Foraging for Cocktails

Jump to Interview / Jump to Recipe

Everyone has at least one memory of picking leaves, flowers, collecting rocks, sea glass, and shells, or admiring the intricate patterns on a butterfly, the heft of an ant’s haul, the glistening of an alien-like sea critter. It’s an innate human quality to be curious about nature and to be inspired by its simultaneous complexity and seeming simplicity.

Sarah Stephens who is a dear friend of mine says she’s played in the woods gathering and foraging from a very young age. Though she continues to do so now, it’s not only for pleasure but to collect materials for her business, Mōhala Expressions. Mōhala Expressions has a rainbow-colored line of flavorful syrups and shrubs Sarah makes lovingly by hand with foraged materials she’s collected here on her adventures on O’ahu. Today we get to spend an afternoon with her, learning about foraging and even enjoy some cocktails using her creations. Join us for a leisurely stroll in Kalihi Valley and a little trip to the Spells of Wylde kitchen for a refreshing pau hana cocktail.

“Ever since I can remember, nature has been my safe space…hiking and being in nature has always allowed me to slow down and clear my head.”

We’ve talked in the past about your love of hiking and being out in nature, can you expand on this?

Definitely! Ever since I can remember, nature has been my safe space. I grew up in a chaotic home, and we lived next to three forests, so I used to go there to escape. I’d build forts, climb trees, and pretend to live off the land. I guess things haven’t changed much, but hiking and being in nature has always allowed me to slow down and clear my head. I’ll probably always be that type A personality that always has to stay busy and can never sit still, but at least I’ve figured out a way to move my legs while slowing my mind down a little. It allows me to be a little more mindful of the natural world around me, too. 

What aspect of foraging do you love and enjoy most? Why is it more appealing than, say, purchasing ingredients?

I think what I love most about foraging isn’t something I consciously think about when I’m doing it. It’s an aura of instinctually getting back to my roots and being in tune with the natural world around me. Because humans have largely forgotten how to live off of the land, it seems complex to a lot of people– having to research edibility, environmental status, and plant identification among many other things can seem overwhelming– but for me it was simply borne out of sheer curiosity about the world in which I live! 

Reducing the experience of foraging down to gathering free ingredients would cheapen it. Although saving money on food is a clear benefit, it is also so much more than that. Gathering invasive plants that harm your local ecosystem is beneficial to the environment, rather than engaging in the commercial food industry that is incredibly harmful on a global scale. Being out in nature gives me a chance to clear my head and get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, rather than being in a crowded, sterile grocery store. It also helps me to be more knowledgeable about the food I’m putting in my body and where it comes from. Most invasive plants have a lot of nutritional and medicinal benefits, so foraging is great for the physical body too! 

• 

• 

“Being out in nature gives me a chance to clear my head and get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, rather than being in a crowded, sterile grocery store. It also helps me to be more knowledgeable about the food I’m putting in my body and where it comes from.”

A very large part of my respect for you and your business is that you educate your audience and customers on foraging etiquette and the importance of respecting the land you forage from. Can you tell us about this?

Definitely! This is something I’m incredibly passionate about that often gets overlooked because it’s not necessarily “interesting” or “marketable.” If there’s one thing I wish I could emphasize more, it would be the distinction between native and invasive plants. To elaborate: foraging is often mistaken for being a sustainable practice, but that’s not necessarily true. Every time I find a new plant, I always research name (common, Latin, and Hawaiian), edibility, status (native, non-native, culturally significant, etc), uses (edible, cultural, medicinal, etc), and environment (coastal, mesic, elevation, etc). 

There are two major categories in terms of status: Native and non-native. For the most part, I never use native plants. Why? Most are having a hard enough time thriving on their home turf without people coming through and uprooting them. Before I moved to Hawai’i, I thought if a plant went extinct, it was sad and that was it. Now that I’ve done a lot more research, I’ve learned that ecosystems are intricate systems that are dependent on specific variables. For example, O’ahu receives massive amounts of rainfall during certain times of year, and is dependent on its unique watershed system. Many plants native to Hawai’i and to O’ahu specifically act as sponges that absorb the rain so it can trickle down into the watershed. Without these plants, the water gains momentum and can result in massive runoffs, landslides, and flooding. Obviously, these types of natural disasters are not ideal for many reasons. 

Because native plants are essential to maintain delicate ecosystems, we want to leave those alone for the most part. If they are in abundance in a certain location or are cultivated, take only what you need and move on. But what about non-native plants? There are two major sub-categories for non-native plants: naturalized and invasive. Naturalized plants basically have learned to coexist in the ecosystem, meaning that while they’re not really supposed to be there, they’re not really hurting anything either. A lot of canoe plants, such as kalo and sugar cane fall into this category, and many of these are considered culturally significant because of their many uses on the islands during pre-colonization periods. Invasive plants, on the other hand, are incredibly harmful to the environment. Many of them have means of reproducing that cause them to spread incredibly rapidly, leaving little to no room for native plants or anything else for that matter. Many of these plants, such as strawberry guava, haole koa, and ginger, have incredible nutritional and medicinal benefits, so eating them is not only good for you, it’s great for the environment, too!

Do you have any tips for those who would like to learn to forage both ethically and sustainably, or any books or resources you recommend?

Absolutely! I like A Hiker’s Guide to Trailside Plants in Hawai’i by John B. Hall, and this was the first book I used a lot to start identifying plants here on O’ahu. Most of my other books are more on medicinal and cultural uses. I use the app Picture This a lot to identify plants, although on some occasions it can be slightly off, so I’d only use it if you already have a basic understanding of plant identification. Google is actually a great resource if you just start typing in visual keywords, such as “small orange berries Hawai’i!” Instagram is a great place to connect with like-minded people, and @ryanschang, @protectandpreservehawaii, and @kanakaclimbers are great accounts to follow if you want to learn about the responsible side of hiking or caring for the land. For specifically foraging, check out @sunnysavageofficial! She also has an app called the Savage Kitchen App that can give you locations at which to forage the top five invasive edible plants in Hawai’i, and recipes so you can make delicious meals with what you find! 

• 

• 

“…creating my product line for Mōhala Expressions exclusively from invasive ingredients on O’ahu is the first step towards a very large goal of mine: to inspire and educate others on how to make invasive foods part of a healthy diet…”

How do you live in a way that honors your goals and values?

I can’t say that I honor my goals and values 100% of the time, but then again, we no longer live in a world where it’s realistic to live off the land while being a part of a society or community. However, just like everything else, every little bit helps. Even if I can forage most of the ingredients for a few meals per week, it’s better than exclusively buying from a massive grocery store chain. And creating my product line for Mōhala Expressions exclusively from invasive ingredients on O’ahu is the first step towards a very large goal of mine: to inspire and educate others on how to make invasive foods part of a healthy diet, and (hopefully) eventually the see the use of invasive plants to make commercial food products! At the end of the day, I know I have some very big goals, but as long as I stay true to myself and do everything with integrity, I know I’m headed in the right direction. 

Creating cocktails, cocktail ingredients, and garnishes out of your foraged ingredients takes creativity and inspiration. What comes first, the inspiration or the ingredients?

I get asked this a lot, and I’m still not really sure! All I can say is that it just kind of happens naturally. I’d say most of the time it happens in this sequence: see a new ingredient, find out what it is (along with other necessary details), try it, establish tasting notes, figure out how to work with it, translate it to liquid form, then cocktail creation! Although occasionally I do get an idea for a cocktail and then figure out which ingredients I already know that would work best for that creation. 

What’s your favorite way to live “slow”?

Taking long walks in nature, and being mindful of the little things. Noticing small changes, such as when a plant is flowering vs. fruiting, the different seasons, how things like rain affect the environment… all these things bring me a little joy when I see them. 

I’m always in awe by Sarah’s love for nature and her magnetism to it. Despite what kind of a hectic week she’s had she’s always itching to go on a long and difficult hike not only to enjoy the meditative quality of foraging but to exercise and to be in nature to recharge. While Sarah’s general brisk pace in life doesn’t immediately bring to mind “slow living,” I think that it is such a perfect representation of my ideal style of slow living – being able to work toward your dreams but to take the time to slow down in the way that recharges you. Balance is key.

It’s also so refreshing to see another “transplant” here in Hawai’i, who educates herself and others on ways we can be allies to the Hawaiian people and to the wildlife and terrain of the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Taking her knowledge and practices and using it as the building blocks of her local small business truly sets the bar for something we should all strive to do – care for the land and people from which we borrow.

I think it’s time for a cocktail! Below is a recipe Sarah whipped up for us back at the Spells of Wylde cottage. This take on a classic French 75 marries the slightly bitter bite and juicy tartness of Java plum with just the right amount of sweet. Cheers!

• 

•