydrosol or plain water, 1/2 ounce beeswax. Slowly melt beeswax into oil in a double boiler. Once the wax is melted, set aside for a few minutes until a hard ring of wax starts to form around the edge. Pour water into a blender and turn on high speed. Slowly add the oil to the blending water. This forms a lotion. Do not over-blend. Put in a clean jar and keep refrigerated. This recipe does not have any preservatives so it must be kept refrigerated. You can always scoop some lotion out into a small bowl kept at room temperature to use that day, if you dont like the feeling of cool lotion on your skin. My lotions have kept perfectly in the refrigerator for up to a year. Enjoy!

Lilac Flower Lotion
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Wild Seeds & Wild Weeds Condiments

I love the idea of imparting the flavor of your local terrain into your meals. These condiments are so simple & easy to make. The ‘hard’ part is going outside to pick weeds. But then, thats the FUN part! Wild Seeds condiment… made from plantain seeds, yellow dock seeds, nettle seeds & flax seeds. The seeds were gathered from nearby fields & forests, except flax seeds which came from the grocery store. The yellow dock & nettle seeds were first sifted thru a sieve and then dry roasted with the plantain seeds. It smells like popcorn when roasting in the pan. Then ground with morter & pestle, & mixed with sea salt. The taste is yummy like earthy popcorn. This recipe was inspired by one of my herb teachers, Susun Weed. With Wild Weeds Condiment I just gather the abundant springtime weeds such as pineapple weed, goatweed, nettle, yarrow, and spruce sprouts. I dry the herbs thoroughly then grind them into a fine powder and mix half salt with half powdered herbs. The Wild Weeds Condiment is inspired by my friend Riitamaija who makes delicious herbal salts. I use these condiments on literally everything I cook on the stove. They impart a foresty flavor and are full of trace nutrients. They also make great gifts!

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Thyme & Pine Steams

Thyme steams are powerful medicine. Antimicrobial to the respiratory tract and clears mucous out of the sinuses. Just boil water in a pot, add a handful of thyme. Take off stove, put your face over the pot & put a towel over your head to catch all the steam. Breath deeply 10-15 minutes. Your sinuses will drain and you will feel so much better afterwards! Good as preventative medicine or if you have a runny nose. You can add other herbs too such as rosemary, lavender, mint, ground ivy, pine. After the steam I simmer the herbs on low to disenfect the air in the house. Smells clean & fresh. This is grocery store backyard medicine that most of us have access to! (To be safe, pregnant women should avoid strong volatile oils in thyme steams.)

Pine needles
Place a towel over your head to capture the steam rising from the pot.
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Thyme Aronia Berry Oxymel

Thyme Aronia Berry Oxymel.. Oxymels have been used as far back as ancient Greece for the treatment of respiratory symptoms such as congested coughs. Oxymels combine herbs, honey & vinegar, they taste delicious & can be mixed with water to drink or added to veggies for flavor. Thyme is warm & drying which helps drive out cold damp mucous in the sinuses & lungs. Thyme is also antitussive (helps stop cough spasms), antibacterial & antifungal. Honey is moistening & antimicrobial. And you can use any berry, they are full of vitamins & nutrients and burst with flavor. You will love the way this tastes, heres the recipe: 1 cup berries mashed, 1/4 cup dried thyme, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2-3/4 cup honey. Keep in fridge. Shake daily. Ready after 2 weeks. Strain into a bottle. Enjoy! *I found this recipe years ago on the internet and I wish I could credit the herbalist who originally posted this recipe but I cannot find the recipe again. But whoever that great herbalist woman is, Thank You so much for sharing! Because this recipe is one of my absolute favorites. I have always got a bottle of this oxymel in my refrigerator!

Thyme Aronia Berry Oxymel
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Onion Honey Cough Syrup

Onion Honey Cough Syrup.. I learned this recipe from Rosemary Gladstar but evidently this folk remedy goes waaaaay back. So simple, just peel & slice an onion into half moons, put in a pot and pour raw honey over until just barely covered. Stir & heat gently on the stoves lowest setting for 30 minutes. Pour into a clean jar. Keep refrigerated. Take teaspoons throughout the day to thin mucous and help expectorate for a more productive cough. It tastes sweetly pungent, yummy. Keep refrigerated and use within 3 months time.

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Lilac Syrup

Lilac syrup, Syreeni siirappi, (Syringa species)… First time making lilac syrup and I can say this is really magical dreamy fairy flower stuff. The scent is heavenly, the taste is otherworldly, and the feeling is that you will lay down on the floor with the cat and sink into the sensual world, feels like floating on soft purple clouds…. Recipe: 1 cup purple lilac flowers (remove flowers from the stem), 1 cup water, 1 cup birch sugar (or white sugar), 5 blueberries. Combine water & sugar and heat on the stove until sugar is dissolved. Add lilac flowers and 5 blueberries and simmer 10 minutes. Strain and pour into a clean jar. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy your syrup within 2 weeks time. Serve over vanilla icecream or pancakes or mix with sparkling water. Enjoy!

Lilac Syrup
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Black Currant Syrup

I learned from Finns that hot black currant juice is an old folk remedy for colds & flu. And during flu season when half the world is taking elderberry syrup, I thought I would try making black currant syrup. Because I have yet to find elderberries growing in Finland. But black currants grow abundantly here! Well this syrup tastes delicious. I added a little angelica and ginger to help support lung and respiratory health. You can take teaspoons of the syrup as medicine or just eat it as a food. I pour it on warm breads, mix with apple sauce or pear sauce, mix with oat yogurt, or even mix with sparkling water. Recipe: 3.5 cups water, 200g fresh or frozen black currants, 1/4 tsp pure vanilla bean powder, 2 thin slices ginger root, 1/2 tsp angelica leaf or root, 1 cup honey. Put all ingredients in a pot except the honey. Stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 1 hour until the liquid is reduced by about half. Cover while simmering. Remove from heat and let cool until luke warm. Smash the berries in the pot. Strain out the liquid. Stir in the honey. Stir well until thoroughly blended. Pour into clean glass jar and keep refrigerated. Use within 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Black Currant Syrup