Mediterranean (edible) Botany
Yes, that is a thing. Combine a Jeep 4x4 with an aggressive driver and an expert Botanist/amateur geologist and you have a full day. We left Barcelona for the Plains of Girona. We were informed that Spain is like the world in miniature form…every climate and every topology and soil composition is found here. I am not sure that is exactly true, but I have to admit we saw a lot of diverse flora, topography and climate. We drove about 500km today, and much of it on back roads with locked hubs and holding seat belts in crash-lock, wishing for a 5-point harness. John looked a little green around the gills once or twice…nothing that rolling down the window couldn’t cure! Good thing Moses was not with us, or he would have emptied his stomach multiple times! We started the lessons on a mountain top called Sanctuari dels Angels…God knows where we were exactly. Our botanist, Evarist, specializes in edible plants and consults with many regional chefs on gastronomy and gathering. On our first stop we gathered white mustard, wild carrot, chestnut and tree strawberry. Instant salad. John liked the white mustard. The white flower has 4 pedals with the symmetry of a cross, which indicates it is edible (I caution the reader that I do not intend to put this into practice as a policy with any regularity). The first taste of this flower was of cabbage…then radish…then spicy mustard…then wasabi…then sneezing…with a mustard finish. John went back for seconds and thirds! We found mushrooms and mint, and took a detour to investigate a basin containing 5 extinct volcanoes. Our first clue we were getting close to the volcanoes was some lone black "bricks" in the houses and churches on that hill side. The pumice stands out next to the sedimentary stone. We found many aromatic herbs like rosemary and thyme nearby, but the guide did not get my Simon and Garfunkel joke. Perhaps my timing was off. Two picnic lunches (or maybe the first was second breakfast) kept us in good spirits and attentive to the lessons!
The incredible white mustard...with an avalanche of flavors. And nearly zero calories!
Looking down over the town of Girona...we were on the peak between two waves of fog.
John swings for the fence...just trying to knock down some chestnuts...Botanist struck only once, thank goodness they have national healthcare program
John imitates the paraglider...not too close, son, you aren't wearing a parachute :)
that's better...
What, peasant bread ? That will have to do. Lunch by a slow moving stream. Calls started coming in for me, so John and the experts went foraging...no mushrooms in sight, but they fashioned an atlatl out of bamboo and John proceeded to launch projectiles...