Juniper Berry Experiment 1: Panna cotta.

I have never made a panna cotta before, in fact, I hadn't really heard of this dessert before searching for recipes featuring juniper berries. When I discovered Local Milk's Juniper and Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta recipe, I knew I wanted to try it.

Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert which is a flavored sweet cream, made with gelatin and molded. It involved a lot of stirring, but otherwise, was pretty straight forward to make.

I enjoyed the entire process - the harvesting, the grinding, the making of the panna cotta, and most especially, the eating of the panna cotta. This was my first panna cotta experience, and oh...the smooth creamy texture and complex chocolate, salty, sweet, juniper flavors were magnificent. Beth from Local Milk has created a wonderful and easy to follow recipe.

Since making this, my mind has been churning over other ways to incorporate juniper berries into baking and candies. I see many experiments in my future!

The "berries" of Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

The berries, after being ground with a mortor and pestle.

Gelatin blooming over the cream.

Mixing the juniper berries in the cream. These will later be strained out.

Finished Panna cotta, with small whipped cream cloud on top.

Eating Wild

A good friend of mine creates the best New Year's Resolutions. Each year, she picks a subject - sparkle, rodents, spice - then explores that theme throughout the year. Inspired by her, I have decided that 2020 will be the year of eating wild. Throughout the year, I will explore the wild edible plants near me (eastern Kansas and western Missouri). Each month, I will choose a focus species, which I will highlight with in-depth posts, photos, and recipes. There will be other explorations as well throughout the year, especially during the summer months when plant life is bountiful. When I travel, I will seek out opportunities to sample wild edible plants not found at home.

Root of Pale Poppy Mallow

My guide for this year will be Samuel Thayer's book "Incredible Wild Edibles". I just received my copy in the mail today. Let the planning begin! I am looking forward to sharing this journey.