How To Make Lady's Smock "Monsawabi" Recipe
Written by Phil Brown, Badger Bushcraft Blog Sunday, 03 April 2011 12:15
In this Badger Bushcraft Blog article we will show you how to make lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis) "Monsawabi" in a simple and easy to follow recipe
Monsawabi is not a spelling mistake as we felt it appropriate to create an unusual name for this delicious condiment made with lady's smock which is a member of the Brassicaceae family that also includes broccoli, cabbages, horseradish, turnip, mustard, etc.
The lady's smock, also known as milk maids or cuckoo flower, grows in vast quantities in damp woodland and hedgerows near our base in Kent. To my mind the first showing of this plant always heralds the arrival of spring and I look forward to spotting the first of these in the roadside verges when out walking Inca The Bushcraft Dog. I often nibble at the leaves of this plant that has warmth similar to mustard and a not unpleasant aftertaste akin to cough mixture!
I have wanted to produce a simple condiment with this plant for many years and my various experiments have failed until now. I think I have over complicated things on many occasions and thought that the best way forward was to go back to basics and try something exceptionally simple and think I have achieved a positive result this time!
As with gathering all wild food "if in doubt leave it out". Don't ever take risks with the ID's of any form of wild foods"
The ingredients you will need to make Monsawabi are:-
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Freshly picked lady's smock
- Sea salt flakes
I added approximately 100ml of extra virgin olive oil into my old blender adding a good pinch of sea salt flakes before adding half of my large bunch of the cuckoo flower.
I initially used the blender on pulse mode to pull the entire plant onto the cutters. I then continued to add more lady's smock until I achieved the texture of a runny pesto before decanting into a Kilner jar and storing in the fridge.
There is plenty of lady's smock growing at the moment so why not give this a Monsawabi recipe a try and let us know what you think by commenting at the bottom of this Badger Bushcraft Blog article!
Comments
Thanks for the recipe. Went for a walk with a friend to gather the flowers this morning, known as 'Llaeth y Gaseg' (Mares' Milk) in Welsh.
We made two batches .....the first with flowers and stems, the second with just the flower tops. Both tasty on pasta and courgettes, but we reckon the flower one came tops.
Diolch yn fawr xx