Archive for August 2021

reading time: 11 min

My fiancé's sister got married last weekend! Whoop-whoop!

In honour of this special day I whipped up a light, moist and wonderfully flavourful vegan lemon and elderflower layer cake topped with a decorative buttercream icing, using our leftover homemade elderflower cordial from last year.

This recipe is basically a strongly modified vegan version of the Lemon Elderflower Copycat Royal Wedding Cake by Liv for Cake which I've been wanting to veganize for a couple of years now, ever since I stumbled across it! My version consists of three layers of fluffy lemon cake with a hint elderflower, some creamy lemon curd and vegan cream "cheese" sandwiched between the cake layers, and a blossomy elderflower buttercream frosting all around – everything vegan of course and absolutely swoon-worthy, if I do say so myself.

While the most elaborate and difficult recipe on this blog to this day is certainly the vegan three tier wedding cake that my fiance and his sister made for my fiancé's cousin a few years ago, this one today is probably the most elegant and wedding-worthy cake that I have made so far! BTW: There are pictures of the cut cake down below.

It's a show stopper, and the flavours are citrusy sweet, and not overpowering like most cakes. It's light, creamy, airy – and of course, it's pretty to look at!

Since elderflowers weren't actually in season any more when I made this cake, and neither were meadowsweet flowers nor white lilacs which would've also looked great for decor, I used store-bought dahlias instead.

This layer cake is suitable for special occasions like milestone birthdays or even weddings (you could even turn this into an actual three tier wedding cake – see notes below). It would also be a wonderful recipe for the pagan Midsummer festival – aka the summer solstice aka Litha – which is celebrated around the 21st of June.

It might seem intimidating to assemble this kind of buttercream layer cake, but it's actually pretty straightforward – this was my first take on a cake like this after all!

VEGAN LEMON & ELDERFLOWER BUTTERCREAM LAYER CAKE

adapted from Klara's Life, inspired by Liv for Cake

Preparation time: 2 hours 30 mins
Main ingredients: spelt flour, vegan butter, sugar, lemon, elderflower syrup
difficulty level: moderate-challenging
serves: 12 (26 cm- or 10-inch springform pan)
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, wheat-free, yeast-free, nut-free

Ingredients

Cake:
450 g spelt flour, sieved (type 630)
2 1/4 heaped tsp cornstarch
2 1/4 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
generous pinch of salt (I use kala namak for that "eggy" taste)
150 g light sugar
180 ml neutral oil (grapeseed, sunflower, canola etc.)
450 ml soy milk (optionally vanilla flavoured)
2 1/4 tbsp lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 tbsp elderflower cordial (I use my homemade elderflower cordial)

Cream "cheese" filling:
220 g vegan cream "cheese", room temperature
110 g vegan butter, room temperature (I use the German brand Alsan bio)
335 g icing sugar
2 tbsp elderflower cordial

Lemon curd:
1 tbsp lemon zest from an organic lemon
200 ml lemon juice (about 4–5 lemons)
30 g cornstarch
170 ml soy milk
100 g light sugar
60 g vegan butter
generous pinch of turmeric (for yellow colour)

Buttercream icing: (recipe from The Icing Artist)
40 g vegan butter, room temperature
90 g vegetable shortening
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp elderflower cordial (or as needed)
3 1/2 tsp water (or as needed)
600 g icing sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

optional garnish:
edible white or pale yellow flowers (e. g. elderflowers, peonies, lilac, meadowsweet, roses, perennial phlox, dahlias, dianthus, chamomile, daisies ... more on that in the notes below *)

Instructions

To make the lemon curd:

The day before you plan to assemble the cake, make sure to prepare the lemon curd because it needs to be cold and thickened before using. You can also do this a couple of days ahead, or even a week ahead.

Rinse one organic lemon under hot water, pat dry, then grate finely. Mix cornflour with 5 tbsp of soy milk until lump-free. Add freshly squeezed 200 ml lemon juice.

In a small saucepan, heat the remaining soy milk, sugar and vegan butter over low heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the lemon / cornflour mix into the milk and butter mixture. Lastly, add a pinch of turmeric for a more intense yellow colour.

Bring the lemon curd to the boil and simmer gently over low heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until it has reached the desired consistency. The curd will thicken further as it cools.

Transfer the lemon curd into a clean preserving jar while it is still warm. Stored in an airtight container, the lemon curd will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge.

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 350 °F. Grease and flour a 26 cm- or 10-inch springform pan.

In a large mixing bowl, sieve together flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine oil, soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and elderflower cordial. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients. Give it a quick whisk until just combined and there are no big clumps in the batter. It’s okay if there are a few flour pockets remaining. Make sure not to overmix it!

Transfer to the prepared springform pan, and bake in the preheated oven at 180 °C / 350 °F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If the cake gets too dark during baking, cover with baking paper or aluminium foil.

Remove the cake from the oven, and leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the springform pan. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling down, make the cream "cheese" filling.

To make the cream "cheese" filling:

To a medium-sized mixing bowl, add vegan cream "cheese" and vegan butter. Using a hand mixer, beat cream "cheese" and butter at high speed until fluffy and creamy.

Add icing sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat for about 30 seconds at low speed, then switch to high speed, and beat for about 2 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of elderflower syrup, and give it another quick whisk.

Store in the refrigerator until needed.

To make the buttercream icing:

When ready to frost the cakes, add vegan butter and shortening to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Cream with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for about 2 minutes. Add in salt, vanilla extract, and butter flavour. Mix until incorporated.

Add in 1/4 of the sifted icing sugar (about 75 g), and mix on low speed until combined then whipping on high speed for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 to 1 tsp of elderflower syrup or water at a time between additions of icing sugar until you get your desired consistency.

Chill in the fridge until needed.

To assemble the cake:

Using a serrated knife, level the completely cooled cake by trimming of the top. Cut the trimmed cake horizontally into three layers. Place the bottom layer on a serving plate or cake stand.

Use a spatula or butter knife to gently spread the bottom layer with half of the lemon curd as well as half of the cream "cheese" filling on top of that, leaving about a finger's width around the edge. (It will squash out a little when you sandwich the layers together.) Place the second cake layer on top, and spread another generous layer or lemon curd and cream "cheese" respectively.

Place the final cake layer on top by turning it upside down (so that the even side is up).

Frost the outside of the cake with the buttercream using an offset spatula or a butter knife. I went for a more stiff, structured texture. Rustic elegance, right?! (And also way easier to achieve than a perfectly smooth icing and sharp edges, haha!)

Decorate with fresh elderflowers or other food-safe flowers of your choosing. Lemon slices would also look great.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best eaten on the day it is assembled!

Slice, serve, and enjoy!

When serving your vegan lemon and elderflower buttercream layer cake to your friends and family, waiting for their praise, don't tell them it's vegan before they try a slice, and I bet they won't believe it when you tell them!

This cake can be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for about 3 days. Individual slices of cake can be frozen for up to a month.

TIPS:
- I used our own homemade elderflower cordial (it's sooo tasty, and really fun to make!) but you can also use store-bought.
- Of course, feel free to use store-bought vegan lemon curd instead.
- Don't skip the lemon curd – or the cream "cheese"! They are the stars of the show and bring this cake to life.
- Give the lemon curd a good stir before assembling your cake – it will be thick like jelly.
- If you happen to have some leftover lemon curd and cream "cheese" filling after assembling the cake, mix the two to make a delicious spread.

- Don't use margarine instead of vegan butter. It's softer and has a greasy flavour that I don't really like.
- Get your cake in the oven as soon as you’ve mixed the wet ingredients into the dry to get the best possible rise. And don't open the oven in-between!
- To make this less heavy, you could either omit the buttercream frosting, or cut the recipe in half for a single layer cake.
- Use only a third or so of the buttercream to turn this into a naked cake. (BTW: For my own wedding I'm thinking to go for a naked cake where one of the flavours might be this exact filling! The other two tiers could be raspberry vanilla, and chocolate. With fresh berries and edible flowers on top ...)
- You can also easily turn this into a three tier wedding cake by doubling the recipe and using the other half to make the two smaller tiers.

- You could also make this cake with meadowsweet cordial instead of elderflower cordial, and use foraged meadowsweet on top of the cake as they are also edible (as are elderflowers, if you happen to have access to them).

- Let's talk about using real flowers on cake for a minute! What I did to put real flowers (white and yellow dahlias in my case) on this cake is to cut the flower stems to the desired height, wrap them in saran wrap first by twisting a small piece of saran wrap around the bottom end of the stem, and then wrap that in floral tape by pulling and pinching the tape as you do it. (The Icing Artist has a great instagram video on this method!) Stick the wrapped flower stem into the cake, and there you have it! This keeps all the moisture in the ends, thereby preventing the flowers from drying out, and it also prevents any pesticides to get into the cake!

A quick Guide on How to Decorate a Cake with Real Flowers

Only use edible flowers. To be on the safe side, make sure the flowers are grown specifically for consumption! After all, it's going on top of food. Great options are roses, pansies, violets, dahlias, mums, lilacs, lavender, cornflower, marigold, chamomile, daisies, nasturtium, hibiscus, orchids, Himalayan balsam, or begonias. Organic flowers are best. I bought mine at a local farmers market.
If possible, buy flowers the day you're going to use them so they are at their freshest! If you are using them a few days after purchasing them, leave the flowers in the water for as long as you can before placing them on the cake, and make sure to change their water daily, so they won’t go wilted as fast. Some flowers will wilt faster than others. Roses usually keep pretty well for a few hours before starting to wilt, as do dahlias. They will also keep well stored in the refrigerator for a day or two if needed.
Gently wash and dry the flowers before using.
Always use a piece of saran wrap, parchment or wax paper to avoid the flowers from directly touching the cake. Or stick pieces of plastic straws inside the cake to insert the flower in the hole of the straw without touching the cake or the filling inside.
Make sure the colours and flavours of the flowers match the cake. For example, hibiscus has a tart, berry flavour that would go great with a vanilla berry cake, while begonias have a citrusy flavour and would be perfect for this lemon and elderflower cake. Chive flowers are beautiful but you don't want your cake to taste or smell like onions! Nasturtium flowers taste peppery, but fortunately don't smell unpleasant and are therefore fitting for a cake (unless you eat them).
You can use edible flowers on cake either plain or candied. Violets and pansies look great candied.
Frost the cake ahead of time, but save the flowers for as close to when you're serving the cake as possible. Some flowers wilt quickly at room temperature. Keep your flowers refrigerated until you need them. (For reference: The pictures of the cut cake were taken about 24 hours after initially decorating the cake! As you can see there is bit of wilting and discolouration on the dahlias, but nothing too bad as the cake was refrigerated for most of the time.)

♥

Maisy

reading time: 5 min

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of wildcrafting!

Not long ago I discovered that most parts of the "invasive weed" called Himalayan Balsam are edible: young leaves (only cooked with water change!), seeds, and flowers. I started by making a Himalayan Balsam syrup that will be used in two of today's recipes, so make sure to head over to the syrup recipe and prepare that first.

The recipes in this blogpost are all adapted from the German book Die Wildkräuter-Werkstatt by Peter Becker which translates to "The Wild Herb Workshop". They are tweaked to our vegan lifestyle as well as to our liking. If you speak German, I do recommend purchasing this book because I really love all the different wild foods such as acorns (I really want to do my first acorn harvest this fall!), ground elder, mahonia fruits, mock strawberry, Japanese knotweed – and Himalayan Balsam. For next year I'm planning to collect and use the seeds of Himalayan Balsam ...

General Foraging Guidelines:

You should be 100 % certain you are identifying the correct plant. If you do not know what it is, DO NOT eat it! Do not pick if you're in doubt!
Don't harvest from contaminated areas such as busy roadsides, near industrial facilities, where dogs pee, along the edges of agricultural fields, old landfill sites etc.
Be mindful & harvest sustainably. Only pick from areas that have a plentiful supply, and never more than 1/4 of a plant, ideally only about 5 %.
Leave the harvesting area litter-free.

For more detailed information on identifying and foraging for Himalayan Balsam, check out last week's blogpost.

HIMALAYAN BALSAM SMOOTHIE

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Main ingredients: Himalayan balsam, coconut yogurt, non-dairy milk
difficulty level: easy
makes: 4 cups
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free, yeast-free

Ingredients:

250 ml (1 cup) coconut yogurt (or coconut milk)
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) almond milk
110 g (1 cup) raspberries, fresh or frozen (strawberries, cherries or redcurrants would also work)
100 ml (1/3 cup + 2 tbsp) Himalayan Balsam syrup
50 g fresh Himalayan Balsam flowers * (2 to 3 handfuls of flowers, or about 2 cups)

Instructions:

To make this triple pink smoothie, simply toss all ingredients into a blender (a high-speed blender works best) and blend until smooth.

I bet this would also taste great topped with some vegan vanilla ice. Drizzle with some more Himalayan Balsam syrup if this is not sweet enough for your liking. Enjoy as a lovely refreshment on hot summer days!

* Himalayan Balsam flowers have pretty much no flavour, just valuable nutrients (such as anti-inflammatory flavanoids as well as natural antihistaminic properties) and a bold punch of colour, so you'll always need to add something that brings flavour to the recipe, such as sugar or berries.

HIMALAYAN BALSAM ICE CREAM

Preparation time: 20 minutes (+ 4 hours freezing time)
Main ingredients: Himalayan balsam, soy cream, soy milk, sugar
difficulty level: easy
makes: 2 cups (500 ml)
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, nut-free, yeast-free

Ingredients:

40 g fresh Himalayan Balsam flowers
200 ml Himalayan Balsam syrup
200 ml soy cream (or full fat coconut milk)
200 ml soy milk (or full fat coconut milk)
100 g cane sugar, or less
1 tsp citric acid
1/8 tsp locust bean gum or guar gum (natural thickener, stabilizer and emulsifier)

Instructions:

Wash Himalayan Balsam flowers in cold water and pat dry. In a small saucepan, bring the flowers and soy milk to the boil, then stir in citric acid, and remove the saucepan from the heat. Strain soy milk through a fine sieve, pressing all the liquid from the flowers. Discard flowers or put them in a smoothie. 

Add sugar and locust bean gum to the still warm flower milk. Whisk until it thickens. Leave to cool, then fold in the soy cream and syrup. Transfer to an ice cream maker to follow the manufacturer's directions. Freeze until firm enough to scoop, approximately 2–4 hours.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into a freeze-proof storage container and put in the freezer. When partially frozen (after 1 or 2 hours), take it out and whip it with an electric mixer to break up the ice crystals. Repeat 3 or 4 times during the freezing process. Freeze until firm enough to scoop.

Remove it from the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving.

HIMALAYAN BALSAM JELLY

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Main ingredients: Himalayan balsam, sugar, citric acid
difficulty level: easy
makes: 1.4 litres
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, fat-free

Ingredients:

100 g fresh Himalayan Balsam flowers (about 5 to 6 handfuls, or the equivalent of the bowl content shown in the picture above)
1 litre of filtered water
500 g jam sugar (I use 3:1 gelling sugar)
1 tsp citric acid
1 level tsp agar agar

also:

a large saucepan

a fine wire sieve

clean, sealable jars **

** I re-used a bunch of old jam jars that I heat sterilized by putting them in an oven on low heat of 110 °C / 230 °F for around ten minutes – if it is too hot, they’ll crack!

Instructions:

In a medium large saucepan, bring 1 litre of water to a boil. Add Himalayan Balsam flowers, and sprinkle with citric acid. Allow to steep in the boiling water for a minute or two. If you leave the flowers in too long, you'll loose their pretty pink colour. Strain liquid through a fine sieve, pressing all the liquid from the flowers. Discard flowers or put them in a smoothie. 

Add the pink water back into the saucepan. Then bring to the boil along with the preserving sugar and the agar agar. Simmer on a low heat for about 4 minutes. Spoon a small amount of jelly onto a chilled plate. If the liquid holds its shape, it's done and ready to can, if it's still runny, simmer for an additional 2–3 minutes.

Pour the hot jelly into prepared sterilized jars, leaving about 1/4 inch headspace – make sure they're warm or else they might crack. Seal and label (content and date).

Himalayan Balsam jelly is sweet and slightly floral (J's aunt says it reminds her of mirabelle plums), and is lovely on buttered bread or on (vegan) cheese. And of course the magenta colour is an eye-catcher!

Keeps for at least 1 year. Once opened, store jar in the refrigerator.

This princessy pink jelly makes for a wonderful housewarming gift for loved ones. J and I are even thinking of making this as wedding favours for our wedding!

TIPS:
- For more flavour, add a handful of citrusy herbs such as lemon balm, lemon verbena, quender, lemon grass, lemon thyme etc., 1 sliced organic orange, 1/2 vanilla pod and 1-2 cloves. This will give the jelly a slightly tart taste that is a bit reminiscent of orange marmalade.

- Adding even more wintry spices like cinnamon, star anise etc. this jelly makes for a lovely Christmas present.

- Another option would be to add fresh mint for a more refreshing, summery taste.
- You could also experiment with substituting part of the Himalayan Balsam flowers with pink or red rose petals for a more floral taste!

Happy foraging!

♥

Maisy

reading time: 12 min

If you've ever wanted to impress someone with a homemade gift, but don't have the skills to make a wow-worthy cake or don't have the time or means to brew up a meadowsweet cordial, then this recipe is for you! This syrup is incredibly easy to make and looks ridiculously good. Do you see this vibrant hot pink / magenta colour?! It's 100 % natural – no colouring added!

The secret to this gorgeous and equally delicious syrup is a weed by the name of Himalayan Balsam – as well as not boiling the flowers for too long (see recipe below). All you need for this recipe is water, sugar, Himalayan Balsam flowers, and a bit of citric acid. I found this recipe in a German wild herb recipe book by the German Peter Becker and was excited to finally have found a way to use this pink flower that grows in our neighbourhood like crazy. So if you do speak German, I would strongly suggest you purchase his book Die Wildkräuter-Werkstatt ("The Wild Herb Workshop") which features many wild foods and "weeds" like dandelion, ground elder, Japanese knotweed etc.

Considered an invasive, destructive weed by most people, Himalayan Balsam is just waiting to be discovered! It can be found in large quantities almost everywhere, and collecting it is worthwhile. A positive side effect is that the more the flowers and seeds are used, the more its spread is contained. I plead for inclusion instead of deportation! Using what is there to its full potential instead of fighting it. If you agree, why don't you join in and try your hand at this terrific syrup?

Where and How to Harvest Himalayan Balsam

Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is an annually growing plant that is native to the Himalayan mountings that also goes by the names of copper tops (due to the petal's similarity to a policeman's helmet), kiss-me-on-the-mountain, and ornamental jewelweed. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is a so-called neophyte, i. e. non-native, highly invasive weed that was first introduced to Britain in 1839 and has spread rapidly ever since. It is considered an invasive pest, like Japanese knotweed and Giant hogweed, and in many areas in Europe it is therefore forbidden to import, cultivate, transport, commercialize, plant or intentionally release Himalayan Balsam into the environment, and some local wildlife trusts even organize Balsam bashing events to help control the plant by uprooting or cutting it.

Looking at the Himalayan Balsam plant without prejudice, you will not fail to recognize its beauty. The nectar-rich flowers in shades of pale pink, almost white, to magenta and purple that grow on fragile looking stems attract numerous bumblebees, bees, wasps, and other insects, filling the gap between the end of the summer main crop and the autumnal ivy flower and helping the bees going into winter. The sugar content in the sticky nectar is about 50 percent, and with the Himalayan Balsam producing almost 0.5 mg of nectar per hour, this is 40 times more of the sweet sap than most other flowering plants produce.

Originally native to the Himalayan region of eastern India, the plant can be found today in large colonies throughout Europe and North America, in nutrient-rich riparian woodland, floodplains, wet meadows and along forest edges. It prefers a semi-shady location with as much water as possible, and is usually found in the company of meadowsweet, stinging nettles, and catchweed. The plant can grow up to 2–3 meters with a soft green or red-tinged stem, and usually covers large areas.

The genus name Impatiens means "impatient" and refers to its method of aggressive seed dispersal: The spindle-shaped seed pods that form after flowering explode at the slightest touch when ripe, and scatter their seeds several meters in all directions (up to 4000 seeds per plant!).

The leaves are arranged along the stem either opposite or in bunches of three. The leaf stalk is approximately 3 cm long, the leaf itself approx. 15 cm long with a red vein running up the middle, and a maximum of 2.5 mm wide. The leaf blade is sharply toothed and lanceolate. When crushed, the leaves have a strong musty smell. There are many glands on the petiole and the leaf base that emit a very unique, intense fragrance that is particularly noticeable late in the evenings and on windless, warm days. Many find it unpleasant or even nauseating, but to me it smells like a summer night.

The Himalayan Balsam really starts growing after the summer solstice in the late June, with the flowers beginning to form in mid-summer to late summer. They are about 2 – 4 cm long, prominent, lipped and hooded, and somewhat reminiscent of orchid flowers. They bloom between July and October. The plant dies at the first frost.

Possible lookalikes include foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium or Epilobium angustifolium) and snapdragons (Antirrhinum) as well as various members of the Impatiens family, such as the orange balsam (Impatiens capensis; has red spotted orange flowers), the touch-me-not balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere; has tiny yellow flowers), and the small balsam (Impatiens parviflora; has tiny pale-yellow flowers).

Do not confuse Himalayan Balsam with foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) which is deadly toxic (!). It has a central stalk with bell-shaped purple flowers that grows 1–2 meters tall. Unlike the Himalayan Balsam flowers, foxglove flowers are arranged in an elongated cluster on a tall spike, and each flower is more tubular instead of bulbous, and heavily spotted on the inside surface.

Since fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) is also a tall, wild-growing plant with purplish-pink flowers that bloom from June to September and narrow lanceolate leaves, that is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere and can grow up to 1 meter or even 2.5 meters in height, it is easy to confuse the two. Unlike the serrated leaves of the Himalayan Balsam, the fireweed leaves are smooth and with a white central vein on most leaves. The mostly unbranched stems are glabrous or only slightly hairy and dark purple to the tip. The most prominent difference however is the shape of the flowers: Unlike the slipper-shaped flowers of the Himalayan Balsam that grow in clusters, the flowers of the fireweed are arranged in a long, terminal, racemose inflorescence that blooms progressively from bottom to top, producing a gracefully tapered shape. The fireweed flowers themselves are slightly asymmetrical, with four magenta to pink petals and four narrower pink sepals behind. Each flower is perched at the end of a long cylindrical capsule bearing numerous seeds that have a tuft of silky hairs at the end. Similar to the Himalayan Balsam, fireweed is also edible: While the leaves can be used to make tea, the young shoots provide a tasty spring vegetable that is high in vitamins A and C, and the flowers can be turned into jelly and syrup, and are also a somewhat tart but very pretty decoration for salads and dishes. As closed buds they can be added to vegetable dishes, and can be pickled in vinegar and oil. You might see me forage fireweed at some point in the future ...

Like the Himalayan Balsam, the flower of the snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) resembles a gaping mouth, but while the snapdragon flowers look more like the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed, the Himalayan Balsam bears more resemblance with a cap or a trumpet dangling down from its little stem and shaped with a sharp bent spur at the back and a bulbous back end. The balsam flowers are arranged in loose clusters of 3 – 12 flowers per plant like hooks on fishing rods at the top of the plant, whereas the snapdragon flowers are arranged vertically in a tight cluster on a tall spike (similar to foxglove), in most cases 8 – 30 flowers per plant. Snapdragons thrive in full sun, although they will tolerate some light afternoon shade, and are native to rocky areas of Europe, the United States and North Africa.

Instead of demonising this beautiful – and useful! – plant, I suggest taking a closer look at it and containing it through sensible use (e. g. in the kitchen) rather than trampling it down. Integrate it instead of isolating it, use it instead of fighting it.

Himalayan Balsam is edible! The flowers as well as the green seed pods, the seeds, the young leaves and the shoots of the Himalayan Balsam plant are all edible and are traditionally used in curries in its native Himalayan region. However, the green parts of the plant (that can be harvested from late April until late June) are slightly poisonous and can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and dizziness when consumed raw in larger quantities. When you harvest any young leaves or leaf tips in late spring or early summer, always cook or blanch them in boiling water several times, changing the boiling water in-between! They don't have much flavour, but are a wonderful addition to stir-fries, pickles or savoury puff pastries.

From July to October, the flowers can be turned into jam, jelly, ice cream, parfait, infused water, wine, gin, vinegar, and – of course – syrup. In small quantities the flowers can be eaten raw, for example in a salad or a smoothie. Once the flowers are cooked or pickled, you can consume them in larger quantities. Their petals have a pink/red colouring effect which makes it very attractive for cooking, but also for colouring lipsticks for example.

Lastly, the most delicious part of the Himalayan Balsam can be harvested in September, sometimes as early as August and into October. Both the white, immature seeds and the black, mature seeds are edible and tasty. Raw, their taste is reminiscent of walnuts, and they can be used to make marzipan! The riper the seeds, the nuttier. If you roast the seeds in a pan without oil for about a minute, they pop around like popcorn and it will give them a stronger, tangier flavour, similar to French fries. As a nutty base, the seeds are great for scattering over granola, salads, making pesto, smoothies, dips, pastries, casseroles, fritters or condiment pastes.

In India, Himalayan Balsam is also used as a medicinal plant, especially for the external treatment of skin diseases, mosquito bites, and nettle burns. The blossom are also said to help against athlete's foot when rubbed on externally or put between the toes. Himalayan Balsam is also known to have a calming effect as Bach Flower Nr. 18 (Impatiens), promoting qualities of patience, empathy and gentleness. It is also a component of the famous Bach Rescue Remedy that provides effective first aid in situations of stress, emotional strain or shock.

When foraging for Himalayan Balsam flowers, be careful not to trigger the seed dispersal mechanism – after all, it's not the best idea (and in some countries illegal) to further spread this invasive plant that is already overwhelming and displacing parts of the native flora.

That being said, we managed to collect a basket full of the Himalayan Balsam flowers and accidentally triggered the mechanism only once, so don't be put off collecting them.

As with any flowers, it's best to forage Himalayan Balsam flowers later in the morning on a dry sunny day. Don't pick them right after a rain shower as they will lose some of their aroma. Collect the flowers in a paper bag or basket. Be careful not to collect any bees! Sometimes they're nearly invisible deep inside the petals (case in point: the third picture in this blog post! can you spot the bee?!). Once you get home spread out the flowers outside, and place a cloth over them. Wait for 20 minutes so that any insects and spiders can get away.

The easiest way to collect the ripe seeds is to put a paper bag over the seed pods or and shake it a little or press lightly on them. The seeds will pop out due to the seed dispersal mechanism and fall into the bag. You will always get a few leaflets along with the seed pods that can easily be sieved out later with a kitchen sieve. You can store dried seeds in a screw-top jar until the next season.

General Foraging Guidelines:

You should be 100 % certain you are identifying the correct plant. If you do not know what it is, DO NOT eat it! Do not pick if you're in doubt!
Don't harvest from contaminated areas such as busy roadsides, near industrial facilities, where dogs pee, along the edges of agricultural fields, old landfill sites etc.
Be mindful & harvest sustainably. Only pick from areas that have a plentiful supply, and never more than 1/4 of a plant, ideally only about 5 %.
Leave the harvesting area litter-free.

reading time: 8 min

This recipe was originally inspired by Sarah's Blackberry Hazelnut Crumble Bars which look just scrumptious! Since it's a little too early for harvesting a larger amount of blackberries, and we still got a bucket load of blueberries from our blueberry picking last month, I decided to make these cuties for our little Lughnasadh celebration with my parents – this harvest festival is all about the first fruits of the season, such as blueberries and redcurrants, as well as potatoes, corn and bread / grains.

The great thing about these crumble bars is that blueberries are in season right now, meaning they are cheap and easy to get in stores (or on a plantation or in nature, of course). Hazelnuts are not quite in season yet, but I still wanted to include a little foraging guide for them, as they are going to be ripe soon. The tree and nut husks are very easy to identify, so collecting the nuts is considered very safe for someone new to foraging.

These crumble bars are made with wholesome ingredients and are perfect for dessert or as a semi-healthy snack! Like a granola bar, but make it crumb cake.

Where and How to Harvest Hazelnuts

Hazelnut (Corylus avellana) is a hardy deciduous shrub or tree, also known as common hazel, European hazel, or cobnut. It is native to many parts of the temperate Northern hemisphere, and is often found in hedgerows and deciduous woodland. Hazelnuts produce nuts when they are around 4 years of age but don't really become productive until they are closer to 7 years of age.

Hazelnuts prefer full sun or light shade, and they like to grow in light, well-drained, loamy soil which is kept moist. They tend to grow to heights of around 10 to 15 feet, forming a short tree or dense shrub shape with multiple stems. The leaves are smaller than most other deciduous trees, but broad, and are rounded in shape with serrated edges. Small male catkins and clusters of female flowers form in the spring. The fruits or nuts – the hazelnuts – grow inside short green, fuzzy husks that don't completely cover the nuts and are found underneath the leaves of the plant.

The nuts will be ripening in September leading up to October harvest. They are ready to eat when the leaves of the tree are turning yellow and the fuzzy outer husks splits and exposes its hard brown shell, which must be cracked open to obtain the edible kernel, aka the hazelnut. Around this time you also begin to find hazelnuts on the floor.

If you have squirrels in your neighbourhood, beware! The squirrels begin feasting as soon as the nuts are ripe enough to eat, but still in the tree, and they will clear a shrub of nuts within a short amount of time, eating some and burying the most. So don't waste your time if you also want a part of the bounty! (Lucky for us, the squirrels usually don't find all of the nuts they have buried in autumn, so when spring rolls around you will probably find a few baby hazelnut trees nearby.)

Speaking of squirrels, hazelnuts are full of healthy fats, protein and vitamins, which makes them an important source of food for wildlife, who depend on hazelnuts to give them energy for the winter, so make sure you do not gather all of the nuts you find!

The best time to pick hazelnuts is when the outer husks turn a yellow colour in late September or early October, prior to the autumn rains. A good shake of the tree should loosen more for you to gather from the ground.

Some of the fallen nuts may be wormy or even empty. It is easy to distinguish between those nuts that are bad from good. Place the nuts in water. Floating nuts are the duds. Discard any floaters. Also, insect infested nuts will have holes in the shell and should be tossed out.

Hazelnuts can be eaten fresh from the tree or stored for later use. When fresh, they have s sweet, pea-like flavour. To store fresh nuts, pack in a box or bowl with damp sand, and check regularly for mould. They should last 3 to 4 months before they begin to sprout.

To extend their storage life and getting that familiar nutty flavour, I suggest drying the hazelnuts (either in their shells or shells removed) by storing in a single layer on a screen in a dry, warm, airy place for 2 to 4 weeks. Stir them around every day. To be extra sure all the moisture is gone, place them in the oven on low heat (170 F / 75 C) for about 1 hour before storing in an airtight container.

Whether scattered over salads, as part of a homemade granola, or blended with water and strained through a nut milk bag to make a delicious nut milk – hazelnuts are delicious, both roasted and raw! (When making that hazelnut milk, save the pulp to make cookies or porridge!) You can also grind them in dried form to make flour for cakes, breads or biscuits. Another great way to use hazelnuts is to through them into a food processor and blend them until they turn into a delicious nut butter. Homemade healthy nutella anyone?

Not only the nuts of the hazel are considered edible. In spring (April to June) you can harvest the young and tender leaves that are light green in colour and still very soft. Those can be used to make tea, or to make stuffed hazelnut leaves. Perhaps I can get my hands on some tender hazelnut leaves next spring ... Leaves picked later than that are leathery and not suitable for consumption.

General Foraging Guidelines:

You should be 100 % certain you are identifying the correct plant. If you do not know what it is, DO NOT eat it! Do not pick if you're in doubt!
Don't harvest from contaminated areas such as busy roadsides, near industrial facilities, where dogs pee, along the edges of agricultural fields, old landfill sites etc.
Be mindful & harvest sustainably. Only pick from areas that have a plentiful supply, and never more than 1/4 of a plant, ideally only about 5 %.
Leave the harvesting area litter-free.

BLUEBERRY HAZELNUT CRUMBLE BARS

Preparation time: 1 h 15 min
Main ingredients: blueberries, hazelnuts, oats
difficulty level: easy
makes: 8-12 bars
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, wheat-free, soy-free

Ingredients

Crust & Crumble Topping:
1 1/2 cups (150 g) + an extra 1/2 cup (50 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup (130 g) whole-grain spelt flour (or sub gluten-free flour)
2/3 cups (85 g) hazelnuts
3/4 cup (75 g) raw cane sugar or brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp of salt

4 tbsp + an extra 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted then cooled to soft (or sub vegan butter)
3 tbsp hazelnut butter (or sub more coconut oil or vegan butter)
3 tbsp non-dairy milk (e. g. soy, oat, almond or hazelnut)

Filling:

3 cups (430 g) blueberries, fresh or frozen (or sub other berries or fruit, see notes below)
pinch of salt
zest and juice of 1 organic lemon
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

Line a 9x9 brownie pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 °F / 180 °C.

For the crust:

Blitz rolled oats (reserve 1/2 cup / 50 g for later), flour, and hazelnuts to a food processor until you have a coarse, chunky flour *. Add to a medium mixing bowl, along with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix well. Add in coconut oil (reserve 1 tbsp for later), hazelnut butter and non-dairy milk, and incorporate with a fork or pastry cutter until the dough looks crumbly. The mixture should hold together when pressed down with a spoon.

Spread a little more than half of the crumble mixture into the prepared baking dish. Use your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup to firmly press down. Try to make sure it's all an even thickness.

Set the rest of the crumble dough aside for later.

For the filling:

In the mixing bowl, toss together the berries, salt, cornstarch, vanilla extract, maple syrup, lemon zest and juice of that lemon.

Spread the blueberry mixture evenly on top of the prepared crust. They should just cover the crust in one layer.

For the crumble topping:

To the remaining crumble dough, add 1/2 cup (50 g) rolled oats and 1 tbsp coconut oil. Use your hands to press the dough together into small to medium clumps.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the blueberry layer. Place in the oven and bake for 40–45 minutes, or until the crumble starts to turn golden brown and the filling is bubbling along the edges.

Remove and let cool completely (while you clean up the mess you've made in the kitchen and put away clean dishes).

Or – if you are too impatient, like yours truly – you can let the crumble rest for just 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into it and eating it like a classic fruit crumble. When serving these warm, you've got to put on a scoop of (vegan) ice cream!

Once cooled, use the parchment paper to lift the crumble bars from the pan and place on top of a cutting board.

You can enjoy the vegan blueberry hazelnut crumble bars immediately, store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze to enjoy for weeks to come.

TIPS:

- You can easily substitute the blueberries in this recipes with blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, redcurrants or cherries. Even plums, pears or apples would be lovely and matching the warming, autumnal flavour of the hazelnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg.

- Instead of hazelnuts, you could also use walnuts or almonds (and almond butter). You probably could also use sunflower seeds (and sunflower seed butter) to make these nut-free, but I have not tried that yet.
- * If you don't have a food processor, simply chop the nuts as finely as you like, and stir together with rolled oats and flour. Instead of your hands you could use an electric mixer with a dough hook to help incorporate everything.

- These bars actually get better as they sit. I like them best on day 2 and 3.

- To freeze, place cut bars in freezer-safe zip-top bag, and freeze up to 3 months. When ready to eat, take individual bars out and let thaw to room temperature. I recommend warming them up in the microwave or the oven, and serving them with a dollop of vanilla sauce or ice cream. Yum!