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Welcome to this week's Superabundant dispatch! We have a delightful recipe for you: Strawberry-Linden Blossom Compote paired with Vanilla-Buttermilk Shortcake. Plus, don't miss out on this week's curated news bites to keep you informed and entertained.
Recipe: Strawberry-Linden Blossom Compote with Vanilla-Buttermilk Shortcake
Indulge in the perfect summer dessert with a fresh strawberry and linden blossom compote, served over fluffy vanilla-buttermilk shortcakes. The combination of sweet, floral notes and rich, creamy flavors is sure to delight your taste buds.
**Ingredients:**
**For the Compote:**
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1 cup linden blossoms (or a few drops of linden blossom extract)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
**For the Shortcake:**
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
**Instructions:**
1. **Prepare the Compote:**
- In a medium saucepan, combine the strawberries, linden blossoms, sugar, and lemon juice.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries release their juices and the mixture thickens slightly, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. **Make the Shortcake:**
- Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Drop the dough by large spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the shortcakes are golden brown. Let cool slightly on a wire rack.
3. **Assemble:**
- Split the shortcakes in half horizontally.
- Spoon the strawberry-linden blossom compote over the bottom halves, then top with the remaining halves.
- Serve immediately, and enjoy!
### This Week’s News Nibbles:
**1. Culinary Innovations:**
Discover the latest trends in the culinary world, from new sustainable farming techniques to the rise of plant-based gourmet cuisine.
**2. Local Farm Spotlight:**
Meet a local farmer who’s making waves with organic produce and community-driven agriculture initiatives.
**3. Health and Wellness:**
Learn about the benefits of incorporating seasonal fruits and flowers, like strawberries and linden blossoms, into your diet.
**4. Foodie Events:**
Check out upcoming food festivals, cooking classes, and farmer's markets in your area.
**5. Recipe Roundup:**
Explore a collection of summer recipes to make the most of this season’s bounty.
Stay tuned for more delicious recipes and interesting tidbits in next week’s Superabundant dispatch!
**Superabundant Dispatch: Strawberry-Linden Blossom Compote with Vanilla-Buttermilk Shortcake and This Week’s News Nibbles**
**Eating Trees to Save the Bees and How to Use Up All Those Berries You Bought**
OPB’s “Superabundant” delves into the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with engaging videos, articles, and this weekly newsletter. Each week, Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian, food writer, and ecologist, highlights different facets of the region’s food ecosystem. This week, she offers a recipe for a moist buttermilk shortcake with strawberry-linden blossom compote.
**Click here to subscribe. For previous stories, go here.**
As we wrap up Pollinator Week, we honor the industrious bees that bring so much abundance to our region with a special treat: a zhuzhed-up strawberry shortcake. The floral fragrance of a perfectly ripe strawberry is unparalleled, except, possibly, for that of a linden tree on the summer solstice. Collaboration, not competition, is key! Combine these two June exemplars, preferably with whipped cream and a vanilla-buttermilk pound cake. Though you can use almost any kind of cake, we love the simplicity of this pound cake — even if it’s not a true pound cake. 🤫 Want to know why? Read on!
**Camas Crops, Inherited Coffee Cravings, Summer Meals for School Kids, a Chat with Akkapong Ninsom, and Good Things in Markets, Gardens, and Kitchens**
**The Long History of Camas Cultivation in the Northwest**
Early anthropologists might have thought Indigenous Pacific Northwesterners were strictly hunter-gatherers, but growing evidence suggests that wild plant populations were carefully managed in agricultural ways. A recent Oregon State University study substantiates this, indicating that camas — a starchy, sweet root vegetable and important trade commodity — has been managed with controlled burns for 3,000 to 4,000 years.
**Coffee Cravings Have a Genetic Component**
“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee” could be hereditary, according to a new study comparing genetic data from 23andMe samples in the U.S. and UK. Coffee, part of the American and British diets for only a few hundred years, appears tied to genetic precursors for substance use and obesity, suggesting behavior is hereditary.
**Watch the Coffee episode of “Superabundant.”**
**Summer Food Service for Oregon School Kids**
With school cafeterias closed for the summer, many low-income families struggle to feed their growing kids. Thankfully, the Oregon Department of Education ensures that kids aged 1 to 18 will have free meals over the summer, with no paperwork required. To find a pick-up site near you, visit the USDA’s Summer Meals Site Finder, call 211 for assistance, or text FOOD or COMIDA to 304-304.
**LangBaan Chef on “All Things Considered”**
OPB’s “All Things Considered” host (and Superabundant narrator) Crystal Ligori spoke with Portland chef and restaurateur Akkapong “Earl” Ninsom last week to discuss his recent James Beard Award win. Listen to it here.
**Good Things in Markets**
Welcome to our new segment, “welp, you’ve really stepped in it now — you impulse-bought three entire flats of [ ].” This week’s installment: local strawberries. OPB’s associate director of audience development, Robyn El Kay, faced this very dilemma. “I ended up composting a couple of pints. I had no idea the half-life on strawberries was like 48 hours.”
If you’re in a bind like Robyn, remember you can freeze them for later. Frozen berries are great for smoothies, jam, and baking. You can also make strawberry vodka by steeping them in vodka and shaking daily for a week. Use the boozy berries in sugar to dehydrate for later. And, of course, try them in this week’s recipe.
**Watch the Strawberry episode of “Superabundant.”**
Local cherries are now in season, though the recent rains may affect their sweetness. Raspberries are still fragrant and plentiful. Garlic scapes are also available — if you grow hardneck garlic, you can snip your own, helping the bulbs grow fatter.
**In the “Superabundant” Garden This Week**
Lindens are blooming, and we’ve been collecting blossoms to add floral sweetness to teas, fruit jams, and syrups. Jonathan Kaufmann reminded us that wild fennel fronds are ready for plucking. If your local plants are blooming, try capturing some fennel pollen. Pop a bag over the flowering heads and shake to collect a small jarful.
Tomatillos and ground cherries are blooming, having volunteered from fallen fruit left in the beds last summer. This self-sowing propensity is why we take a laid-back approach to fall garden cleanup, benefiting garden invertebrates — an important reminder during Pollinator Week! Our radicchio is bolting, so we’re hoping for viable seeds.
**Lately, in the “Superabundant” Kitchen**
✨ We made room for garden loganberries and raspberries by using three rotisserie chicken carcasses to make stock, then pressure-canned the stock to save freezer space.
✨ We tried making meatloaf parm — everything you love about meatballs but in a loaf! Although it looked messy with mozzarella oozing out, it was delicious on garlic bread.
A friend gave us a tub of maple sugar, which we used to caramelize bacon in the toaster oven. The maple-sugared bacon was spectacular on brioche French toast for brunch.
**Recipe: Buttermilk Pound Cake with Strawberry-Linden Blossom Compote**
Strawberries are usually a late spring fruit, but Oregon strawberry season is still going strong with day-neutral varieties like Seascape and Albion. Linden blossoms, however, have a narrow gathering window. They perfume Portland with small white blossoms, but also attract aphids, which can lead to conflicts resolved with pesticides. This perfect storm has been linked to bumblebee die-offs.
To help, pick linden blossoms and turn them into dessert. Dried for tea, they’re used in blends by Steven Smith Teamaker and others. You can make liqueurs, syrups, jellies, and granitas or macerate them with berries in sugar to lavish over cakes and whipped cream. Serves 4-6.
**Note:** This is not technically a pound cake (traditionally made with a pound each of butter, eggs, sugar, and flour) but yields a moist, tender crumb similar to a sponge cake with a buttermilk twang. Baking it in a loaf pan gives it a pound cake feel, but you can bake it as a sheet cake, bundt, round, or in a muffin tin (adjust baking time accordingly). Leftover cake is wonderful with jam for breakfast or tea or cubed and toasted for topping ice cream.
**Enjoy your strawberry-linden blossom compote with vanilla-buttermilk shortcake and stay tuned for more delicious recipes and interesting tidbits in next week’s Superabundant dispatch!**
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