OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and this weekly newsletter. To keep you sated between episodes, Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian, food writer and ecologist, highlights different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem. This week she offers a new episode AND a recipe for a booze-free tea cocktail — the lapsang souchong sour.

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May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and we at “Superabundant” appreciate the myriad ways in which people of Asian and Pasifika descent have shaped the way we cook and eat in the Northwest. This week’s recipe — a smoky, tea-based mocktail — is a nod to Portland’s first Chinese tea merchant, Lee Sam. Learn more about AAPI history at the National Archives or taste it for yourself at the Oregon AAPI Food & Wine Festival, coming May 18-19 to the Stoller Family Estate in Dayton. Oregon has a long and complicated history with Chinese immigrants, but a significant trading history nonetheless. Oregon’s primary export to China was wheat, and in turn, China exported a commodity that made life in the Northwest just a bit more comfortable — do you know what it was? Read on to find out!

Watch Oregon Experience — Kam Wah Chung

New “Superabundant” video, Oregon food and beverage makers win awards, the downside of psilocybin and good things in markets and gardens

Inside the apocalypse kitchen

There’s a pretty good chance that Nehalem Bay will be hit with a catastrophic tsunami one of these days. A cooking contest hosted by the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay on Feb. 15 showcased the best possible outcome of provisioning oneself with only shelf-stable foods following a disaster. A new “Superabundant” video captures the excitement of this “Apocalypse Cookoff”, while inspiring us to follow the Girl Scouts motto: “be prepared.”

Good Food Awards winners announced

The Good Food Awards ceremony was held earlier this week, and more than 20 Oregon producers took home medals in nearly every single category (everything but confections, spirits and coffee). Congrats to all the winners!

Oregon also wins big at 2024 World Beer Cup

Oregon breweries also made a good showing at the 2024 World Beer Cup, taking home an astonishing 29 medals (which represents 9% of total wins from around the globe). Central Oregon represented a large portion of Oregon’s wins. Great job, everyone!

Bummer, man: bad trips can have lasting effects

Psilocybin may not be the mental health cure-all it was initially hoped to be — a new report published in the “Journal of Psychedelic Studies” reveals that therapists are finding a range of short- and long-term negative effects in their clientele.

Good things in markets

Asparagus, peas and rhubarb may be the markets’ belles of Beltane (the midpoint between spring and summer), but the Gaelic May Day festival also marks the beginning of open pasture season for young livestock. What goes with lamb? Mint, of course — whether you prefer it with garlic, yogurt and flatbread or peas and new potatoes, spring produce has you covered. Oh, and gird yourselves: the first “Sweet Charlie” and “Shuksan” strawberries of the season have arrived, straight from Pablo Munoz Farms.

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, apple prices are at devastating lows. This is terrible news for apple growers, but luckily for consumers, this means that Cosmic Crisps can be scored for about a buck a pound, depending on where you shop (we stocked up at QFC). We cannot overstate the sublimity of these apples — they’ve maintained their perfect sweet acidity and crisp texture months after they were harvested. Get them while the getting’s good!

In the “Superabundant” garden this week

The chervil is all blooming and the parsley isn’t far behind. Lovage is lush and fragrant, dressing up soups and green sauces. The garlic chives, elephant garlic and leeks are going gangbusters. And the elder bushes have just opened their first flowers! We’re looking forward to adding elderflowers to sweet, buttermilk-y tea cakes and jellies.

Recipe: Lapsang souchong sour (non-alcoholic cocktail)

Portland has a long history with tea. Decades before the likes of premium brands like Steven Smith Teamaker, the city was home to now-national brands Tazo (also founded by Smith) and Stash. In Stumptown’s early days 160 years ago (which coincided with the first wave of Chinese immigration to America), Portland’s first Chinese tea shop opened. Tea was the most important commodity imported from China at the time, but this was the Wild West! Of course there were other provisions for sale at Coung Ye Loung & Co.

It turns out the opioid epidemic is pretty old news in Portland but, as proudly advertised in the Oregonian by the shop’s owner Lee Sam, opium was perfectly legal; in fact, it would be for another 50 years after Lee opened up shop on Southwest 2nd and Alder. In less than 20 years, Lee’s supply had become so valuable that a burglar attempted to burrow into the shop’s storeroom to steal the opium and then laughed about it with reporters and law enforcement personnel. In what can only be described as one heck of a coincidence, the shop’s assets were seized by creditors just two weeks later — but not before Lee’s unpaid employees helped themselves to his stash as compensation for their labor. (Leaving his wife in the lurch, Lee had already fled to British Columbia, but was promptly arrested for bank fraud.)

Inspired by the smoky Scotch cocktail known as “Penicillin,” this booze-free batched cocktail is made with lapsang souchong tea, spicy ginger-lemon syrup and a dash of grapefruit bitters. Lapsang souchong is made by smoking tea leaves over pine branches, and makes a spectacular replacement for the smoky flavor of a peaty Scotch, while ginger and a hit of chile provide the burn of hard liquor. This tea-based tipple will cure what ails you without the hangover, but having more than a couple might leave you feeling a bit cha zui (tea drunk). Makes 8 drinks.

Ingredients

Ginger-lemon syrup

2 cups water

Thumb-sized knob of ginger, peeled and chopped

Zest of one lemon (remove in strips with a vegetable peeler)

1 dried Thai/bird’s eye chile, seeds and stem removed (optional)

2 oz Chinese black slab sugar (or dark muscovado sugar)

3 tbsp honey

¼ tsp citric acid (or 1 tbsp lemon juice)

Cocktail

2 cups strong lapsang souchong tea (brewed from ¼ cup loose tea), chilled

¼ cup fresh lemon juice (~ from one zested lemon)

1 cup ginger-lemon syrup

½ oz herbal liqueur (Wilderton Bittersweet aperitivo is ideal, but any amaro works here)

Ice

Candied ginger (garnish)

Instructions

1. Make the ginger-lemon syrup: in a small pot, bring the water to a boil with the ginger and lemon peel. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the water is strongly infused with ginger, lemon and chile, about 30 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve and stir in the sugar, honey and citric acid, gently crushing the slab sugar with a spoon to help it dissolve. Set aside to cool down before moving it to the fridge to chill. (The recipe makes about 2 cups of syrup; store leftover syrup in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 months).
2. In a quart jar or pitcher, stir the chilled cocktail ingredients together and serve in a tumbler on the rocks.

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