Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) root is one of the many wild components that can be used to make surrogate coffee. In times where real coffee was scarce blends of various roasted roots and nuts were used as a coffee substitute. We have come full circle since nowdays these types of coffees are sold in biological shops as a hipster product rather than a poor mans coffee. To add something extra to this coffee, we used hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) seeds which have a resemblence to cardemom.
Category: Beverages
Blackberries (Rubus ulmifolius) do not need any special introduction. The ones from the wild are similar to those from a supermarket, however, somewhat smaller and they contain more pits. In this recipe, we used blackberries with refreshing apple mint (Mentha x rotundifolia) and nettle (Urtica dioica) and creamy coconut milk. This smoothie is great start of a hot summer day. Nettle can give you nasty stings and there are some preprocessing techniques you can use to neutralize the hairs on the leaves responsible for stinging. First of all its important to use good quality gardening gloves when picking the leaves.
Cleavers (Galium aparine) is known as a sticky plant that might not be pleasant to eat. You can use its leaves and stems to make an infusion for tea or for a smoothie base. It is in the same family as coffee (Rubiaceae). Its roasted seeds can be used as a coffee substitute, they even contain caffeine. For this smoothie for the wild ingredients, we use a cleavers’ (Galium aparine) infusion as a base and sorrel (Rumex acetosa) and Japanese knotweed (read more Reynoutria japonica) as the main aromatics for a pleasant acidic kick. To give the smoothie more body