Mapping Armenia’s Edible Landscape, One Wild Bilberry Bush at a Time

A few years ago, Serda Ozbenian and two accompany were hiking, analytic for bezoar goats about southeast Armenia’s Smbataberd Fortress, if they noticed a application of agrarian acerbic annoy growing abreast the ruin’s entrance.While a lot of visitors appear to this centuries-old acropolis website for a dosage of history and abundance views, the three self-proclaimed aliment enthusiasts were, at atomic for the moment, added taken with the comestible plants.As they aggregate bunches of nettles, applauding their luck and discussing recipes for yeghinchov abour (nettle soup) and jingalov hats—an Armenian stuffed-bread abounding with agrarian annoy and dill — an abstraction was born: Why not actualize a convenient database to advice added foragers acquisition caches of comestible herbs?

Agrarian foraged strawberries. (The 1000 Leaf Project)

Stinging annoy is just one on the account of Armenia's added than 3,600 agrarian bulb species—a account that includes hundreds of comestible varieties alignment from agrarian asparagus, excellent and oregano to acerb sea buckthorn and candied mallow, an assemble that formed the aboriginal abject for marshmallows.The three friends, Ozbenian, Executive Director of the Earth Island Institute's Armenian Ecology Network (AEN), Armine Sargsyan, AEN’s In-Country Director, and Lena Tachdjian, an ecology writer, were anon accommodating with colleagues and the American University of Armenia's Acopian Center for the Ambiance (AUA), a accumulation that promotes ecology attention through research, to archive these comestible breed with advice from the community.The consistent project, The 1000 Leaf Project, launched in 2016 as a citizen-driven website that allows anyone to annals a agrarian plant, accouterment data on area they activate it, how to autumn it and what recipes to try.What one being may not know, addition can ample in—like a Wikipedia, of sorts, for Armenian agrarian bulb foraging.

The website aswell allows users to breeze photos of alien plants and mushrooms for the association to advice identify, admitting the website accurately warns users “not [to] absorb annihilation you cannot absolutely analyze as safe.”

“[Armine, Lena and I realized] we were anniversary amorous by Armenia's abundance of accustomed resources, both for their arduous adorableness and for the actuality that there's not a ton of affidavit about them,” says Ozbenian.“Our aim was to actualize a activity that would animate eco-tourism, but accomplish abiding it was in a way that would not advance to ecology destruction.” To abate this risk, the website contains guidelines for how to autumn agrarian plants sustainably.Tips awning warnings adjoin affairs out plants by their roots, and advice on anecdotic and alienated endangered species.

Accession agrarian bilberries. (The 1000 Leaf Project)

Ozbenian admits the website is still primarily acclimated by bulb enthusiasts and foodies (“the types of humans who are already accession this affectionate of info”), but she’s bullish the user abject will abide to expand, including to travelers absorbed in agreeable with Armenian’s mural in a different way.Ozbenian hopes to activate partnering with bounded hiking groups and tourism providers to absorb the database into guided foraging treks, affable classes and added offerings.Currently, she recommends treks with the English-speaking, locally-based bout aggregation Armenia Geographic, which offers day and multi-day hikes through landscapes like the spinach-and thyme-lined slopes of Mount Teghenis and the mushroom-filled forests abreast Goshavank Monastery.Time Land, an ecology non-profit operating out of Kalavan apple in Armenia's east-central Gegharkunik Province, aswell offers foraging and meal-prep programs alleged “Forest Kitchens.”

Dried aveluk. (The 1000 Leaf Project)

When it comes to claimed foraging, Ozbenian has her favorites, including agrarian bilberries—a small, built-in European drupe that resembles blueberries, herbs aveluk, a blazon of agrarian sorrel, and of advance the bulb that started it all – agrarian nettles.She's even congenital it into one of her admired recipes, imam bayildi, an eggplant basin that originated in Turkey but can be activate throughout abounding aforetime Ottoman regions.“You about ample the eggplant with onions and tomatoes, but I fabricated a adaptation with nettle,” she says.Sharing it is just one added way The 1000 Leaf Activity is acquisitive to animate users to collaborate with Armenia's environment.

This compound calls for Armenia’s agrarian acerbic nettle, but Ozbenian says substituting American agrarian annoy will plan as able-bodied in a pinch.

Wild Annoy Imam Bayildi Recipe

2 ample eggplants (long and angular kind)

4 cups of acerbic annoy (stems removed, chopped)

2 baby tomatoes (chopped and sliced)

2 baby onions (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (pressed)

2 TB auto juice

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt (to taste)

1/2 TB attic oil

2 TB olive oil

1) First, cut off the ends of the eggplant, bark them in strips (one white strip, one purple).Cut them in bisected lengthwise and afresh in bisected again.Scoop out some of the abdomen to accomplish a baiter (set abreast the insides).Soak the eggplant pieces in a basin of absolute baptize (softens them and reduces bitterness) and set them abreast while you adapt the added ingredients.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2) Chop the onions and one amazon and columnist the garlic.Heat a 1/2 TB of attic oil in a pot and add the capacity to the pot.Sauté for two account on average heat.

3) Chop the annoy almost and add it to the pot forth with the sugar, alkali and eggplant abdomen you set aside.Stir well, awning and baker on average calefaction for 10 minutes.

4) While the annoy admixture is cooking, abolish the eggplant pieces from the water, clasp out any balance baptize and abode them on an oven safe pan.Drizzle them with auto abstract and olive oil.Add 1/4 cup baptize to basal of the pan.Cover the pan with antithesis and abode it in the oven for 20 account (the eggplant should be bendable but not adapted thoroughly).

5) Ample anniversary eggplant with the annoy mixture, awning afresh and put it aback in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

6) Abolish the antithesis and add attenuate slices of amazon to anniversary eggplant boat, baptize with a blow of alkali and sugar.Place aback in the oven baldheaded until the baptize has evaporated and the eggplant is adapted thoroughly (about 10 added minutes).