Speakeasy – Secret Supper Soiree 2015 – SOLD OUT
Vancouver’s culinary speakeasy tour is back! And is completely SOLD OUT for 2015 Imagine you’re a guest in a 1930’s speakeasy, an old Chinatown warehouse, or perhaps a secret hide-away in the forest. Chef Jamie Huynh (Hawksworth) and Brooke Lodge (East Van Roasters) will be sizzling up a mouth-watering multi-course dinner for you. You’ll…
December 2, 2014
Honey mushrooms in BC (Armillaria mellea)
Chef Robin here again, we’ve been finding tons of honey mushrooms on our wild foraging tours this Fall. And a lot of my Eastern European clients want to know how to find this edible species of mushrooms. I’ll key them out here for you and also caution you to some poisonous look alikes. These mushrooms…
November 4, 2014
A gift only for Swallow Tail members to help you through another Monday…
Hi folks, This present is for you, my lovelies. I have 10 big Matsutakes (the famous and rare Pine mushrooms) that cost $60/lb and I’d like to give them to the 8 most interesting posts about mushrooms on our facebook page. The posts can be informational, stories, cool pictures, whatever you can think of. Deadline…
October 20, 2014
The prettiest mushrooms in BC – Violet Cortinarius
This mushroom is so gorgeous, I found a double dozen of them in the forest today. It’s called Cortinarius violaceus or a Violet Cort and can be found in coniferous forests around BC. Okay, so you want to know if it’s edible, don’t you. It is edible, but tastes a bit like cigarette butts (not…
October 13, 2014
Wild Berries of BC – Grouseberries
Blackberries are coming out in Vancouver now, but I really love finding berries that you can’t buy in the grocery store. Recently, I went up to the alpine in Manning Park (which is just gorgeous) and tasted my first grouseberries (Vaccinium scoparium). Mild, sweet-tart and really lovely, they would be a great addition to any…
August 26, 2014
Wild Weeds – Is Tansy Edible?
A really wild, yellow flower with an ancient, but dark history. Easy recognized by it’s small circular, clustering flowers ‘buttons’ and it’s feathery leaves, it grows abundantly in abandonned green spaces in urban and disturbed environments. Tansy (Tanacetum vulgarum) is an insect repellent and, as such, was used on corpses to prevent rot. Used as…
July 31, 2014
Oregon Grape Jelly with ginger
We’re super excited about our new Foraging for Beginners Course. To learn the basics of how to find and cook wild edible weeds, trees, mushrooms and berries like oregon grape with Chef Robin – click here. Oregon Grape Jelly with ginger The basic ratio of sugar to Oregon grape juice is about 1:1 unless you…
July 19, 2014
Finding Morels in BC – Like pirate booty!
I wasn’t always big on morels. As a chef, they are really expensive ($30/lb) and really hard to clean with all those bloody holes in the caps. But I found a cluster of small black morels when I was hiking, totally clean! Free luxury culinary ingredients always makes me excited. So, I added those to…
June 19, 2014
Baked Garlic Dungeness Crab Recipe
Hi everyone, We’ve been running a lot of Dungeness crab fishing tours this year in Vancouver and everyone wants my recipe for the crab we serve on the beach. So here it is. I DO NOT (sorry to yell) boil my crab, you lose all that great crab flavour to the water which is also…
June 12, 2014
Wild Mushrooms: Shaggy Manes
Shaggy mane mushroom foraging happens from May to October in Vancouver, BC. I found these little suckers in my Vancouver backyard yesterday. Couldn’t resist filming a little “how to” for people that are curious. These mushrooms come up absolutely everywhere and are easy to identify so their a good beginner mushroom for new foragers. Also,…
June 7, 2014