[Narrator] This program made possible by Forest River.

We have always been dedicated to helping people experience the joy of the outdoors, by building a full range of recreational vehicles.

At Forest River, your needs, interest, and lifestyle are at the forefront of everything we do.

Forest River, follow the river.

To learn more, visit forestriver.tv.

You're about to watch another amazing episode of Wild Harvest.

There's always risks associated when you get into local foraging, gathering from the wild.

Like right now, I have to be careful I don't get sunburnt, or these little sand flies are getting my ankles.

The truth of the matter is there are risks associated with local foraging and going out enjoying the wild harvest.

You can't know it all by reading a book, going online, or even watching this film.

The best way to enjoy harvesting safely, and ethically is to learn from a local expert.

Someone who knows the plants and is super passionate about them.

Someone who knows the critters and how to catch them safely and responsibly.

Then you can be out in a place like this, in this case the tropics, and enjoy your own wild harvest.

You've gotta be really careful when it comes to invasive species.

You can't just jump in and start cutting down trees or flowers because they're not supposed to be endemic to where you live.

Well, I brought Paul down to the tropics, so we could have a little bit of fun with an invasive species.

Not a plant, but a critter, and one that everybody here would be very happy to see eradicated.

But along the way, we can put it on the dinner table, because it's delicious.

So bring on the surf, and the sun, and we're going diving again, 'cause this is the tropical Wild Harvest.

(upbeat music) (atmospheric music) The Pterois, also called lion fish, fire fish, turkey fish, tasty fish, or butterfly cod, is native to Indo-Pacific ocean waters.

And it's a pretty obvious looking fish with its warning colors of red, white, or black bands, showy fins, and 18 venomous spiky fin rays.

They're a ravenous fish that prays on smaller fish, invertebrates, and mollusks in large amounts.

Along with their hungry nature, they're skilled hunters, and can alter their center of gravity to attack prey.

They even blow jets of water at their prey to disorient them.

The prey turns around to face the lion fish, making themselves easier to catch.

All of which results in higher predator efficiency for the showy lion fish.

They're cannibals, with the adults eating the young, and not much likes to eat them, saving for moray eels, corn fish, the bobbit worm, large groupers, and perhaps most importantly, sharks.

In fact, in Roatan, they're training sharks to eat the invasive species, not endemic to that area.

I was thrilled when I discovered that chef Paul Rogalski is also a diver, and glad to have him watching my back while I hunted the lionfish.

Millions of years of evolution, and species of plants and animals are still learning to adapt to changes in their environment.

The lion fish have learned that divers with Hawaiian sling Spears are dangerous.

And the sharks have learned that the sound of my spear hitting the coral means a meal for them.

It's like a dinner bell.

Competition reigns supreme in the world's of flora and fauna.

(soft music) Any kind of traveling will always give you one very important thing, perspective.

I'm excited to get the local perspective of the Belize Aggressor chef Vanessa Matute to show chef Paul some new ways to work with fish and local Belizean treats.

You ready for the reveal?

I'm ready.

I'm ready.

Okay.

So you already know what the first ingredient is, ah 'cause that's what I went out for, and here's just a small sample of them, and that is our, ooh, watch that.

That's our lion fish still with the venomous spikes.

All right.

Number two.

My favorite favorite part of the coconut, coconut apple.

So for me that is just heaven.

It's so good.

All right, here comes the surprise ingredient.

At my home in Southern Oregon, there's a little Berry there called Oregon Grape.

I went out in the right season.

I gathered all these Oregon grapes, I processed them in the kitchen to turn them into Oregon Grape jelly.

It is amazing, and delicious.

And this is what I want you guys to work with somehow, somewhere in this meal.

So there's that.

And the last one, and this is the one that Paul doesn't know about at all.

So again, another little thing for you guys to taste.

So there's a tree up in Canada called a birch tree.

You can get syrup from it, you can make tea with it.

It's really got some delicious components to it.

Well, this is called the birch catkin.

I took it and gave it a little bit of a roasting with a tiny little layer of olive oil in the oven to make it so it's kind of like a Graham wafer crumb now.

So go ahead, have a taste.

There's lots of it so- [Paul] It's nutty.

It's got the texture.

[Paul] Yeah.

Has something, tastes like it's roasted.

[Paul] Yeah, it does.

[Les] Yeah.

Frittered.

The last surprise.

So, first meal can be made just for the three of us.

The second meal, because we have so many lionfish, I'd love for you to feed the whole crew.

Everybody that's here.

All right?

[Paul] Yeah, I think we can feed everyone.

[Les] Okay.

So when it comes to lion fish, I've never worked with it before.

And I know you have, so I'm hoping that I can learn a few things from you.

It's easy.

You can do lionfish many kinds of ways, and how it's really good is in ceviche.

And if you rub it in a tamale seed, banana leaf, it's gonna taste so good.

'Cause the banana leaf and the plantain leaf gives a really good flavor.

So that's the bomb.

Okay.

Let's do it then.

Together, we'll come up with a collaborative bite of Belize.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like that.

Here's a little of what's possible if you get stung by one of these beautiful little fishes.

Extreme pain, convulsions, a drop in blood pressure, swelling of the tongue, numbness, fever, dizziness, chest pain, severe breathing difficulties, and rarely, temporary paralysis of the limbs, heart failure, and even death, and worst of all, a runny nose.

They were likely introduced in the mid 1990s by a few careless and uncaring people tossing out their aquarium fish, because they'd lost interest in them.

They don't belong, but now have invaded the East Coast, and Gulf Coast of the United States and the Caribbean sea.

And they're described as one of the most aggressively invasive species on the planet.

Reducing Atlantic reef diversity by up to 80%.

And that can be from one single lion fish.

Lion fish as food is strongly encouraged now.

Even to the point where clergy for the Roman Catholic church are suggesting it be the fish consumed on Fridays, and for Lent and Easter.

So yesterday when we were talking about this first dish, I've made ceviche, I've got my own style of doing it, but I wanna learn your style.

Okay.

Ceviche, actually, a lot of people think it's raw, but it is cooked.

Yeah.

It's the acid, it's, it's lime that cooks- [Vanessa] Yeah, it's the lime.

the fish or the seafood.

And this process is a little bit different, 'cause you gotta cook your fish alone in lime.

So this is a little bit different from when you're making regular ceviche.

I had no idea.

Yeah.

We're gonna take out the seeds for these, 'cause if you leave in the seeds, it's gonna burn.

And don't touch your face after doing anything with habaneros.

I did learn the hard way.

[Vanessa] Four whole limes.

[Paul] Okay.

See, its changing color already.

Yeah.

Well this is cooking in the acid, in the lime juice, that gives us the perfect chance time-wise, [Vanessa] To get our tortillas ready.

[Paul] Yeah, let's do it.

Okay.

The fish is cooked already.

Once it looks white like this it's good enough.

Very nice.

Just mix this in?

Nice and gentle.

And now the lime juice.

[Vanessa] And you gotta taste.

Cheers.

Yeah.

Better.

Oh, you know what?

We've got the coconut apple.

Yes.

It's gonna give it a different taste and better flavor.

Here we go.

[Vanessa] Oh wow.

[Paul] This is where the magical ingredient goes in.

[Vanessa] Oh, yeah.

Mmm, It's better.

And that does it.

It has that little bit of sweetness.

I'm happy about this.

[Vanessa] Yeah.

(tortillas sizzling) Let's do this.

[Vanessa] Okay.

[Vanessa] Yeah that's good.

[Paul] Ha ha right in the sand.

[Paul] You can sit right here.

[Les] Not like I didn't know it was gonna be ceviche.

So what have you got?

Well, we have onions, we have tomatoes, cilantros, lion fish, and we have the coconut.

Really it's about celebrating the lion fish.

It's about celebrating the coconut apple, and really the flavor of Belize.

And then it's Birch catkins.

Taste kind of like a roasted nut, might add a dimension to that.

[Les] Okay.

Kind of a hybrid.

So hang on, let me put that on there for you.

It's good.

It is really good.

Okay.

Here's what I'm getting.

Number one, the balance is amazing.

The whole thing in my mouth feels like one spoonful of food.

It doesn't, there's no separation.

I like if it all comes together in one piece, and you've done that.

The second part of this is the texture.

And again, I couldn't tell you while I'm chewing whether I'm chewing the lion fish, or the tomato, or the coconut apple, it's all just blending.

This is really a really well balanced ceviche.

What Vanessa showed me is to start with lime.

So you actually control the cooking process of the fish by adding the lime first, removing it once it's cooked to the right amount, and then adding your other ingredients.

Maybe that's why that balance is there because instead of liming up everything, [Vanessa] Yeah.

you've limed up the fish, and not doused everything else with that nullifying, 'cause lime is strong, let's face it.

Yeah.

And then if you do the lime with everything, sometimes it gets the tomatoes, the onions mushy.

Right.

Guys, this is really wonderful.

Vanessa, I don't get the chance to say this often in my life but on this particular adventure that I keep going on with chef Paul, this is the best ceviche I've ever had, and lionfish too.

[Paul] So good.

How cool is that?

Freshly caught.

That's wonderful.

Okay.

Thanks guys.

Well, this is delicious, I'm gonna finish this, but ah I guess we got one more meal to get on to.

We do, and I'm really looking forward to this.

So while Paul and Vanessa are busy on the beach, I want to get into a little plant ID here.

This is berberis aquifolium.

Oregon Grape, the berberis famil And very common.

It's within the range of the Cascade Mountains, wester California, Washington State.

I just love the shrub, just like the juniper.

You'll find it on all kinds of l as an ornamental.

And yet the berries are deliciou Hmm.

Tart.

Well, that's good.

So the leaves, you'll notice, are opposite.

Here's a leaf.

Here's a leaf opposite each other.

And you would describe this kind as pinnately compound.

Another way to recognize it is the way the leaves look on It has that sort of Christmas holly appearance to it.

So that's another way to know that you're in the right territo One of the beautiful things abou Grape is it does not have a pois look alike.

That's such a big advantage when searching out edible wild p If you can find the ones that at you know are safe and that there are no poisonous Get to know them.

That makes a really big differen in your understanding of how to wild edible plants.

But in this case, these are absolutely delicious.

They work phenomenally well in j or jellies or just a trailside n It's a very strong flavor and a wonderful, wonderful jam f So if you can get to know the Oregon grape, you'll probably figure out reall that you or your neighbors actually have it in your yard.

If you have a yard or maybe down the street, your friends who have a yard, you'll start to see it everywher Love this shrub.

Well, I'm glad that we had a chance to make that ceviche.

That was so good.

I really enjoyed it.

Now, I know we are also kind of thinking about making a lionfish taco.

Yes.

So what have you got in mind?

We're gonna make a flour tortilla.

[Paul] Okay.

So three cups of flour, three tablespoon of baking powder.

We're gonna take a pinch of salt, and one third cup of shortening.

Then I'm gonna combine this together.

This softer the tortilla, the better it is.

Start there?

Yeah, that's good.

Now I'm gonna knead this out like this.

So you're really stretching it Yeah.

You gotta stretch.

Stretch it out.

I'll show you how I roll them off.

I roll it two hands.

[Paul] Just like buns.

Yeah.

We're gonna take the tortillas, I do it like this.

[Paul] Okay.

Yeah.

Set it here.

I'm gonna start- [Paul] Stretching it.

- stretching them out.

Put it in the pan.

See I'm gonna turn it around a little bit.

Then you just lift to make sure its, see?

[Paul] Oh wow.

That's really fast.

Fast, 'cause it's hot.

Let's see how this works.

Okay.

Time to flip.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, yeah.

I don't know if that's good or not.

A little bit lighter.

Yeah.

I'm thinking a lot lighter.

That happened really fast.

Our fire is hot.

[Les] That looks like a fail, Paul.

That's a fail.

Or is it?

Gonna find out.

Oh, so yeah.

It's good.

It's actually good.

This is so much fun.

Devon, you have to try this.

Oh man.

I'm all in.

Crazy, right?

Who would think.

That makes it way better.

[Vanessa] Oh yeah.

Much better.

I love when accidents work out to be the right thing.

Like marshmallow.

Flip.

That's pretty.

Okay.

Now it's time for a tweak to the Oregon Grape jelly.

Just need to add some acid to this, and change the texture a little bit.

So into the pot, splash of white vinegar, and some heat.

There we go.

That's it, just need a quick taste.

It tastes so much like blueberries, it's uncanny.

So now we need to figure out our taco station.

Oh, I've been waiting for this.

Me too.

This is yours.

Oh yeah.

So tell me what I'm looking on here.

So all of the ingredients from the reveal are in there.

We have, of course the main star being the lion fish.

Second main star, in my opinion is the coconut apple.

But this time we charred it.

We actually put it on the charcoal grill, and allowed it to get almost of a charred roasted flavor.

So that really adds a depth of flavor to it.

The catkin from the birch tree, those are in there and they're delicious, and they'll punctuate it kind of like nuts might punctuate.

And here's the curve ball.

It's that Oregon Grape gel that you made.

And I took a little vinegar, and I soured it up slightly.

But do you know what, Les?

I could not get the thought of blueberries out of my mind when I put that together.

So we went a little light on that.

I didn't go heavy when I put that ingredient into this taco The fish is tender.

Wow.

Honestly, Paul kind of unlike a lot of the meals you and I have explored together.

This whole thing is balanced to me.

There's a harmonizing of everything together.

I'm not pulling out distinctive flavors.

I'm pulling out one harmonized flavor that's delicious.

And look what we're talking about here.

We've brought some catkins from Canada, Oregon Grape from Southern Oregon, lionfish, an invasive species to the Belizean waters, and the Caribbean, and the one endemic species from this area, the coconut apple and everything together in perfect harmony, yeah, this is a full on win for me.

All right.

Well we're ready to invite some people over to enjoy this with us.

You know, if I had not gotten into wild harvesting, I would never have learned about how delicious lion fish were, an invasive species.

So get yourself out there.

Whether it's on an adventure, or just beyond your neighborhood, into a new neighborhood, and learn from others, those species that they hold dear to their hearts.

You learn those, and then you also learn how you can help out to work against the invasive species.

All of that happens just by enjoying the wild harvest.

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 [Narrator] Directly inspired by the series, Chef Paul and expert forager Les Stroud bring you the Wild Harvest season two 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.

[Narrator] This program made possible by Forest River.

We have always been dedicated to helping people experience the joy of the outdoors by building a full range of recreational vehicles.

At Forest River, your needs, interest, and lifestyle, are at the forefront of everything we do.

Forest River, follow the river.

To learn more, visit forestriver.tv.

(upbeat jingle)