Breezy day, but warmer, & at least the wind was in my favour on the way home for once 🥳
55km to Jlvesheim (for those who’ve been paying attention) & an obligatory return via Ladenburg to pick some wild garlic in the woods. As you do 🧄🌱
#CyclingLife 🚴♂️
#Photography 📷
#Heidelberg 🏰
Are you firm in identifying wild garlic? I might have asked before. There's the chance of mistaking toxic Maiglöckchen (lily of the valley) leaves for Bärlauch.
@knud 100% – have been collecting it for years, in the UK & NL, as well as here in DE.
Haven’t died yet, as far as I know. Then again, maybe I did – the current timeline could be hell, I suppose.
That said, there is a huge patch of lily in the valley around the student accommodations in Neuenheimer Feld, & it strikes me that they should nuke that from space, not least as many of the students come from abroad.
I just buy wild garlic... Add 50-100g of Pecorino, some salt, olive oil, and (the last version) roasted sliced almonds. Everyone here loved that pesto.
@knud @saarmuller Bärlauch is much more available in DE markets – I bought it every Saturday in spring on the market on Karl-August Platz in Berlin.
But the same isn’t true in the UK or NL, so I had to forage my own (it’s common, but not widely picked) & I continue here as tradition. We have a little bit in the garden, but my main source is a big patch in a wood by the Neckar near Ladenburg.
I use a mix of pine nuts, walnuts, and/or almonds. But Pecorino sounds like an interesting option.
@knud @saarmuller And I find that a bit of lemon juice perks pesto up nicely, & perhaps more heretically, I have been known to add a splash of soy sauce instead of salt.
<cue Italian screams off-screen>
Lemon, yes. Soy sauce... Hmm. Not sure I need added umami. Such a pesto has many aroma directions already. But then again I did enjoy the roast flavours from roasted almonds in there, which does go into a similar direction.
@knud @saarmuller It’s a tiny amount as a salt substitute, & while I wouldn’t say that it’s essential (& I don’t always use it), it adds a different perspective. As do the different kinds of nuts – I toast mine lightly in a dry pan, but I wouldn’t say I roast them as such.
I suspect that we’ve been conditioned over the years to think of pesto as the classic Genoese version, but in reality, there are many possible combinations. I’ll be trying pecorino for sure – v different to Parmesan 👍
I just use our Pürierstab, takes 1 minute. And if the Pesto isn't planned to be eaten right away then I'm sure enough aroma will dissolve into the oil after a day, even without manual crushing.
And yes, many varieties are possible. Something with aroma in olive oil. Works!
@knud @saarmuller I think the idea is that "bruising" the greenery into a pulp yields much more in the way of essential oils than dicing it very finely with a blade.
And then there's all that stuff about basil & scorpions ...
What scorpions???
And yes, beating them into a pulp is probably better, but over some hours I would think the oils would just seep out, no?
@knud @saarmuller There are all sorts of legends about basil & scorpions – in the Middle Ages, it was said that if you smelled basil, scorpions would start forming in your brain, & women were supposed to be able to detect any amount of basil hidden beneath a pot of food.
And I vaguely recall something about cutting basil with a knife (as opposed to crushing it) also releasing scorpions.
@saarmuller @knud Please let us know: I guess one problem might be keeping the recipes identical & also agreeing on when the first oil is added.
For example, with the hand blender, I can get the leaves almost completely minced without oil & any other ingredient, whereas in a pestle, I start with the nuts, which then helps "grip" the leaves for pounding, & I also add some oil at that stage too.
You are right about the oxygen effect. I remembered this for garlic, I assume that similar compounds are present in wild garlic leaves:
https://shuncy.com/article/how-to-oxidize-garlic
So maybe I blend it initially without anything else, which is actually challenging, and only add the other ingredients after a while?
Mark McCaughrean
Knud Jahnke
saarmuller
Mike.