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Hogweed Soup

Simply Spring! Delicious and nutritious all in approx 30 mins... Hogweed Soup w/ Few Flowered Leek Flower Heads & Primrose Blossoms - I added some wild garlic & few flowered leek foliage to the soup, alongside some other more familiar commercially available ingredients. There are some truly delicious spring herbs out there at the moment and they really do make meal times more divine. They taste far superior to the 'green' folks often think they taste. The myriad of different flavour profiles is really quite staggering, whether you are eating them alone as a simple steamed, buttered dish, combining to make the most amazing raw salad you will ever taste or infusing with more commercial ingredients. These plants are the ancestors of each and every commercially grown fruit and vegetable you see and eat, there is a very deep, natural and ancestral link with them (it's nothing to be wary or cautious of and it's not hippy-dippy-far-out-shit either) and only when you take the time to pick, prepare and eat them will that simple journey of connection come to light - I'm not trying to be deep and esoteric here, it's more joyous and simple than that. 

 Serves 4

 1 Onion
4 Garlic Cloves
10 Common Hogweed Stems and some fresh foliage
Handful of Wild Garlic
Handful of Few Flowered Leek
Sprinkle of Swiss Bouillon Powder or Brown Rice Miso Paste or Homemade Vegetable Stock
100g Unsalted Butter
1 Tsp Cooking Oil
1.2 Litres Spring Water or Birch Sap - If using Homemade vegetable stock you will already have reduced and made this volume
Sea Salt (smoked salt a good option)
Fresh Black Pepper
Lime or Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche - plus 1 tsp for garnish
Few Flowered Leek Flower Heads and Primrose Flowers to garnish - again you could use other wild herbs or flowers if you so desire, no strict rules required 

 Chop and gently soften the hogweed stems and onion in oil and butter for approx 10 minutes - the longer and more gently done the sweeter and more flavoursome they become. Add the chopped garlic cloves and soften approx 5 minutes. Add the water/sap/stock and heat till gently steaming, remove from heat, add wild garlic and FFL foliage and allow to wilt. Place all this in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Once satisfied, add swiss bouillon, salt. black pepper and sour cream/creme fraiche until desired flavour is acquired. Don't boil the soup at any stage, always heat until gently steaming, this will retain the lovely colour and prevent nutrient loss and flavour issues. Garnish with flowers, flowering pods of your choice and maybe serve with some fresh crusty buttered bread...

 Tip: For extra nutritional element and flavour try adding a sprinkling of powdered green seaweed

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