LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2018

BY CHRISTOPHER ST. ONGE  •  PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES TSE  •  ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATHRYN BONDY

Evergreens and herbs infuse mains and desserts with seasonal flavours, adding festive notes to holiday dining.

THIS YEAR, don’t just decorate your ever- green—eat it too! Thyme, sage and rose- mary are so commonplace in our kitchens we rarely give them much thought, but they, along with lavender, juniper and bay are evergreens with culinary credentials. There are more that are worth consider- ing though—some easily plucked from the trees around us, even here in the cold of winter.     Cedar is virtually everywhere in Ontario, often planted as a privacy hedge, but a few sprigs can be magical in a cara- mel drizzled over baked apples. Balsam too

is a culinary wonder—it tastes nothing like resinous pine or rosemary needles as you might expect, but instead of candy and cit- rus—a winning addition to a tart featuring candied mandarin slices. Likewise, spruce tips are surprisingly sweet but with a mild piney flavour too—perfect for an aromatic roast of pork on a blustery winter’s day.     If you’re foraging your own be sure it’s from a pristine source and hasn’t been sprayed with insecticides (as Christmas trees usually are), otherwise purchase dried or fresh from a reliable wild foods purvey- or like Forbes Wild Foods (wildfoods.ca.).

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