What a gift, on this eve of Christmas. My partner woke me up this morning with words I’ve been waiting and wanting to hear for months: “Come meet your new baby cow!” We made the decision to get a dairy cow about a year ago. After looking at our food expenses, we realized that a …
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Waffling is a dance
There is nothing instant about our waffles, and no electric toasters are involved. The process begins twenty four hours before I warm up our cast iron waffle maker, made in Pennsylvania probably a century ago. Yesterday morning, I mixed some freshly ground, entirely whole wheat flour with some of my faithful sourdough starter who I …
Pickling eggs, and salad as a bonus
Pickled eggs might be my favorite fermented food. It’s exceedingly rare that I have “fast” food on hand, but a pickled egg all by itself is an amazing and immediate source of calories and nutrients. It’s a near tragedy my kitchen has been without their presence for so long. A few weeks ago, I decided …
Pre-digested and fully hydrated carbohydrates
Grains in general, wheat in particular, have acquired a rather tarnished reputation in recent years. They cause gastric distress for many folks. I’m not suggesting that celiac’s disease doesn’t exist (my sister lives with it), but I do suspect that part of the problem may come from our modern lack of knowledge about the proper …
Pickled peppers
If only I had a peck of these wonderful peppers! A peck is two English gallons, which are quite a bit larger than US gallons. We bought these beautiful peppers from a local farmer/neighbor and spent a few hours cutting them into strips and carefully placing them into brine filled jars. We ended up with …
Kraut and cream
A simple solution to a well-aged and possibly too-tangy jar of kraut? Add some cream. I believe this is the original cole slaw. It’s the only kind I’m interested in eating. Raw cabbage makes me bloat. Fermented cabbage does not. I use red cabbage for my kraut, this makes that eye popping pink color of …
Something smells….fishy
One of the standard ingredients in Asian cuisines is a paste or liquid made from salted sea foods. Oysters, shrimp, whole fish, or fish “remnants” can be salted and fermented in a number of ways. It has many names – “Nuac nam” in Thailand and Cambodia, “Garum” in the Greek and Roman era, “Bagoon” in …
Dilly turnips
Today I retrieved from the cellar a gallon of halved turnips, harvested and placed in brine in June. At the time, we were sick of turnips, having had a bumper crop of them. They’re a user-friendly, frost-tolerant, early spring/summer or fall/winter crop, fast growing (and therefore not bitter) as long as the soil is moist. …
Bread and Butter
Sour dough bread and apple butter are natural friends. In typical slow food style, I began the process of making both of them several days ago. Both are in the research and development stage. I’ve kind of accidentally made fermented apple sauce/butter before, but this is the first time that I’m attempting to do it …
Meat Marinades
I have lived without a conventional refrigerator for a little more than two years. I’ve learned a few things. What I do to help keep my food safe to eat was probably common knowledge little more than 100 years or so ago (the “fridge” as we know it came on the market in 1923). The …