The Earthy Delights Recipe Blog
Celebrating wild harvested, traditional & artisanal foods
You may be disappointed to learn that the whimsical name of this charmingly simple dessert has nothing to do with foolish persons. Instead, it comes from the French word foulé, meaning “to press,” a reference to the mashed fruit most often used to flavor it. The English claim the concoction as their own, although the French name implies that it may have started elsewhere. But the origin of the name is irrelevant; what’s important is the delightful combination of tangy fruit and …
Honey, that most natural of sweeteners, holds an important place in every culture of the world. Honeybees, so crucial to the development of flowering plants, thrive in temperate regions around the globe, busily spreading pollen and concentrating the sweet, energy-rich nectar of the flowers that they visit into that prized substance, honey. The flavor of honey varies tremendously, depending on the type of flowers visited by the bees who store the precious honey in the waxy combs of their hive. It seems only …
Strawberry. Just the word itself conjures up visions of warm spring afternoons and the sweet fragrance of gleaming, sun-ripened berries. Strawberries are the most familiar and best loved of berries. Pop one into your mouth whole and taste the succulent juice as you bite in. Fresh strawberries, sliced and stacked in layers between buttery-rich shortcakes, are nothing short of miraculous in their simplicity and homespun goodness. There are a couple of simple tricks to making the best shortcake. Real butter, …
Is it a cookie? Is it a tartlet? It’s both. Inspired by the traditional Scandinavian filled cookie called “sandbakkel,” this crisp, lemony tartlet is just the right size for one. With a filling of tangy-sweet Meyer lemon curd and a baked meringue topping, it looks like a miniature version of a classic lemon meringue tart, but it’s suprisingly easy to make. We’ve broken the recipe down into three parts: the cookie-like dough, the Meyer lemon curd and the whipped meringue. …
The most delicious hot chocolate in the world is not made with cocoa powder, but with chocolate liquor. No, not THAT kind of liquor. “Chocolate liquor” is the term used for the thick paste that results when whole cocoa beans are fermented, roasted, crushed into ‘nibs,’ and lastly, finely ground. All real chocolate begins with this raw ingredient. This chocolate liquor (also called chocolate mass or paste) consists of 100% cacao – both the cocoa solids and rich, oily cocoa …
With fresh American-grown chestnuts now widely available, more and more people are learning how to prepare and enjoy them. True American chestnuts, once common in North America, nearly disappeared following a devastating blight that swept across the eastern U.S. in the early 20th century. By 1940, nearly all American chestnuts were gone. Fortunately, due to the combined efforts of scientists, botanists, and growers, commercially cultivated chestnuts are back. That’s good news for all of us. Chestnuts, it turns out, are not …
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been enjoying the newest truffle on the scene, the Hungarian Honey Truffle (Mattirolomyces terfezioides). Of course, it’s not a “new” truffle – it’s been around forever, but it’s new to most American truffle-lovers. So far, we haven’t been able to find many (actually, ANY) recipes using honey truffles, either online or in our extensive cookbook library. What’s the solution? We create our own recipes, of course! We started by thoughtfully tasting a paper-thin slice …
Mention the word “truffle” in the context of dessert and most people would probably think you were talking about the round, chocolate confections that are so popular on Valentine’s Day. In this instance, we’re talking about real truffles, the kind that grow underground in association with the roots of certain trees. While the use of fungus-type truffles is certainly not unheard of in desserts, it’s honestly sometimes a bit of a stretch and frequently not entirely to everyone’s taste. But there is one little-known …
The wild huckleberry (Vaccinum membranaceum or Vaccinum deliciosum) is a tasty relative of the blueberry, but it’s much more elusive. In appearance, huckleberries are very nearly identical to blueberries, but they’re smaller and their flavor has an “edge” which is missing in domestic berries. The flavor of wild huckleberries, as is true of many wild things, is more complicated and less obvious than the flavor of their tame cousins. While a fresh huckleberry may look like a blueberry, it tastes a …
The classic baked dessert known as “clafouti” originates in the countryside of the Limousin region of central France. The name comes from a word, clafir, which in the local dialect means, “to fill”. Indeed, the clafouti, something of a cross between a cake, a custard and a crepe, is literally filled with sweet cherries, traditionally fresh and unpitted. While the idea of a dessert containing cherry pits may not appeal to everyone, they’re included for a reason; the pits contribute an intensely almond-like flavor to the dish …