Wild Bites #24: a 3-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on the website, podcast, YouTube, or To The Bone.

 ~ Hank

1. What's Hot Now

Fried morels

2. Smart Take: How Fermentation Produces Deliciousness

"Food becomes more delicious because macrocompounds are being broken down into more simple, more elemental forms. When proteins in meat or fish or, for that matter, beans or milk get broken down, they're broken down into amino acids, and certain amino acids have extraordinary flavor. A glass of milk is sweet and delicious enough, but it's a fairly plain, mild flavor. You ferment that milk and you can make this extraordinary range of flavors that all begin with the same starting point of the milk, and it has to do with the proteins being broken down into amino acids."

Oh yeah, there's all kinds of knowledge like that in the latest Hunt Gather Talk Podcast: My interview with fermentation legend Sandor Katz.

3. Weisswurst: Looks Are Deceiving

Weisswurst is a white-meat sausage that might look bland, but it's actually a really well-flavored link, thanks to warming spices like mace and cardamom, as well as parsley and lemon zest. Think of weisswurst as the “deep ocean” of sausages — there’s a lot going on underneath that you just can’t see.

If you're looking for something to do with your pork, veal, turkey, chicken or rabbit, this recipe is a slam-dunk.

The traditional accompaniments are a big, soft, chewy pretzel and honey mustard.

4.  Hunting Burn Morels

Burn morels are the silver lining of living in an environment that burns often, which is the case in California. If you live within driving distance of a 2022 fire in the West and want to try your hand at hunting burn morels, we have a guide to hunting burn morels on To The Bone.

That is one of the few posts that we have reserved for paid subscribers, so it does have a paywall. But subscribing costs just $5 a month, and you will absolutely get your $5 worth with that post - it contains detailed knowledge that we normally share only with our closest friends.

Burn morels in the 2021 Caldor Fire zone in the Sierra Nevada

5. What Hank's Up To

Hank is in northwest Florida chasing his "white whale" fish: the common pompano. For some reason, he just can't catch a break. This is year four of trying to catch one of these tasty fish, and after a full day's effort, again, no pompano. He'll try again one more time before moving on to Alabama to chase redfish and speckled trout. Stay tuned for the results...

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