The Tasting Panel magazine

July 2014

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W e can hear the rush of traffic from the 210 freeway as we stand in front of a field strewn with litter, marring what seems to my untrained eye, an average park clearing. It's an inauspicious beginning to a day designed to teach some of L.A.'s top bartenders the basics of foraging for cocktail ingredients, so imagine my surprise when our intrepid guide, Master Forager Pascal Baudar gestures in front of us and says, "This is like a store for me. Fifty percent of what you see here is edible." Like children observing the magic of Christmas for the first time, we are enthralled, and as Pascal explains how to recognize plants in the mustard family (one big leaf, with two pairs of two small leaves under- neath), we fill tote bags with fistfuls of California sagebrush, Mexican tarragon and black sage, ready to take these found ingredients home to experiment with infusions of our own. Into the Wild WE TAKE A GROUP OF BARTENDERS FORAGING AND LEARN THAT COCKTAIL INGREDIENTS ARE IN FULL BLOOM by Rachel Burkons / photos by Katie McCurdy Pascal Baudar is a Master Forager and wild-food gastronomer; here, he holds unripe elderflower berries, which he ferments to use as a mock caper. (left) We learn to identify plants in the mustard family by their unique leaf pattern featuring one large leaf above two pairs of smaller leaves. Baudar gestures in front of us and says, "This is like a store for me. Fifty percent of what you see here is edible." Like children observing the magic of Christmas for the first time, we are enthralled, and as Pascal explains how to recognize plants in the mustard family (one big leaf, with two pairs of two small leaves under- neath), we fill tote bags with fistfuls of California sagebrush, Mexican tarragon and black sage, ready to take these found ingredients home to experiment with infusions of our own. Pascal Baudar is a Master Forager and wild-food gastronomer here, he holds unripe elderflower berries, which he ferments to use as a mock caper. (left) We learn to identify plants in the mustard family by their unique leaf pattern featuring one large leaf above two pairs of smaller leaves.

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