The Earthy Delights Recipe Blog
Celebrating wild harvested, traditional & artisanal foods
Pickin’ Up Pawpaws, Way Down Yonder in the Pawpaw Patch… Some of us may still remember this song from childhood, but few of us have ever tasted a real pawpaw. Pawpaws have become a curiosity, little known to most of us, even though they have a long history in North America. The largest edible fruit native to the United States, pawpaws are most commonly found near riverbanks and in the understory of the fertile forests of the eastern United States. …
The pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a curious fruit. Until recently, few Americans were even aware of its existence, which is unusual, since it’s the largest fruit native to North America and once was a valued food source for both Native Americans and early European settlers. Of course, the pawpaw never really went away, but continued growing quietly in the background here and there; along riverbanks, near rusty, disused train tracks and on old abandoned homesteads across the eastern U.S., as far …
While you’ve probably heard of pawpaws, you may not be quite sure of what they are or where they come from. Let’s just put it this way: if you’ve never experienced the flavor of this amazing fruit, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. If you need more convincing, here are three reasons why pawpaws should be on your shopping list. 1. Pawpaws Taste GreatFirst, and most importantly, pawpaws are simply delicious. While often described as a …
If you’re a fan of pawpaws, you’ve probably eaten your share of the fresh fruit in season. But what about the rest of the year? Pawpaws are notoriously hard to store for more than two or three weeks in the fridge, and if unrefrigerated, the large, oval fruits ripen quickly and must be eaten within a few days. The answer?Pawpaw curd, another fantastic way to preserve the exotic flavor of pawpaws – practically indefinitely. Fruit curds are a mixture of …
The best things in life are often the simplest. Bread pudding is one of those things. Bread pudding is something of a blank canvas for the creative cook. Made from a handful of ingredients that are found in almost every kitchen – milk, eggs, butter, sugar and leftover bread – bread pudding is one of the most basic comfort foods that there is. With the addition of a few spices and flavorings, the variations are infinite. Easier to make than …
Cherries are in season, and while it’s tempting to simply gobble them fresh by the handful, there are plenty of other interesting – and rewarding – ways to enjoy them. When sweet cherry varieties like Ulster, Cavalier, Hedelfingen and Regina ripen fully on the tree, they burst with deep, intense dark cherry flavor, making them excellent choices for use in recipes, both traditional and novel. The long history of cooking with sweet cherries is evident in the wide variety of …
Is there anything finer, more perfect than a ripe, ruby-red cherry? Sure, we all love succulent strawberries, plump blueberries and juicy raspberries, but nothing can rival a cherry, that bright red summery globe so beloved of birds and small children. Cherries have a long and tangled relationship with mankind (you could say it’s “complicated”). Cherries, both sweet and tart, seem to have originated in Asia Minor, somewhere in the region between the Black and Caspian Seas. While they appear rather …
It’s been said that “One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.” Cherries are a summer fruit, a small red globe that tastes of sun and warm days. Adults frequently forget how to appreciate the goodness of simple things like long summer afternoons and berries picked from a tree and put straight into a red-stained mouth. Perhaps cherries taste so good because they remind us of carefree summers and drives in the country, stopping at a roadside …
Fall is the time of plenty. With a bounty of produce, fruit and nuts at hand, the biggest challenge is often deciding how to make the best possible use of it all. But it’s not an unpleasant task, and finding creative new ways to combine familiar ingredients can be its own reward. Pears and chestnuts are one such combination, but they go together quite well indeed. Both have interesting textures; similar, yet subtly different in unique ways. When cooked, …
Mousse! Lighter than pudding, airier than ice cream… certainly nothing like jello. Mousse has a reputation as a complicated, rich and decadent indulgence for special occasions. While our recipe for Balaton cherry mousse is something of an indulgence and does make any occasion special, it’s not really that complicated. Yes, there are several steps involved, but none of them are especially difficult, and with some practice and a little organization, this wonderfully summery dessert can take less than 45 minutes …