Hazel catkin sweets and tea

 So,  folks,  long time,  no post. I am still alive,  though. 

What a shitty time to live in,  eh?

But, well, it is not that we did not see it coming. And,  trust me,  that is not all there is. 

The woods have their problems,  but at least they have not gone completely conkers. Except conkers. ;-)

So, shit on that,  here is a treat for you I recently tried out.  

Hazelnut catkins are in bloom. 

They are rich with nutrients,  protein,  potassium, vitamins and minerals and are reputed to be a staple winter survival food. More on the ingredients maybe in another post. They are said to be anti- inflammatory,  rich with antioxidants. I also like them fresh off the tree,  but they are a right treat when processed. 

Took one tablespoon of butter and a good sprinkling of refined sugar,  put in the catkins and caramelized them on low heat for about five minutes,  until golden brown. 

They have a bit of a taste of relatively dark popcorn with a flowery aftertaste. Yummy! 

Of course that wasn't the end of it...

On a recent hike I took some...

Put them in the kettle....

Charred them somewhat...(you,  however,  might simply want to brown them ;-)) and boiled them with a bit of honey and water. 

The outcome was a really lovely,  caramel popcorny tea. 

For the second batch I added a heaped spoon of coffee. 

Turned out delicious,  too. It would most certainly go well with Chaga or acorn coffee as well. 

That vegan thing .

These are no steaks. 

They are not even meat. 

Yes, you guys got the right Blog. 

Yes, it is me, Fimbulmyrk. ☺️ 

The magic troll, in her usual awesomeness, had made some Seitan. Now do not get me wrong. I have some really big questions concerning veganistic mindsets, as in contrast to vegan food. Some years ago the WHO demanded to substitute every food with surrogates, slowly removing vitamins from daily victualies, and that, while understandeable in the context of ever decreasing Vitamin content in plant-based food, together with claims by the then Monsanto Corporation, now a part of the German Bayer Corporation to dominate the food market with genetically manipulated crop seeds and thusly reaching World dominion (no joke) made me a bit suspicious of buying surrogates, so to say. 

Now do not get me wrong again. I do not buy into any world conspiracy theories and please do not quote old uncle Fimbulmyrk. It is highly probable, but I really have no evidence either. I am deeply suspicious of any hooray about veganism is all. But I am deeply suspicious of any conspiracy theory as well. 

The soy and surrogates food industry takes up nearly as much space as the breeding of lifestock. If you want to do good (and have a tasty meal), buy locally, support small farming businesses, period. 

Anyway, for the aforementioned reasons I always was a bit reluctant to try surrogates. Also, I did not quite get the point. If I do not want to eat meat, I simply do not eat meat. ☺️ 

Now the magic troll, who is an absolute food conoisseur, and, truth be told, so little of a vegan that she gets the golden Patty of honour for veganists on Facebook unfriending her 😁❤️😈, made vegan food and liked it. 

Truth be told, we both are fascinated with all things alchemy, and that Seitan stuff triggered our fondness hard. Also it is dead simple to make, can be made with few and organic ingredients and is rich with protein. 

It is not suited for people with an adversion to Gluten. Because that is what it is. 

You make a stiff dough of wheat meal and water and knead it hard for some 20 minutes. Then cover with cold water, let it rest (I left mine over night) and then, by adding more meal, add some stiffness back to it and then knead out all the starch. Well, you might not get out all of it, but it does not matter. Cook it for some twenty minutes, then press out most of the water with a cheese cloth or something like that. After that, tear it into strings and knead the strings onto each other several times. It will then very much resemble chicken meat. 

Since I am not a vegan, I put smoked sprout heads and tails into strong vinegar together with salt for a fast Garum which, when used sparsely, adds a nice Umami flavour. I also experimented with fried tomato concentrate with fried wild garlic, roasted nettle seeds. Knead it well in. 

 I ate it with fried nettle leaves, fresh wild garlic and tomatoes, fried walnuts with fried nettle, lesser celandine, wild garlic and ground elder. You can also use chicken spice to make it more chicken - like. Actually it can taste very much like chicken with only a tiny hint of meal flavour. The more Umami you add, the less distinguisheable it becomes from real meat.

For me, it is poverty food, because those steaks cost me from 0.3-0.8€for a whole meal. I also want to try and make "hunger pills" from Seitan.

Actually, I will not stop eating meat, of course. But good vegan food is indeed possible. ☺️ ❤️ 

Iämpedahler waldmetz (Ennepetal forest knife)

 This is one of the latest incarnations of a breed I simply love to make these days - and it seems others do actually approve as well, for some already found a home elsewhere... ;-). This one´s a tester, which I made from silver steel for a change to further the game a bit... selective and conservative temper of about 58HRC (the steel with a carbon content of 1% can take a lot more), but that way it gets really, really sharp. It will be a personal eating and snack knife for me. The bevel is a high convex grind to zero.

 The handle is a bit of a pain in the arse to make, for it never comes out straight... ;-) but slowly I get the gist...

 Personally I like this twist a lot, even if it is quite basic and of course I have a lot to learn still... but I am getting there...

The leaf structure is made with the peen of a Scandinavian smithing hammer... I am currently dreaming up other design possibilities as well... we´ll see how it all comes out...

The knife´s now in for a spoon and fork and awl to go in a pouch.

Overall the knife design is surprisingly complex and handles a lot of tasks quite well. Lacking any scales or handle materials makes it easy to clean as well as really sturdy. It also does not stain as fast, even if it gets a patina. It is suited for eating, snacking and camp cooking as well as lighter to heavier bushcraft tasks, and the handle is big enough to offer you a decent hold on the knife. The downside is of course that the handle gets hot quite easily and cold as well... but you could easily tie it to a stick to use it as a makeshift harpoon or for harvesting leaves or fruit from a tree. Also it looks pleasing to my eye at least... I like it and want to work on the design more. I will keep you posted!

Cheese Bannock with wild herbs, olives, carrots and potatoes

Yet another bannock recipe... I really like Bannock, because it´s just so versatile... and the cost for this delicious dish is under 1 €, it is nourishing and does you good.

I took:

7 tablespoons wheat flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon curcuma
1 teaspoon jeera
1 teaspoon fenugreek
1 handful nettle seeds
1 tablespoon lesser celandine, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lungwort
a slice of Gouda, one finger thick, finely rasped
two slices of gouda, ca. 1 cm thick per cake
1 teaspoon pepper
1 handful of green olives, finely chopped
2 medium-sized peeled raw potatoes, finely rasped
1 small onion, finely rasped
1 piece of garlic, finely rasped,
1 big carrot, peeled and finely rasped
Water
salt to your liking
Sunflower oil for frying

Mix flour, soda, potatoes, carrot, onion, olives, garlic and rasped Gouda with the spices and herbs. Season with salt to your liking. Mix with water until you have a thick, but even dough. In the meantime, heat an iron pan. Add oil generously, until sizzling hot. With a spoon make cakes and fry swimming in oil at medium temperature from one side. While doing so, add the gouda slices and smear uncooked dough over them until covered. Turn the cake and fry the other side, too, until golden brown.

Enjoy!

You can also prepare them and just warm them by the fireside.

New tripod

 This is a collaboration in our smithy... a new tripod for outdoor cooking and our re-enactment camp. Thomas Dicker from www.out-fit.de, my favourite bushcraft and outdoor gear shop told me of thios idea. You got two poles with loops and one with a spiral.

 This makes it versatile and easy to carry: You can use it as a tripod or as two poles with the third one as a spit or a gallows for a long fire. Henning forged one of the loops and the big hook, I made the other and the spiral. Daniel and Nick also wanted to add some personal flavour and tried their best at two more hooks.

This is cool: We will sit around the cooking fire and join in the meal with equipment we all contributed to. Folks, I really like you! ;-)