I saw a Gingko tree dropping rotten fruit this week. I thought, I better eat those! With olives - for the Steemit Iron Chef Contest! Come into my post to see how.
Getting My Ingredients Together
Earlier this week, I saw a gingko tree dropping fruit all over the sidewalk. Most folks think it's a big mess - and it is. But it's also the source of something special -- Gingko nuts! They take some special processing to be edible and nobody should eat a lot of them all at once. That's not too different from olives, this week's special ingredient. So I wanted to use them together.
I'll write a longer post or make a video about picking and processing the gingko nuts. But this shows the basic steps. 1. Gather the stinky, rotten fruit. I got about 20 pounds! 2. Get the nuts out of the squishy, stinky, rotten fruits. 3. Clean the nuts and then boil them for 10 minutes. 4. Crack the nut, get the nutmeat out, and remove its paper covering to reveal the little green orb. That's the part I'm gong to use!
Except for the olives, every ingredient was free for the picking. The cherry tomatoes are the last ones from my garden. I harvested them in October, including all the unripe ones. I let the green fruits ripen slowly. I only used a couple here -- I'm saving the rest for a nice wild weed salad this week! :D
I didn't use all the olives. Instead, I selected the bright green ones and the dark black ripe ones. I finely chopped the olives, Jerusalem artichokes, Gingko nuts, and bittercress. And then mixed it together. That's it!
Serving It Up!
The flavors of this dish are incredible! The green olives are spicy and salty. The black ones are garlic-y and salty. The Jerusalem artichokes are crisp and crunchy, with a smoky flavor. The Ginkgo nuts are gummy and chewy, and taste like roasted Chestnuts. The bittercress has a pepper-y kick. The flavors match so well!
I'd be happy to get this little plate in a restaurant! But I don't think I'll ever see it on a menu. At least I can make it myself! And mostly for free!
What Do You Think?
- Have you ever eaten gingko nuts?
- Do you forage for any wild food?
- Would you eat my salad?
- What would be a better name for this salad?
I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wild places.
I would like Steemit to be the premier site for Foraging on the Internet! If you have any thoughts about foraging, or experiences to share, write a post and be sure to use the Foraging tag. And check out the @foraging-trail to see curated quality posts about foraging. Happy Foraging!
Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series!
I try to make content that's interesting! If you found this informative and helpful, please give it an upvote and a resteem.
Plant List
- Olives - Olea europaea - fruit
- Bittercress - Cardamine hirsuta - tender leaves and stems
- Jerusalem artichoke - Helianthus tuberosus - tubers
- Gingko - Gingko biloba - nuts
- Cherry tomato - Solanum lycopersicum - fruit
