Preserving spring foods easier than you think: Andrew Coppolino
Most of us can agree that when it comes to food, fresh is best. In the next several weeks, there will be a bountiful harvest of the spring and early summer delicacies, whether farmed or wild.
We'll be able to gorge on asparagus from local farms while, at the same time, seasonally-driven restaurants will pack ramps (also known as wild leeks), fiddleheads and rhubarb into as many dishes on the menu as they can.
These four plants are harbingers that summer is on its way, and I encourage you to eat your fill of them. But what about a cold January and a blustery February? For that, there's preserving. It's perhaps derided as what our great grandmothers used to do long ago, but today the practice of preserving continues to gain popularity.
Here are some suggestions for preserving some of the season's earliest crops from chefs in Waterloo Region.
Ramp up flavour
Eric Neaves, Fork and Cork Grill, Kitchener
Let's start with one of the earliest plants that pops its head up out of the spring soil: ramps.
With their oniony and mildly garlicky quality, ramps, also known as wild leeks, delight chefs when the plant pokes through the soil in April and May.
That's in good part because of their dual purpose: you can make a pesto from the green leaves and you can pickle the white and greenish stalk, says Eric Neaves of Kitchener's Fork and Cork restaurant.
"My go-to for long-term preserving with ramps would be to pickle the stems and bulbs. This can be done quite easily with a 50:50 ratio of hot water and your favourite vinegar, and any sort of pickling spices that you like, maybe a little chili or allspice and salt," Neaves says.
"You just want to bring the brine to a quick boil, pour it over the ramps and either put them into your fridge or then they can be canned."
Asparagus: a simple pickle treat
Nick Benninger, Uptown 21, Waterloo
We have quite a bit of asparagus that grows in the region, and it comes fast and furious, notes Nick Benninger of Waterloo's Uptown 21 and Taco Farm Co.
The best advice is to gobble up as much of the slender treasure that you can but preserve some as a pickle for the colder months. A little bit of acidity, spice heat and pepperiness with the grassy asparagus will warm you up nicely as you look back on the warmer days of spring.
Benninger says his kitchens get started preserving asparagus right away into what he refers to as "straight up pickles, nice and spicy." "You can do so many things like antipastos and you can make a nice salsa with it," Benninger says.
"Anything where you can get the acidity up enough that you can preserve it over time."
Benninger suggests a 50:50 apple cider vinegar and white vinegar and about a half-a-cup of sugar for every litre of vinegar. "Then pick your favourite spices. We go with pequin pepper, cumin, lots of garlic and an herb like tarragon seems to be good," he adds.
The next step is to boil that mixture and pour it over your asparagus, process the jars and you've got what he says is "a pretty simple treat."
Benninger has an additional preserving tip: to keep the asparagus crunchy, toss them in salt and let them sit overnight. "The following day, I'll rinse them off and let them sit in ice water for an hour before pickling," Benninger says.
Don't fiddle with fiddleheads
Shea Robinson, Miijidaa, Guelph
Fiddleheads, the immature, unfurled fronds of ferns, can be a bit trickier, but there are not many other plants which can stake such a strong claim to being a quintessential Canadian ingredient.
Because there can be some concerns with foraging ferns that can make you sick, it's perhaps best to use traditional food sources like grocery stores to make sure you are eating ostrich ferns (species Matteuccia).
And hurry: they are only in their prime for a few weeks while tightly coiled.
To prepare them, remove any debris, wash them and dry them well, advises Shea Robinson chef at Miijidaa Café and Bistro in downtown Guelph. He says there are two primary methods of preserving that he likes: pickling and freezing.
"Freezing is a little bit quicker and a little bit easier. Wash them really well and trim away brown spots. I like to cook them first in salted, boiling water for three or four minutes. Drain them and put them in ice water to stop the cooking process. Dry them off really well and then just put them into freezer bags and straight into the freezer."
Then, when you want fiddleheads for a fall or winter dinner, you are ready to go. "Just pull them out and steam them two or three minutes.
You can sauté them in lots of garlic and butter. They're fantastic," Robinson says.
Rhubarb offers zing
Jason Bangerter, Langdon Hall, Cambridge
Rhubarb is a vegetable that can also be considered a fruit; it works both in savoury and sweet dishes.
Langdon Hall's Jason Bangerter calls rhubarb an ingredient that gives great zing, a nice crunch and builds flavour into dishes.
The Langdon garden has many rhubarb plants, and Bangerter and the gardeners trim and take care of the plant carefully to extend its production beyond spring.
"You can use it as the main component of a dish or you can use it as an accompaniment," Bangerter says.
He likes to preserve and use rhubarb in a few different ways. "The main thing is probably pickling, or preserving in a syrup of two parts water to one part sugar, a little bit of lemon, even a little bit of lavender. Bring that syrup to a simmer and add your cut rhubarb to it and that's it. You can preserve it in a jar or a ziplock bag."
Another method he likes is to make a puree: cook out the rhubarb in the syrup, puree it, put it through a strainer, and store it in a ziplock bag – or in an ice cube tray – in the freezer.
"You pull it out as you need it, and you can sweeten it or leave it sour. It's really up to you what you want to do with your rhubarb," Bangerter says.
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