365: Sara Bir on Foraging for Fruit.
Finding bounties of flavor hidden in plain sight.
Sara is a seasoned chef, gardener, forager, and author. She graduated from The Culinary Institute of America and prefers to create recipes that draw on her professional skills set yet are realistic for home cooks.
Sara’s writing has been featured in Saveur, Edible Ohio Valley, two Full Grown People anthologies, as well as on several websites. Her book The Fruit Forager’s Companion is published through our friends at Chelsea Green PublishingDon’t miss an episode! Click here to sign up for podcast updates
In This Podcast:
It was more mostly just to keep herself busy that Sar Bir went to culinary school, and afterward she still found herself trying lots of new things. So it is not a surprise to hear that she stumbled upon fruit trees in the wild and learned she had an interest in foraging. She shares some of the important things to think about when foraging, and how foraging and gleaning can help you meet some of your neighbors. A few of the fruits we learn about are quinces, paw paws, and loquats.
Listen in and learn about:
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- Being physically restless and not doing well in her University
- Going back home to her parents, in rural Ohio
- Immersing herself in food magazines and books
- Going to culinary school
- A few different jobs and eventually she ended up in California
- Going on neighborhood walks and noticing plants
- Gleaning from a quince tree nearby
- Explaining what a quince is
- The fruit foraging guide
- Finding paw paws locally and being surprised
- A delicious description of a paw paw and why she had not noticed them before
- Abundant harvests in her local area
- Finding hidden crab apple trees in her forest
- Meeting people in her community by knocking on doors
- Three important things to think about when foraging
- Discovering loquats at a friend’s house
As well as:
Her failure – her book about hot dogs
Her success – becoming confident and happy with herself
Her drive – always being restless, and curiosity
Her advice – if you’re not screwing things up sometimes, you’re doing it wrong
Books written by Sara:
Sara’s Book recommendations:
Heavy Words, Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme by Chris Roberts
How to reach Sara:
Website: www.sausagetarian.com
Twitter: @Sausagetarian
Instagram: @Sausagetarian
www.urbanfarm.org/foragingfruit
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