Steemit Iron Chef 2018 Act 01 Round 03 : Wild Cucumber Syllabub
With the help of wild plants, winter-time cucumbers make a delicious dessert! Come into my post and see how!
![x wild cucumber syllabub TN.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVEhcR4yiMyeymUbqxrpALWMLG2XYtLVu8vPY3RLM9fYN/x%20wild%20cucumber%20syllabub%20TN.jpg)
A Tribute to Summer Cucumbers
Fresh from the garden, cucumbers have so much more flavor than any store-bought cucumber in the wintertime. That's one reason I like to grow my own produce or find it in the wild. And focus on eating what's in season. The flavors in everything are so much more alive. I wish everyone could experience fresh fruits and vegetables right from their own yard or neighborhood.
Getting My Ingredients Together
I knew my store-bought cucumbers weren't going to be top-notch in their flavor. But I didn't want to hide them, either. So I decided to make something mild -- and try to complement whatever flavor I could get from these cukes, rather than overpower them.
![x wild cucumber syllabub 1.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmf3EFtxgGFAYrbyCzUxzYfbKrkUipZEu4hmPNCyNHAa1a/x%20wild%20cucumber%20syllabub%201.jpg)
I know that first picture looks odd. Oh well. That's the way it is sometimes, when I'm using wild plants in the kitchen! In the top image: a scruffy old Borage plant protected from the weather in a blackberry patch, a prickly branch from a Colorado Blue Spruce tree, and a dried seedhead of Smooth Sumac. I use just the newly growing center of the borage plant. I snip off the needles of the Spruce and make a Spruce sugar syrup. And I take the fuzzy red sumac seeds for a quick spin in the blender. I sift out their hard seeds, leaving just a tart lemon-flavored fuzz.
In the lower left: the cucumber-flavored borage center leaves, spearmint leaves, and lemon balm leaves. And more of the gingko nuts I foraged recently. In the lower right: I'm steeping dried homegrown Bartlett pears in white wine. And doing the same with thinly sliced cucumbers. I let the pears soak a couple days and the cucumbers for a few hours. The wine really did take on the cucumber and pear flavors. It's worth drinking on its own, lol.
Just a quick word about those gingko nuts. I dry-roasted them until they popped open like popcorn. If you ever try this yourself, be sure to put a lid on the pan. Those nuts are downright ballistic when they pop open! After taking the nutmeats out of their shells, I chopped them. And dry-roasted them in a cast iron skillet on the stove until they were crisp. This makes them taste more nutty than when I boiled them for my Olive-Gingko Chopped Salad.
Serving It Up!
This is a pretty simple dish. I finely chopped a peeled cucumber, mixed the cuke cubes with a little sugar, and let them sit a couple hours to draw out their moisture. I made a syllabub by whipping the heavy cream with sugar until it was stiff. Then I beat in a mix of the pear and cucumber wine. I sampled the wine mix first, to decide the right balance of the pear and cucumber flavors - and then again to be sure it was just right. I was surprised at how well the cucumber flavor came through in the syllabub.
![x wild cucumber syllabub TN.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVEhcR4yiMyeymUbqxrpALWMLG2XYtLVu8vPY3RLM9fYN/x%20wild%20cucumber%20syllabub%20TN.jpg)
![x wild cucumber syllabub 3.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmcxS3XDYXVQssMPrzUJCeNrHaA157YyS5irivLTjm91g1/x%20wild%20cucumber%20syllabub%203.jpg)
If I got this at a restaurant, I wouldn't even know what anything is. But this is one of the most delicious things I've eaten in awhile! The mild crunchy cucumbers. The spruce syrup has a resinous flavor offset by the sweetness in the syrup and the foamy syllabub. That does have a cucumber-wine flavor sweetened by the pears. The minty lemon of the herbs, the bright tart lemon of the sumac. And the crisp chestnut-flavored gingko nuts. That's a crazy combination!
![x wild cucumber syllabub 2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcntNgmdJqwZNX7VQZAkh3qGAkW6abBsYvfcyXq71QGu1/x%20wild%20cucumber%20syllabub%202.jpg)
What Do You Think?
- Do you grow cucumbers?
- Have you eaten any of the wild plants shown in this post?
- Do you forage for any wild food?
- Would you eat my cucumber syllabub dessert?
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.
Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series!
I try to make content that's interesting! If you found this informative and helpful, please give it an upvote and a resteem.
Plant List
- Gingko - Gingko biloba - cooked nuts
- Colorado Blue Spruce - Picea pungens - needles
- Smooth Sumac - Rhus glabra - seedhairs
- Lemon balm - Melissa officinalis - tender leaves
- Borage - Borago officinalis - tender young leaves
- Spearmint - Mentha spicata - leaves
- Bartlett pears - Pyrus communis - fruit
![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmXZQ7rhdYcw3iuF87Lx1ASPmP12PjNPC4jBUPqbjRdndE/Flag%20Gif.gif)
You are in a class of your own! This dish and many of your other dishes would earn you a very high ranking in the NYC fine dining world that I am familiar with. The dish is very simple looking, but very complex in taste. To me, it is a winner!
Good luck in SIC and happy foraging!
Wow, thanks so much @chefsteve! That means a lot coming from you as a chef -- and an experienced fan of wild food! There are so many great plants with flavors that aren't common, but are so good!I'd like to try some spruce champagne! I have a commercial Spruce Beer staying cool on my back porch, waiting for me...
I use sumac a lot -- more than lemons, lol. I was surprised how good the Gingko nuts are -- and how different they seem from boiling versus the pan-roasted. There is some incredible value going to waste under those messy, stinky Gingko trees! Happy foraging to you, too. The spring season is getting started! :D :D :D
Beautiful dessert and it looks yummy! It's great that you plant cucumbers, too! It's one among a few vegetables that I like.... Everything look fresh from your garden! Really great!
Good luck for Steemit Iron Chef! ;)
Thanks, @tangmo! Cucumbers are fun to grow. One plant can make so many of them. And they can double in size in a couple days. Do you ever see people growing cucumbers in your area?
You're welcome! Yes, I have ever seen people growing cucumbers in my area! It's really great plant! ;)
That syllabub sounds amazing- so innovative :-)
That's one thing I like about the Steemit Iron Chef series -- I've made things that I would never have thought of before. And I'll make this again, for sure. It's pretty amazing.
This is a full flavored packed entry my friend! It's true that I have never tasted most of the ingredients you used here...but I can feel on the plate that this dish must really be super tasty!
As usual I am learning a lot from the pro!
One reason I really like the Steemit Iron Chef series is that it pushes me. I end up making something that I never would have dreamed up on my own initiative. Or it gets me to think about an old recipe in a different way. I will make this cucumber dessert again, for sure. I surprised myself with how good it is! And it shows how wild plants can add a lot to a dish, without being the center of the dish. Thanks for throwing down the challenges! :D
I would def eat this it looks and sounds very refreshing :)
I think anyone that likes cucumbers would like this dessert. It was fun to make, too.
Its different :)
Sometimes different works out -- and sometimes it doesn't, lol. I have made some things that were pretty terrible! ; )
Have a beautiful weekend @haphazard-hstead
Thanks! I'm glad my explanations are helpful. There are so many plants that people can eat, just growing out there, on their own. I hope more people can learn them and enjoy them, too!
That looks so delicious @haphazard-hstead.
Thanks, @kittynick!
Wow! It's really amazing and wonderful cooking @haphazzard. It's really wonderful use of your wildplants and winter time Cucumbers in your kitchen. I really appreciate your lovely cooking.
I love this lovely and most delicious dish of fresh wild plants and cucumbers. I really want to eat this syllabub desert.
Thank you so much for sharing your most amazing and wonderful cooking and dish with us.
Thanks, @anayakhan! I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I could eat too much of this, too, lol! I'm glad you enjoyed my dessert, too! :D
That looks and sounds so delicious !
Thanks, @globaldoodlegems! It was really good!
I think that take photo of food is the hardest... I tried it so many times. You've done it ;) Great photo and post! Like your style how you put things on plate;)
Thanks, @liltammy! The Steemit Iron Chef challenge has pushed me to take better photos and make my food look nicer.