Sophisticated Peasant

February Newsletter

2012-02-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
I have begun a free monthly newsletter about allergen friendly cooking, helpful tips for the kitchen and the home garden and gluten-free sourdoughbread. Take a look! Subscribe if you are interested!

Click Here! February Newsletter

Lacto-Fermenting in warm weather

2011-09-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

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My good friend, Peggy Matthews, is guest posting today about lacto-fermented salsa. Read on!

I finally harvested my heirloom garden tomatoes (grown from seed!) which I planted very late in the season. They grew to be large, heavy, and funnily-shaped which I was glad about since hybrid varieties tend to be smooth, perfectly round, and tasteless. These babies had FLAVOR!

I don’t know why I grew tomatoes as I am not very fond of them. But I do like tomato salsa. So I decided to mince them up and make a large, half gallon jarful, of it.
After assembling all of the ingredients I realized that I had a dilemma: I needed to keep it at a steady 70 degrees Fahrenheit but we were having a bit of a late September heat wave and even the coal cellar in the basement was a balmy 75 degrees.
What to do?

After exercising my grey matter for a while on this problem, I came up with the idea of placing the jar in a large, flat-bottomed glass bowl that was first lined with refreezable ice packs on the bottom and then layered with a folded dish towel to diffuse the chill. I put the jar of salsa on top of that cold layer and wrapped another dishcloth around it all to keep out the ambient warm air.

It’s still early days yet (just 3 days into the fermentation) but I have a good feeling about this. I periodically feel the outside of the jar to be sure it’s not too cold and I let the ice packs warm up overnight before replacing them with new ones. Luckily the weather is now turning cooler so I may not need to babysit the jar this way, but I will definitely keep this method in mind for next year when I am in the mood to lacto ferment in the middle of summer!

Peggy’s Lacto Fermented Salsa
3 Cups filtered tap water, boiled and then cooled (to evaporate off the chlorine, which can kill the microbes I want to grow!)
¾ Tablespoon Pickling Salt added to the water and stirred until dissolved.

Into a clean, glass, half-gallon, wide-necked jar I added:
• 3-4 large diced Garden Tomatoes
• ½ large diced Vidalia Onion
• 6 medium Garlic Cloves, peeled (3 whole, and 3 smashed once with the flat of my chopping knife)
• Fresh rosemary from my garden, unchopped leaves
• Fresh parsley from my garden, unchopped leaves
• 3 garden-fresh Hot Red Peppers*, whole, with the top chopped off to expose the seed core
• 1 Tablespoon dried Basil
• 1 teaspoon dried Oregano

To the salt water brine above, I added one packet of Caldwell’s Starter Culture for Fresh Vegetables, available at Cultures for Health.
After the starter culture was thoroughly dissolved, I poured this brine-culture mixture over the vegetables in the jar (I had leftovers because the tomatoes took up so much room in the jar!)
I didn’t weigh the vegetables down; I just secured the screw-on plastic lid containing a water trap air vent so that gasses can escape but air can’t get in.

The instructions for using the starter culture say to keep the ferment at a steady 70 degrees for ten days, and to then cure it in the fridge, preferably for a few months. Actually, that was for their cabbage sauerkraut recipe so I think my salsa will be ready much sooner as the tomatoes have more readily available sugars for the microbes to feast on (and ferment) and they are much softer than cabbage leaves.

Fingers crossed that my salsa comes out yummy and perfectly fermented!

(*gift from Sharon’s garden)

New Potatoes from Old Potatoes

2011-07-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

I just harvested my little potato patch this morning. These potatoes were from store-bought potatoes that were rotting in the cellar in the Spring. I cut off the rotten parts and put the remaining pieces in 2 short rows in my lemon balm garden. I basically ignored them except for watering them a few times when it was dry. After a few weeks I realized I hadn't planted them deeply enough so I weeded around them and used the weeds as a mulch to keep the tubers cool. (potatoes need to be planted deeply because they won't grow properly when the tubers are close to sun-warmed soil)

We won't cure them, just eat them over the next few weeks. I'll use the potato cooking water for gluten-free sourdough pancakes.

Now I'm having dreams of fingerlings and creamers for next year.

Hot Summer Tips for Fermenting

2011-07-10T05:44:00.000-07:00

Zucchini Ferment

Just a few quick tips for fermenting in the heat of summer:

Avoid fermenting during a heat wave:
Fermenting during a heat wave is difficult at best unless you have an area that consistently stays below 70 degrees for that first 3 day fermentation period. The last time I tried it, my kitchen was in the 80's, way too hot for the first fermentation period. I moved everything to the basement, which was significantly cooler but apparently I was too late or it wasn't cool enough. The cukes became moldy and slimy.

Usually the cukes are coming fast during a heat wave and it seems the best time to be processing them. We often have to harvest twice a day during that wonderful high summer heat. Now, I store the cukes in the fridge until the heat wave breaks and then I ferment.

Avoid using the cukes that form during heavy summer rains:
These cukes are full of water and won't ferment well. My experience is that extra water seems to upset the salt/water balance.

Use onions with your cukes and summer squash ferments:
To avoid mushy cukes and summer squash ferments, add a little onion to each jar.

Make your own medicine! Fermented Escarole

2011-06-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

When I ferment vegetables I always feel that I am making medicine because the fermentation process fosters the same bacteria and yeasts that keep our digestive systems strong. This in turn keeps our immune systems strong.

Fermented Escarole has the added benefit of being a bitter green that supports and detoxifies the liver. Escarole has a naturally bitter flavor, mild when young, stronger when older.

It is easy to start from seed in the garden, doesn't need much attention, can sit in the bed a long while till you need it and stores well in the fridge. The young leaves are good in salad, older leaves are great in a stir fry, especially with garlic.

After fermenting I find that it is still a bit tough to completely chew so I scoop out the leaves, run them through the blender while adding enough brine to bring it to the consistency I like. I add it to salad, beans and have it with meat or fish.

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Freshly washed and ready to chop for fermenting

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In the jar, ready for fermenting for 3 days at room temp and 2-3 weeks in fridge

Green Garlic, Fermented!

2011-06-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

Green Garlic is garlic grown for the young plant parts rather than just the bulb. Just plant some cloves in the fall and eat them in the following spring/early summer. They don't need optimal conditions yet they give a lot of food.

They are great sauteed and I also love them fermented. Imagine all the benefits of garlic combined with all the benefits of lactofermentation. This is power food!

Recently harvested Green Garlic plants

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Green Garlic Scapes or Flower Stalks

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Green Garlic stalks, cut and ready for fermentation jar

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The jar ready for fermentation period

The white layer is from chopped green garlic bulbs, the light green layer is from the chopped stalks and the dark green layer is from green garlic scapes. I used a horseradish leaf for the leaf layer.

I'll let it ferment for 3 days on the counter and then 2-3 weeks in the fridge.

Late Spring Lentil Stew using what grows in Late Spring!

2011-06-11T04:31:00.000-07:00

I like to make lentil stew in the late spring and summer because it's a light but nutritionally potent meal. I often serve it marinated and room temperature. This week I was able to use vegetables entirely from the garden for the stew.

I soaked 4 cups of green lentils for 24 hours. They were beginning to sprout by then. I used a pile of radish greens from the radish crop, some hefty Walking Onions and a clump of Green Garlic which is garlic grown for it's stalks, flower stalks and flowers rather than the bulb. Some parts of the Walking Onions and Green Garlic were too tough or unsuitable to use for the stew so they went in to the freezer for the first fall soupstocks.

When the stew was finished I froze some of it for future summer meals. I marinated the rest of it with lemon juice and Kombucha vinegar which is kombucha tea that has matured into the vinegar stage. The kombucha tea was made with lemon balm from my garden.

Green Lentils soaked for 24 hours, starting to sprout

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Radish Greens

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Green Garlic & Walking Onions

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Walking Onions leaves and bulbs chopped

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Green Garlic bulbs chopped

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Finished Cooking - Ready to eat, freeze or marinate in Kombucha Vinegar

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Tough Green Garlic leaves to be frozen for soupstock in the Fall

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Green Garlic & Walking Onion roots and necks to be frozen for soupstock in Fall

Walking Onions

2011-06-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Walking Onions are a fabulous perennial vegetable. They need minimal care and will produce a large amount of food in a very small space. All the parts of the plant are edible!

I use the different parts in salads, sautes, stews, soups and lacto-fermentation. I begin harvesting in early spring when the first greens come up. I continue to harvest the greens and later on harvest flower stalks, flower buds, and sometimes complete plants.

The top photo is my walking onion bed in early spring. The bottom photo is in late spring. Click here to view my Walking Onion Video

As I harvest I keep in mind not to use it all so there will be plenty for next year.

This Week in the Garden

2011-06-01T04:52:00.000-07:00

Boston Lettuce + one Freckled Red Romaine

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Green Garlic Stalks

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Escarole

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Harvest on a Bench:
Escarole, Green Garlic, Walking Onion Flower Stalks and Lemon Balm for Kombucha Tea.
The Escarole and Green Garlic were sauteed together with olive oil. Really Good!

Fermented Rhubarb (savory)

2011-05-09T18:19:00.001-07:00

Click here to watch Fermented Rhubarb Video

Here's a page out of my book, "Lactofermentation Through the Season". Just in time for the first Rhubarb stalks.

Fermented Rhubarb

Seasonally, rhubarb is one of the first vegetables that I ferment since it is one of the first to be available in late spring/early summer. Since it is perennial it is best to harvest some while leaving some to continue collecting sunshine, water and nutrients to build the root system. Because of this I will make it in small batches throughout the season as the plant puts out more stalks.

In most recipes rhubarb is cooked so the toughness gets softened. Lacto-fermentation is essentially a raw product so it’s important to use tender rhubarb stalks. Lacto-fermentation will soften the rhubarb to a degree but tough, stringy rhubarb may not ever become palatable. Best to use young stalks no more than 1 inch wide. And remember: Do not use Rhubarb leaves as they are toxic!!

Yield 1-2 quarts

Ingredients & Equipment

Ingredients
• 10 stalks young rhubarb no more than 1 inch wide
• Leaf layer: horseradish leaves, Swiss chard leaves or blackberry/raspberry leaves
• Do not use Rhubarb leaves as they are toxic!

For the brine
• 2 quarts filtered or spring water
• Pure salt, kosher, pickling or coarse sea salt, with no additives

Equipment
• Large pot for boiling water
• 2 wide mouth quart canning jars
• 2 canning lids and rings
• 2-4 rocks
• Small pot for sterilizing the canning lids, rings and rocks
• Wooden pressing tool
• Wide mouth funnel (optional) for filling the jar
• Ladle

Preparation

Making the Brine
• Bring the filtered water to a boil for 4 minutes.
• After it’s cooled a bit add 3 tablespoons of salt and stir to dissolve.
• Allow brine to cool to near room temperature (2-4 hours or overnight).

Sterilizing
• In a small pot sterilize lids, rings and rocks by boiling them for 4 minutes.
• Let them cool for about 10 minutes and pour out the water to let them cool further.

Leaf Layer
• Wash leaves and reserve.

Assembling the Jars

Filling the Jars
• When the brine is almost cool chop rhubarb into bite size pieces.
• Start layering the rhubarb into the jar an inch or two high at a time, gently pressing it down with wooden pressing tool.
• Keep adding 1-2 inch layers of rhubarb, pressing down each layer until about 2-3 inches of space is left at the top.
• Press it down again.

Leaf Layer
• Add a layer of leaves on top of the top layer of rhubarb and press it in.

Rocks
• Place a rock or rocks on top of the leaves.

Brine into Jars
• Ladle brine into the jar leaving about 1 inch of space from the top.
• Let sit uncovered for 10 minutes to allow air bubbles to escape.
• If the brine level drops below 1 inch from the top add some more brine.
• Wipe any brine off top of jar, put lid on jar, and screw on band.

Fermentation

• Allow to ferment on kitchen counter or shelf for 3 days at room temperature, 72 degrees.
• Gently move to the refrigerator.
• Taste after 2 weeks. It may be ready or it may need more time.
• Store in refrigerator. Taste gets better with time.
• Lasts 1-3 months in refrigerator.

Variation:
The fermented rhubarb is very good using only rhubarb but for variation try adding spring scallions, spring celery leaves, early chard stems and/or tender horseradish stems for very interesting and sometimes very exciting flavor!

Primroses - Hose-in-Hose

2011-05-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of one of my favorite flowers from my garden, blooming now. Given to me by my friend Hilda, (an Englishwoman transplanted to New Hampshire, US). They are double primroses, called Hose-in-Hose, because each flower has a flower growing out of the center.
I just found out that primroses are edible; haven't eaten them yet, though. Too pretty.

Gravlax - Home Cured Salmon

2011-04-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Check out my recipe and video on how to make this delightful and economical food Gravlax-Home Cured Salmon

4 Home - Rendered Fats

2011-03-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

Top white fat is pork, far right is from chicken soup, bottom is chicken fat, left is duck. They have a refrigerated life of about 1 month so I freeze it till I need it. I also have some goat fat in the freezer from my recent goat braise.

Spring Garden in New England

2011-03-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ingredients for the first salad of Spring:
Claytonia,
Shredded Red Sauerkraut and
Horseradish Condiment made with
homemade herbal kombucha vinegar

Claytonia in the Over-winter cold frame

This week begins the section on “From The Garden”. The snow is almost gone, still a few patches in the woods and in the shade. We’ve had our first salad consisting of Claytonia also known as Miner’s Lettuce.

This week’s video First Spring Salad, shows a thick row of Claytonia/Miner’s Lettuce grown in the over-winter cold frame. It germinates easily in the fall and is thick by March. We start thinning it out by cutting some leaves and using them for salad. I mixed some Horseradish Condiment and Shredded Red Sauerkraut into the salad and topped it off with Olive Oil. I love the spring because we get that first burst of enzymes from the garden! The salad was fresh and potent and full of flavor!

There is also a page, Spring Garden showing photos of the new greens already up in our New England garden.

Future pages will include descriptive photos and videos on the growth cycles of Walking Onions and Green Garlic which are very easy to grow and require minimal work.

The First Signs of Spring

2011-03-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Hope you are getting glimpses of Spring as the snow recedes. Today we started raking the leaves off the beds and I saw shoots from my Walking Onion beds, Green Garlic Beds, and Horseradish Beds.

We’ve also overwintered some rutabagas by leaving them in the ground in the hopes of getting salad greens from them in early Spring. There are little nubs of green! In our overwinter cold frame we have a thick crop of Miner’s Lettuce, a goodly amount of Mache’ and some small Swiss Chard plants. These were all planted last fall. The Miner’s Lettuce needs some thinning so we will have our first salad this week!

Can’t wait to ingest these potent greens!

I finally finished up 2 new videos for my video course site:
Kombucha Cultures and Fruit Infused Water Kefir. Kombucha Cultures is a short video contrasting a young, smooth culture with a mature, gnarly culture.

Fruit Infused Water Kefir is about turning your extra finished water kefir into a fruit drink using seasonal fresh fruit. These drinks quench thirsts in the heat of summer. They are delicate-tasting and give us those great probiotics and enzymes that keep us running smoothly.

These videos expand the Kombucha and Water Kefir section. Another Kombucha video on Kombucha Marinades for meat and fish is in the works.

Hope the videos are helpful.
Best,
sharon

Medicinal Kombucha

2011-03-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

While experimenting with natural remedies I found an excellent concoction that breaks up congestion. It uses Kombucha Tea or Kombucha Vinegar as a base with the addition of Lemon, Horseradish Root and Ginger Root. You can download the recipe and view my video on how to make it here:
Medicinal Kombucha

Kombucha Tea

Meat Loaf free of gluten, dairy, eggs

2011-02-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

Check out my recipe and video for Meat Loaf that is free of gluten, dairy, and eggs. It's nice and light and deeply flavorful. Meat Loaf Recipe & Video

New Video on Kombucha Tea!

2011-02-23T05:48:00.000-08:00

I have a new video on my Ecourse site about how to make
Herbal Kombucha Tea, that tasty, potent tonic full of probiotics and enzymes.
Learn to make it yourself for pennies a batch.
Click Here to take a look!

Kombucha Tea

Purchase Kombucha Cultures from this excellent company!

Restaurant Review: Nevaeh Cuisine

2010-12-01T04:43:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the pleasure of having dinner at an amazing little café/bistro in Pleasantville, N.Y. called Nevaeh, (that’s Heaven backwards) I found this excellent place through the Triumph Dining Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide. I was on my way to vendor at a conference and we were ready for dinner after the first leg of our trip.

I’ve had so many problems dining out that I mostly avoid it. Dining at Nevaeh was a completely different experience. Most of the dishes were gluten-free as well as dairy free. Everything was already cooked and stored in refrigerated cases and we got to look and taste before we ordered. These two fabulous chefs, knew their ingredients hands down and when I mentioned multiple food allergies they were able to instantly give me a run down of what I could eat.

The food was very high caliber, in my humble opinion, fine-dining quality! The seasonings were well-balanced without the high amount of salt that is often found in restaurant food. We also bought some food “to go” to supplement us through the weekend, which worked really well.

How fortunate for us that we were able to be served fine-dining quality food at a relaxed, everyday establishment. If you’re traveling through Westchester County it would be well worth your while to check out this wonderful gluten-free oasis.

Nevaeh Cuisine
146 Bedford Road
Pleasantville, NY 10570
www.Nevaehcuisine.com

My Student's Success!

2010-09-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

I received this photo from one of my very industrious students. This photo was taken after a particularly complex cooking/baking session.

Back row from left:
Water Kefir, Kombucha Tea, Red Cabbage Sauerkraut with her new airlock jars, fermented tomato pepper salsa (I have to get that recipe from her.)

Front row from left:
Gluten-free sourdough pancakes, Mock rye gluten-free miniloaves and Buckwheat Buns.

This photo makes me just smile!

Sauerkraut Ice Cubes!

2010-09-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

My friend, Cindy, wrote to me asking my opinion.

She said:

I have been a little too over zealous with fermenting and have MANY jars

in the refrigerator. I don't always have time to eat them so I took my fermented

vegetables and ran them through my hand juicer and use it as a

drink. Do you think the resulting juice could be frozen into ice cubes?

I told her I thought it was a great idea especially since the probiotics and enzymes will probably not be harmed by the freezing. She thought she might drop some of the kraut cubes into some veggie juice. I think that's also a great idea. Get the benefits of the raw veggie juice plus a dash of fermented benefits!

Then my mind raced towards this:

Imagine a Bloody Mary with a couple of sauerkraut ice cubes...Wow!

Post Dental Surgery Food

2010-08-24T05:59:00.001-07:00

I recently had some dental surgery and planned in advance to make sure I would have some good meals for the days following the surgery. I had to eat very soft food for at least two days. I was able to use some of the contents of my freezer to put together an excellent soup:

-chicken stock
-rice congee
-lentil stew

I also added some fresh summer squash to the pot.
I simmered everything together, let it cool, and then spooned out the solids into the blender.
I whirred it all in the blender and had a nutrient dense, soft, mushy soup that lasted me the two days until I could chew again.
I also put the stock in a separate jar because I felt sure I might need a potent but liquid pick-me-up at some time, which I did.

Since I couldn't have any hard nuts or seeds for a week, for breakfast, I mixed almond butter into my cooked amaranth.

And for snack I had a slice of my gluten-free sourdough Teff Coconut bread toasted and steeped in a bowl of almond milk to turn it into a mushy pudding. It was really quite good!

With a little preparation I was able to eat just as well post surgery as I do everyday.

Here are the photos during preparation:

Marinated Heirloom Tomatoes

2010-08-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

We have had some excellent heirloom tomatoes coming ripe this week. I marinated them in olive oil, kombucha vinegar, salt, pepper, dried thyme, and fresh fennel. I froze some of it for future bean pots and stews.

July Harvest

2010-08-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

Summer Squashes and Elephant Garlic

Flavored Water Kefir : Rhubarb-Rose Petal

2010-05-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

I love the taste of plain and simple water kefir made with water kefir culture, sugar, water, raisins and lemon. Now, I'm starting to experiment with flavored water kefir using a second ferment after the first water kefir ferment is complete. I've read about people doing second ferments with fruit juice, fruit, coconut water, and ginger for a sweet soda-like drink. I'm looking for something with a bit of a bite:

Rhubarb Rose Petal Water Kefir

Ingredients:
1 stalk of raw rhubarb
20 rose petals from beach roses
2 sprigs of lemon balm
1 horseradish leaf,
1 1-inch hunk of ginger root
5 raisins

Directions:
Pour slightly less than a quart of fresh water kefir into a quart jar.
To get more flavor I chopped the rhubarb into 2 inch long pieces and split them down the middle. I also sliced the hunk of ginger so that lots of ginger was exposed.

Put all the ingredients into the jar of water kefir.
Push it under the water kefir, cap it and set it on the counter.
Let it ferment for 24 hours and then refrigerate it.
I'll keep my eye on it during those 24 hours to make sure there isn't too much carbonation build up and if there seems to be I'll open the cap to release it.

Some people like a strong carbonation but I like just a little.
Tomorrow I'll taste it but I'll probably let it steep in the fridge for a few days before officially drinking it.
I'll report back about it.

Can One Overdose on Onions?

2010-05-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Today I had 3 forms of onions in one meal. Walking Onion flower stalks, Green Garlic stalks and Fermented Walking Onion greens. I wondered if it was possible to eat too much onion but went ahead and ate them anyway.

I have been harvesting onion greens since the early spring emergence of my perennial Walking Onions. I eat them raw, snipped in salads and stop eating them this way when they get too tough or to hot.

Last week I experimented with a few thick handfuls of Walking Onion greens by putting them in the blender with a little salt water brine until they became mush. I jarred them and fermented them on the counter for 3 days and stored them in the fridge for the rest of the week.

As I prepared to make dinner I went out to the garden to harvest what was available, which was very little because it’s only May 16 and I live in New England.
Since I had been chipping away at the Walking Onion greens I decided to harvest some of the plants whose greens were already eaten but were sporting thick flower stalks. I pulled out entire plants including the small onion bulb as the plot needed to be thinned a bit, anyway.

I also harvested some of that Green Garlic I spoke about in my last post.

Heading back to the kitchen I started peeling, chopping, cleaning and sautéing the Green Garlic and Walking Onion stalks in olive oil. I added sliced chunks of swordfish to the mix.

For salad I harvested various lettuces, escarole, a lone asparagus stalk, and small but potent radishes.

I sampled the Fermented Walking Onion greens and found a pleasant aroma upon opening the jar. They tasted sweet, sour, salty, delicate and like nothing I ever had before.
I added some fermented Walking Onion greens on top of the salad as a condiment.

Dinner was fantastic and all the veggies were from the garden!

The Green Garlic Patch

2010-05-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

I continue to ponder Garlic Leeks which I recently realized are conventionally known as Green Garlic. My husband is the official vegetable gardener in our family. He treats everything with proper care: weeding, mulching, feeding, watering. I on the other hand am more of a throw-it-in-and-see-what-you-get type of gardener. If it can survive in my garden, I know it's strong.

In my last post, Garlic Leeks, I wrote about eating the stalks of garlic bulbs that were missed in the harvest. They were really superb! And so much more to eat than in a clove.

Last fall after we planted a bed of garlic I decided to plant a bed for myself using some of the previous year's garlic bulbs that we never got to eat. They were getting soft and drying out but some were sprouting. I separated most of them and planted them in close rows in my herb patch. A few bulbs were tiny and not having the patience to separate them, I just planted the whole bulb.

I wanted to see if they would grow at all. This spring I have a healthy patch of garlic plants, certainly not of the size and caliber of the plants in the official, well-taken-care-of bed, but certainly good enough size to eat as stalks sauteed with other veggies. The tiny whole bulbs that I planted are a cluster of skinny greens that I will separate and replant when I have a minute.

Another benefit of these stalks is that we can eat them so early in the season because they've wintered over and sprout early in the spring. We've been eating them for about 3 weeks and it's only early May! For New England that's almost a miracle! I'm curious to see how long they will stay tender.

I like the idea of having a garlic patch for stalk eating and another patch for bulbs to cure for the fall and winter. It seems to me to be a good use of space yielding more food in the end.

Garlic Leeks

2010-04-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

After the snow melted and the spring rains came we saw a handful of garlic stragglers missed during the previous harvest. We let them grow to about12 inches and pulled them out to inspect. The bulb had self divided and each mushy clove had a strong, thick leek-like stalk growing out of it. Never one to waste anything I decided to try and eat it.

First I chopped off the mushy clove and roots. Then I easily peeled off the outer layer down to a clean layer. I cut off about 8 inches of coarse leaves. This left a 5-inch juicy looking stem that I chopped and used in a sauté which was absolutely fabulous!

I was able to use the remainders, as well. I removed the mushy cloves and popped them into the compost. I washed the coarse leaves and soaked and rinsed the roots. These went into my freezer container for future soups.

Liver Pate', dairy free

2010-03-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have been eating too much peanut butter and peanuts for snacks. I know this because I’m starting to feel tired and/ or warm after eating them. I know how important rotating one’s food is but I’ve fallen into an easy habit of reaching for a slice of my gluten free sourdough bread with peanut butter or peanuts. After becoming sensitive to so many foods I’ve eaten repetitively I now know the signs of encroaching sensitivity.

I decided to try making a liver pate to spread on my bread. I used spices traditionally used for pate’ while adding a few of my own. Many of the pate’ recipes use very large amounts of butter or animal fat to make the pate’ set up. I only wanted to use a modest amount of animal fat plus I added some olive oil. I try my best to grind spices right before I use them. I was very happy with the result which is actually somewhere between a traditional chopped liver and an artisanal liver pate’:

Liver Pate’
Yield: about 3 cups

Ingredients:
1 pound calves liver, membranes removed
4 tablespoons fat or mixture of fat and olive oil
1 large or 2 medium onions medium chop
2 cloves garlic medium chop
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon mace
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cardamom
¼ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon rosemary
1-3 teaspoons dried sage
1-2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons kombucha tea or kombucha vinegar or any wine or wine vinegar
Salt
Black pepper

Directions:
Heat fat and oil in pan, add onions and garlic and cook a few minutes
Meanwhile grind spices and add to onion mixture
Stir to mix spices
Salt and pepper the liver and to pot
Add lemon juice and kombucha vinegar

Simmer till liver is done, about 10-15 minutes
Let cool
Remove any other tough membranes
Put entire mixture into the food into food processor and process till smooth.
Test for seasoning, add more salt and pepper if necessary and briefly process once more

Serve right away or pour into mold or loaf pan and chill before using
Keeps about a week.

They giggled when they saw rocks in my drawer

2009-12-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

I just don’t understand it! I had a class full of eager students and when I opened the drawer to get measuring cups they started giggling and whispering. “Look, she has rocks in her drawer, lots and lots of rocks!”

The reason I have rocks in my drawer is that I use them. I use them when I make sauerkraut and other lactofermented vegetables. It keeps the vegetables submerged under the brine making for a better fermentation.

When choosing rocks look for round, rather flat rocks that will easily fit through the mouth of your jars. Discard any rocks that are porous, flake or get gritty when rubbed. I use wide mouth canning jars for my fermentations so a rock about 3 inches in diameter works well. I soak them in warm, soapy water, scrub them with a stiff brush, put them through the dishwasher and boil them to sterilize just before using. When not in use I store them in the drawer. Where else would I store them?

This fall I actually seemed to run out of the right size rocks so my friend, along with her 2 year old, went and collected from their garden. I was so grateful for the gift!

I recently heard from a Sauerkraut class student that he couldn’t get his hands on rocks but was trying giant marbles. I think that would work very well and would lend a festive air to the jars, don’t you?

Read about making Sauerkraut in my September posting, A month's worth of probiotics for the price of a cabbage.

Slow Food Catering

2009-12-04T08:23:00.000-08:00

I was asked to cater an event showcasing the traditional and unusual cooking techniques I teach in my classes. I had never catered before and was feeling somewhat apprehensive.
My menu was simple enough:

-Gluten free sourdough bread toasts topped with kefir cheese and home cured salmon, also know as Gravlox*(recipe below)
-Four types of highly digestible beans for dips:
Baked Beans,
Italian White Beans,
Frijoles Negroes (Spanish Black Beans)
Indian Lentils
-Veggie Plate of raw vegetables not commonly eaten raw
-Lacto-Fermented Vegetables
Small bowls of seasonal lacto-fermented vegetables which at this time of year, was swiss chard and summer squash & onions.
-Amaranth Bread Pudding

Since I learned about these foods I have gained a better sense of using seasonal and fermented foods and what that really entails. For produce it means using and eating what is in season. For fermented foods it means having patience as the food can take hours or days or even weeks to reach perfect palatability. For sourdough bread it means planning a starter well in advance of when I want the finished bread. For beans it’s about carefully planning some simple steps.

Cooking this way is a very different process than going to the market and buying cans of beans, tubs of cream cheese, loaves of bread, already smoked salmon and vacuum packed jars of pickles. This food is very different as everything is carefully hand made from scratch, rendering it highly nutritious, easy to digest and exploding with flavor. When I serve some of these foods to Europeans they get very excited because it reminds them of the foods their grandmothers made. These old fashioned techniques, practiced around the globe for centuries, seem to preserve the inherent integrity of the food. Since most of us have not grown up with these foods they may initially taste unfamiliar or even strange. Perhaps it is an acquired taste and many of us notice that the body begins to crave these foods after having them a few times.

These foods can take from a few hours to almost a month to be finished. With careful planning it doesn’t take much more time, just a different usage of time. It only takes a few minutes to create bread starter. It takes just a few seconds a day to feed the starter. It takes half a minute to put kefir grains in a jar, fill it with milk and cover it. Timing is everything for lacto-fermented pickling. I boil and salt the water the night before so it will be room temperature when the vegetables are ready to be harvested or brought back from the farmer’s market.

So when I agreed to cater I got out my calendar, marked the day of the event and started counting backwards:

- 3-6 weeks before the event start lacto-fermenting seasonal veggies.
- One week to start the kefir milk in small batches
- Four days for the bread starter plus one day for rising.
- 2 days to cure the salmon.
- 24 hours to soak the beans and slow cook.
- 7 hours for soaking the amaranth with water kefir before cooking.

Additionally, I like to use my fresh or fresh ground herbs and spices whenever possible:

- Make garam masala for the lentil dish.
- Harvest dill, thyme and parsley from the garden. Rinse and let dry for easy chopping at the right time so it can be used well before it loses its vitality.

I like to attend to every aspect of the menu; every ingredient should be a quality ingredient. I once ate a layered cake that became part of the model for my cooking. There were 4 separate layers to this cake: the cake itself, the outermost hard-shell frosting, an inner frosting layer and an inner jam layer. I decided to taste each layer separately and found each layer was a completely satisfying taste in itself. Then I took a bite that included all the layers. I experienced all 4 layers of tastes and textures in a beautifully artful balance. Together they became a perfectly balanced contrapuntal experience. This became an important model for my cooking. Every aspect of a meal or menu would be of high quality and properly prepared without hurry.

So with this intention I began my tasks: counting days, doubling and tripling recipes, making shopping lists, making a daily task schedule, and soon enough it was time to start preparing food. Throughout the tasks I was aware that people I did not know would be eating this food. I felt honored to create this beautiful food for them. The question “would they like it” popped up many times but I just continued forward with my tasks.

The day of the event arrived. My helpers and I carefully packed the food, transported the food, unpacked the food and set up the food. I was nervous.
At most events most of the socializing centers around the food. Soon there was a small crowd around the table. People began eating. Some people just happily ate the food. Some people with food restrictions were happy to know they could safely eat the food. Some people realized the intricacies of the food and slowly tasted everything with eyes closed.

One man made comments on each layer of the salmon cheese toasts, the sourness of the bread, the sweet and sour nature of the kefir cheese and the delicate texture and salty-sweet taste of the home cured salmon. Another woman pondered the strong, though not overpowering, blend of Indian spices (homemade garam masala) in the lentil dish. People kept nibbling at the lacto-fermented veggies trying to identify all the tastes. I heard questions like:
“What makes this sweet?
What makes this sour?
Why doesn’t it taste like it has vinegar in it?
How did you get it be so delicate?”

When I told them the only ingredients were vegetables, dill, salt and water they had trouble believing it but continued nibbling.

I was very happy that almost all the food was eaten and appreciated. The one dish that wasn’t quite right was The Amaranth Bread Pudding. I had used sourdough bread and the characteristic sourness of the bread clashed with the sweetness of the honey-sweetened amaranth. Since then I have learned some tricks for minimizing the amount of sour taste in sourdough bread.
I continue to deeply enjoy creating all types of slow food. Seems there is always more to learn, share and enjoy.

Home Cured Salmon/Gravlox Recipe

1 lb fresh salmon, a uniformly thick piece from the middle of the fish
1 ½ tablespoons salt
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1/2 bunch of dill or cilantro
A flat dish
Clear plastic wrap
Small bowl

Line the flat dish with a piece of clear plastic wrap large enough to wrap up the salmon so it’s tightly closed
Lay the salmon skin side down on the plastic wrap
Mix the salt and sugar together in a bowl
Take the dill and rinse it, leave it to dry, then chop the leaves off the large stems discarding the large stems (use for soup)
Mix the chopped dill leaves with the salt and sugar mixture and lay it on the salmon flesh so it completely covers the flesh.
Wrap the fish and dill mixture firmly in the clear plastic wrap.
Cure in refrigerator for 1 ½ -2 days.
After 1 ½-2 days unwrap the fish and scrape off the dill mix. Wash off the fish and blot dry with a paper towel.
Slice fish thinly on an angle.
Fish will keep for a few days.

Some people make 2 pieces at a time laying them on top of each other flesh side touching with dill mix in between and on top.

Some people also make an entire side at a time. Just double or triple the ingredients.

A month’s worth of probiotics for the price of a cabbage!

2009-09-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you can easily make your own probiotics at home in your own kitchen from simple ingredients like salt, water and cabbage?
Lacto-fermented cabbage, aka Sauerkraut, is an ancient cultured vegetable that is loaded with probiotics and enzymes that grow through natural fermentation. I like getting my probiotics and enzymes from a food rather than a bottled supplement. I believe these probiotics and enzymes become highly available to the body because they are live right from the food rather than processed in an industrial plant awaiting rehydration in the digestive tract.

People that have taken many courses of antibiotics usually have reduced and out-of-balance intestinal bacteria opening the door for illnesses like candida, IBS, fungal infections, and parasites. Eating small amounts of lacto-fermented vegetables (1-2 tablespoons) at lunch and dinner on a regular basis helps to gently repair the intestinal environment. The enzymes help to digest the meal while the probiotics repopulate the intestines with friendly bacteria.

Here is the recipe for Sauerkraut:

Sauerkraut

Ingredients
1 medium cabbage, green, red or savoy (curly)
For leaf layer: 3-4 whole cabbage leaves peeled from the outside of the cabbage

For the brine
2 quarts filtered or spring water
Pure salt, kosher, pickling or coarse sea salt, with no additives

Equipment:
Large pot for boiling water
2 wide mouth quart canning jars
2 canning lids and rings
2-4 rocks that easily fit through the mouth of the canning jar. Garden rocks are great. Look for a rock about 2-3 inches in diameter and not more than 1 inch high. Alternately, you can use 2 smaller rocks in each jar.
Scrub rocks with a brush, run through dishwasher or wash thoroughly by hand.
Small pot for sterilizing the canning lids, rings and rocks
Something to press the cabbage into the jar, a crab mallet, a wooden food pusher, etc
Wide mouth funnel (optional) for filling the jar
Ladle

Bring the filtered water to a boil for 4 minutes.
After it’s cooled a bit add 3 tablespoons of salt and stir to dissolve.
Allow brine to cool to near room temperature (2-4 hours or overnight)

In small pot sterilize lids, rings and rocks by boiling for 4 minutes.
Let them cool about 10 minutes and pour out the water to let them cool further.

Peel off, and set aside, a few outer leaves of the cabbage for the top leaf layer (you can also use horseradish leaves, raspberry leaves or grape leaves instead of cabbage).

When the brine is almost cool, chop or grate cabbage.
If using herbs or spices put them at the bottom of the quart jars.
Start layering the cut cabbage into the jar an inch or two high at a time, gently pressing it down with hands or pressing tool.
Keep adding 1-2 inch layers of cabbage until about 2-3 inches of space is left at the top.
Press it down again.
Fold a cabbage leaf, or other leaf to fit over the top layer of cabbage and press it in.
Place a rock or rocks on top of the leaf.
Pour brine into the jar leaving about 1 inch of space from the top.
Wipe any brine off top of jar, put lid on jar, and screw on band.

Allow to ferment on kitchen counter or shelf for 3 days at room temperature, 72 degrees.
Gently move to the refrigerator for 3 weeks.
Eat after 3-4 weeks. Store in refrigerator. Taste gets better with time.
Lasts 3-6 months in refrigerator.

here are some photos of the lacto-fermented technique and veggies
http://www.sanctuary-healing.com/food-photos.html

Kombucha Tea in the Kitchen

2009-09-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

Kombucha Tea has become a staple in my kitchen. I turn to it often.
Sometimes I use a ladle full of kombucha tea in a stir fry, especially if I’ve cooked the food too fast and it’s sticking to the pan. The Kombucha releases the food from the pan and lends an unexpected flavor to the stir fry.

I’ve used it as a marinade for fish like Haddock, Tilapia, Perch and Catfish. I put the fish in a dish, add Kombucha to nearly covering the fish, let it marinate for a half hour or so, turn it and let sit for another 20 minutes and cook. I usually cook a veggie-fish saute’ but I’m sure this marinated fish would also be great grilled, baked or broiled.

Due to my high sensitivity to wine I haven’t had any in decades. I’m not sure if it’s the alcohol, the sugar, or the sulfites but I have a strong unpleasant reaction very quickly. I’ve taken to substituting Kombucha tea, ounce for ounce, in recipes that call for wine or beer. It brightens up the finished product lending a hint of the fermented taste we expect from a recipe with wine. I used it successfully in a braised short rib recipe and it was fantastic.I suppose it could be used in French Onion Soup so I will give it a try soon, as our onion harvest is plentiful this year.

In cold and flu season I make Kombucha Horseradish Tonic. I fill a jar with 8-16 ounces of Kombucha tea and drop a 1-inch peeled chunk of horseradish root in it. I let it steep a day or two and then drink 2-4 ounces every morning. If I’m very congested I’ll squeeze some lemon into my glass and then add the Kombucha Horseradish Tonic. This combination quickly breaks up any congestion. I replace the horseradish chunk every 7-10 days.

My recipe for Herbal Kombucha tea below.

Kombucha on the Road

2009-09-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

On a recent family vacation I brought my giant jar of Kombucha tea complete with mature culture. This was not the first time I took Kombucha tea on vacation with us. I use a deli-size pickle jar. During regular fermentation I use a cloth and rubber band to allow air flow but when I take it on the road I use the glass lid it came with and tape the lid to the jar using masking tape. I line a special box, saved specifically for this purpose, with bubble wrap. I carefully nestle the sealed jar into the box and lay a towel on top before folding the box top closed. I’m sure the jostling of the car is not the best thing for the culture as the film on top disconnects from the sides of the jar. It takes a few days for it to settle in but it still tastes just fine.

On this vacation we were met with large, hungry mosquitoes that gave us large, itchy bites. My 11 year old grandson was very uncomfortable and after getting no relief from products that were supposed to reduce the itch I suggested the Kombucha tea. My grandchildren thought that “thing” was weird enough, with its brain-like culture... “you mean you’re going to drink that???” but discomfort pushes us to try new things so we poured some Kombucha tea into a cup. He dipped into it and began dabbing at the nasty bites. He said the itch was almost gone! He returned almost hourly for reapplication and in a day he had no more discomfort. Chalk up another use for Kombucha tea!

When it was time to pack up the mostly finished Kombucha I got out my trusty box and bubble wrap only to find the bubble wrap had lost all its bubbles! When I asked around I learned that my 5 year old grandson had found the bubble wrap and decided to have a bubble wrap stomping party.
Oh, well…no problem. I used towels to cushion the jar on the way home.

After vacation I have noticed that when I make a new batch the fermentation time is slower probably due to all that disruptive jostling. It’s good to know so I can allow some extra time until it returns to its normal fermentation cycle.

Recipe for Kombucha Herbal Tea

2009-08-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Ingredients for one gallon-size brew:

1. Kombucha culture
2. 2 cups of “starter tea” from the previous kombucha brew, if no starter tea available, use 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
3. 5-6 tea bags or 4-6 Tablespoons of herbal loose tea made from leaves rather than flowers. I avoid teas with added flavorings. If you use Black tea you can use less than 4-6 Tablespoons.
4. one cup sugar
5. 3 ½ quarts of filtered water

Supplies needed:

One gallon or larger glass container, jar or bowl
or a food grade plastic bowl may be used, either number 1 or 2 in the triangle on the bottom.

Clean cloth, paper towel or coffee filter to fit over fermenting container and a large rubber band to secure if needed.

A warm quiet spot, (does not need to be dark)

White vinegar to clean utensils. If you need to clean the culture, let it sit in vinegar for a little while.

Boil water: bring water to the boiling point and let it boil a minute or so.
Add tea bags or loose tea in a strainer.
I let the tea steep about 30 minutes.
Remove tea

Add the cup of sugar and stir to dissolve.

Let it come to room temperature (about 2-4 hours) or overnight

Put the room temperature tea and sugar into your jar or bowl. If it is too hot it will damage the culture.
Add the starter tea
Add the kombucha culture.
Cover with the cloth or paper towel or filter and leave alone.

The entire brewing cycle can take up to 14 days. Usually the tea is ready to drink about day 5. You should see a light film starting to cover the top of the tea surface. I ladle out a bit to taste it. If it’s still very sweet, it’s not ready. Sometimes it has some carbonation. This is fine. Sometimes bubbles form in the culture and the culture looks bumpy and strange. It’s okay.

Start drinking one tablespoon at a time, on an empty stomach. Build up the amount you drink slowly, as your body suggests.
This drink isn’t right for everybody but if it’s good for you, your body may start to crave it.

It’s a powerful detoxifier so you don’t want to start drinking too much in the beginning. Let your body start its detox process in a slow and gentle way.

I’ve settled on drinking about 1/4 -1/2 cup 1-3 times a day 20 minutes before a meal. Anymore than that really feels like too much.

It is suggested that once the culture is in the tea, no metal should come in contact with the brew. I use a plastic ladle.

Some people strain the tea before they drink it because sometimes there’s some squidley stuff floating in it. The stuff is part of the brew and can be drunk.

If you don’t finish the brew after 10-12 days it will become very vinegary and for some, undrinkable. This can be used for salad dressings and marinades.

Always save the last 2 cups for the next batch.

The film that forms on the top is the offspring of the culture. You can use this to start a new batch when it is substantial enough or you can just leave it attached. To detach it from the culture, with clean hands pick up the culture and peel the film off. If it is too small to start a new batch, store it in a glass jar with 1-2 cups of fresh tea and a paper towel cover. Keep adding new films as you get them. You should add fresh tea every 14 days. After a while the filmy pieces will meld into one new culture that can be used to start a new batch.

At this point I always have 2 different batches going. This is enough for me. I put my extras in a jar and save them until I have someone brave enough to try it.

Purchase a kombucha culture from www.anahatabalance.com. Type in "new_customer_10" for a 10% discount.

Kombucha Tea and Sugar Addiction

2009-08-17T10:07:00.001-07:00

I started drinking Kombucha tea a few years ago and immediately noticed positive changes in my health. It seemed as if my digestive system was waking up. It cleared out my sinuses and reduced my sugar cravings. Even my hormone imbalance seemed to clear up!

Kombucha tea is a fermented drink said to strengthen the immune system by repopulating the digestive tract with live probiotics and enzymes that grow during the fermentation process.

When I first learned about it I was hesitant to make it because the recipe called for sugar and black tea, two foods I had stayed away from for decades. I was told that I had to make it this way or the benefits would be minimized. Having recovered from candidiasis I was concerned about drinking something with sugar in it. I was also unable to consume caffeine, (kept me up at night and made my hands shake) and was concerned about the caffeine in the tea. I went ahead and made it with herbal mint tea and organic sugar. It came out great and I felt sure the drink was plenty potent! I did not get any candida symptoms as long as I drank it in small amounts.

After making this lovely gentle potion for a few years I finally took a sip of a commercial kombucha drink, made with black tea. That one sip felt like a shock to my system. I knew my gentle herbal kombucha tea was right for me.

Recently, a few people expressed to me that they had been drinking Kombucha tea for awhile, felt good results but then got to a point where their bodies didn’t want it anymore. I was surprised to hear this as my body was craving a little every day.

Then, this summer, all of a sudden, my body didn’t want it! I tried a few sips, but no, it just wasn’t right anymore. I wonder if the kombucha did for me what I needed at the time and then I simply didn’t need it anymore.

I use a variety of lacto fermented products and I find myself craving different ones at different times. I trusted my body when it said it no longer needed Kombucha.

One of the major concerns about Kombucha is the large amount of sugar used for the fermentation. I believe that most of the sugar is used during the fermentation stage but I also believe that if one is extremely sensitive to sugar, candida, diabetes, IBS, it may not be the right drink.

I’ve also been thinking about some of my students who have had a difficult time “giving up” sugar. I’ve been through this myself. We are trying to heal illnesses such as candida, IBS, chronic fatigue, hypoglycemia, and fibromyalgia. We cut out the sugar and begin to feel deprived. Then it’s easy to binge on sugar and carbs exacerbating our symptoms.

I'm beginning to see Kombucha tea as being an important stepping stone for some people making the shift away from sugar. If someone is trying to minimize sugar intake but has occasional uncontrollable bingeing it seems that it could be more beneficial to drink the kombucha tea as an interim step. They could sip some tea when the craving for dessert shows up. They could sip some more when everyone is having a soda. They could put a slice of lemon in it when everyone is drinking overly sweet lemonade. This may satisfy the sugar fix while beginning the healing of their digestive and immune systems enabling the person to stay away from ice cream, baked goods and candy. As the bodily systems begin to return to a higher state of health the feeling of being sugar deprived could become a distant memory.

Purchase a kombucha culture from www.anahatabalance.com. Type in "new_customer_10" for a 10% discount.

Lacto-fermented Fruit drink

2009-08-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is a good recipe for when you have an abundance of fresh fruit that you know will spoil before you can use it all. When the drink is ready you will strain the batch, discard the fruit and drink the juice. It will be bubbly!

10 plums
10 peaches
1 tsp sea salt
1 squirt agave (optional)
1 quart Water kefir (excluding water kefir grains)*see recipe below for water kefir
Leaf layer (this is about 3-4 leaves layered top of the fruit to keep it sumberged under the liquid. You can use swiss chard leaves or bok choy leaves)
rock (use a rock that fits easily through the mouth of the jar. scrub, wash thoroughly and boil before use)

Coarsely cut up fruit and press into a half gallon canning jar.
Add salt and agave (optional)
Add leaf layer and rock.
Fill the jar with water kefir to cover the fruit.
Cover with canning lid and set on the counter for 2-3 days to ferment.

This drink will get very bubbly so when you’re ready to drink this, open jar carefully over the sink.
Allow bubbles to rise to surface.
Remove rock and discard leaf layer.
Pour it all through a strainer reserving the liquid.
Press the fruit to extract as much juice as possible.
Discard fruit and store juice in the refrigerator.
This is potent! Drink in small amounts.
Keeps for about a week.

Water Kefir

Prep time: 10 minutes
Fermentation time: 2-4 days

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons Water Kefir grains *see resources below to purchase
2 tablespoons sugar (I find organic dark sugar works the best, but any sugar works)
20 raisins (or a comparable amount of figs or prunes)
1 quart of filtered or spring water
1 slice of lemon

Nearly fill a wide mouth quart jar with water.
Add 2 tablespoons sugar, stirring to dissolve, 20 raisins and a slice of lemon or lime.
Add the water kefir grains to the jar or if this is your first batch add the contents of your bottle of water kefir grains into the quart jar.
Cover with a paper towel or cloth and secure with a rubber band.
When raisins float to the top, scoop them and the lemon slice out and discard.
Ferment the water kefir for 6-12 more hours on the counter with the paper towel.
Then store, covered, in fridge and use as needed.
When you have used the liquid down to about an inch in the jar start a new batch in a new jar and pour the water kefir grains plus the liquid their in right into the new jar, cover and ferment.
Lasts about 1 month

To replenish:
Use up the water kefir to about an inch of water kefir and water kefir grains left in the jar.
When you are ready to make a new batch just a fill a clean jar with 1 quart of water, add sugar and dissolve, add the last inch of water kefir and water kefir grains, trying to get all the grains into the new batch. Add fruit, cover and let ferment.

Other uses for Water Kefir:
tonic, a small amount through the day
supplies lactobacillus and serves as an inoculant for lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, chutneys 2 Tablespoons per quart -2 cups for 2 gallon crock
soaking grains before cooking (2 Tablespoons) predigests and increases availability of enzymes and B vitamins
soaking beans before cooking (2 Tablespoons) predigests and increases availability of enzymes and B vitamins

*Resources: Water Kefir Grains www.Anahatabalance.com
Type in “new_customer_10” for 10% discount on your first order

Summer Solstice Salad

2009-06-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Everything in this salad, except for the sunflower seeds, came from my garden and was harvested on the summer solstice. The fermented rhubarb came from the garden and was made 3 weeks ago.

1-2 heads of lettuce
A large handful of cilantro
A few walking onion scallions
Gem marigold flowers
A few mint leaves
Fermented rhubarb (water, rhubarb, salt, onions)
Sunflower seeds

Soak sunflower seeds
Chop lettuce, scallions, cilantro, mint and put in bowl
Drain sunflower seeds
Mix sunflower seeds and fermented rhubarb with chopped greens
Top with marigold flowers

Fermented Foods: A Culture of Healing

2009-03-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

Currently many of us are discovering that our diet creates an environment in our bodies for health or illness to thrive. We are learning that certain foods can stress and damage our digestive systems, and that in order to fully recover we may need to change not only our diet, but also our entire dietary lifestyle. These changes can be extremely challenging on all levels and can impact our relationships and social lives. After a 20-year period of illness and learning how to successfully alter my diet, I pleased to report I am the healthiest I have ever been.
Our lifelong relationship with many foods makes it difficult to permanently omit some of them from our diet. These are the foods of our cultures, our families, our peer groups and our memories that nourish us emotionally, as well as nutritionally. It takes time to create a new relationship with food. We cannot will ourselves to like, enjoy or desire unfamiliar foods. We may need time to get used to and appreciate unfamiliar tastes and textures. As we alter our diets it is essential that we are mindful, gentle and patient with ourselves throughout the entire process.
I had struggled with poor health after giving birth 25 years ago. In those early years I had continuous colds, chronic sinus and yeast infections, asthma, fatigue and symptoms involving every bodily system. It took me six years to find a naturopathic doctor who recognized that I had systemic candida. He set me on a rigorous treatment of diet change and yeast killing supplements. Progress was slow and intermittent with many setbacks. Sometimes it was hard to stay hopeful about recovering. I spent a lot of time exhausted on the couch and learned to develop new levels of patience with my slowly healing body. Deepening my capacity for patience was an unexpected and valuable gift that came out of this particular life lesson.
Over the next ten years I was able to heal most of my symptoms, however I still had to carefully monitor my activities to avoid getting exhausted or sick. Seeing how altering my diet contributed to my health, I continued to look for ways that food might take me to the next levels of wellness.

One day, I found a book claiming that old-fashioned sourdough rye bread could rebuild the entire digestive system while cleaning out the arteries! This was my first step into the world of fermented foods and traditional cooking techniques. The sourdough starter recipe included a long fermentation period: daily feedings for seven days and 12-24 hours of rising. The enhanced digestibility and healing properties were said to come from the seven days of fermentation.
With some practice I was able to make wonderfully rich and substantial bread at a cost far below retail prices. After eating it for a while I noticed a steadiness in my health, although I still had some unresolved symptoms.
Then I read that lacto-fermented sauerkraut was good for people with unresolving intestinal issues. The process of lacto-fermentation creates lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins which, when consumed, becomes instantly available to the body. Lacto-fermenting vegetables is an ancient salt brine technique of vegetable preservation. The recipe simply called for vegetables, salt and water fermented in a container for three weeks. I decided to give it a try. After the 3 weeks I tried a bite and was startled at the taste. It was simultaneously sweet, sour and salty. I wasn’t sure if I liked it enough to eat more of it. Fifteen minutes later my body told me that I needed to eat more of that stuff and to eat it now! I listened to my body and ate some more. It was as if my intestinal system was coming alive.
In the following weeks my energy level jumped a few more notches and my digestive issues seemed to improve. Making my own sauerkraut cost much less than store bought and I could control the amount of salt. I could also experiment with different vegetables for interesting combinations.
I found an online chat group of fellow fermenters and tried to learn as much as I could. One chatter suggested I try homemade kombucha tea for overall immune building. Kombucha is another fermented product that produces lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins. She sent me an impressive compilation of all the illnesses people claimed the kombucha helped them recover from. The list included illnesses from every bodily system.
I bought a kombucha culture, which looked like a shiny pancake. I followed the recipe and watched the unusual fermentation process through the glass jar. I was not quite sure that I could bring myself to drink the liquid but when the tea was ready, about 9 days after the start of fermentation, I bravely had a sip. It was light and pleasant tasting. Then I had the odd sensation that it was gently burbling through my intestines. A few hours later my body seemed to be craving more and I started drinking small amounts a few times a day. It seemed to clear the sinuses nicely and again, my energy level jumped. My intestines seemed a bit better, as well. This wonderful drink also cost very little to make on a regular basis.

Eating Curds and Whey

About this time I heard about kefir and water kefir. I made the milk kefir for my family, having already eliminated most dairy products as part of the candida treatment. This was the easiest to make of all the fermented foods so far. You put the little kefir grains in a jar, pour milk on top, cover with a cloth and let it sit on the counter for 36 hours. Done. Again, the fermenting process allows lactobacillus and enzymes to grow, improving the nutrition and digestibility of the milk. This kefir has a sour taste and can be used plain on hot cereal or other grains. It can also be sweetened with fruit, honey, agave or stevia and used like a thin yogurt for sauces, desserts, and salad dressings. I also learned to make it into cheese by straining it through cheesecloth. The cheese making process brings to mind the old nursery rhyme, “Little Miss Muffet,” and her curds and whey. When the kefir drains through the cloth, the remaining cheese caught in the cloth is called curds. The water left in the bottom of the bowl is called whey. The cheese is a robustly sour cream cheese and is great on toast. The whey is a supremely potent liquid, full of lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins with the addition of minerals. It is good for drinking, cooking, baking and soaking grains and beans.
Water kefir is another culture that creates lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins and makes a nice dairy-free drink. I have read about people sweetening it and using it in place of sodas but never tried it myself, needing to stay away from sweets. I mainly use it in soaking water for grains and beans, which is another old-fashioned cooking technique I learned on this journey.
Soaking fosters the production of enzymes and vitamins, thereby increasing digestibility. I began soaking my grains before cooking, but didn’t notice any differences in taste or digestibility. One day I didn’t have enough time to soak and simply cooked the rice. It was then I noticed the rice didn’t seem as smooth in my stomach as it had been when I had soaked them.
Most of us know about soaking beans for increased digestibility, but adding 2-4 tablespoons of kefir, kefir whey or water kefir boosts the fermenting power and can bring the flatulence factor way down, a benefit probably welcomed by all involved. Soaking beans for 24 hours also allows the beans to quadruple their size, increasing the amount of available servings while bringing the cost per serving down to about 8 cents. Properly prepared beans are highly nutritious, tasty, and economical.

Good-bye to Gluten

My health continued to improve but I still had those remaining symptoms. I consulted a new holistic doctor about these symptoms. She ordered various tests and blood work and when the test results were back she gently told me I was sensitive to dairy and eggs, and I should completely eliminate them from my diet at least for a while, but possibly forever. She then told me I was also gluten intolerant.
This piece was extremely distressing to me having spent a year perfecting my sourdough rye bread. I loved making this bread. I loved creating the starter and watching it grow into an aromatic sponge over its seven-day growing period. I loved the malty aroma and the way butter seeped down through the pores onto the plate. I even bought a grain mill so I could grind my own rye berries. I was in a bit of shock about it all, but given my previous success around healing with food I had no hesitation about changing my diet one more time.
My doctor had given me this news one afternoon and I decided to have one last dairy and gluten-filled dinner. That evening I toasted a generous slab of sourdough rye and slathered it with butter. I ate slowly, relishing and savoring the taste and sensation of this marvelous ancestral bread. When I was finished I said goodbye and moved forward.
The next day I eliminated gluten, dairy and eggs from my diet. After 48 hours the remaining symptoms disappeared! I vacillated between great happiness to have found the root cause of my long time illness and grieving that I might never eat gluten again. No more toasted bagel and cream cheese, no more holiday cookies, no more slices of pizza…
Over the next few weeks I was unprepared to find myself moving through some of the recognized phases of grief: shock, grief, anger, bargaining and acceptance. I worked my way through it and then found myself in a new phase that I call resolution and declaration. I resolved that despite my restricted diet I would continue eating beautiful and lovingly prepared food. Then I declared that I would create gluten-free sourdough breads that could be made easily and was well within the parameters of my diet.
I experimented for a year with many failures but with a little help from my online chatters I was able to make some palatable nutritious breads.
Without the gluten and other problematic foods the tempo of my healing increased significantly.
Recovering is an incredible blessing for me after this very long road back to health. Sometimes I am still astonished that I am “back to normal” and that I have enough energy to do so many things in a day and still be alert in the evening. I am deeply grateful to have my energy, to be highly productive, and to be fully and happily engaged with life.

This article was published in the Spring 2009 edition of Spirit Of Change.

Fermenting at Slow Food Boston

2008-12-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Fermenting at Slow Food Boston and Haley House

I arrived a bit early to teach Fermentation Class that Sunday afternoon. I had always been intrigued by commercial kitchens and was looking forward to working in one. Didi arrived and gave me a tour of Haley House. We entered the silent kitchen and I took in the stainless steel worktables, the giant stockpots, the enormous metal bowls, formidable knives, lunch lady ladles, oversized stoves and the walk in cooler.

Then she took me into the café, in the front of the building. It was warm, intimate and homey with beautiful artwork on the walls. The lecture and discussion part of the class would be here, in this inviting space. The hands on part would be in the slightly overwhelming commercial kitchen.

Soon, Willow and Rosemary arrived and we got ready for class. We filled large pots with water for boiling and hauled the Noonday Farm veggies out of the cooler. We would be making two recipes today: lacto-fermented green cabbage sauerkraut and lacto-fermented butternut squash, onions and apples.

Through much trial and error, I taught myself to lacto-ferment out of a book through much trial and error. Lacto-fermenting vegetables is an old fashioned salt brine technique. The technique utilizes the naturally occurring lactobacillus, a natural preservative, present on fresh vegetables, and furnishes an environment that fosters growth of more lactobacillus thus preserving the food for weeks and even months. Only salt and water are used for the fermentation while herbs and spices can be added to enhance the flavors.

The students began arriving. I felt a little nervous. I had never taught such a large group before and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Normally, I would lecture and we would discuss the material I was presenting. Then I would demonstrate the processes we were discussing. The students would assemble their own jars with the vegetables that I had chopped before class. The brine was started hours before class so it would be room temperature by class time. The prep work always took me many hours but it ensured that class would go smoothly.

This class would be a bit different. We would start the same way with the lecture, questions and discussion. Then we would all go into the kitchen and I would direct this large group of eager beavers through all the tasks: trimming, peeling, chopping, jar washing, lid boiling, rock boiling, jar packing, sealing and clean up. I had absolutely no idea how long any of this would take a group of twenty.

The lecture went well. The questions were intelligent. The discussion was lively and there were smiles and laughter. And then it was time to go on back. Someone told the group to put on aprons and there was a blur of white cloth flipping around as twenty people donned aprons. Then there was mass hand washing and people started to sort themselves into stations at the various worktables. There was the cabbage prep group, the squash prep group, the jar washing group, and the jar packing group.
It normally takes me a good piece of time to trim, wash and chop my cabbages. I gave the cabbage group their orders, expecting them to take a good long while since we were processing a lot of cabbages. I moved onto the squash group. I find squashes challenging to cut so I use a cleaver and a rubber mallet. I had brought them along to get them started and was about to demonstrate when a woman picked up an enormous knife and hacked open a big squash. I quietly tucked away my cleaver and mallet to the sound of many squashes being hacked open.

I moved onto the jar washing group. They had it under control. Rosemary had boiled rocks and lids and I had someone fish them out to cool and dry. By this time ten whole minutes had gone by and the cabbage group asked me what to do next. I turned around and saw this enormous mountain of cabbage in an equally enormous bowl. They had chopped it all and were already washing down their table! The squash group was still slicing squash, apples and onions, thank goodness. The jar washers had finished and had delivered all the jars to the jar packers who were standing and looking at me for direction…all those pairs of eyes…I moved into action and began demonstrating the jar packing technique, handfuls of cabbage into the jar, pressing it down with a wooden tool, layer after layer, then adding a few layers of whole cabbage leaves, plopping a sterilized rock on top and ladling in the brine, which I had made the day before and carried in with me. Dry the jar and the lid and then seal it.

The jar packers jumped into action layering and pressing, ladling and sealing. At this time the squash group was done and started bringing their enormous bowls of stuff to the jar packers. The jar packers pounced on the squash. Again, in a few minutes, it was all done and the sealed jars were in beautiful rows of lush color.

We cleaned up the rest quickly and efficiently. We put the giant pots, bowls, ladles and knives back in their places, swept up and put the aprons in a pile. Haley House kitchen was quiet again.
We said our goodbyes, packed up and parted company.

For me, the bonus of the day, besides working with this fantastically eager group was that I got to take home a giant bag of compost to feed next year’s harvest!

Big thanks to Willow, Rosemary, Didi, Bing and the 20 pairs of hands.

2008-11-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Kombucha Tea
Gluten Free Rice Sourdough Starter

Tasting the Food

2008-09-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

I was having lunch with a friend at a local restaurant known for fresh, local, organic ingredients cooked to order. They use a variety of ethnic dishes complete with ethnic sauces. They were willing to accommodate my complex special food needs: multiple food allergies. I told them exactly what vegetables, grain and fish I wanted, and how I wanted it cooked: stir fried in olive oil. I clearly said “no sauce, no croutons, no tamari, no garnish, no added anything”. They were happy to accommodate me. This is the way I cook for myself and I hoped that with their fine ingredients the food would be in accord with my diet and be full of flavor.

I don’t eat out much as it can be challenging to sort through the myriad of ingredients on a menu. I understand that for many restaurants it can be a challenge to make a special dish for people with special needs. It can slow the cook’s pace having to carefully check the ingredients, avoid the sauces, avoid the garnish and, in general, change their routine. The kitchen was visible and, as we waited for our meal, I saw a cook carefully reading from a slip of paper, reaching for ingredients and dropping them into a pan. All the other cooks were flying through their tasks.

My friend and I watched as people who had ordered after us received their meals before us. It took a long while for the meal to be ready but finally it arrived. The dish looked good, steam rising out of the mountain of colorful vegetables. I had chosen shrimp because I rarely cook it at home and it’s such a treat to have well cooked fresh, sweet shrimp. I took my first bite of shrimp. It was chewy with no sweetness to it at all. I was greatly disappointed. The rice tasted flat and was simultaneously overcooked and al dente’. (how do they do that?) Thankfully, the vegetables were excellent.

I decided to let it go and just eat. We were hungry, it was busy there and it didn’t seem worth the effort to send it back. I ate, truly enjoying my vegetables while wondering how rice and shrimp could be so badly prepared. Halfway through the meal the manager came over to check on my special order. I decided to be honest. “Well, the shrimp is tasteless and chewy and the rice is overcooked”. She responded by saying “Well, you didn’t want any sauce and we pride ourselves on our sauces to give our dishes flavor”. I looked at her and resisted launching into a diatribe about the natural palatability of fresh, well prepared, simple food. Instead I said “Never mind, it’s okay” and waved her away.

In my classes I offer tastings that are usually unseasoned, unsalted, and unsweetened partially because of students’ restricted diets but more importantly I want to offer the opportunity to resensitize their palates to the way simple food really tastes. A properly prepared brown rice is quietly rich with a substantial yet fluffy texture. Fresh shrimp sautéed in garlic and olive oil is both sweet, salty and invokes the ocean. Recently harvested vegetables served without extraneous condiments are bursting with sweetness and feel like power food. One is energized from them.

In my opinion a dish should be able stand up on its basic food ingredients alone. It should not have to depend on a sauce, marinade or a condiment for palatability. This isn’t to say I never use ingredients beyond the basic ingredients but that I really enjoy the inherent taste of each food. When I choose to use a sauce, marinade or condiment I use them sparingly so they will support and showcase the food rather than eclipse it.

One should easily be able to taste and enjoy food despite dietary restrictions. It may be a matter of resensitizing our palates in new directions. We need not be deprived of beautiful and exciting food nor should we be isolated or ostracized. As we learn to care for ourselves by cooking new foods we can share with others how they can cook for us.

Well prepared, lovingly cooked and graciously offered food is a blessing I encourage you to take part in.

Eating in Early Spring: Perennial Vegetables and Over Winter Beds

2008-04-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

April 29, 2008, in Eastern Massachusetts and I picked all the veggies for my lunch out of the garden! I picked an onion from the fall storage in the basement and then headed out to the garden. The perennial vegetables were ready to start harvesting. I cut some lush walking onion greens, some asparagus shoots, the two largest rhubarb stems (only about 6 inches long), and the first two Good King Henry shoots, also known as Goosefoot.

From the over winter bed I picked Miner's lettuce, flowering yet still tender. From the new spring bed I gathered young lettuce, beet greens and escarole previously planted indoors under lights 6 weeks ago.

I sauteed the first batch of veggies in olive oil adding leftover lentils and organic Black Japonica rice, a mix of red, black and brown rice. The dish had a multiplicity of tastes: sweet onion, sweet and sour rhubarb* and splashy walking onion greens. The Good King Henry was bland but comforting and the asparagus had its usual unique taste. There was a full bodied melange of flavors!

The salad greens, with a little olive oil, had that freshly harvested burst of flavor that I am so grateful for after winter.

Tomorrow I will start adding violet flowers to the salad!

* saute'ing rhubarb tames its tartness

Posted by Sharon A. Kane 4/29/08