Wild Salad
Lost in Italy : Episode LNIT-123
Douglas: Some plants have medicinal properties that have been known for centuries. Whatever you have--a sore throat, bad stomach or maybe a muscle ache — there's a wild plant that's a natural remedy.
Ombretta: And they're all there, just waiting to be picked.
Douglas: It really made me look at the Tuscan hillside in a different way. I now realize that what I'm walking on...
Ombretta: ... could be our next lunch!
Douglas: Right, but your work isn't done when you're finished picking. It takes an hour just to clean the salad.
Ombretta: Plus, no wild salad would be complete without the perfect vinegar to go on top.
Douglas: Our friend's family has been making their own vinegar for generations. And using the same "madre," the vinegar paste that turns wine into vinegar, year after year.
Ombretta: Their madre is over two hundred years old!
Douglas: And... Voila! Our own salad!
Ombretta: You can't say, Voila. That's not Italian.
Douglas: What do you say?
Ombretta: Gunchie gunchie.
Douglas: That's not Italian either.
Ombretta: But it's good!
More Information
- The olive grove where Ombretta learned to hunt for wild salad is located in the village of Santomato di Pistoia, on the grounds of a famous sculpture park called La Fattoria di Celle.
- Never pick greens where animals have been grazing--they may be contaminated.
- Hand-picked wild greens, or insalata di campo, are available each spring in specialty markets.
Resources
Website dedicated to more of Douglas' photography
www.pbs.org
Wild Herbs: A Photographic Guide
altnature.com/gallery, www.edibleplants.com
Don't Try This at Home
www.econetwork.net/wildmansteve
The story of a man who tried to pick wild salad in Central Park
The Sculpture Park: La Fattoria di Celle
www.sculpture.org/documents/parksdir
can be visited April through September by appointment only. To get permission for a visit, write at least 5 weeks in advance to:
La Fattoria di Celle
51030 Santomato of Pistoia
Fax: 0573/479486
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