Superabundant dispatch: A love letter to lovage and this week’s news nibbles

OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and this weekly newsletter. To keep you sated between episodes, we’ve brought on food writer Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian and ecologist, to highlight different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem. This week she offers a recipe for cold sesame noodles and some tips for eating well during a heat wave.

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When it comes to eating in the Pacific Northwest, it’s not just about what we can harvest from the forests and the rivers, or what crops we produce — it’s about just how much better everything seems to taste here. Our blackberries, cherries and strawberries are more delicious, our hops are more perfumed and our grapes are juicier. We’re also very good at growing Mediterranean herbs — recall that oregano and lemon balm are two of the Northwest’s most vigorous weeds. And lovage. Lovage! An old-fashioned plant that no one seems to use anymore, but that grows to mammoth proportions in our soils. From stem to stern, all parts of the plant are edible, but do you know what you can do with lovage seeds? Read on to find out!

Freshly picked morsels from the Pacific Northwest food universe:

Just for kicks we made a fun-size episode about our cult favorite ingredient. It grows so well here in the Northwest that we think everyone should be cooking with it — not just the region’s most respected chefs. A robust perennial member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), lovage grows to around 9 feet tall and has tender, aromatic leaves that work as beautifully with Mediterranean and Southern European (especially Czech and Romanian) dishes as they do in Southeast Asian soups (lovage plays well with garlic chives and chrysanthemum greens as a substitute for Chinese celery in Phnom Penh noodles). The seeds are a much larger, more fragrant substitute for celery seed in seafood boils, pickling spice or Bloody Marys (plus you can plant them). We even make syrup from the leaves and flowers to drizzle on lemon tea cakes and creamy, fresh cheeses. Watch the Lovage episode, then find the recipe for our grilled watermelon, burrata and lovage salad at the end of this newsletter.

New research conducted by scientists at California Polytechnic State University suggests that while it does aid the growth of strawberry plants by retaining soil moisture and deterring weeds, the polyethylene sheets used as a mulch may degrade the soil quality over time through microplastic pollution as the sheets break down or are damaged during application and removal. Though the products are increasingly being regulated in other countries, California is the country’s largest user of agri-plastics, particularly in strawberry fields. (This research is ongoing and hasn’t been published yet. Read a summary here.)

Aquatic ecologists at Washington State University have published new findings that the invasive Asian clam (aka golden clam) is now more common in the Columbia River than in its native range. The clams appear to be right at home in the lower Columbia, taking up residence in every type of freshwater habitat — they are apparently unbothered by poor water quality and can thrive in a range of temperatures and substrates. Not much can stop them or even slow them down; although they’re technically edible, it’s prohibited to harvest them in Oregon and Washington because of domoic acid toxicity.

We’re definitely into summer produce around here — cucumbers are putting on a strong showing, and the first tomatoes are trickling in. We’re putting squash blossoms into risotto and grilled cheese sandwiches, and eating basil and Chinese chive flowers on everything. Now is also a great time to collect unripe green walnuts for nocino, the medieval Italian liqueur that you’ll want in your cupboard for winter cocktails (you can see an original 16th-century recipe in “The Treasure of Euonymus”). The blackberries and loganberries seem very behind schedule this year (last year was terrible — we had infestations of stink bug and spotted wing drosophila and ended up feeding most of the fruit to the chickens), but the white raspberries are still going strong. The fragrant sweet peas are far from winding down but we cut it back to make a giant bouquet (and more room for the “Sweet Millions” cherry tomatoes).

Everything is good in markets right now, especially blueberries, apricots, cherries and currants (find them at U-pick farms all around the Northwest); gorgeous local tomatoes, cukes and pattypan squashes are coming in hot. It’s also peak lavender season — you can also make a visit to a local lavender farm and fairy-up your lemonade (we also find that a cloth sack of lavender makes a wonderful car freshener). If you’re still looking for strawberries, the Seascape variety is your best bet.

Grilled watermelon salad with burrata and lovage.

Prakruti Bhatt / OPB

This formula of fruit + fresh cheese + tender herbs isn’t just for a caprese! Go off script and grill some summer fruit for that salad instead. (We also love this easy dish with cantaloupe and peaches.) An important note for grilling season: we recently learned that metal grill brushes can lose bristles in your food and cause major health problems if ingested! Just play it safe and use a wadded-up piece of foil instead. Serves 4-6.

Half a mini watermelon, cut into wedges

2 tbsp hazelnut oil (or your favorite flavorful oil — whatever you have), divided

2 balls of burrata

A handful of lovage leaves

Flaky sea salt

Our friends at Kitchen Table Magazine allowed us to share these pages from the latest issue (#5), which includes a recipe for a startlingly delicious lovage margarita. If you can’t find smoked shoyu you can use mezcal instead of añejo tequila (we still like the hint of savory salt from the soy sauce though).

As featured in Kitchen Table Magazine #5

Heather Arndt Anderson

Tags: Superabundant newsletter, Superabundant, Food, Recipes, Recipe, Food And Farms

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