Sweet, sour, salty, umami, and everyone's “favorite” flavor: bitter! Bitter herbal concoctions have a long history of use across nearly every culture. They are a unique sensory experience and must be tasted to do their important work. As soon as herbal bitters hit the tongue, the bitter compounds activate our salivary glands, which in turn send signals to our gastrointestinal system that it is time to digest. 

Each spring as another camping season draws near, I find myself on the hunt for new gear deals, trail spots, and of course, trail food recipes! My ideal camping fare is healthy, filling, shelf-stable, and simple to make (after all, preparing to hit the trail requires enough prep already!). Homemade energy balls already tick all those boxes, but I was recently inspired to pack even MORE goodness into each tasty bite—with a little turmeric and chai spice.

You know that moment when you try something for the first time and you have a "where-have-you-been-all-my-life" experience? Discovering dukkah (sometimes spelled duqqa, du’ah, or do’a) was one of those culinary moments for me. Since that dukkah eureka moment, I’ve made a point of keeping a container around all the time, in case I need a quick, healthy boost of energy or a punch of amazing sprinkle-on flavor to finish a dish.

Humans have been brewing beer for millennia, and in that time, we have incorporated countless ingredients into our ferments. From bright, citrusy witbiers to rich herbal gruits, there’s a flavor profile to suit most any taste—and many of the ingredients to achieve it can be found in your home apothecary or kitchen spice rack!

My husband got a job as a short-order breakfast cook when he was in high school. It was in that restaurant that he learned how to make ghee. I didn’t know this about him until one day, as I was making some herbal ghee, he said, “Oh yeah, ghee makes everything taste better!” He then proceeded to tell me the story of why he was such a master at throwing together a great breakfast. He dished out thousands of meals in that restaurant job, and all the egg dishes were cooked in ghee.

Dandelions tell us that spring is here! Often among the first flowers to emerge, especially in northern climates, dandelions bring important early nectar to honeybees and lift the hearts of all who anticipate longer days and warmer temperatures. The golden orbs fill lawns and meadows and even appear between the cracks in concrete. Dandelion is both tenacious and generous, and is one of our most-needed plant medicines.

It’s nettle harvest time! How humans came to figure out that nettles are a powerhouse of goodness is beyond me. They contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and a treasure trove of other vitamins and minerals. But as a kid growing up in the Coast Range of western Oregon, my entire relationship with nettles involved trying not to get stung by those wicked trichomes while romping through the woods. So, kudos to the first brave nettle-harvesting souls, because they figured out (as I now know) that harvesting nettles without getting stung is actually easy, and this puts urtica dioica on my list as a versatile and delicious herb.

I distinctly remember the first time I tried mochi. I was adorned in a kimono that was provided by the kindergarten I attended on the island of Oahu, and we were celebrating Hinamatsuri, or Girls’ Day, a spring festival that takes place every March 3 to celebrate the health and well-being of young girls. The tender, sweet, and gooey-textured mochi cake had me hooked from the very first nibble. Mochi is a traditional rice flour cake consumed year-round in Japan, but often is reserved for special occasions and holidays.

My son and I have been studying permaculture, and one of permaculture’s primary principles is called “stacking function,” a concept whereby you’re getting many yields from one element. As a busy mom, simplicity and stacking function have become guiding principles in my own life—"fill two needs with one deed” is my motto, and this also applies to my herbal medicine endeavors. There are many ways to prepare herbs, but few herbal preparations stack function in the way that herbal vinegars do!

Sometimes soup is simply a necessity. When the bitter chill of winter bites and the pantry is stocked with odds and ends, I like to give a whirl at piling anything tasty into a pot, then crossing my fingers for a delicious result. This time around, it was sweet potatoes. I knew their sweet and earthy aroma would go nicely with an Indian curry blend and one of those half dozen cans of coconut milk I seemed to be hoarding.

St. Patrick’s Day is one of those holidays that delights the comfort-foodie in me. Within my circle of friends, it’s been known to inspire Jameson-fueled quests to perfect the finer points of Irish soda bread. Although people often think of soda bread as being a product of Ireland, it’s actually an American invention that shows up in many cuisines around the world because of its simplicity, and the results are SO good! It’s a quick, one-bowl process and, because it relies on a chemical reaction between baking soda and a moist acid like buttermilk, the bread requires no resting or rising. In truth, soda bread is more or less a big biscuit. This five-seed, Himalayan-salted version retains the super-easy nature of traditional soda bread while seriously upping the nutritional content and flavor by adding whole wheat pastry flour and aromatic seeds. Whether you’re aiming for a perfect St. Patrick’s Day loaf, or you just want to try your hand at one of the world’s simplest bread-baking methods, this seeded soda bread may be just the answer!