Hydrosols are typically a by-product of essential oil production.  But if you (like me) do not own a still (wah!), you can still make hydrosols at home!  I call them smelly water, but Mountain Rose gives a much more elegant, in-depth explanation:

Hydrosols, also known as floral waters, hydroflorates, flower waters or distillates are products from steam distilling plant materials. Hydrosols are like essential oils but in fa...

<<<<Let me start with a disclaimer here: although very yummy, it was kind of hard to take a photo that made this soup look appetizing.  Mushrooms and sausage are kinda weird looking.  Also, this soup tastes better the following day. >>>>

Perhaps you do most of your foraging for wild mushrooms in the woods, or maybe you do most of your foraging at your local grocery store or farmers market.  No matter, as...

“Not only this same fungus [the chanterelle] never did any harm, but it might even restore the dead.” —L. Trattinnick, Essenbarre Schwamme (nineteenth century).

Chanterelles are up among my favorite mushrooms to harvest and eat.  The are dense and firm when they are smaller and make them perfect for pickling whole.  I have a spot that is on timber company land and is covered in chanterelles so I don't feel too ba...

I am going to go ahead and take a guess that you might like, perhaps even love, blueberries.  They personally rank as my favorite berry.  Native to North America, blueberries rank as being one of the highest antioxidant foods in our diet.1  Antioxidants are important because they help find and eradicate free radicals in our system that can damage our cells and DNA.1  Their high concentration of antioxidants is due to anth...

One of my very favorite activities is wildcrafting, or foraging for foods and healing plants.  I get to bathe in the forest (is that still a trend?), hang out with my dog and at the end of the day I have some tasty or medicinal bits from the forest.  However, as wild foods have more and more of a prominent place on every hip restaurant menu, (hello, ramp-a-palooza!) it makes me a bit nervous about how all these wild foods are...