Hazel Pollen Pancakes is a modern British recipe for a classic pancake made with that rather unusual wild food, reedmace pollen (the pollen of the male reedmace [also known as cattail or bulrush] flower). The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Hazel Pollen Pancakes.
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Like Breads, you can add a whole range of other flours to your basic pancake mix when making pancakes. Typically this is done in a 1:1 ratio of wheat flour to non-gluten flour. The following recipe is for a pancake using Hazel pollen which I had wanted to see whether it could be collected in reasonable amounts for ages. It did take a fair while, foraging in a copse of hazel trees but I eventually managed to get a decent bag of pollen which weighed at just over 100g. If you have time and if it's a sunny and bright day after rain and the catkins are fully developed than you really can forage for hazelnut pollen and it's just about a worthwhile endeavour. In my case it was done on a whim to see if it could be achieved and I was out foraging for something else anyway. Moreover, Pancake day/Shrove Tuesday recipes was only a few days away and I was preparing to try out some alternative pancakes with addition like cassava flour, hazelnut flour and ground almonds so the collection was well worth doing.
Ingredients:
70g plain flour
70g Hazel pollen
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
240ml milk
2 tbsp oil (grapeseed oil is good, for flavour)
butter for frying.
Method:
Combine the plain flour, reedmace pollen, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl, stirring to mix thoroughly. Add the egg and oil and mix in with a fork. Now add the milk, a little at a time, beating thoroughly until you have a smooth batter. Cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Take a non-stick frying pan and heat until very hot (when water droplets splashed into the pan sizzle). Add a small knob of butter (just enough to moisten the pan) then pour in a ladle of batter. Turn to coat the pan then cook until golden on the base and are bubbly on top. Turn of flip over and cook until golden on the other side.
Serve the pancake immediately, accompanied by fresh fruit and/or syrup then continue cooking the remaining batter.
