Linden Tree Chocolate

[@Eueueyw]

In my experiments with T. cordata, fermentation was a must honestly, the flavour went from vaguely vegetal with a hint of chocolate to being quite strongly chocolatey and malty. A basic lactoferment in brine worked well.

[@foragerchef4141]

My friend mentioned that. I'll try it next.

[@ConerdFrederickson]

I have a linden tree in my yard and I was hoping to give this a try since its full of green seeds at the moment. Can you elaborate on how you did the brine lacto ferment? I would think that all the salt needed would make the resulting fermented seeds salty.

[@Eueueyw]

@@ConerdFrederickson This was a couple years ago but the brine had a fairly low concentration, and after I took the fruit out I gave them a rinse to lower the salinity a little more, then I patted them dry and roasted and ground them. I think they were in the brine for 5 or 6 days? The final product only had a very slight saltiness that for me actually complimented it quite well.

[@cheesetoastie1199]

​@@EueueywHello mate. Would you mind sharing, how much water, salt and seeds did you use for the brine? Can you ferment them without salt? Thx

[@gregmartin3984]

Now you have me very curious if this can be done with Kentucky Coffee Tree beans.

[@aigoraigoriller6508]

Heavy respect how you use abundant yet abbandoned resources like in this case, and make a michelin style high end exquisite culinary expression out of it, wow, Love from Europe !

[@foragerchef4141]

Thanks

[@Rumun_83]

I love your channel, I get many great recepies from you. I’m sad that more people don’t watch you, but keep up good work :)

[@irenegrijalvotarres]

Oh, this looks fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe along with the gathering and preparing of the seeds

[@foragerchef4141]

Welcome.

[@ashlyncmorgan]

Great video, Alan! Thanks for sharing my research and doing a brilliant write-up on linden chocolate. I didn't realize you had a linden right in your front yard - sidewalk chocolate lol Your linden pots de creme looks delicious. And I love the idea of incorporating linden/basswood honey into these applications. Beautiful work as always, my friend 💚

[@davidlunavelasco6862]

This is wonderful stuff. Paris is full of these trees. I'm gonna begin the forage.

[@ericmccann21]

I love linden blooms but never knew about using the seeds... I'll have to go out and pick this weekend!

[@orpheuslute]

very excited about this! i love chocolate but i don't love the ethics of how it's made nowadays so i'm always on the lookout for alternatives :) can't wait to give this a try

[@TheJDiane]

I wonder if fermenting with fresh whey would do the trick? I’ve also heard that the chocolate flavor fades very quickly if not fermented.

[@4Grace4Truth]

What did you add to the cream (was the white liquid heavy cream?) at 4:52 and how was it different from what you added at 5:15? Edit: I found the recipe link in the description. Thanks! At 4:52 it's brown sugar!

[@nataschagestaltet9147]

This is so amazing I will definitely try it, the linden tree is my absolute favourite tree but I didn't knew until today that it's edible.

[@berthacornejo5054]

I got two beautiful linden trees at my property and for two years I’ve seen so many seeds on the floor underneath the tree and I was wondering if there was something that I could do with it and I just found your video and you have no idea how excited I am right now watching you making this😅😊it’s about to be 10:00 pm and I wish the sun was out right now so I can go gather the seeds😂❤ thanks for sharing ❤

[@doveseye.4666]

I took a walk with my mom who called these a Lipa tree, not sure but I am so glad I saw this.

[@EeeEee-bm5gx]

your mum is slavic

[@doveseye.4666]

@@EeeEee-bm5gx yes, Croatia, Brezina and dad was a Bosanuts.

[@doraps4764]

hah im croatian too

[@richardstevens3461]

I hope to come the MIDWEST WILD HARVEST FESTIVAL someday.....

[@foragerchef4141]

I’ll start prepping for it soon. Takes me about 2.5 wks of solid work to get the food and logistics handled. You should come it’s a great time. And it’s so cheap. I charge 1.5-2x as much for single day events with only food and a foraging walk.

[@richardstevens3461]

@@foragerchef4141 That's the plan for next year. This year is sold out already. :(

[@DonMhata]

# brownies😋First time viewer,new subscriber😊

[@thyme-and-place]

SO cool. Thanks!

[@thyme-and-place]

Is Tilia cordata interchangable for T. americana here? Your website link isn't working btw.

[@foragerchef4141]

Yeah this was a fun one.

[@foragerchef4141]

@@thyme-and-place The link is up now that was my bad

[@j7ndominica051]

The winnowing process looks efficient for dry fruit where the stems and debris are not glued to the fruit. I could use that. But too much resources go into this chocolate (electricity for the oven, butter, sugar), with low proportion of the seed harvest itself. I found that I can grind most things in a blender without the lid. Place a cutting board over it if the blender ever needs to be started from a liquid. And the lid never needs to be washed.

[@foragerchef4141]

@@j7ndominica051 Try harvesting from trees where the fruit is the size of a green pea. That’ll fix the harvesting/efficiency ratio. The winnowing process was an alternate, lazy method. Usually I pick by hand. If you’re worried about using resources I’d keep in mind this is a cooking channel, not a survival show.

[@tammietrl]

❤ Thank you!

[@breaking_bear]

Super fun! Thank you!

[@scottsell4182]

Thanks, my first attempt worked great but seeds were small. I waiting a week and seed’s didn’t get larger and dried out - green tasteless powder vs chocolate. So pick early was my lesson.

[@foragerchef4141]

The size can vary greatly from tree to tree. You want them as big as peas, ideally.

[@30sdisAster]

Thank you! I personally found that linden chocolate has a bit of a malty taste, a lovely recipe to add to my repertoire!

[@BronsteinEmily]

I have a Linden tree in my yard and I'm excited to try using the seeds. Is it possible to pick them too early? Mine are about the same size as the ones you used maybe a little smaller. How can I tell when they are ready to use? Your custard looks delicious.

[@foragerchef4141]

I had to look around at different trees. You want them about the size of a pea, ideally. Some are very large compared to others. They need to still be green, according to historical accounts, but I harvested a mix making the “sidewalk chocolate” and it worked fine.

[@elisasmith649]

How do you keep the seeds submerged during lactofermentation since they are so small and light? A glass weight and a ziplock bag of water each sink below some of the seeds, which they floated to the top.

[@foragerchef4141]

I haven’t done it yet, if I did I might try vacuum sealing.

[@meatball179]

I think in my country before it was used instead of coffee ... This tree is everywhere in my country

[@Skitdora2010]

I tried doing the chocolate from linden several times and the most I ever got was like a hint of coffee flavor. Water avens is suppose to taste like chocolate. Never got those to grow or found them wild.

[@foragerchef4141]

My advice is don’t be expecting chocolate and coffee. It’s its own thing.

[@hoohargh9945]

water avens !? Similar to wood avens ?

[@jeremyghunter]

@@hoohargh9945 same genus, different species. This is why Latin binomials really are a must foraging.

[@umamigo1]

Very interesting

[@jeremyghunter]

What weight or volume of seeds will we need? Dry and wet mass separately would be super helpful, but I can understand if this isn't something you bothered to keep a record of.

[@foragerchef4141]

The whole thing is linked in the top of the video description, just like most videos on this channel.

[@StevenKling-ut9sh]

What time of the year should the seeds be harvested?

[@TheWaldHaven]

I just harvested some yesterday but it might vary depending on location.

[@clobberelladoesntreadcomme9920]

i wonder if this could be used like an unsweetened nut butter to thicken stew.

[@foragerchef4141]

yes, similar to African stews using egusi or peanuts.

[@ThisSmallGnome]

Have you tried California Bay Laurel seed "chocolate"? It's a little more coffee than chocolate but is delicious.

[@foragerchef4141]

Not the chocolate but I’ve had the nuts. They were bitter and took some skill to roast correctly. Only had them once.

[@amelia4312]

😊