National Cornbread Festival

If you're going to be anywhere near South Pittsburg, TN on April 31st or May 1st, make your way to the 15th annual National Cornbread Festival. South Pittsburg is home to Lodge, the only company still making cast iron cookware right here in these United of States. Once you're there, you can buy yourself a dutch oven to make, well, cornbread in, and then pay $2 to enjoy samples from the National Cornbread Cookoff. Because what's better than cornbread made in cast iron? Nothing, that's what. Watch a video of how Lodge cookware is made here and then watch an old video about the festival here.

RAMPS

When you're out this spring gettin' your land legs back, keep an eye out for the Ramp, or Wild Leek (Allium trioccum). These small wild onions have a strong garlicky odor and flavor. You can munch 'em raw, sauteé them, add 'em to a pesto, or make a ramp and wild morel quiche. This stinky veggie is getting some serious street cred at many restaurants these days (in the near shadows of the Morel mushroom). Ramps grow best on hillsides, in sandy, moist soil. Try checking close to the banks of small streams or rivers. The leaf of the ramp is broad, tender and bright green in color, fading to purple near the stalk. Before pulling up and chowing down you can verify it as a wild leek by tearing a leaf in half. You'll know it's a ramp by the smell. Holy onions. See ya at the Cosby, TN Ramp Festival?

Johnny Cakes

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, and if you've just woken up from sleeping in a tent, there are few better things in this world than preparing a hot meal that's easy to make. Enter the Johnny Cake. Often claimed to have originated in Rhode Island, Johnny Cakes, which are cornmeal flatbreads, were being made long before Europeans showed up by the Native Americans of the Atlantic coast.All you need is a bag of yellow or white cornmeal (I prefer yellow), salt, water and a little bit of oil. All of the toppings and fillings like jalapenos, cheese, maple syrup, etc. are up to you. I enjoy 'em plain with a dab of hot sauce, but if you need a little bit of sweet in the morning, do what you gotta do. It'll all taste good.Mix in cornmeal, a pinch of salt, and equal parts BOILING water, stir and let the batter sit for a minute or two. (A 1/2 cup - 1 cup of cornmeal per person will probably suffice.) If you want that cheese, jalapenos, sweet corn, bacon etc. in your johnny cakes, now would be a good time to add those things. If you don't have those things, fine. They're just as good plain, trust me. Turn on your stove, put some oil in the pan, let it get hot and spoon on the batter the same way you would a pancake. Cook for about 5 or 6 minutes, until they're a little crispy, then flip. Top with hot sauce, maple syrup, honey, salsa verde, fried eggs or the fish you caught before anyone else woke up. OR nothing at all. They should come out looking a little something like THIS.

Eating Season

The mid-February thaw here in the Great Lakes and the visit from our ol' pal sunshine got me breaking out the Peterson Field Guide and brushing up on my local wild edibles. I know I'm jumping the gun a bit (a lotta bit), but seeing grass for the first time in months in bits and patches will tide me over. Cold Splinters toured Prospect Park, NY with "Wildman" Steve Brill (pictured above) a while back, but duck over to his website and get lost. The highlight of his site (aside from his real wealth of knowledge) is his archive of media surrounding his arrest in NYC in 1986 for "eating a dandelion". Spring!