- Hey, I'm Les Stroud, and you're about to watch another wonderful episode of "Wild Harvest."

You can learn an awful lot about foraging from watching this series, from going online, reading books, and even using apps, but the only real responsible way to learn properly about foraging from the wild is to go out with a local expert, someone who will take you out and show you the safest and most responsible way to enjoy your own foraging.

All right, let's get out and forage.

(birds twittering) (serene music) You know, when I first started foraging, I learned about and looked for all of the usual suspects, the obvious berries and plants that I was likely already familiar with, but eventually, you learn more, and the wild harvest becomes a little more nuanced.

Often, the next plant you're going to discover, it's been right in front of you all along, or maybe under your feet or on a nearby branch.

We get so focused in on the delicious, red raspberry, and we forget we can make tea from the leaves.

We get excited about coconut water and shavings, don't even know there's a delicious coconut apple to be enjoyed.

Foraging is indeed a journey of discovery, especially when you get beyond the basics and you can get into that nuanced world of the wild harvest.

(serene music) (lively music) (lively music continues) And away we go.

This is musa, banana, but we are not after these beauties today.

Nope, we're going for the banana flower, also called the banana blossom or the banana heart, and this is it right here, and the whole thing is edible and delicious, but inside is the treasure we're really going after, and it's a bit of a process to get into it.

What you wanna look for in getting a banana blossom is looking at the last and lowest bunch of bananas, that's where it's going to be, and you let them get to about this size, this is just about right, right now, and you've got a bit of a distance between these bananas and this, and by the way, it's thought, right now, that, at least the argument is that when you prune this flower off, you're actually benefiting the bananas, that they will grow healthier and larger because of doing that, because the nutrients are then focused on the bananas and not going to the flower.

And here's the cool part.

This is now our latest superfood, high in nutrients, high fiber, low calories, near zero sugar, and the list of nutrients in this is so long, I'm gonna have to read it for you because I can't remember them all.

We've got potassium, vitamin C, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, and it's full of antioxidants.

And this one is ready to be harvested, and there's a few more around here, so I think I'm gonna get these to Paul, and he's gonna probably have a blast in his little test kitchen, seeing what we can do with this baby.

All right, let's get harvesting.

(lively music) (lively music continues) All right, Paul, here we go.

This is one of the odd occasions where I feel like we've set up a cooking show, little display here.

I really don't know what's going to be possible.

All I know is that this is one of the coolest-looking wild edibles I've ever brought to you, I know that the whole thing is edible, and I'm just excited, I think, in this situation, for you to get into a test kitchen mode and play with it.

I mean, what are you thinking?

I know you've been researching it a little bit.

- You know, years ago, I had some banana flower in Indonesia, and it was delicious, but I haven't actually played with it ever before.

- Okay.

- I've also never forgotten that dish, and it's always been on my radar, and one of the things that I've wanted to do.

I wanna play with that, I wanna see what I can do with it.

- Yeah.

I'll leave this to you.

I'm just excited to see what you do.

- Okay.

- It's all yours.

- Yeah, this is a great challenge.

I love this.

(gentle rhythmic music) Okay, now this is the fun part, the anatomy of a banana flower.

I actually have no idea what's inside.

I think what I'll do is just start by dissecting it, pulling off these leaves and separating them out, just so I know what's in here.

Okay, these little guys, they're kinda cool.

Okay, that's interesting.

Not much smell, a little bit of a sweet smell to it.

Just because I can, I'm gonna cut it right in half.

Okay.

Oh, wow!

It almost looks like artichoke growing inside.

I wonder how it tastes.

(drone buzzing) Hmm, Les is around.

I can tell, 'cause there's his drone.

Okay, that's really starchy.

Kind of uneventful, really, fibrous, not brilliant by any stretch.

Now, what does this taste like?

This is that leaf.

Let me try this.

(lively music) - Oh.

- Oh.

- [Les] Oh.

(all laugh) Not much flavor, fiberous.

And then one of these guys.

Hmm, okay, that's bitter, really the first flavor I've had from this, which is surprising.

I was expecting at least something, maybe a little sweet, maybe a little bitter, but I'm right into neutral.

I'm gonna try blanching these now.

Into the water.

(water hissing) Time to try this.

The bitter flavor came out a little bit.

I was not expecting that.

You can almost see, check that out, come in close, you can see the fiber.

Look at that, that's what I'm fighting.

I need to try it sauteed, see if it tastes better with a bit of caramelization from a pan.

There we go.

Kinda like deep frying in clarified butter.

Yeah, it's a chef thing.

(rhythmic music) (pan sizzling) Time to see what these taste like.

Just gonna lay them out here.

(rhythmic music) Mm, that's nice.

Not a lot of flavor, but the texture's really good.

These little guys, hmm, no, there's some sweetness to these, so the flavor is gonna be anything that I add to it.

This banana blossom is really the story about the texture.

Interesting.

(lively music) (drone rattling and squealing) Oh, listen, it's sad, it's crying.

- [Colleage] I'm sorry.

(Paul laughs) - Poor little guy.

- [Paul] It does sound so sad.

- Like it went "Ow, ow," (laughs) "ow."

- [Paul] He's had a rough day (laughs).

- He's had a rough day.

Before Paul and I got into the preparation of the banana flower for the wild harvest dish, I wanted him to experience more of the astoundingly beautiful and historically rich island country of Sri Lanka.

(rhythmic music) - [Singer] Wow.

We left the hospitable grounds of the Aggressor Safari Lodge, and I took him to the ancient ruins of Alahana Pirivena, (people chanting) (rhythmic music) (people chanting) - [Vocalist] Come with us Come with us now For the whole Earth bleeds and people cry, But the Earth can heal, So can I.

♪ Oceans call ♪ Call me home ♪ Follow where I go ♪ Ancients call ♪ Call me home ♪ Follow where I go (people chanting) - Hmm, all right.

- You know there's a part of me that doesn't want to do this because I know what's coming, but we got an opportunity here, Paul.

I didn't know we were gonna have it, but we have it.

Betel nut time.

So you've never chewed betel nut?

- No, but I've seen it chewed before.

- Yeah, and I've enjoyed it, enjoyed it, several occasions.

Sampa, you show us first how to do this, let's do this right.

- All right, okay, I show first.

- So we've got the betel nut, tobacco.

- What leaf is this?

- [Sampa] This is the betel leaves.

- [Les] The betel leaves and some lime.

- Some lime, yeah.

Okay, first we can get the one leaf.

- Get the leaves?

Here, let's do it together.

Paul?

- Yep.

- Buddy, there's the leaf, - Okay.

and that is the betel leaf.

- One piece of areca nut.

- Areca nut, Paul, you're getting a big one.

- Yeah, thanks.

- You can see this is a little bit bigger, then we can bite a little bit, you know, two parts we can get.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Then we keep middle and get the piece of tobacco, and this is the lime with something like that, put here, okay?

Okay.

Okay.

- There you go.

- Okay.

You can do like this.

- Okay.

- Then we can eat.

- Then lie it right in the mouth, and chew.

- [Sampa] Then you can chew it, yeah.

How hard do we chew?

Hard?

- Not yet, not yet - Not yet, yeah - Maybe two, three minutes.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Starting to get a little numby in there.

(quirky music) - Quality wild harvest right here.

- Yeah.

- If you think about it, this is a wild harvest.

This is absolutely, this is all foraging.

Forage a betel nut, forage a betel leaf, oh, oh, forage the tobacco.

- [Sampa] It's good, yeah.

So why do people two betel nut?

- Because, especially, you know, the people that are hard workers, you know, after getting hard works, you know, the mind getting relaxed little bit.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- What would this go good with?

- Yeah, what do we pair this with, Paul?

(laughs) - Give me a beer (indistinct) (Les laughs) betel nut with a beer chaser.

Chef Paul Rogalski, new recipe, going in a recipe book.

- Mm-hmm.

- All right, let's go eat.

- Yeah.

(lively music) (lively music continues) - Okay, cooking time.

- Smells good.

- Yeah, nothing like a hint of ginger.

- Shallots?

- Yup.

(pan hissing) (lively rhythmic music) (pan hissing) Okay, still pretty bitter.

I need to balance that out.

I have a couple of ingredients in mind that might help me do that.

Little bit of sesame oil, some fish sauce, just a little bit.

(pan hissing) That already helped it a lot.

Bit of soy.

(gentle rhythmic music) - Okay, just need to let that marinate.

Time for the curry.

It's all going straight into one pot, starting with sauteing these guys off.

(pan sizzling) - Ghee in this pot.

Here we go.

(pot sizzling) - All right, some nice spices, cardamon, okay, turmeric, hot paprika, just a wee bit of chili, some water.

Okay, I've got a lot of good ingredients in there, a nice curry flavor, a nice base curry flavor, but I want some coconut to it as well, so when in Sri Lanka, do like Sri Lanka.

This is dehydrated coconut.

This is a first for me.

Oh look at that.

Just need to let it cook for a little while.

(gentle rhythmic music) Okay.

Okay, that curry is actually coming together nicely, but I find it to be a little spicy, like the ingredients are different than the ones I'm used to, and I am cooking with banana blossom, and I do need some sweetness, so I'm thinking what better to sweeten up the curry than a little bit of banana from the same plant.

(gentle rhythmic music) Okay, now this is done.

Time to get ready the soup.

(gentle rhythmic music) (gentle rhythmic music continues) So I'm thinking of these bracts as an opportunity to make almost like a vegetable fruit noodle.

I don't even know what to call a flower from a fruit tree.

Is it a fruit flower?

Is banana a fruit?

Is banana a fruit technically?

(all laugh) (gentle rhythmic music) Okay, the moment of truth.

That guy right there.

How is it?

Okay, that worked out much better than I thought it would, like 10 times better than I thought it would.

It almost has like a celery texture to it, which I'm thrilled about.

This is gonna work really well with the other things that I have going on.

Happy moment for Paul.

(serene music) (serene music continues) - So I'm hungry, Paul.

- I am glad to hear that.

- Ooh, that looks like curry.

- That is curry, and there's rice underneath here - There is.

- for the curry.

All right.

- Start with the soup though?

- I think we should, because it's been a tradition; every meal that we've had in Sri Lanka has started with a bowl of soup.

- Yeah, strange, you wouldn't think that.

- Agreed.

- Like, hot soup, hot country, you just wouldn't think that, but that is what they've done, and it's been delicious every time.

But this is another matter altogether.

I don't even know what I'm looking at.

- So, vegetable soup, except instead of noodles, I used the bract from the banana blossom.

- So you were happy with the purple sort of leaflets you kinda pulled off there, because of their texture or because of their flavor?

- Because of the texture.

There's no flavor.

- There's no flavor - There's no flavor, it's only texture.

- Mm, my first reaction is that everything written in the books talks about, oh, don't even bother, but you bothered.

They're wrong, they're absolutely wrong.

I love the texture, that's like a, oh, it's a hardy noodle, it's a nice, it's a noodle that's not, you know, just too mushy and soft, it's al dente without even meaning to be so.

- Yeah.

- You know, so I don't know, I love what you did with it, I think that's great.

- If you like, take some of the florets and add it to your soup.

- Okay.

- It's a- - It'll give it flavor.

- Exactly.

- Mm, mm-hmm, now I've got flavor.

That changes everything.

Now that I've mixed them in, it's perfect.

So none of this actually tastes like banana at all.

- Zero.

- So it's banana blossom, - Yeah.

- but none of it tastes like banana.

- Zero.

- Well, bread truck.

- Bread truck.

- Not ice cream, but bread truck.

(Beethoven music) - We'll thank Beethoven for the backing music.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Mm, mm, Paul, now I'm really liking this.

Once I mix them both together, that's the magic ticket.

Did you mean this to be eaten just as a salad on its own?

- No.

- You meant this to be garnish?

Oh, you didn't say that.

- That's okay.

Really, I designed this to also go with the curry, or it'd be on its own, so it wasn't that I designed it not to be by itself, I thought it'd have to compliment both other dishes.

- It certainly works in this.

Why don't we see if it works with the curry?

- Okay, in the case of this curry, - Mm-hmm.

it's a bit of the core, a bit of the outside casing and the inside, - So essentially, what you're saying to me is this is pretty much all of the banana blossom happening.

- Yeah, - Okay, and you curried it?

- including the banana.

- All right, here we go.

Mm, I don't even know what I'm tasting, - Mm-hmm.

- other than awesomeness.

I just, it's one of those situations again where it has its own flavor.

The curry isn't beating up everything else, - Good.

- it's blending in really nicely.

The spices there, zippity do da, it's there.

- We're in Sri Lanka, - Exactly!

- No doubt.

- This is really, this is really intriguing.

- Okay, do you wanna try it with the... - Mm, all right, - There you go.

- My goodness!

- Try it with the salad.

There's some lime in there as well.

A shot of acid might change things immensely from an overall flavor profile, might just highlight - All right.

- some of the Asian flavors.

- Let's do that.

Let's try it on.

Bingo!

There it is.

There's everything together all at the same time.

What's the name of that film?

"Everything All At Once Everywhere"?

I don't know.

That's what this is.

This dish is everything all at once, everywhere on my palate.

Oh, that's great!

Paul, this is way better than I, you know, I don't wanna say it this way, but it's way better than what I was expecting.

Now, every time you experience a wild edible that maybe you're not familiar with, you open up a world of possibilities for creating memories.

Sorry, did I just hear a beep?

(cat meowing) That's the cat, ha ha!

Interrupted by a cat, that doesn't happen often.

Every time you experience a wild edible plant, you open up a world of possibilities for creating memories.

Foraging is not about replacing what you already eat, it's not even about saving the planet, it's about connections, it's about connecting to the natural world in ways that awaken your palate and feed your soul.

You know, whether you want it to or not, nature heals, and whether you're aware of it or not, your soul yearns for the wild harvest.

(serene music) (rhythmic music) - [Vocalist] Wow.

♪ Oceans call ♪ Call me home ♪ Follow where I go (people chanting) - If you'd like to continue to wild harvest with me and Chef Paul Rogalski, then please check out our website at wildharvestfilms.com where we have recipes and foraging tips along with deleted scenes and outtakes from the making of "Les Stroud's Wild Harvest."

- [Announcer] Directly inspired by the series, Chef Paul and expert forager Les Shroud bring you the" Wild Harvest Recipe Book," highlighting all of Paul's dishes, and complete with behind-the-scenes stories.

It is available for 29.99.

In addition, a DVD of this season is also available for 19.99.

To order, please go to wildharvestfilms.com, "Wild Harvest" TV show on Facebook, or "Les Stroud's Wild Harvest" on YouTube.

(chiming music) (birds twittering) (logo swishes) (lively music)