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Rolf Rüegg (71) is one of two hobby fishermen who are allowed to fish red American crayfish on Lake Katzensee in the canton of Zurich.
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He sells them to restaurants in Zurich, where they end up on the menu.
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Wild plant specialist Meret Bissegger from Ticino prepares dishes from neophytes such as the Japanese knotweed (picture), e.g. flans.
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Gardener Gabriela Walter from Dietikon ZH makes syrup from robinia blossom.
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It doesn’t taste as strongly of game as, for example, hare, says chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes in an interview with The Telegraph about the meat of the gray squirrel. He serves it in the form of a ragout and as part of a lasagna in the Native restaurant in London.
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Cooking with non-native species that are rapidly spreading is popular in the catering industry – eye-catching examples such as the squirrel lasagna attract a lot of attention in restaurants. It may sound strange to eat this animal at first, but it makes perfect sense: Around 2.5 million specimens of the gray squirrels from the USA live in England, where they threaten to displace the native red squirrels. Hunters shoot them down by the hundreds, after which they are disposed of. If some of them end up on the plate instead, it helps to reduce the so-called food waste a little.
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The situation is similar in Switzerland with the red American crayfish. At the moment there is no other way to combat the predominance of the invasive species in Katzensee in the canton of Zurich than to fish them. As so-called Züri lobsters, restaurants offer the animals as food.
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The same thing happens in Ticino with so-called neophytes: non-native plant species that spread rapidly and displace native species. They include the Japanese knotweed, which the Swiss wild plant specialist and cook Meret Bissegger serves in the Casa Merogusto in Malvaglia. Of course, you can’t fight the plant by eating it, she says. The Japanese knotweed is far too common for that. In addition, it is only very young, really edible the first time it is cut. “But instead of throwing it away, it’s worth recycling.”
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1. Rolf Rüegg and the red American marsh crabs
It is unclear how these crabs, which can grow to be around ten centimeters, got to Switzerland. An aquarium owner has probably released a specimen. The red American crayfish first appeared 25 years ago in the Schübelweiher in Küsnacht in the canton of Zurich, where it quickly ousted the resident species Galician and noble crayfish. Guilt is a virus that the animal carries within itself and against which it is immune. In the Schübelweiher, eels now ensure that the invasive species does not get out of hand.
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There are no eels in Katzensee on the outskirts of Zurich. That is why Rolf Rüegg (71), a resident hobby fisherman, and a colleague, were the only ones to receive permission to catch the animals and sell them to restaurants.
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The “NZZ” accompanied Rüegg this summer for a report. He spends three to four hours a day from mid-June to mid-August in his rowing boat to empty the twenty or so fish traps with the crabs he has caught. Fish traps are cages lying in the water in which a frozen fish is placed as bait. The crabs crawl in through a narrowing opening and never come out.
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He has sold around 1000 kilograms this season, says Rüegg to Sonntagsblick. Customers are restaurants in Zurich. The Züri-Hummer, as its fans call it, looks good on the menu of hip, trendy bars. Some cooks serve it in a white wine brew. The guests crack open the animals and, if necessary, dip them in sauces made from garlic, mayonnaise or saffron. There are also fried potatoes, for example.
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Since 2018, “more precise requirements for the professional killing” of crayfish have been in force, which also applies to crayfish. According to the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, the cooks have to stun them with electric shocks before they can cook the crabs in boiling water.
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2. Meret Bissegger and the Japanese knotweed
This plant grows into bushes, its flowers consist of white nodules and actually look pretty. But the Japanese knotweed is one of the most feared species of weed in Europe and the USA. It threatens the local fauna because it is robust and grows quickly – even underground. New shoots will quickly grow from a small piece of root that remains in the earth when weeding. Originally it came to us as an ornamental plant, later it was used to naturally fortify embankments.
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When you cook it, it tastes a little like rhubarb, says Meret Bissegger (61). «But less angry. People who don’t like rhubarb are often pleasantly surprised. ” The Ticino woman cooks in her Casa Merogusto in Malvaglia with wild plants, gives courses and publishes books.
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For example, Bissegger makes flans out of Japanese knotweed. In her kitchen she uses other invasive species for food. The young shoot tips of the Canadian goldenrod are fried in olive oil until they become brittle. With the Canadian fleabane, she cooks the young part briefly in boiling salted water before it blooms and fries it with garlic and olive oil. Or she integrates it into a frittata. “It tastes a little like green peppers.” She serves French cabbage with potatoes, hash browns or potato soup. Anyone who has a garden struggles with French herbs. “Many who have eaten at my place say: Now I hate it a little less.”
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3. Gabriela Walter and the locust blossoms
The black locust is popular – a German foundation voted it tree of the year last year. It originally comes from the southeast of North America, where it grows along the Appalachian Mountains on sandy, rocky soil. If it is planted in a controlled manner, for example in parks or in the form of avenues, it is not a major threat to other species. However, since the Second World War, the robinia has been spreading independently and extensively.
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It is considered an invasive neophyte. Among other things, because their roots enrich the soil with nitrogen. This displaces species that cannot tolerate nitrogen. They also do not return when the locust tree is removed.
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Gabriela Walter (50), a full-time customer gardener from Dietikon ZH, processes Robinia blossoms into syrup. Earlier, when she worked for conventional horticultural companies, she repeatedly noticed “zero tolerance” for things that were not planted by human hands. In order to counteract this, she began to process not only native wild plants but also “unwanted” plants into preservable foods and to sell them on her website, Wildundedel.ch, among other things.
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The taste of their robinia syrup reminds me a little of jasmine, says Walter. She pours hot sugar water over the flowers and leaves them to infuse with lemon wedges for 24 hours. Then she removes the flowers and lemon wedges, boils the liquid and fills it into bottles. Walter also makes syrup from rowan berries. What many do not know: They are just as edible as elderberries. The prerequisite is that they are cooked before consumption. “I want to sensitize people to precisely these things.”
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