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Friday, September 16, 2005
Kim Lehman & the Bounty of Fireweed
A friend returns to Texas from Alaska with a treasure trove, all derived from one northern wildflower.
Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)
Anchor Point, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, July 31, 2005
Photo: Kim Lehman and Mark Wieland
Through the talents and generosity of an amazing person, (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), we’ve come to know Fireweed. That’s know in the nearly Biblical sense: thanks to Kim, we have fireweed to see, bookmark, sweeten with, and smear on toast.
Kim and her husband Mark Wieland are recently back from Alaska, where fireweed reigns through the summer. They returned with gorgeous photos and much more. Kim pressed several of the beautiful flowers. Dried, they are the color of amethyst. She also made us some fireweed jelly, plum colored, tangy and very sweet.
Herb Putney and Kim talk honey
Anchorage, Alaska, summer 2005
Photo: Mark Wieland
A bee expert herself, Kim paid a visit to Alaskan bee wizard Herb Putney in Anchorage, bringing home to us some of his renowned fireweed honey. It’s pale greeny gold and delicate, fit for a gourmet. Kim says that Putney’s honey is so highly sought after, she’s seen one jar sell for $600
Fireweed is the northernmost of all major honey-producing plants. This honey site describes the flavor as “delicate, sweet… with subtle, tea-like notes.” We say, “Bring on the English muffins.”
This beautiful wildflower settles on land that people or fires have disturbed, thus its name. Was there ever a more all-purpose plant?
“The Dena’ina eat the young stems and leaves raw or boiled, sometimes with fish eggs. Some people peel the stems before eating them. The inland people mix the cooked fireweed with their dogs’ food.” The Upper Inlet Dena’ina also use fireweed as medicine for cuts and skin diseases, “placing a piece of the raw stem on the afflicted area.”
And this eight-foot beauty is also an Alaska weather-caster. As its purple buds bloom successively higher on the stalk, fireweed measures the duration of summer. “As the last flowers are blooming at the top of the stalk, the earliest blooms seed and turn to cotton…. When the fireweed turns to cotton, Alaskans say there are about six weeks until winter begins.”
Perhaps the botanists out there can clarify for us whether Kim’s fireweed specimens are Epilobium angustifolium or Chamaenerion angustifoium. While you guys figure that out, we’ll help ourselves to another slice of toast with fireweed honey.
Here’s Kim’s recipe for fireweed jelly…