Archive: Sep 2012

Just like wine, honey tastes different depending where it comes from. Now, urban beekeeping has allowed us to taste Vancouver neighbourhoods. Honey’s a bit of mysterious food right? I know it comes from flowers but what the heck happens between the flower and the good part at the end when we get to eat it? To find out, I connected with Melissa Cartwright of Meliferra Bees, an urban beekeeping expert here in Vancouver. Ironically enough, the ancient greek root of the name Melissa means “honey-bee”. Melissa makes premium honey from hives in Chinatown, Mount Pleasant, and Kerrisdale. Chances are, you’ve seen her bees buzzing around this summer. Maybe they’ve even collected nectar from your front yard. When we met, she was wearing one of those awesome beekeeper get ups that look like space suits. Melissa didn’t waste any time letting…

I would love to find gold on the street, wouldn’t you:)? Ka-ching!  That’s what it feels like when I find a big, fat chanterelle mushroom poking it’s head through the underbrush.  I’m mushroom obsessed.  With the prime months of Sept to Nov coming up for foraging you may see me tromping around BC forests, dirty…

Blueberry & Lemon Verbena Jam   This weekend, I scored some lemon verbena from Chef Chashma of Pate Pastiche. I had some blueberries at home too and a recipe for a really nice looking jam recipe by Dorina Allen of Ballymaloe Cookery School. Been really having fun with the nostalgic feeling of preserves and jam making this year, so this was the next one on my list. Lemon Verbena is a beautiful smelling herb and this is the first time I’ve worked with it. I followed the directions in Dorina’s recipe and added rough chopped herb to the jam. It doesn’t work though…there’s chewy bits of verbena mixed through the jam and it’s not really nice. So I’ve altered the recipe and recommended you put the lemon verbena in a sachet. Or you could just scrap the fussy business and…