Norwegian Wood

Scandanavian cuisine has always taken some getting used to as well as some ribbing over the years.Yet this ancient way of cooking and spicing is taken on a new form.Call it Nouveau Nordic .It's creating a stir in New York and getting palates excited again for this northernmost of European foods. Jeff Gordonier explored this as well as experimented with it in his column in today's New York Times Dining section.New Nordic, as it's known, has been around since the early part of this century.It sparked with the famed Marcus Samuelsson bringing a fusion of Ethiopean and Swedish cuisine to Harlem. Rene Redzepi came out of Denmark, bursting with new spins and old ideas such as curing ,foraging pickling and plating. Now, more than a handful of chefs from all over the Scandanavian arc are opening up restaurants throughout the city and its' boroughs.Most eateries are relying on the strong flavors of sea and land.As with Viking cuisine of a millennia ago, the flavors center around twigs, berries,roots, weeds, bark ,hay, grass along with kelp, fish soil and a kind of barrel fermented funk. That said , these add to the dishes ,making them customer favorites. What are these imported chefs creating? At Brooklyn based Luksus,Daniel Burns (who is really not Scandanavian,and has also cut his culinary teeth at The Fat Pig in London,England) gives us aebleskiver, a fritter made with duck confit and mushroom.Another chef, Swedish born Fredrik Berselius relied on his upbringing of foraging to influence his style.His most famous dish is a milk sorbet ,with a forest medley of spruce, yarrow and wild berries. another popular dish, known and loved by all Scandanavians is blood pudding.This is a sausage made with dried blood and filler, such rye and oats and then flavored with onions and molasses.It's a hard sell be cause it's not as popular here as it is in most of Europe.Skal offers a more friendlier charred broccoli, easily made at home too.This is breaded florets ,charred and then brushed with aoili sauce. NouvelleNordic is gaining its fair share of foodie fans.It is reflects the old with new ideas.Together it brings a new form of Scandanavian cuisine to New York Palates.

Tea From Trees

The best tea shop is in you yard or nearby forest. Surprisingly you don't need traditional tea leaves to brew a soothing cup. Your backyard maple or cherry can give you a tasty as well as healthy brew. Brewing from tree back is nothing new, It has been done for centuries mostly by indigenous American tribes. Their teas were not  only for soothing  and warming up a troubledsoul butalso for healing one too.
Any tree will give you tea. However some trees need to be avoided like poison sumac, yew and of course, hemlock. Any other is OKand can produce some flavorful brewing. For some trees like the wild cherry and maple, go for the inner bark which is more tender and flavorful.Cherry tree bark tea is good for sore throats and just for keeping the vocal chords lubed.It's also good for lowering blood pressure as well. Even the white pine, usually known for ornamentation has an inner bark that makes a sweet , sugary tea. It's also easy to peel which makes it excellent for preparing.Even a tree's needles such as the pine and spruce also make excellent teas as well. These are even rich in Vitamin C and can be subbed in for citrus of need be.

How do you get the bark and then brew the tea? First take a knife or sharp bladed scissor (this last is for the smaller, younger branches) and cut as much as you think you'll need to brew tea. DON"T take any branches laying on the ground ,These are probably the older ones and have no flavor.  One branch, half an inch wide and six feet long will yield one cup worth of bark.Back at the kitchen  it's time to start brewing. Use one quart of water for one cup of bark.Boil for twenty minutes and leave to steep until the brew gets dark. You can sweeten  your cup with honey or raw sugar along with lemon if you want.

It's amazing what your tree can give you. Shade , fruit and even tea. Brew some freshly cut bark tree today . You'll be surprised at how tasty it is.