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edible NEW MEXICO

THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON

canopy MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

ISSUE 82 · EARLY WINTER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2022

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DEPARTMENTS 2

By Briana Olson and Susanna Space

GRIST FOR THE MILL

84 LOCAL SOURCE GUIDE AND EAT & DRINK LOCAL GUIDE

CONTRIBUTORS

90 SMACKDOWN ROUNDUP

LOCAL HEROES

96 LAST BITE

Kelly J. Torres, Djuna Benjamin, Iconik Coffee Roasters, and Matt's Mushroom Farm

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FACES OF FOOD

Pecan Celebrations by Stephanie Cameron

A Visit to Itality by Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers Growing the Soil of Southern New Mexico by Shahid Mustafa

WILD THING Meet Fir by Anna Marija Helt

BACK OF THE HOUSE The Seeds of the Trees by Lynn Cline with a piñon shortbread recipe from the Santa Fe School of Cooking

edible NEW MEXICO

THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON

M'Tucci's Shrubs

FEATURES 70 THE SECRETS OF PIÑON By Annie Montes

canopy

76 MAD ABOUT MUSHROOMS

MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

Beauty, Flavor, and Science Converge on a Taos Foray by Ellen Zachos

ISSUE 82 · EARLY WINTER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2022

Roasted and shelled piñons in birch bowl from The Great Alaskan Bowl Company. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

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canopy “If you can’t see the forest for the trees,” suggests Annie Dillard in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, her intimate study of the Roanoke Valley in the 1970s, “then look at the trees; when you’ve looked at enough trees, you’ve seen a forest, you’ve got it.” In this issue of edible, we take her claim several hundred miles west and zoom in even closer. Our inspiration began, of course, with the seeds—the parts of the piñon and pecan that we so love to eat. Then we learned that another component of the tree can be of use not only as medicine but in the kitchen: fir needles! Ultimately, our tour of the forest grew further still, encompassing the secretive underground networks so essential to its health and survival—in a word, fungi. In these pages, we learn from Annie Montes that mycorrhizal fungi are likely crucial to the survival and regeneration of thousands of acres of precious piñon forest, which shares its humble canopy and its seeds with diverse species—humans included. Ellen Zachos, reporting from the state mycological society’s annual foray in Taos, notes that the mushrooms so many New Mexicans have delighted in hunting this year, too, have dependent relationships with certain trees. Visiting a regenerative pecan farm in Mesquite, Shahid Mustafa digs into the mycelia of healthy soils. As with the forest and the orchard, tending to community depends on caretaking what’s below the surface. We find this in a Pueblo chef ’s words about renewing relationships with plant relatives, in classes at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, and in conversation with the winner of edible’s back-of-house Spotlight Award, who offers a glimpse behind the curtain of wine and spirits. So, as you tilt your glass back this holiday season, consider the intricacy of kinship, the hyphae that—both literally and figuratively—weave the canopy that feeds us. Whether you live downtown, in the badlands, or at the foot of Wheeler Peak, we hope these stories help you get to know (and taste) New Mexico’s forests a little better, and that, like a brisk walk in the woods, they refresh you and inspire something new.

PUBLISHERS Bite Size Media, LLC Stephanie and Walt Cameron

EDITOR Briana Olson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Susanna Space

COPY EDITORS Marie Landau and Margaret Marti

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Stephanie Cameron

PHOTO EDITOR Stephanie Cameron

EVENT COORDINATOR Natalie Donnelly

VIDEO PRODUCER Walt Cameron

SALES AND MARKETING Kate Collins, Melinda Esquibel, Gina Riccobono, and Karen Wine

PUBLISHING ASSISTANT Cristina Grumblatt

SUBSCRIBE ∙ LETTERS EDIBLENM.COM We welcome your letters. Write to us at the address above, or email us at INFO@EDIBLENM.COM Bite Size Media, LLC publishes edible New Mexico six times a year. We distribute throughout New Mexico and nationally by subscription.

Briana Olson, Editor

Susanna Space, Associate Editor

Stephanie and Walt Cameron, Publishers

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CONTRIBUTORS STEPHANIE CAMERON Stephanie Cameron was raised in Albuquerque and earned a degree in fine arts at the University of New Mexico. Cameron is the art director, head photographer, recipe tester, marketing guru, publisher, and owner of edible New Mexico and The Bite. LYNN CLINE Lynn Cline is the award-winning author of The Maverick Cookbook: Iconic Recipes and Tales From New Mexico. She’s written for Bon Appétit, the New York Times, New Mexico Magazine, and many other publications. She also hosts Cline’s Corner, a weekly talk show on public radio’s KSFR 101.1 FM. UNGELBAH DÁVILA-SHIVERS Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers lives in Valencia County with her husband, Larry, and daughter, Tachi’Bah. She owns Silver Moon Studio in Bosque Farms. ANNA MARIJA HELT Anna Marija Helt, PhD, is a writer, microbiologist, and practicing herbalist in the Four Corners area. Through Osadha Natural Health and other organizations, she engages people with the natural world for their own well-being and that of the planet. ANNIE MONTES Annie Montes is an environmental educator with the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, where she collects scientific data along the Rio Grande with K–12 and college students. She earned her MS in biology at the University of New Mexico and strives to promote stewardship for all public lands.

SHAHID MUSTAFA Shahid Mustafa owns and runs Taylor Hood Farms, practicing regenerative organic agriculture on two acres in La Union, and offering a CSA with home delivery. Through his nonprofit DYGUP/Sustain (DYGUP stands for Developing Youth from the Ground Up), he has worked with staff at Las Cruces High School to implement an environmental literacy curriculum and establish a one-acre plot where students receive credit for helping with all stages of vegetable production. BRIANA OLSON Briana Olson is a writer and the editor of edible New Mexico and The Bite. She was the lead editor for the 2019 and 2021 editions of The New Farmer’s Almanac. SUSANNA SPACE Susanna Space, a writer and twenty-year resident of Santa Fe, is the associate editor for edible New Mexico and The Bite. When she’s not covering the local food scene, she writes essays about topics including animal rights, meteors, and the cultural history of the Southwest. ELLEN ZACHOS Ellen Zachos lives in Santa Fe and is the author of eight books, including The Forager’s Pantry. She is the co-host of the Plantrama podcast, and writes about wild foods at backyardforager.com. Zachos offers several online foraging courses at backyard-forager.thinkific.com.

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Celebrations

Words and Photos by Stephanie Cameron When I was growing up, pecans always conjured the holidays. Pecans were mixed into my grandmother’s famous Chex mix, stored in decorated tins, and delivered to neighbors as gifts. They were placed on the coffee table, still in their shells and spilling out of bowls, with nutcrackers nearby. My brother and I would challenge each other to crack the perfect pecan, carefully lifting the halves from the shells with a metal pick to put forth the

unbroken gems. But nine times out of ten, neither of us won, and we would quickly consume the bits and pieces as we snatched up another shell to try again. This edition of Cooking Fresh is an ode to those pecan memories and provides make-ahead recipes for holiday get-togethers. Whether hosting the festivities or bringing food to another’s celebration, you can pick and choose from the ideas below or make them all for a pecan-themed party.

Mi Cocina denim placemats and napkins, A Bar Above cocktail set, Logan Wannamaker pottery, and Lauren Green serving tray, courtesy of Black Diamond Curio in Santa Fe.

A cheese or charcuterie board is always an excellent option when hosting a large group, but add a little “wow factor” and dress it up with creative dips and finger food. Set up your spread on a kitchen island or counter so you don’t have to spend the evening serving food.

Grandma’s Chex Mix Makes 15 cups My grandmother’s Chex mix was always one of the most coveted by friends and family near and far, and highly anticipated every year. As simple as this recipe may seem, it is all about cooking low and slow to get the perfect crunch and evenly dispersing the butter mixture to ensure every bite is satisfying. Of course, bagel chips were not a thing when Grandma made this recipe—she used more pretzels and cereal—but we think they make for an excellent texture addition. 12 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce 2 teaspoons seasoning salt, such as Lawry’s 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) 2 cups bagel chips

4 1/2 cups Rice Chex cereal 4 1/2 cups Wheat Chex cereal 2 cups pretzel sticks 1 cup pecan halves 1 cup roasted peanuts Preheat oven to 250°F. Arrange 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds. Place the butter in a medium, microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 10-second intervals until fully melted, 50–60 seconds total. Add worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne, and whisk well to combine. Place bagel chips in a large bowl and lightly crush them with your hands into bite-size pieces. Add Rice Chex and Wheat Chex, pretzels, pecans, and peanuts, and lightly toss to combine. Pour half of the butter mixture over the Chex mixture and gently toss to coat. Pour in the remaining butter mixture and gently toss again. Transfer the mixture onto two large baking sheets and spread into an even layer. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes and rotating pans, until lightly browned and crisp, 45–50 minutes total. Let cool entirely on the baking sheets and store in airtight containers.

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A VISIT TO ITALITY FEEDING ALL RELATIONS WITH PLANT RELATIVES Words and Photos by Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers

Tina Archuleta prepping prickly pear tunas.

Plant food is Indigenous food. Squash, beans, corn, amaranth— these are the foods that have sustained Pueblo and other Indiginations across Turtle Island for hundreds of thousands of years. Tina Archuleta, a citizen of Jemez Pueblo and owner/creator of Itality Plant Based Foods, is bringing culturally relevant meals like plant-based enchiladas, stews, and empanadas to the grab-and-go menu at her newly opened restaurant at Avanyu Plaza in Albuquerque, across from the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. 50

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2022

A finalist at the 2020 Food Funded Entrepreneurship and Investor Fair, Archuleta says, “Plant foods are Native foods. Plants are our oldest ally. Plants are our relatives and they’re here for us. My food is not going to hurt anyone. I use barely any sugar in my recipes. I don’t use bleached flour. I don’t use lard. I don’t use cheese, which is very high in saturated fat. I am thinking of the Native people in our community (with illnesses like diabetes). And this food is not hurting them. It’s medicine.”

Delectable breakfast, lunch & dinner daily RESERVATIONS: 505.923.9080 | OpenTable.com 125 2nd St NW Albuquerque, NM 87102

Piñon nuts in the cone of a piñon pine. Photo by Gail Ann Williams.

By Annie Montes wo scents are prevalent in the olfactory memory of every New Mexican: the spicy, smoky smell of roasting chiles in the late summer and early autumn, and the sweet, woody scent of piñon burning in the winter. Walking in my neighborhood, I’ll often delight at the combination of these scents and be reminded of the complexities that go into growing, harvesting, and caring for both plants. Even more so, I think about the histories of these New Mexican favorites, how they got here, and how long they’ve been intertwined into the very fabric of New Mexican history. As much as New Mexicans love to argue over red or green, our relationship with piñon has centuries of advantage over that with the Hatch chile; we’ve been co-evolving with piñon for thousands of years, while what we know as the Hatch chile has only been with us since the twentieth century.

trees, though. A plethora of other living beings consume some part of piñon, including various rodents, birds, insects, and even fungi. The piñon jay and piñon dwarf mistletoe, among many others, depend on the presence of this tree for their very survival.

Piñon is more deeply woven into local history than statehood itself. It appears in the stories of the Hopi and Laguna people and has been found in hallmark historic locations including Chaco Canyon, El Morro, and Bandelier. For millennia, piñon has provided many gifts for all who interact with it, including food, shelter, and warmth. Humans enjoy piñon nuts so much that a pound can cost as much as eighty dollars today, more than twenty times the price we pay for peanuts. We aren’t the only ones who enjoy the tasty bounty of these

Piñon’s relationship to mycorrhizal fungi runs even deeper (figuratively and literally) than its relationship with animals or people. During my undergraduate studies, I learned that these fungal associates serve as extensions of the piñon’s roots. Because these fungi are made up of microscopic strands of cells, also known as hyphae, they can explore for nutrients in soil much more effectively than plants. (The relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and plants is so beneficial that mycorrhizae are associated with 90 percent of plant families.)

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In addition to nut production, piñon also provides habitat for wildlife and firewood for people who heat their homes with wood-burning stoves. Pack rats, common rodents in the Southwest, and piñon jays rely on this tree for nesting and reproduction: pack rats collect piñon wood for their nests, or middens, and piñon jays use nuts in their courting rituals. Not only does piñon wood have a pleasant smell, it burns longer than other firewood alternatives, can be readily found locally, and ignites easily—which accounts for its popularity as a heating source. In McKinley County, roughly 40 percent of all homes are heated by wood-burning stoves.

The more we understand the biology of the complex relationships between piñon, their associated mycorrhizal fungi, and the piñon ips, the better equipped we will be to preserve this valuable tree. EDIBLENM.COM

Honey mushrooms on dead hardwood in a huge fungal flush.

MAD ABOUT MUSHROOMS BEAUTY, FLAVOR, AND SCIENCE CONVERGE ON A TAOS FORAY By Ellen Zachos · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

awk’s wing, club coral, lobster, velvet foot, puffball, hedgehog . . . these are names that make the mushroom hunter’s heart go pitter-pat. If they sound unfamiliar to you, maybe you should join the New Mexico Mycological Society (NMMS). The most anticipated event sponsored by the NMMS is their annual mushroom foray, where enthusiastic mycophiles gather to celebrate the wide range of fungi found in northern New Mexico. I’ve been mushroom hunting for years, but as a transplant to New Mexico I have plenty to learn about Rocky Mountain fungi. I was surprised when longtime member Terri Wallis described New Mexico’s mushrooms as unusually diverse, because I assumed our dry climate would limit mushroom diversity. Most people, including myself, think of places like the Pacific Northwest and the temperate rain forests of the mid-Atlantic when they think of mushroom diversity. Ah, but mushrooms are temperamental creatures; they require a specific combination of moisture and temperature in order to fruit. (The “toadstool” part of the mushroom is the fruiting body of the fungus.) Some places, such as Pennsylvania, which gets forty inches of rain spread throughout the year, may have less mushroom diversity than northern New Mexico, which gets a mere fourteen inches of rainfall on average. How is that possible? It’s all in the timing. A

solid monsoon season delivers concentrated rain in a short amount of time, providing moisture exactly when the temperatures are perfect for fungal growth. Thanks to this year’s generous rains, field trip leaders at the late-August foray expected us to find a great diversity of species, and we were not disappointed. Before heading off into the mountains early Friday morning, we were given waxed paper bags for collecting specimens (paper bags can fall apart if mushrooms are wet, and plastic bags don’t breathe, so mushrooms may turn to mush) and instructed on how to record the GPS coordinates of where we found each specimen. Because Friday was all about science. Upon returning to the conference center in Taos, we unpacked hundreds of mushrooms and spent the next few hours working to identify what we’d found, using field guides and peppering our field trip leaders and two foray mycologists with questions. It’s just as important to know which mushrooms are toxic as it is to know which are delicious. For obvious reasons. We brought in several lovely-looking species that were not on anyone’s menu. Russula emetica is a fragile red mushroom with pure white, delicate, thinly spaced gills. The species name (emetica) tells you everything you need to know: this mushroom will make you vomit. The death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides) warns you with

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Mushrooms don't always appear in the same place every year, the way most plants do. . . . This unpredictability is part of what makes it so incredibly exciting to stumble across the mother lode of king boletes or a giant clump of oyster mushrooms. EDIBLENM.COM