Pig Face Pickles & Pole Dancing

Well finally I got to play with some pig face (Portulaca oleracea) and I absolutely love it. The only previous experience I had with this plant was as my most hated nemesis of a weed whilst working as a gardener in the town ship of Tomprice in the Pilbra region of Western Australia. Being totally ignorant of it culinary uses and it’s fabulously tart/sour flavors I cursed it’s very existence every back breaking hour I spent ripping it from the earth only for it to return with vengeance.

Pig Weed, Sow Thistle & plant in back unknown

Now I can see the error of my ways I can tell you that it is a most welcome friend on my plate, it is tart and sour and crisp it is very nutritious and if in the rite areas very very abundant hence it’s reputation of being a ferocious weed to many a gardener.
It is also a plant utilized as a food by the Australian aboriginals/Traditional Owners it comes up after their fire stick farming where they burn patches of land over certain seasons and habitats and this is where I harvested mine in one of their burned areas just after rain, in these areas it is like the land has been reborn with many young vibrant green shoots from many species of flora coming up through the ash beds everywhere just like a garden.

 So I decided to pickle some to see how it was and it is amazing as a pickle.
Not long after doing this I found another fresh road kill so I jumped out of the van and quick as ya like chopped his tail off all the time having to watch my back as there were three wedge tailed eagles feasting on the kill that I ruddily interrupted to get my share a new experience for me and I would say probably for them! I didn’t feel to bad as it was a big male Roo and they got the rest and there was plenty of road kill on this road.
My friend Petal and I cooked this up into a big stew with some of his fesh home grown produce and had it acompanied with the pickled pig face a few beers and ciders and I even got some free entertainment in way of a pole dance preformed by Petal himself.
It was a great night with friends and Petal really liked the pickled pig face so I think any pig face that dares to come up in Petals garden is going to be pickled for sure.
I love it when people arent afriad to try new things and I love seeing their reaction and excitement at discovering something yummy when they do, it is a pleasure all of it’s own but not unexpected of Petal as he’s not ya average run of tha mill type of guy hence probably being the only male to ever enter the darwin pole dancing competition……..

I copied this from Wikipedia for your interest
-Purslane contains more omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular^[4]) than any other leafy vegetable plant. Research published by Artemis P. Simopoulos states that Purslane has 0.01 mg/g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). This is an extraordinary amount of EPA for a land-based vegetable source. EPA is an Omega-3 fatty acid found mostly in fish, some algae, and flax seeds.^[5] It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and some vitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron. Also present are two types of betalainalkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins (visible in the coloration of the stems) and the yellow betaxanthins (noticeable in the flowers and in the slight yellowish cast of the leaves). Both of these pigment types are potent antioxidants and have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies.^[6]

Nectar Indulgence

One of my all time favorite bush foods is flower nectar there are a few ways to harvest it, you can tap the flowers into a bowl, you can cut the actual flowers off (I only do this if they are plentiful and I want them as a drink in a hurry as to not be steeling to much from the birds n insects) you put the whole flowers into water to make a sweet drink or my favorite way to enjoy this sweet treasure is to tap each individual flowers onto my hand a then lick it off!! This may sound gross to some but it makes my feel like a little kid again and this for me only enhances the whole experience plus this way I’m leaving the rest of the flower for the birds to enjoy days after I’m gone.
The flowers in this picture are a Grevillea species you can also use Hakea species and  Eremophila species, I don’t know of any of these species being inedible or dangerous.

I just need to say please remember that many many bird and insect species rely on this precious food source and especially the winter flowering species such as Grevillea’s, it is only ever just a treat for us humans to be savored and appreciate in small amounts.

Inland Samphire

To the untrained eye driving through inland Australia you wouldn’t think there was an abundant supply of nutritious greens just waiting to be savored but the inland Samphire (Tecticornia sp.) makes up a lot of the vegetation in this tough dry country. I haven’t actually had the inland species before now and I think I like it better than the Tasmanian estuary Samphire (Scalicornia sp). You can see they are two different Genus the Scalicornia sp is a low sprawling plant the Haloscarica sp is more like a bushy shrub you wouldn’t think it was a samphire until you get up close to it and can see the actual individual succulent leaves on the many branches.

At the camping ground I also foraged some wild mustard green (Barasica sp.), a very spicy one at that, I just cooked it up into a veggie stew with some other fresh veggies I bought a few days before. The only thing I found with it was it was a bit stickyer than the estuary one which just means it was a bit like eating fish you have to pull the sticks out as you eat it like the bones from fish but it was still very worth while and it kept for a few day traveling in the van too much better than any conventional green do.

Road Kill Euro Wallaby Tail Stew

Ok this is my first road kill stew of the trip and it is also my first taste of the Euro wallaby, the Euro is a species of Macropod one of the few native animals that flourished with European settlement/ invasion. It is so abundant around the Flinders Rangers unfortunately to the extent of pest proportions. It has obviously benefited the gorgeous wedge tailed eagles and of course the humble crow that I’ve seen feasting upon the plentiful road kill but they are really destroying the flora of the area which is effecting the smaller residence down the food chain.

Anyway I was lucky enough to come across this fresh one before the eagles got it it, I would hate to feel like I was steeling from them! So I removed it’s tail stored until that evening and made yes another stew, you will have to get used to my favourite way of preparing foods which is obviously stews!! especially meats, it is just the most simple and easy way to prepare foods and especially now living on the road with minimal cooking area and equipment.
Also that day in Chambers Gorge on a short walk to some of the best petroglyph’s I’ve seen outside the Pilbra in Western Australia I found some fresh greens ones lucky enough to be out of the many goats greedy reach,  but not mine, these included sow thistles (Sonchus sp.) some sort of wild mustard green (Barasica sp.) a very strongly flavoured one and some sort of large fleshy leafed sorrel (Rumex sp.) I’m sure it is a sorrel but don’t know for sure, it was very nice anyway very tart/sour so the stew ended up being a ripper and I had the night before made mustard greens flat bread so it was quite a meal.

The stew was the norm what ever bought root veggies I had plus my sun-dried tomatoes, dried sow thistles (Sonchus sp.) dried Nettles (Urtica dioica), one of my home made sauces, other herbs n spices and I added Tassie peppers (Tasmanica lanceolata) to this one for extra kick.
The flat bread were just normal flour water yeast and I added dried mustard greens to give them some kick.
Again cooked on the open fire you cant beat food cooked on an open fire.

A Stolen Meal

Well hi everyone this is my first on the road food blog, I’m here in the gorgeous Flinders Rangers home of the Adnyamathanha people and I deeply thank them for being able to be here enjoying their beautiful country I acknowledge them and their ancestors past and present and I would also acknowledge the pain and suffering they have experience and still experience every day for me to have this great privilege. Thank you.

So far the camping here has been fantastic the camp placements are just perfect considering they could fit so many more in they are just far enough apart as to not be in each others laps when I did have neighbours in the next camp I could still have my music playing by my fire and not be disturbing them and the fire, BBQ/cook plate set up’s are great very convenient with these great big hunks of rocks placed around them to use as seats or tables it is some of the best National Park camping I’ve experienced and the fact that I virtually have the whole place to myself is a massive bonus I expected it to be really full but it is so not!

Ok I had to share this incredible maybe unbelievable experience I had the other day with you all, I was walking around one of the many flood plains in the area near my camping ground visiting some of the magnificent grandfather/mother trees  them now being some of the last ones of their kind standing, they have been there standing strong through all the history good and bad of their peoples and their lands. The lands around the National Park have been mostly devastated by land clearance on a overwhelming scale and sheep grazing back to the bare bones of the earth itself.

To stand with them and feel that history which runs deep through the veins of this land, the fact that they where there to witness the local mobs living, laughing, crying, hunting,dancing and then to see them torn away from everything they knew and loved is deeply moving. 

Anyway there I was sticking my head in every crack n cranny when I came across a feral cat!! I think I hissed first but it seemed strangely reluctant to flee and as I peered deeper into the hollowed trunk I realised why it didn’t want to leave as I had stumbled upon the cats food cellar for the day as it was chowing down on the rabbits head for lunch but unluckily for the feral cat I like feral rabbits for dinner too and seeing that the kill was fresh I stole it’s precious pray and wasn’t I chuffed with myself and my luck and it did feel good steeling from my most hated nemesis! I was very slightly relieved to think that it had plenty of rabbits to kill hopefully giving the small birds in the area some reprieve.

So I proudly strutted back to camp with my fluke catch I butchered what remained of the carcass and sat it in the shade ready for to be cooked up on the fire that night I surprise surprise made a stew, in this stew I put my dried Wood blewits (Clitocybe nuda), Sow thistles (Sonchus sp.), Nettles (Urtica dioica), spuds, cabbage, my semi sun dried tommi tomatoes, and seasoned white pepper and home made celery salt and mushroom sauce.

Seeing as this was a special meal I made a camp oven bread to go with it, in this I added the usual suspects sow thistle, nettle, flour, yeast, salt, pepper and oil.
This was all cooked up on my greatly appreciated camp fire as it has been quite chilly here so far in the rangers, if I thought such things possible I would think the cold weather was following me.

This extra satisfying meal was followed by a hot cup of home made acorn (Quercus sp.) dock root (Rumex sp.) coffee whilst reclining back on my banana lounge star gazing and listening to Paul Kelly playing quietly in the back ground……..

This trip has been a bit of a struggle at times so far and I’m sure many more times in the future but nights like this make all the pain, discomfort and uncertainness worth while I cant express how deeply lucky and grateful I feel rite now.

Update on Acorns

Ok quick up date on Acorn (Quercus sp.) experimentation, I found a box of acorns from last season in the back of my cupboard that I was cleaning out and I didn’t want to throw them out so I sorted through them removing any open and worm holed ones,  I then just chucked them in the oven holus bolus to see what would happen…… they smelt absolutely amazing!!!!!
I roasted them until the started to smell burnt then I removed them to cool the shell just came off easy as and the acorn looks nice and dark roasted inside so easy much easier than de shelling them by hand but you can only use this method if you aren’t interested in or have a tree that you don’t need to leach. I don’t bother leaching mine for my coffee substitute as I like the bitter tannins.
So there you go just by trying things you find great new ways to do things, always learning I love it

Beet, Kale & Sow Thistle Kvass

Well this may be my last blog for awhile I’m nearly ready to hit the road and it will take me awhile to settle into a routine and figure out how to use my solar power system ect for laptop.
I visited a friend to say good bye this weekend gone and they gave me some gorgeous beets to use, mine didn’t do so well this year and I was wrapped at the thought of having some energizing lush kvass before my big trip begins I wont be doing to much fermenting where I’m heading I think it will be to hot in the van but I will experiment here n there.
Also I have to brag that whilst at my friends place we indulged in freshly caught abalone or sea mutton and cray fish…..  I like abalone raw and couldn’t wait to have a slice my friends tried it raw to for the first time and liked it this way also, then to the big red steaming cray, I picked the best part of the cray of course the head an upper body bit were the legs join into the  body, hehe it was amazing and I actually liked the cray better than the abalone, my taste are changing as abalone used to be my favorite food but I’m not so sure know…. I think I like cray and sea snails (Warreners) the best.

Anyway back to the kvass, I chopped the beets some kale and a hand full of sow thistles (Sonchus sp.) buds and all and stuffed this into 2 jars, I then made a week brine solution about 1 heaped tables spoon salt to the 31/2 liters of water I poured this over the mix placed a large silver beet leaf on top of the mix to hold down any floaties then I put my pebbles on top of this and covered it all with cloth. Now it is just a matter of waiting for it to brew YUM!
Cheers

Lambs Quarters experiment.

Looking out my studio window the other day I spotted some lush weeds over in the vacant yard next door and knowing that the people last there didn’t spray I headed over to check it out.

There was a nice little bunch of both mint (Mentha sp.) and Sow thistles (Sonchus sp.) but best of all there was a huge patch of Lambs quarters (Chenopodium album) I was wrapped I have found little bits n pieces here n there before but never this much so it is a great chance to experiment with processing.

I want to dry this for when I hit the road shortly and I wanted to see which way works the best, I stripped the leaves off half and left the other half whole branches to dry obviously the easier option, I dry my nettles and mint on the branches and then crush the leaves off the stems and this works well but it doesn’t work well with all greens so I’m experimenting and I thought it would be of interest to you guys too.

In the picture below hopefully you can see all my goodies ready to dry, it is hard to get a good picture up there sorry.

Well I found the best way was definitely taking the leaves of the main stems as they dried heaps quicker than the others left on stem, the others still dried but the quicker the better I recon. I’m not sure if the plants loose nutrition the long the drying time but the quicker I can move things on the better because I have limited space up there and I always have something drying it doesn’t really get used as an art studio much any more! oh by the way I use a pedestal fan in my little upstairs studio which is nice and  hot, below you can see the dried leaves on my bamboo basket.

I crushed these up and put it all through a sieve to remove any left over stems and then I put it into a clean dry jar for later use.
Just this evening I accidently put it in with my dried crushed sow thistles (Sonchus sp.) thats what you get for not labeling things straight away…..  they all look the same but it’s no biggie just a lesson if you want to keep things separate!

I hope this helps with your foraged food processing in the future, every little bit of knowledge helps I think it may seem simple but you could waste a hole bunch of this if you did it wrong it’s not so nice yellow.

Possum Stew

Just a quicky,  wanted to share my recipe for this Possum stew mmmmmmmmm everything in this stew was foraged or grown by me the only things payed for was the salt, pepper and oil!
I browned the Brush Tailed possum in oil then I added dried wood blewits (Clitocybe nuda) , Hawthorn sauce (Crataegus sp.) mixed with water to cover, I simmered this until the meat was tender.
I then fried red spring onions, baby carrots, stringless & butter beans, baby potatoes, squash, salt & pepper in oil until just tender, I added this and a big heap of silver beet, sow thistles (Sonchus sp.) and nettles (Urtica sp.) to the meat I simmered this for several minute then I hoed in Yummmmm sorry no picture as I’m sure you are sick of stew pictures and I don’t have time and energy tonight

Cucumber crunch with a kick!

I have to share this recipe it is fantastic!!
Ok this makes about 1 liter of liquid-

• 1/2 cup home made fruit vinegar
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups water
• 1 table spoon of sea salt
• 1 table spoon chilly flacks
• 1 teaspoon of ground Tasmanian Pepper leaves (Tasmannia lanceolata )
• 1/2 ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon raw sugar
• however many cucumbers fit into your jar

Put all the salt and spices into bowl and pour 1/2 the water (Hot!!) over them to release aromas and stir until salt is dissolved. Then cool add rest of water and vinegars, you could boil this if you are worried about impurities but my vinegars are alive so I don’t, pour this yummy liquid over your cucumbers that you have shoved lovingly of course in a big jar I let mine sit on counter for a week or so then put in the fridge.
Now I know not everyone will be able to get a hold of Tassie Pepper leaves it isn’t as available as the pepper berries yet so if you can get the berries use them this will of course change the flavor to mine here but I’m sure would still be fantastic, I don’t have any to play with unfortunately and I know they would make the liquid a vivid pink too they would look pretty special.
Well enjoy