Swap readers may recall a request on these pages awhile back for recipes using wild fruits. It came from Frieda Martens of Winnipeg who, inspired by her recollections of wild fruits enjoyed as a child, was preparing a cookbook.
This spring she has published Precious Wild Berries,a 123-page ring-coil recipe book containing 80 wonderful recipes, including those Co-operatorreaders provided.
Precious Wild Berrieswill send you foraging this spring and summer so you can make the jams, jellies and preserves as well as cobblers, cakes and other baked goodies it contains. It really covers the map when it comes to types of fruits seasonally available in Manitoba – from saskatoons to the highbush cranberries, Frieda recalls rattling, frozen solid on their bushes in winter.
Read Also
Giant Canada geese have gone wild in Manitoba
Giant Canada geese are seemingly everywhere and can be fine table fare for local hunters, but 70 years ago, they were borderline extinct.
Thanks to contributions from Shirley Leask of
SASKATOON OAT MUFFIN
This recipe makes a fruity and moist muffin.
1 c. oats
1 c. buttermilk or
sour milk
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. lightly packed
brown sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 c. melted butter
1 c. saskatoons, fresh or
frozen, thawed and
well drained
Combine oats and buttermilk in small bowl. Let stand. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and brown sugar. Stir well to blend. Add egg and melted butter to oat mixture. Add oat mixture to dry ingredients. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Gently fold in saskatoons. Fill well-greased muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake at 400 F for 15 to 22 minutes.
Makes 1 dozen muffins.
OBSTKUCHEN (PLATZ)
A delicious way to use plums, apples, cherries or any other seasonal fruit.
Sift:
2 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. sugar Add:
2 tbsp. shortening and
mix with fingers until
fine crumbs
1 c. cream
1 egg
Mix well and pat out on fairly large greased sheet, pushing up sides. Put on a layer of any of the following fruits: cherries, plums, apples, apricots, cranberries or any fruit in season. Top with the following:
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. butter
Mix first three ingredients well, then rub in the butter and enough cream to make coarse crumbs or a “ruebel.” Sprinkle thickly over fruit and bake in 375 F oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Mafeking, whose home-based businessWild Things specializes in fine preserves. You’ll also find recipes for making some very special jellies including one from rose petals, another from mint, and a dandelion petal jelly too.
“Preserving wild fruit is not a lost art,” Frieda writes in her introduction. Thanks to this cookbook, it won’t be.
If you would like to purchase a copy ofPreciousWild Berriesyou can order one directly by mail from the author by sending $16 (cheques only) which includes shipping and handling to:
Frieda Martens 82 Desjardins Dr.
Winnipeg, Man. R3X 1M8
If you’d like more info email: [email protected]
DANDELION JELLY
4 c. dandelion petals
1 qt. water
1 tsp. lemon or
orange extract
1 pkg. powdered pectin
4-1/2 c. sugar
Yellow food colouring,
sufficient to obtain a
golden colour
Pick blossoms in the morning while dandelions are fresh and open. Remove stems. Make sure there are no green parts as they are bitter. Boil blossoms in water for three minutes. Drain through coffee filter and save liquid. To three cups of liquid add lemon or orange extract, powdered pectin and sugar. Add food colouring. Boil until jelly sets. Pour into hot jelly jars.
Sendyourrecipesorreciperequeststo:
ManitobaCo-operatorRecipe Swap
Box 1794, Carman, Man. R0G 0J0
or email [email protected]
FREE COOKBOOK
Frieda has provided three cookbooks she’d like to offer toCo-operatorreaders. We’re inviting you to send us a good fruit-picking short story (no more than 150 words) and we’ll select three to publish on these pages later this summer, PLUS we’ll send you a free copy ofPrecious Wild Berries.
Sendyourstoriesto:
Fruit-picking stories c/oManitoba Co-operator Box 1794,
Carman, Man. R0G 0J0
Deadline:
June30,2011
FRESH BLUEBERRY COBBLER
A cup of fresh cranberries is a nice addition to the blueberries as it enhances the colour and adds pleasing tartness and volume to this delicious dessert.
Blueberry mixture:
1-1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 qt. fresh blueberries
3 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. butter/margarine
Mix sugar, flour and salt and then combine with blueberries and lemon juice. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Dot with butter. Bake in preheated hot oven (400 F) about 15 minutes. Be sure that the mixture is hot and bubbling.
Biscuit mixture:
2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. margarine
2/3 c. milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
In the meantime, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and slightly beaten egg. Stir with fork to blend well. Remove hot blueberry mixture from oven. Drop topping mixture on to hot blue berries making 12 biscuits. Return to oven (400 F) and bake for 20 minutes or until biscuits are brown.
