medvjeđi luk

Allium ursinum L. (wild garlic) is a perennial herbaceous plant from the Amaryllidaceae family, distributed in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. It normally grows in deciduous woodlands with moist soils.

Besides being another cool green thing to put in your salad (which is already good enough), fresh wild garlic contains high doses of alliin, a sulfoxide that gets converted into allicin, catalyzed by the enzyme alliinase, when the plant tissue gets crushed. Allicin an organosulfur mollecule with strong antimicrobal properties, as well as a role in supporting human cardiovascular health. Allicin is responsible for the specific smell of fresh garlic and its purpose in nature is to protect the plant from the pests. Aliin and aliinase are quite stable, but aliicin is not, hence the well-known recommendations to eat the garlic or wild garlic freshly chopped in order to get the most health benefits from it. It can take less than a minute for alliin to get converted to allicin, which soon starts to decompose into simpler mollecules.

Wild garlic recently started growing in parts of continental Croatia, giving the forests a beautiful garlic-like smell. In these interesting times I hope it is still considered morally ok to take a bike ride to your nearest forest and help yourself to some of nature's goodies. Or maybe I'm kind of a savage. Nevertheless, no humans were encountered in the process of picking these healthy leaves.
Živili!

palačinke od zobenih pahuljica vol. 2

Here is a real simple recipe for oat pancakes that can make a good breakfast or snack. I already wrote a recipe for super fluffy oat and banana pancakes a few years ago (this one), but since I almost never follow recipes, not even my own, I wrote a new one for you to enjoy as well. My latest obsession is having them with homemade hazelnut butter (you can find the recipe here) and a delicious quince jam with xylitol that my friend made last autumn. I sometimes like to make more of these pancakes in advance and freeze some for the occasions when i need a super quick meal. I just heat them up on a dry pan straight from the freezer and they are ready to go. Are you ready?

what/
1 ripe banana
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup oat milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp himalayan salt
1/4 tsp ground stevia leaves (optional).

how/
Put everything except from vinegar into a blender or a food processor and process until you get a smooth batter. Then add the vinegar and process a bit more, just to combine. If you don't have a blender, you can grind the oats in a coffee grinder, combine all the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon. Bake on a non-stick pan on one side until there is no raw batter left, then flip and bake on the other side until it gets golden. I topped it with raw date miso caramel and defrosted wild bilberries. Bon appétit!

što/
1 zrela banana
1 šalica zobenih pahuljica
1/2 čajne žličice sode bikarbone
3 jušne žlice jabučnog octa
1/2 šalice zobenog mlijeka ili vode
1/2 čajne žličice cimeta
1/3 čajne žličice himalajske soli

kako/
Stavite sve sastojke osim octa u blender ili sjeckalicu i blendajte dok ne dobijete glatku teksturu. Zatim dodajte ocat i izblendajte još malo da se smjesa sjedni. Ako nemate blender, možete samlijeti zobene pahuljice u mlincu za kavu, pomiješati u zdjeli sve suhe sastojke, te im dodati sve mokre i sve skupa dobro pomiješati žlicom ili pjenjačom. Pecite palačinke na suhoj tavi koja se ne lijepi - na jednoj strani dok smjesa ne presrane izgledati sirova, pa još kratko na drugoj, dok ne poprimi lagano zlatnu boju. Poslužite uz sezonsko voće, nešto orašasto, domaći pekmez ili nešto drugo što imate kod kuće.
Dobar tek!