All posts tagged: granbakken

foraging – spruce tip syrup – granskudd sirup

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Living and eating through the seasons means one needs to enjoy the bounty while it is at its peak and preserve it. Our home, a timber summer house built in 1921 is known by the name Granbakken, which means ‘Spruce Hill’ in norwegian. It is simply appropriate that spruce tip syrup is on the agenda for local goodness. The children and their friends are more than happy to gather the ingredients for many of our concoctions 😉 Spruce has many purported benefits, and one can preserve spruce tips in a variety of ways: dried and combined with salt as my dear friend Louise does with a variety of plants made into a tincture/dram/schnapps via infusing with alcohol made into a pesto similar to ramslĂžk/wild garlic using pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and parmesan/pecorino romano dried and pulverized and added to a multitude of recipes but one that we enjoy purely for the taste is syrup, and it is so simple to do! bring the spruce tips and water to a rolling boil turn down to medium …

dehydrated vegetables and herbal salt

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An interesting day at Hellviktangen’s farmers market this weekend. A lot less people came, likely due to the rain, but the ones who were there were very keen on hearing details about the products that I had available. One  item that brought about great interest was my seasoned salt. Such a simple ingredient to have on hand and it can be used on so many ways. Throughout the growing season, while everything is fresh and abundant, I do my best to preserve what I can. One of the methods I use is dehydration. My pantry is full of mason jars with a huge variety of dried goodness in them. My trusty mandoline which has been well used for over a decade makes quick work of the task, and once thinly sliced, I place everything in the dehydrator and let it go to work over night. I dehydrate at no more than 40C (104F) in order to maintain the optimum nutritional value. While I do not adhere to the Raw Diet, I choose to use this process for dehydration …

Calendula salves and ‘tub tea’

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Calendula.. ahh.. such an amazing plant! This week for the farmers market at Hellviktangen, I am putting together more of my salves and ‘tub teas’. Throughout the summer I collected calendula from Ekebo, our collective farm. The more you pick, the more buds appear, it is amazing what mother nature can do. Once home, I laid them out on trays to set in the dehydrator. I prefer to keep the temperature down and wait longer than to rush the process and risk overheating the flowers. Once they are bone dry, I remove the petal from their stems and store them in a clean airtight jar to be used in a myriad of ways. In order to make an infused oil from them, fill a clean jar halfway with petals and then top up with the carrier oil of your choice. Many use olive or coconut oil, but I prefer almond oil for skin products. Vitamin E can also be added to help prevent your oil from going rancid. Let the oil sit in a warm spot …

Granbakken at the Local Farmers Market

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This weekend Hellviktangen Kulturhus is hosting a mini farmers market. It was a very last minute invite for those who grow and/or create things with local produce, and while looking in my pantry after a season of ‘making’ I thought why not! Every year throughout the late summer and autumn, I put together a good sized batch of homemade goodness, most of which is given out to friends, family and neighbours. This year, I have more than enough! Why ‘Granbakken’? Granbakken (which translates to Spruce Hill) is the name our our property. Our home is an old timber summer house from 1921, and whenever I label something from my kitchen, it has had the Granbakken name on it. I find it very appealing to keep the history of our home alive. So I have been in the studio designing, printing and plotting labels for jams, jellies, salves, tub tea and more! I love being able to combine studio life with kitchen creations 🙂 My children have also been asking when we will be using the fruit press and crusher, and as our usual fall …