What really stuck out to me was the eye-opening experience he took us on. Right as we walked into the National Park entrance, something I've already done many times, we stop right away and he identifies the first edible plant. It's a pod that when you bite into it, bursts with a strong anise flavor. I soon dubbed it the Jager plant because it reminded me of Jagermeister. Haha. He then showed us the sstinging neddle plant which I am all too familiar with due to hikes in Baldy. However it was freaky to watch this guy just grab it like it was nothing. Turns out back in the day he was assigned to collect this stuff by the bunches, that his hands have actually gone numb and are immune to the stings! Crazy!!! I barely brushed my hand against one later in the day and it hurt like hell!
We continued through the journey as he showed us more cool stuff.
Then we were gathered under a tent where Chef had set up an outdoor cooking demonstration. He gave a live demo of a starter, entree, and dessert, all including freshly-picked wild plants we had just collected. The starter were fried baby salmon. I know sounds weird, but they were really good! They were from a local fish farm and were very tasty. Next he cooked some sliced fillet mignon with pasta, and these greens that were picked that tasted just like horseradish. It was a very strong flavored dish. And for dessert, Chef prepared fried Elderflower. Think of a squash blossom dipped in tempura batter, that is what it closely resembled but with the sweet delicious flavor of Elderflower.
We foraged around some more, ate our bag lunches, and returned back to the hotel. It was a great experience and I had a really fun time, just froze my ass off the whole time as well.
But it was all great fun! =)
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