I’ve got a big heap of Stinging Nettles in the sink waiting for me to make my move. They sit there glowering at me, covered in wicked piercing hairs filled with sting-juice. Not to fear! I’ve stolen my wife’s hot pink dish gloves (sexy!), a strainer to catch any bugs ‘n bits left curled in the stems and big pot for boiling all the fight out of these ornery weeds. Let’s make some soup!
This is a riff on a recipe I found in (of all places) a Tricycle Magazine article from way back. The author explained the beautiful simplicity and austerity of nettle soup in a way that really stuck with me. It’s a really honest, peasant-style soup that invigorates and soothes at the same time. The perfect thing to feed my foraging family during the early spring flu season… Seriously, is everyone in this house sick but me? Read More
Borscht is the quintessential Ukrainian (not Russian, although they have also adopted it as their own) soup/stew. The recipe for it changes from country to country, village to village, grandma, to well… you get the idea. It’s pretty amorphous, and delicious! The basic recipe calls for various root vegetables stewed in broth with the occasional addition of sour cream or vinegar. It is served hot, or sometimes cold, and always with dark, hard bread and dill. It’s dank stuff… If you want an apt and slightly creepy metaphor: it’s like suckling on the roots of the earth itself. 
Taking center stage at this year’s Yule festivities was a very Germanic looking 