- Well, welcome to another episode of "Wild Harvest."

You can learn an awful lot about foraging from the wild, well, from watching this show, and also from researching through books or going online, but you cannot learn it all.

No, if you truly want to harvest sustainably, so you're doing it in the right way and also safely so you don't eat the wrong thing, you do that with a local expert, someone who can take you out and show you how to touch, how to smell, how to taste, what to look for when it comes to foraging from the wild.

And get out there and enjoy your wild harvest.

(gentle music) You know, whether it's a seed that a bird ingests and then drops down in some distant location or some little creature that attaches itself to the hull of a boat, or if there's people who simply want to beautify their garden by planting some exotic flower, one way or the other, invasive species will always be an important part of your wild harvesting.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (gentle melodic music) ♪ After we wake up ♪ On a cloudy day ♪ Her smile is the sunshine ♪ Sparkling on the bay ♪ Warm is my heart ♪ Loves you all the more ♪ All I can do now ♪ Is never let you go - So, this is Rubus armeniacus and this is one of those situations where you have an invasive species that you can trace it right back to the time, the place, the dates, the late 1800s, a guy named Luther Burbank, even to the person.

He was known as the Wizard of Horticulture and he picked up essentially a package of seeds from India with this blackberry in it and spread them into Willamette Valley, Oregon, to make a fruit crop out of it.

And they took over.

They became ubiquitous.

They became invasive on the west coast especially.

They choke out a lot of the other beautiful, delicious, endemic species like Salmonberry.

In this situation, I say, okay, this is right down at the end of our driveway, so let's take advantage of it.

So that's Rubus armeniacus.

(gentle music) All right, here we go again.

- Yeah.

- Back to enjoy the literal fruits of our labor.

So I've got, for you, frozen blackberries, and then processed them into jam.

Now I haven't tasted this jam since it was hot and I was pulling it out of the pot.

But I think we should try the berries first, 'cause they're gonna have a lesser flavor profile.

- Okay, I'm in.

I'm going with my fingers.

- Yeah, yeah, go for it.

- They're starting to thaw, but they're still frozen.

- That's so fun.

Oh, it's like they're the perfect temperature.

- Shall we try the jam?

- Let's do it.

And you haven't tried that yet, you said?

- Not like this, no.

You can go first.

- Alright, I'm excited.

You're right, it's firm.

That's so good.

That is so intense.

- Wow.

- About texture.

It melts, it dissolves.

Wow.

- Tell me what you're thinking.

You were talking pizza because of the blackberries, - But I think I still will.

I'll do pizza.

It might be a little on the sweeter side, but sweet and savory combine all the time.

I mean, barbecue sauce is that combination of sweet and savory.

- I do not have it in my head what you can do with a pizza.

All I can think of is that's gonna be like cheesecake, and especially when you mention the ricotta.

But I know you're gonna surprise me.

I wanna see what you do with the jam.

Shall we get at it?

- Yeah, I'm ready.

- Alright, let's go.

- I'm hungry.

(gentle melodic music) So pizza dough, I mean, I don't have a lot of daylight to work with, so I need something that will rise quickly and I think I've got something that's gonna work.

Okay, that water's really hot.

A little bit too hot for yeast.

Surprising how warm you can have the water to activate yeast, but you don't want it too hot, otherwise it will kill it.

Something a little bit more than blood temperature is what I highly recommend.

We get some of this.

And this is where a scale comes in handy.

Okay, that's not a lot.

When it comes to making dough, it's always best to weigh your ingredients rather than using measuring cups.

It's way more accurate.

Okay, there we go.

Time for the water.

I'm doing this all by weight.

Okay, that's good there.

The yeast needs to be activated.

It feeds off of sugar.

There's always salt in recipes.

It kills the yeast, it keeps it at bay, so there's a certain balance of salt and sugar.

I'm gonna add just a little pinch of sugar to this recipe, but I'm adding it to the yeast while it's feeding or this stage right here.

There we go.

Oops, exploding sugar ball.

Stir that up.

Put that in the window.

And I'm gonna start working on the flour component.

So I'm mixing flour and salt together.

That way when I add the yeast and the water mixture to them, it will keep the yeast at bay.

Not giving me too much of a rise, but a controlled rise.

And here it goes.

(mixer whirring) I'm adding water a spoonful at a time, and I want just enough that a ball will form and the flour in the mixing bowl will stick.

So now it's kneading.

This is exactly what I'm looking for.

Hmm, we've got some nice stretch to it.

I'm gonna work this with my hands.

Sometimes just touching the dough helps me understand what's happening with it.

So when I'm working with dough, and in this case pizza dough, I'm feeling it with my hand.

What I want to acknowledge through touch is the dough is evenly mixed, that the...

There's no lumps of flour.

All you have to do now is put it in a bowl and let it rise.

So it doesn't stick to the glass, I'm just gonna add a little bit of olive oil to it.

Now it's time to be patient.

That's it.

- Okay, it's time to be a little bit of a plant nerd for you and look at some identification of this blackberry.

This Rubus, Rubus is blackberry.

Laciniatus is for the invasive species, the species that was brought in or introduced species.

So let's take a look at these.

These are whitish pinkish, five petals, and what's really important to note are the stamens.

The stamens are in clusters of 5 to 20.

These are what you would call alternate leaves.

You get this... Oh, there's my friend.

There we go.

Just getting some pollen right now.

That is pretty cool.

Beautiful little bumblebee getting lots of pollen.

Intentional pun.

They're very busy.

You can see on this stem, they shoot out alternate, means shooting out one, then the other, then the other, then the other, as opposed to opposite.

So you've got opposite whirled around the stem or alternate.

These are alternate leaves.

And of course there's the spiky stems.

Now, as for the berries, sometimes raspberries are black and sometimes blackberries are red.

So how do you know if it's a raspberry or a blackberry?

Well, if you take a look on the inside, if it's solid, it's a blackberry.

If it's a hole and it's a cavity, it's a raspberry.

It might depend on the mineral content of the soil that they're growing in.

The amount of sun, the amount of shade.

All kinds of conditions might slightly alter the colors of the berries.

So that's the way to determine if the berries you're picking are either of the raspberry family or a Rubus, blackberry.

Mm.

Either way, there's my little bee friends here.

They're delicious.

(gentle music) - To put it simply, I'm stoked to be working with blackberries, as I love their deep and rich flavor.

But I also have a huge craving for some oysters.

I've never combined the two flavors before, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Time now to make the sauce for the oysters.

They need a savory component to it.

I love using shallots.

I find that they have just the right amount of oomph to still be raw, have that onion texture, and yet not be overpowering.

Shallots or shallots, depends.

Pizza is pizza.

Potatoes, potato.

Tomato, tomato.

So I'm just gonna use my little vegetable knife to do the initial cut on them.

- Oh, hang on Paul.

- Yeah?

- Hang on, hang on.

Okay, this has been driving me nuts ever since I've been doing wild harvest with you.

I watch you cut the shallots.

I've tried it on my own and I keep blowing it.

So teach me 'cause I- - Okay.

- It looks like magic when you do it.

- So I'll do it with this one.

This is nice and easy to work with 'cause it's flat.

So all I have to do is take our little knife, cut it through straight down til I can feel the cutting board.

- Right.

And this one's a smaller one, so you are holding it off to the side, but still, okay.

- Correct.

Fingers behind it as well.

You never want your fingers to be out like that.

They're always held back.

And then here, here's the action.

It's the rolling of the knife.

And I just kind of move my fingers back as we go.

- That's so cool.

Yeah, I'm sorry for nerding out, but- - There there.

- This has been bothering me for a long time.

I keep watching you do shallots.

How does he do these shallots so well?

Now I know.

Okay, game changer.

- They're done.

Alright, so that's tons.

I don't need more shallots that.

(gentle music) So now to finish this sauce, I just need a few of these blackberries, a little vinegar in the shallots, bit of the jam.

Mix this in.

Oh.

Oh, okay.

That'll be perfect with an oyster.

(gentle music continues) - [Les] Every once in a while a wild edible gives me the option of creating some kind of delicious tea, a cold drink, or in this case, a cocktail.

I'm gonna make a blackberry play on a classic.

An old fashioned.

(gentle melodic music) Hey Paul, wanna you try some?

- [Paul] Yes.

- It's just mush.

(gentle melodic music continues) - [Antonio] I'll try.

- [Paul] Okay, I'm coming in.

- [Antonio] Oh, man.

- Yeah?

And that's just mushy blackberry.

That's all it is.

- [Antonio] Holy cow.

- Alright.

That is my blackberry simple syrup.

And you know what comes after that?

Blackberry old fashioned.

- Yeah, I like that idea a lot.

- Why three drinks?

Well, I can't leave the camera guy out.

That just wouldn't be fair.

Oh, this is gonna be... Ha-ha!

Shall we go enjoy some oysters?

- [Paul] I think we should.

Oh, look at these oysters.

Those are nice.

A good oyster knife is imperative.

It makes safe and light work of opening an oyster.

Plus, you want the oyster to look nice when you're done.

Look at that one.

Holy cow, that is one beautiful oyster.

Some blackberry sauce.

(gentle music) - So when you said it was oysters and blackberries, I did what I often do with you, when you tell me you're going to make something that leaves me thinking I have no idea what he's gonna do with that.

I stopped thinking about it.

I'm like, oh, maybe he's gonna use lemon.

Maybe he's gonna do this.

I don't do that.

I wait and I think, okay, let's just see what do, so what'd you do?

- Alright, well taste is everything.

That oyster is yours.

Yeah.

- Have it first and guess or... - [Paul] Yeah, just have it and tell me what you think.

- Mm.

Oh.

What was in that?

- Well, three ingredients.

Vinegar, blackberries, shallots.

That's it.

- That's it?

- Yeah, but the blackberry jam and the frozen blackberries.

Some of them had a little bit of a tang to them and some were really sweet.

I didn't know.

So I just mixed 'em all together, balanced it out, and thought that the overall flavor profile would actually work really well with an oyster.

Not too strong, still there.

- Yeah.

- I think, with the oyster that I just had, I still tasted the oyster.

But the blackberries I tasted too.

And they worked.

- Definitely do.

And actually, let's try this.

Let's see what Antonio thinks.

- [Antonio] Yay, thank you.

- Try this.

Huh?

- [Antonio] Wow.

- Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

While Antonio savors that, our blackberry old fashioned.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

Ah, that smells great.

Holy cow.

That's delicious.

- That's a really nice blend.

I was a little worried the bourbon was gonna overpower it, but the blackberries, they're holding their own.

It's subtle.

It's not blackberry.

I'm not drinking blackberry juice, but it's there.

And that's delicious.

That's not just a straight glass of bourbon now.

It's our cocktail.

It's our old fashioned.

It's delicious.

- Delicious.

(gentle melodic music) So I've got this idea for the pizza.

Blackberries are really flavor forward.

I mean, there's just so much to them and they're sweet.

But I want a savory sort of experience as well.

And ricotta cheese seems to be the right fit for what I'm thinking flavor profile wise.

So first, I'm gonna strain off some of the moisture.

I'm just gonna dump the ricotta into this strainer.

I'm gonna press some of that excess moisture out of there.

That looks pretty good to me.

Nice and dry.

Now I can add some savory flavors to this.

Some salt.

Some pepper.

There we go.

(gentle melodic music continues) (gentle melodic music continues) - Okay.

Come on up, Antonio.

I got overzealous.

See, if I was on my own, this would've been fine.

But Paul's here so I'm trying to make the perfect fire and I just over stacked it, so much so that you can see it.

This stovepipe was glowing red and flames are coming outta the top.

So, fortunately it's not my first rodeo when it comes to working with fire.

The upside of this is that the oven's gonna be absolutely perfect when it comes to cooking a pizza in there.

The temperature's gonna be just...

It's gonna probably be 1200 degrees.

I'd show you the thermometer here.

But I got it so hot that I melted the thermometer.

(melodic music) - Now I am not a rehearsed pizza veteran.

I understand the principle of it and I understand the shape of it, but this isn't gonna be perfection.

I'm hoping it's delicious.

The jam.

Blackberries.

Blue cheese.

- [Les] Hey Paul, I'm pretty much ready.

- [Paul] Okay.

- She's all yours.

- Oh, lost the shape a little bit.

That's okay.

There it goes.

Here, can you hold that for a second?

- Lemme help you out with a little bit of cell phone action.

- Thank you.

- How's that?

- That helps immensely.

- [Les] You can't see it, it's really hard, isn't it?

- [Paul] Yeah, it really is.

- [Les] But see, this is what happens.

The last time I made a pizza in here, same thing.

It got dark before I was ready.

- [Paul] Look at that.

- [Les] It's beautiful though.

Still.

Oh, look at that.

- Just because it is so hot.

There we go.

Okay, what'd you say?

- [Les] It's up to you, it's your call.

- I think we're there.

Maybe another minute.

- Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think we're there.

- I'm gonna do that.

I'm just gonna hold it there for a second.

- What were you saying, Les, when you thought it was done, you count- - 15 seconds longer.

- Yeah, that's right.

When I think it's done and I see it and it's like, oh yeah, it's done.

I count 15 seconds.

- [Paul] Okay, there we go.

That is a pizza.

- [Les] We'll go let it rest.

Nice.

- Okay.

I'm marching a pizza.

This is fun.

There we go.

I think some fresh basil's gonna work well here too.

Some arugula.

There's something so special about cutting into a freshly baked crispy pizza.

Not only can you hear it crunch, you can feel it.

- Alright.

- Alright.

- For you.

- Thank you.

Pizza time.

You can talk, I'm gonna eat.

- Okay, well, the dough is just one of those things, I just felt it as I went.

- [Les] So you just winged it.

- Yep, I winged it.

But this is still a story about the blackberry.

And I wanted to do this in a savory way, not a dessert way.

I could have made pancake syrup.

I didn't wanna do that.

- Mm Mm.

- [Paul] Yeah?

- Has there ever been invented a more perfect food than pizza?

- Mm.

- I don't think so.

Wow.

- I don't know about any- - You know what I'm happy about this, Paul.

It's not sweet.

I gotta admit, I was worried you were serving me up dessert.

I mean, after all, it's blackberries.

Now I did know that the jam I made for you, which is on this, right?

- [Paul] It is.

- Okay.

That, in the end, it wasn't sweet.

I was worried that this was gonna taste like blackberry cheesecake.

And it doesn't, it still tastes like pizza.

- Yeah.

I'm really happy about that.

And I'm getting, you know, the bite.

So the thing about the frozen berries on the pizza, they taste like they were just picked.

I'm blown away.

I did not expect that.

Usually like I think of a frozen raspberry, it falls apart.

Disintegrates.

These didn't.

They came out of your freezer and they went onto a pizza and they're perfect.

Okay, I'm going with my hands now.

- What do you think?

- I'm happy.

- Good, good.

Did you enjoy working with these blackberries?

- I loved them.

Everything that we gather has one thing in common.

They all have flavor.

- Right.

- And that's special.

I love flavor.

That's why I cook.

I love flavor.

- Yeah.

- And sometimes you don't get that flavor through domestic ingredients.

- Really, that's the thing.

You know, we take a species, these blackberries, most people consider, or many people consider aggressive and invasive and they wanna eradicate them.

And a lot of other people, they're just happy to eat the berries.

And the funny part is, in this case, it all started with one dude, one package of seeds and planting them in Oregon and now we have them everywhere.

So really the best thing is to accept the responsibility of being stewards of nature.

And whether that means protecting the integrity of the more vulnerable endemic species to a particular region, or pruning and harvesting and caretaking an invasive species that you can't stop anymore.

It comes down to, okay, well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

And in that case, you end up with this incredible wild harvest.

(gentle music) (melodic music) (melodic music continues) If you'd like to continue the "Wild Harvest" with me and Chef Paul Rogalski, then please check out our website at wildharvestfilms.com where we have recipes and foraging tips along with deleted scenes and outtakes from the making of Les Stroud's "Wild Harvest."

- [Paul] Directly inspired by the series, Chef Paul and expert forager Les Stroud bring you the "Wild Harvest" recipe book, highlighting all of Paul's dishes and complete with behind the scenes stories.

It is available for 29.99.

In addition, a DVD of this season is also available for 19.99.

To order, please go to wildharvestfilms.com, Wild Harvest TV Show on Facebook or Les Stroud's Wild Harvest on YouTube.

(gentle music continues) (birdsong) (upbeat jingle)