If you believed the ads you occasionally see on the Fernsehen (TV&#41, you might be led to think that the Walden (forests&#41 in Deutschland are full with elves making little Gummi Bären.

Well folks, you're in for a surprise. I've checked around, no Gummis are to be found in the Schwartzwald (Black Forest&#41. What there is, however is even more magical. The hills (or to be more precise, the forests and swamps&#41 are alive… with Bärlauch.

Bärlauch is an leafy green vegetable indigenous to Europe and parts of Asia. It just does not grow in North America. Bärlauch, which loosely translates to 'bear leeks' are the food that the bears supposedly graze upon when waking up from hibernation. It's a relative of both the onion as well as the water lily… so it grows these beautiful spear shaped leaves that are extremely tender and have a light onion flavor without any of the sharpness found in a leek or green onion. It's perfect for soups and sauces (like the Bärlauch and cream sauce for the pasta I made tonight&#41 and is only available for a few months each year.

That's the thing about Germany. You can't get every type of Obst (vegetable&#41 every day. At the vegetable shop in my building, you can usually find a couple types of lettuce, some peppers, mushrooms and a whole host of other vegetables, fruits and tubers. But you could go in one day and see three types of hot peppers, and the next day, none. The people here expect that if the shop owner can't find a good batch of a certain produce, they don't settle for second best, they just don't have it. This makes planning out meals difficult, but on the occasions when you can find fresh garlic that doesn't need to be peeled because it is so tender… or when you see that magical bunch of Bärlauch sitting among the salad greens, it's all worth it.

Tschüss,

Avery