Pennyroyal brings some foraging controversy, but it's a great match for the flavor of bananas. Especially with the addition of Wild Rosehips in a thick syrup. Come into my post for a sweet dessert plate! :D

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On a Walk - Foraging Rosehips and Pennyroyal

When I go on a walk, I take along a little foraging kit, just in case I find things that are good to eat. I usually find something to eat, one way or another, lol. This week, I came across a couple things that I thought would really go well with the taste of this week's Steemit Iron Chef ingredient - bananas.

First, I found Pennyroyal that has started to grow again with the cooler, wetter weather. I wrote about Pennyroyal in my very first Steemit post. Pennyroyal has a stronger, richer, more medicinal flavor than mints like spearmint or peppermint. Used in moderation with something sweet, it provides a mysterious complexity that's hard to describe. But it's really good!

Second, I found a big stand of wild roses, with lots of rosehips - the fruit produced by the rose flowers. They were on the small side, but they were ripe. I chewed on a few and liked their flavor. Their flavor was rich, and strong enough to match the Pennyroyal and Bananas! So I collected enough to make some rosehip syrup.

Top left: Pennyroyal flowers and leaves. I pick the strands of leaves that don't have any flowers. Top right: Rosehips. These are the biggest ones out growing in the wild, but they were what I found and they had good flavor. Bottom: Rosehips, Pennyroyal, and a few flowers of wild Chickory that I also found on my walk.

It's worth noting that there are a lot of scary articles about Pennyroyal, in print and on the Internet. But Pennyroyal has been studied a lot! It is approved in the US as a food additive for direct addition to food for human consumption. And it's approved in Europe, too, within limits based on the type of food. I'm not eating a big bowl of Pennyroyal leaves and I'm not using Pennyroyal oil. I only use Pennyroyal as a flavoring, in food or tea, a few times a year. So I am comfortable using it and serving it to other people, too. (I drink beer and eat cookies and ice cream, too.)

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In the Kitchen - Making Rosehip-Pennyroyal Syrup and Banana Pancakes

It's so easy to make Banana Pancakes. I just mash up the bananas and mix in some flour. That's it. The key is to mix and mix and mix and mix, and stir and stir and stir and stir, the bananas and flour. The mixing, and time, develops the gluten in the flour. And it really brings out the flavor of the bananas. It makes a great little pancake.

There's only two ingredients in my little pancakes: bananas and flour. That's it! I also chopped some homegrown English walnuts until I had some very fine "walnut dust".

The Rosehip-Pennyroyal Syrup is a different story. It takes some processing! If I had bigger rosehips with thicker flesh, it would be a lot easier. But these rosehips had a lot of seeds! And, like all rosehips, they have little hairs in with those seeds that bother a lot of people. So it takes some effort to get the rosehips turned into syrup!

To process these rosehips, I cut off their ends and then opened each rosehip to remove the seeds and hairs. It gets a little sticky! But it's easier to do by soaking the rosehips for a few minutes in hot water. This cleaning doesn't have to be perfect.

Then I put all the rosehip pulp in a little cookpot, covered with water, and simmered it until the pulp was completely soft. I let that cool a bit and then mashed the mix through a sieve, separating out any remaining seeds. Then I put all the cleaned pulp mix into the blender -- and then put that through the sieve once more.

It does take some effort to turn Rosehips into a thick, rich syrup! Left: First I took the stem and blossom ends off each rosehip. Top right: These rosehips had a lot of seeds! Notice the little hairs surrounding the seeds. They bother some folks, so it's worth the effort to really clean and cook the rosehips well. Lower right: What was left from cleaning the rosehips and steeping the Pennyroyal in the rosehip syrup process.

All this heating and sifting and blending and separating left me with a clean Rosehip liquid. To make the syrup, I simmered it down to about half the volume. Then I added some sugar and simmered more, until the whole mixture got thick like syrup. Throughout this last process, I added and then removed a succession of Pennyroyal pieces. This let each strand of Pennyroyal steep in the liquid, but only long enough to provide its good flavors -- not so long that any bitter components would come out.

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On My Plate - Silver-Dollar Banana Pancakes with Rosehip-Pennyroyal Syrup, Dusted with Homegrown Walnuts

The Rosehip-Pennyroyal Syrup is a perfect match for the strong, but simple, flavor of these little Banana pancakes. At first, I only put a little on the plate, and then dusted everything with the finely chopped walnuts and finely chopped Chickory flowers. But that syrup is so delicious, it was wrong to only have a little on the plate!

Even at a fancy restaurant, I would eat every last bit of that syrup! Even if I had to lick my plate! It's a mystical, magical flavor that I haven't encountered in anything else. It's complex and rich. And delicious!

This view is for @galberto. He likes seeing that cup of coffee! ; )

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What Do You Think?

• Have you ever foraged for Rosehips or Pennyroyal?
• Have you ever had any food or drinks with Rosehips or Pennyroyal?
• Have you encountered any cautions in using Pennyroyal?
• Would you eat my Banana Pancakes with the Rosehip-Pennyroyal Syrup?

I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wild places.

I would like Steemit to be the premier site for Foraging on the Internet! If you have any thoughts about foraging, or experiences to share, write a post and be sure to use the Foraging tag. And check out the @foraging-trail to see curated quality posts about foraging. Happy Foraging!

Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series. I haven't been able to be on Steemit much lately, but I can't miss the contest series or I would miss out on my 1 point! ;D

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Plant List

• Rosehips - Rosa spp. - fruits
• Pennyroyal - Mentha pulegium - leaves
• Chicory - Cichorium intybus - flowers, summer until frost
• English Walnut - Juglans regia - nuts

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Haphazard Homestead

foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land
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