We have been growing chard for the past few years – a great plant yielding two dishes in stems and leaves.

It is important to keep the old heritage varieties going, and groups like Irish Seedsavers are to the fore in this important work.

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MEHLABA

Traditionally, pancakes such as mlawi and msemen are sold out of a mehlaba (lit: “lieu de lait” i.e. a cremerie, a purveyor of fresh milk and milk products) although today this is not necessarily so. It is in these mehlabas that one can enjoy an early morning glass of rayib (also sp: raib, rryib, Wolfert has raipe), fresh milk mixed with a few spoonsful of fragrant orange flower water and a little sugar and then lightly curdled into a soft yogurt-like consistency. I have wonderful memories of standing in a mehlaba in the Meknes medina slurping creamy rayib in the company of with market-porters and laborers on their way to work.

Traditionally, rayib is curdled with the vegetable rennet of the dried wild thistle called “kok beldi” (also sp: Wolfert = coques) (Cynara humilis or perhaps Cynara cardunculus). This is almost certainly a variety closely related to the wild thistle/artichoke that is used to make cheese in Sardinia and in many other parts of the Mediterranean. I am almost certain that it is the same thistle used to make my favorite Spanish cheeses, the Torta del Casar (https://www.tortadelcasar.org/ingles.html) as well as the Torta from the neighboring village of La Serena (https://www.tortaserena.com/). At the end of my trip, I stopped by Formatgeria La Seu in Barcelona (a great champion of Spanish farmhouse cheeses: https://www.formatgerialaseu.com/) where the owner Katherine showed me her stash of dried thistle. We both agreed that it must be the same thistle. Nowdays, however, most Moroccan mehlabas simply use an enzyme/microprotease in the form of a pill called asproya (marked “caille lait” milk curdler) that could easily be bought (for 1 dh) for home use from any corner store. A pill curdles one liter of milk (I was told).

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RST

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The only place in Chicago to buy top-quality cardoons in very very late winter (in weeks leading up to Easter) is AFAIK Caputos, which is an old Italian supermarket now serving a broad multi-ethnic clientele. (I have also seen it intermittently during same season at Andy’s Fruit Ranch in Albany Park).

It is an ancient and a quintessential Mediterrean vegetable and wonderful recipes for it could be found in many old-fashioned Italian cookbooks. I think Mario Batali might even have a couple of attractive, updated ones in his volumes. After school, when I first backpacked through Spain years ago, I ate a stunning meal in delightful Cuenca which included a marvellous morteruelo (a kind of pate of diff game meats ground together: hare, venison etc) plus “setas con cardo” (wild mushrooms cooked with cardoons/thistle). A quick google just now on search words “cardo recetas” yielded many intriguing Spanish recipes using this veg.

The Maghrebi word for cardoons is I think kharchouf which is confusing bec one would think THAT sounded more like “artichokes” (which is also a Cynara, but is called kok beldi in Morocco). I think this tagine is usually made with veal, although Tassili makes it to great effect using high-quality beef. A few slivers of home-made preserved lemon is essential to give the tagine that unmistakeable piquant je ne sais quoi. Quick google on “tajine aux cardons” might give you a good headstart on a reliable recipe.

Say hi to Mailin for me.
Richard