Jonathan's parents are visiting and we just had a foraged lunch. Gwen and Ralph brought boiled peanuts from the south, we supplied some homemade pear juice from our neighbor's pear tree, and we roasted up some chestnuts and the yam berries (aka Chinese Yam or Cinnamon Vine)! (Oh, and there are some huckleberry chocolate cordials in there for good measure.)
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| Today's foraged lunch |
In the past we've boiled the yam berries, or "air potatoes" as we like to call them. But I thought roasting would be a good idea, and they came out great! It was so easy. I went out the door and harvested them, just shaking the vines slightly and collecting the little guys in a bowl. Came in and separated the berries from the other dried leaves and flowers and stuff that got in the bowl. Then I added some olive oil to coat them, and sprinkled a generous amount of salt on top. I spread them out on a cookie sheet, and popped them in the oven that was heated to 425 degrees. After about 12 minutes I tested them with a fork and they were completely tender, even though they were hard like marbles when I put them in. They tasted great! What a fun party food, perfect for a foraged lunch!
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| Roasted berries from the Chinese Yam (Dioscorea batatas) |
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| Jonathan's mom, Gwen, with the roasted yam berries |
Nice, glad to see others experimenting with this potential staple crop. Although, there is disagreement over the correct scientific name for it. D. oppositifolia, D. polystachya are two I've seen.
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