- [Narrator] This program made possible by Forest River.

We have always been dedicated to helping people experience the joy of the outdoors, by building a full range of recreational vehicles.

At Forest River, your needs, int and lifestyle are at the forefront of everything we do.

Forest River, follow the river.

To learn more, visit forestriver - I think one of the things I enjoy the most about producing "Wild Harvest", has given you some tips and some techniques.

However, you cannot stop there.

This is just the open door through which to travel.

The truth of the matter is, to gather safely and responsibly is to seek out a local expert.

Start with your books, go online, but find a local expe Someone who is passionate about wild edible plants and have them teach you the safe and responsible ways to enjoy the wild harvest.

(lighthearted music) (wind whooshing) - That's cool.

- Yeah.

- I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Every time I go out for a wild edible plants I end up having option anxiety.

You know what the solution to that is, one.

One tree, one plant.

And even with that, you end up with all kinds of choices and options.

Is it the roots, the stems, the the flowers, the seeds?

What season is it?

Should you gather in the spring, the summer, the fall?

Maybe even mid winter.

So get to know one plant, one tr one wild edible as your doorway out of your home and into the wild harvest.

(lighthearted music) (upbeat music) All right, Paul.

Well, I've brought you up from t 'cause I wanna focus on one this - Okay.

Ah, right here, right here.

Check this out.

- Well that was fast.

- Yeah.

Do you know what I'm looking at?

'Cause I can see, you know, six different plants right now.

- [Paul] I'm guessing spruce tip - You guessed, right?

This is the Sitka spruce.

What we have here is an opportun to take one species, the Sitka s but look at multiple ingredient So number one, we have the spruc Number two, as you know, the spruce needles.

Here's what I did for you.

I came here a couple of days ago I came down and I gathered a bunch of these tips and some of the sprigs, the bran For the needles and the tips, I took them back to the kitchen, and I actually spent sometime making spruce needle infused water for you.

By the time you get it, it will have been soaking for 48 - [Paul] Like, cold brew coffee?

- Yeah, exactly.

- Okay.

- I also made some spruce tip simple syrup.

I did use standard white sugar and a splash of honey.

And again, that will be soaking for 48 hours before you get it.

So it should be lots of rich flavor of essence in there.

Now for you, what I want you to to gather as many needles as you and as many tips as you think you might want to use.

So this way you end up with in e four ingredients from this one Sitka spruce.

The syrup, the water, your needles, and the tips.

Growing to more than 300 feet ta the largest species of spruce and the fifth largest conifer in the world, the Sitka is found in Southeast And then it hugs the west coast and is found all the way down to Northern California.

- There's nothing bitter about i It seems like there's a bit more resin component to it, which is It could go with anything, beef, poultry, maybe even desser (serene music) As I think about the spruce tree and the two things that I gathered a minute ago, you got the needles, which are really bold and delici just the way that they coated my palette was truly unique, and the tips, although they're not what I'm used to, they're definitely in the realm I want to capitalize on that.

I also want to capitalize on how sweet this location is.

The sweet the air is, how nouris this environment is.

- All right, we've got all four ingredients here.

- [Paul] I love this moment.

- My contribution and your contr We've got spruce tip, simple syr The spruce needle infused water I've been curing for two days.

The Sitka spruce needles themsel and the Sitka spruce tips.

Well, they're the same things in many ways, but I had fun making you some spruce needle infused.

(Paul laughs) (upbeat music) Well, we have a couple of ounces of spruce needle infused water f Okay you know what?

I'm going to make it some more t But in the meantime, let's go back to where we were.

Ah, see this happens.

It really does happen.

Now before I spill anything else let me grab the spoon here.

I haven't tasted it, but I'd love your reaction to the simple syrup.

- Thanks, I definitely am curious about this.

Oh my God, that's great.

- Is it?

- So good?

You've captured the flavor of the spruce tips, but they're more pronounced in a vanilla tone to me.

This is actually really fun.

And now that I've tasted your sy I've got all these great ideas a what I can do with it.

- [Les] Like what?

Like what?

What do you think?

- I'm thinking maybe it's time for dessert.

- Ooh, okay, you know what?

Don't tell me anymore.

Cause you know, I love dessert.

So you can think about that.

What type of dessert you might want to make, I'm going to leave you then to these four ingredients and you can suss it through and figure out what it is you might want to do.

- Sure.

- Sound good?

- Yeah.

- All right, I'm going to go see make some more spruce needle water for you.

(serene country music) Darn it.

All right, well, this is the Sitka spruce.

Now, how do I know it's a Sitka and not some other kind of spruc or maybe a fir tree or pine tree Coming close and get to know the That's really one of the easier to figure out if you're looking at a spruce or a pine or a spruce or a fir.

Now, when it comes to looking at the Sitka spruce needles, I like to look at them from this So I'm looking kind of down into the way they form and especially the underside.

What color is the underside?

Are there any lines on the under How many lines?

All of that and in this case, I know that the Sitka spruce nee go all the way around the branch That's very important because ot such as Balsam, they may flatten or they might flatten out only on one side.

So with the Sitka spruce, the needles go all the way aroun Now, the other way to properly identify the needles is to break it off and then look the broken end of it.

And I noticed that these needles are actually four-sided.

If you think of it like the mint mint have four-sided stems are often just called square ste And this needle is a four-sided Now you need a magnifying glass or glasses or younger eyes to se But fortunately I can just see it, just like that.

And yeah, so if you look at it right down the end, you can see that it is actually a four sided needle.

That's the Sitka spruce.

Okay, well for proper harvesting I'm going to walk my way around taking only one tip from each br Many of them have three tips on And that way the tree will actually continue to grow in a more uniform manner If I just harvested from one side on a constant basis, then eventually that tree is going to look very lopsided because I'm literally pulling off this years intended growth.

And I want to be kind to this tr (guitar music) Where do you want it?

- Wherever out here is perfect.

Oh yeah.

That's not a bad kitchen.

I can't believe the opportunity This perhaps is the most incredible kitchen scenario I've ever had.

I have an idea with the spruce tips and the needles to kind of make a green sauce, something that will really taste good on the steak.

All right, just to smash these up a little bit.

I want to release all the essent that are in the needle.

Okay, next up some oil, not too this is still about showcasing the ingredients.

And now I just have to let that sit in the sun, and give it some time for those flavors to develop.

So planning a cold cabbage salad capitalizing on the Sitka needle and a little bit of the syrup.

I think what I'm going to do is make a salad dressing for my cooked coleslaw, where the foundation starts with a little bit of this water.

This dressing is made of nothing but spruce essence employment.

(indistinct) Okay, that's in the wheelhouse.

Now that's a pleasant surprise.

There's one more thing that I'd like to make, A seasoning salt to use when I cook the steak out of the Sitka needles and the I'm cutting these up as fine as (plate clinking) Now a little bit of salt.

There you go, Steak seasoning.

That's a beautiful fire.

That's the sound.

I know that wo (cabbage sizzling) Just a nice hint of caramelizati Some browning on that cabbage.

Is going to add a bit of a nutty This beautiful needle water that might impart some flavor into th (water splashing) - Best part of the day coming up - It's time to rub the steaks with the beautiful Sitka salt.

(steak sizzling) Beautiful.

One neat trick with the wok is to use it to cover your meat when it's cooking over a grill, especially in a camp fire situation like this.

Two things happen, number one, it's capturing all the smoke.

Number two, it's helping warm up the steak.

So you've got that heat coming in from underneath, but the top is warming up same t So when I flip it, it's going to cook it faster and get that proper done-ness.

Oh yeah look at that.

(serene music) - Well, that looks like what I think it is.

- Yes.

Thanks for building me that fire - That's my pleasure.

Ooh, this is such a great and beautiful reveal.

The meat's done to perfection.

What's the greenery?

- Well right there you've got Si - [Les] Yep.

You have some cabbage, which is a cold salad.

In the salad itself there's a lot more going on.

I've got spruce tips, I used your syrup to make the dr I used the water to make the dre - Let's try this.

This is spruce tips.

- I even tried using the water to help steam the cabbage when I was cooking it.

The flavor ended up dissipating.

Like there, there was nothing th It was a novelty- - All so, I'll push back a littl No it didn't, not really.

I'm tasting it.

- Good.

- Well, no and now granted I'm incorporating as much as I can from the greenery in with the steak.

It's there, the flavors there.

- That's good.

- It's not lost on me.

If you said this is your spruce grilled steak with salad underne the spruce tip would not be lost for me in this flavor.

It's not overt.

It's not in your face.

There's a subtlety to it.

You may have actually nailed the proportioning here.

Because if I had that spruce tip in every single bite that I was taking right now, it would become too much.

It's a very unique flavor.

And I'm enjoying getting a flavo it's subtle to barely noticeable And then another mouthful there.

Oh, there it is.

I'm calling this dish a win.

I don't think there's this is a fail at all.

I think for me it works beautifu I don't think I'd want more spruce tips in this.

I love it the way it is right no - Yeah.

- There's a strong flavor and th there's subtle flavors and then Oh my goodness.

(upbeat music) Hey, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Go on.

(men screaming) (plates clicking) Go on.

As crazy as this all is, that's kind of the thing to do.

Make him afraid of us.

Go on, ha.

Get out of here.

(plates clicking) We like you, but we cannot feed Now, he looks dejected and I fee The worst thing, absolute worst that we can do right now is to sacrifice this wonderfully cooked steak to him.

(plates clanging) And people do that.

They throw a piece of meat.

Go on, go on.

And that's the wrong thing to do Because at that point you've just taught him that you don't mind feeding him.

He knows you mean food.

Go on.

See, he's circling around us.

That's not good.

Don't like this.

Let's pack up and give him his s head back to the fishing lodge for dessert.

(upbeat music) - It's not often the wild harves ingredients are suited for desse I think this is one of those exceptions where it is.

I'm really looking forward to us these needles to make a custard.

It will be one layer of needle f And it's a base where I can use Les's syrup with those beautiful spruce tips and that wonderful flavor to kind of float on top.

And that will be the start of th (knife banging) Here we go.

I'm chopping it down because the small pieces actually release more flavor.

I'm making a syrup to flavor my but it's not going to have the same flavor profile as the one that Les made.

This one is made from the needles and from the ground.

Much different flavor.

That should do it.

That's coming along nicely.

What the heck?

I'm gonna add some bigger pieces 'cause I can.

Add some heavy cream, back on th Not too hot, nice, gentle.

I'm cooking this over low.

Now what I'm about to do is essential when it comes to making a custard.

It's a step called tempering you So what you need to do is ladle a little splash of the hot cream and stir that up.

What it does is it makes sure that the eggs are a closer temperature to your hot liquid.

So when you add the eggs to the they don't cook and scramble.

Now, that I've tempered my eggs, I'm going to stir them back in to the cream.

And that's essentially all it is to making the custard.

(serene music) All right, now, one very importa when cooking custard is to cook them in a water bath.

Time to get them in the oven.

(wood cracks) - This is one of the most wonderful and beautiful experiences when it comes to gathering wild edibles.

Is coming across the gorgeous creatures of the forest.

This beautiful big Bruin is very with coming to this fishing lodg and munching away on the grasses and dandelions.

He's just doing what I'm doing, forging for local wild edibles.

He really doesn't want to interact with me.

I don't want to interact with hi So the safest thing is to do what I'm doing right now.

Speaking in a nice calm monotone and not doing anything too starling to him, to get him upset.

If I really wanted to get rid of I'd be loud, and smash pots together, stomp my feet.

But I think what I'll do is I'll just sit here and enjoy the moment because rig he is just another fellow local out after the wild harvest.

- Okay, the custard looks perfec However, I know it's sweet because I tried the mixture before baking it.

And I want a little bit of cream just some plain whipped cream to offset that.

(plates clanging) And I've got exactly what I'm lo (soft serene music) Yeah, that was adventure at its - Oh, this is my first vision of Oh my goodness.

- Surprise.

- Wow, that looks amazing.

- I gotta tell you, this dessert represents a whole bunch of different thing I'm glad that we've got this rock to sit on because if you look at this dess and then you look out at all the - Right, right.

- Here they are in your hand.

But it was one tree that made th - Sitka spruce.

- Sitka spruce.

So on the bottom is a Sitka needle custard.

And that custard, the reason it has that patina was just based on how many needl I put in there to get the flavor - Mmmm.

That's smooth.

Oh I love the texture of the spr Oh, oh, I got to have a little bit more of this, wow.

- Does it say Sitka spruce to yo - It does and I'll tell you why.

My experience right now with thi is very similar to the experienc with your main meal, the steak.

The Sitka spruce is subtle.

If I take it with some of the sp and there it is, right?

- In your face.

- Right in your face.

And I actually really enjoy the They're like little tiny broom ends you know.

- I have to tell you regarding the texture.

the candied tips, when you made are decorating the top of that c And then I also have some chopped fresh green ones.

And that's how I got the color p to kind of look like the moss and look like the valley.

- You know, when you start forging locally, you have to understand that it's going to be a bit of a comm in some situations.

There may be people that come th they may want the same plants th So it's best to act like it's a and that we all are able to enjo this wonderful wild harvest.

Now I've never said that there weren't risks associated with harvesting from You may find that you're allergic to something.

You may find that you are up aga poison ivy or poison oak.

Or you may run into wildlife.

What a wonderful way to experience local forging when you can share it with a cre as beautiful as a black bear.

That is a moment with or without will make you fall in love with the the wild harvest.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] If you'd like to c the wild harvest with me and chef Paul Rogalski, then please check out our website at wildharvestfilms.com, where we have recipes and forgin along with deleted scenes and ou from the making of "Les Stroud's Wild harvest".

- [Announcer] Directly inspired by the series Chef Paul and expert forger Les bring you "The Wild Harvest" season two recipe book.

Highlighting all of Paul's dishe and complete with behind the scenes stories.

It is available for 29.99.

In addition, a DVD of this seaso is also available for 19.99.

To order, please go to wildharvestfilms.com.

"Wild harvest" TV show on Facebo or "Les Stroud's Wild Harvest" o (soft serene music) (birds chirping) - This program made possible by Forest River.

We have always been dedicated to helping people experience the joy of the outdoors by build a full range of recreational veh At Forest River, your needs, int and lifestyle are at the forefront of everything we do.

Forest River, follow the river.

To learn more, visit forestriver (lively music)