Stalking Wild Mustard, aka Rapini

My favorite foraging find yet this season (besides fresh caught Dungeness Crab) has been the delicious, sweet and tender tops of the Wild Mustard plant seen growing all over our East Bay Hills right now.  When "stalking" wild mustard, its important to catch it at the right time, February and March.  Once you see those familiar yellow blooms, it may be too late to collect the unopened flower buds.  I was lucky with this find.  Although mostly a sea of yellow, it was only half in bloom.  I quickly went to work picking the multiple tops of leaves and stalks from each plant. 

Wild Rapini Bouquet

The unopened flower tops of the Wild Mustard plant are similar to Rapini or Broccoli Raab and just as delicious! The leaves, seeds and flower tops from the wild mustard are also edible and delicious.

Also be mindful that another similar plant, Wild Radish sometime grows right next to Wild Mustard.  Wild Radish in CA has purplish white flowers instead of yellow.  Wild radish is also edible, especially the flowers and seed pods but has a stronger taste.

Sea of Wild Mustard in Full Bloom

Mustard Close Up

I go straight for the top sections of leaves and buds.  See the perfect specimen below.  A couple flowers are okay.

Pick this whole part 

There are many ways to cook wild mustard but my favorite is to add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to your pan and heat for a minute.  Add a few crushed garlic cloves and a tablespoon or two of pine nuts and saute for a minute to bring out the flavors and to toast the pine nuts.  Then add the wild mustard tops and saute until they are a bright green color.  Remove from heat and dress with some fresh lemon juice and salt.  These also taste great with a side of fresh avocado.


Into the pan they go





Sauteed with olive oil, garlic and pine nuts - Yum!

So, now can you tell me...How do you "stalk" the Wild Mustard?

The bees knees...

It's (basically?) springtime and here in the Bay Area the flowers are in bloom. The bees are a buzzing, and aside from this recent cold snap, we're gearing up for spring. I'm getting ready for planting in the garden, and in the hive, Jamie and I have been waiting for a warm, sunny day to harvest some honey!

With the wet weather we've been having, we have been eagerly anticipating a hive inspection. Last time we went in, there were a couple of moldy comb near the entrance of the hive due to moisture. We cut this away and fortunately, this problem has now been resolved. Whew!

Kim was kind enough (and courageous) to come armed with cameras to help document our adventure and so we began. We laid out all the tools and talked through our order of operations. With hundreds of bees in your face is not a good time to figure out what comes next and who does what... Not to mention, this would be a first honey harvest for both myself and Jamie.











We mainly found brood comb. We cut some of it by mistake because there was so much honey in it! We cut the honey off and placed the brood comb back in the hive and will hope for the best. Because we harvested some brood honey we have placed sugar water near the hive.

By and large the bees were docile. I was prepared for the bees to be angry or to have to cut our session short, but we were able to take the time we needed in the hive. I did feel a little like Godzilla or King Kong at times though...I felt pretty bad...It wasn't until we were done and through and I was walking into the house that an angry bee dive bombed me and I got stung. All those bees and nothing and then twenty minutes later walking through the door and bam! ps. ouch!

Overall, the hive seems to be healthy and is thriving. Viva! It continues to be an amazing experience working with the bees and getting a glimpse into their wild and wonderful world. I expected there to be a lot more honey! We did harvest nearly 2 pints though, and it tastes like bottled sunshine.The honey is just the sweet topper at the end of the day.