and i quote: wild fermentation

if you're at all interested in learning how to ferment foods the book i mentioned earlier wild fermentation by sandor ellix katz is a great place to start. number one because it's probably the best comprehensive guide to fermenting everything from kraut to yogurt to wine. number two because sandor, or "sandorkraut" as he likes to be known, is a fiery force of social change and fermentation ideas. i love him! his website is wild fermentation. here's a quote from his book that gets me all fired up:

"social change is another form of fermentation. ideas ferment, as they spread and mutate and inspire movements for change. the oxford english dictionary offers as the second definition of ferment: 'the state of being excited by emotion or passion, agitation, excitement...a state of agitation tending to bring about a purer, more wholesome, or more stable condition of things.' the word 'ferment' derives from the latin fervere, 'to boil.' 'fervor' and 'fervent' are other words from the same root. fermenting liquids bubble just like boiling liquids. excited people can channel the same intensity, and use it to create change.
[...]
your life and my life and everyone's lives and deaths are part of the endless biological cycle of life and death and fermentation. wild fermentation is going on everywhere, always. embrace it. work with the material resources and life processes that are close at hand. as microorganisms work their transformative magic and you witness the miracles of fermentation, envision yourself as an agent for change, creating agitation, releasing bubbles of transformation into the social order. use your fermented goodies to nourish your family and friends and allies. the life-affirming power of these basic foods contrasts sharply with the lifeless, industrially processed foods that fill supermarket shelves. draw inspiration from the action of bacteria and yeast, and make your life a transformative process. "

yay for weirdos like sandor! and i mean weirdo in the best possible way.

how to make cultured sauerkraut

so here it is. a step-by-step guide to making sauerkraut with salt brine (not vinegar), so the tasty result is a crunchy, yummy sauerkraut teeming with live cultures. i'm using sandor ellix katz's recipe here from his popular book wild fermentation. next week i'll make another batch with my fancy german crock. see below for pics of the process.

what i'm using:
1 gallon ceramic crock, a plate that fits inside, 1 gallon jug filled with water, pillowcase or towel

cabbage, salt, caraway seeds

1. cut or shred cabbage into small pieces. this can vary. i like my kraut chunkier, but some people prefer smaller pieces. the amount of cabbage you cut up depends on how much you are going to try and make, usually you'll need around 10 -15 lbs of cabbage.
2. in small batches, coat the cabbage with salt, preferably using good sea salt. as a general rule, use about 2 teaspoons for 2 1/4 lbs cabbage.
3. place a layer of cabbage in your ceramic crock. in this batch of kraut i'm using a crock i got at ace hardware for $30.
4. (now for the hard part) press down on the cabbage with your fists or a mallet until the the salty juice starts to extract from the cabbage. this takes a lot longer than you think and demands a lot of weight and persistence. the first time i made kraut my friend dan who's 6'4" tall did most of the work and still it took a long time. you want to do this until the liquid starts to seep through your knuckles.
5. add other ingredients like carrots or caraway seeds to the briny layer, then add another layer of salted cabbage and repeat the above process. do this until you are done filling the crock.
6. place a plate and a heavy weight on top of the cabbage (make sure they're nice and clean) and press down to see how much liquid comes up. if there's less than 3-4cms of liquid above the plate you need to add extra brine. to do this, boil 3 teaspoons of salt in 4 cups of water. allow water to cool before adding to the cabbage. it's a good idea to make this ahead of time.
7. cover everything with a clean pillow or towel. allow to sit in your kitchen somewhere in a cool, low-light area. after a couple of days, store in a basement if you have it.
8. allow to ferment for 4-6 weeks. check the kraut every day or two and remove mold if it's there. wash off the plate and weight and replace.

pics of the sauerkraut-making process

sauerkraut love

i'm starting a sauerkraut series this week. stay tuned for a step-by-step show and tell on the making of cultured kraut, recipes and more info on the wonder food, and my first probiotic love.

post-holiday post: back to basics

there was lots eating and drinking and talking over the holidays. and gifts, too. this book, nourishing traditions by sally fallon, was one of them. i've been waiting to buy a used copy of it forever, but for some reason, even though it's essential reading for those of us looking to change the way we eat, i've never purchased it. maybe i knew it would come my way eventually. objects that hold a lot of meaning tend to find their own way into your life. i had that feeling about this one; that i'd own it when the time was right. on the day i was leaving my parents house to go back home after the holidays, my mom handed it to me. her friend carolyn (coincidence?) had given it to her to give to me.

so about the book. the subhead reads: the cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats. it's a big book. it's 675 pages long and it's filled to end with useful information, most of which i haven't read, but has been relayed to me via my sage-like acupuncturist from sf, robin germaine. here is the most useful "politically incorrect" point of the book:

fat (including animal fat) is good for you.

but if you up your fat intake, it's essential to couple this with probiotics, because the digestive enzymes probiotics posess can synthesize the fat your body has a hard time breaking down, and in turn stores (which can create health issues). probiotics are found in cultured foods: yogurt, kombucha, rejuvelac, fermented foods (sauerkraut, etc.).

the prettiest notion of nourishing traditions, however, is that we all come from cultures that ate whole and fermented foods. our digestive systems are designed to eat these foods, rather than highly processed, high-carb ones.

there's certainly a food revolution out there. and although it's filled with so much good information, it's still pretty fancy and foodie. i love the idea that we already know how to eat. it's in our genes. we just have to listen to what our bodies are saying, and well, read books like this one, that help point the way back.

pics of the sprouting process

sprouting wheat berries: success!

the aforementioned second batch of rejuvelac was a no-go, but the third one worked. here's what i did:

day one: 9pm put 1 1/2 cups of wheat berries in a 2 quart canning jar with a sprouting lid (metal mesh) and let them soak overnight in water. water i boiled and let cool, first.

day two: 11am after allowing the wheat berries to soak for about 14 hours, i drained the water through the mesh top and then placed the jar upside down in a glass measuring cup, so that any excess water could drain out. every 6-8 hours i poured water over the wheat berries and then drained them again. you do this to keep the berries moist while they sprout. this time i sprouted the wheat berries for almost exactly 48 hours, until they grew little tails about 1/4" long.

day four: 1pm again i poured water that i'd previously boiled and let cool on the berries, but this time almost to the top of the jar. i then let the berries sit for a little over 48 hours.

day six: 5 pm i strained the berries through a sieve into another 2 quart jar for the final product: rejuvelac.

it came out tasting like rejuvelac: tart, a little lemony and a little fermenty, but it wasn't very strong and didn't have a bite the way i like it. so i'll continue to experiment with sprouting time, and next time add more berries.

cookbooks and stories

there was a good show on npr's talk of the nation the other day called our insatiable appetite for cookbooks. the hosts were interested in why we continue to fork out dollars for cookbooks when so many recipes can be found online. cookbooks aren't cheap after all. the consensus among most of the people who called in was that they loved to read cookbooks because of the stories behind the recipes. stories of farmer's, far away places or friends and family involved in the making of the recipe.

i've never really thought about it, but now that i am, it's true. when i cook from the moosewood cookbook, i think about the moosewood veggie restaurant of the 70s. or whenever i make the barefoot contessa's indonesian ginger chicken, i always think of lauren bacall, because in her introductory paragraph the contessa writes about lauren bacall getting cranky whenever her store is out of the dish.

there's a really pretty story about rice pudding on the show. about the author monica bhide and her childhood best friend and their love of rice pudding. now i'll always think of that story when i eat rice pudding.

sprouting wheat berries: take two

i am waiting for these wheat berries to ferment. this is actually my second go at the process of making rejuvelac, a fermented wheat berry drink that i drink almost daily. it's got a crazy high probiotic level: 45 billion organisms per serving. kombucha has something like 2 billion. basically it means i can digest almost anything after i drink it.

this is my second go because the first batch actually hurt my stomach. i don't think i sprouted the berries for long enough. this time i think i sprouted them for too long. they are a little too "woody," a term i've learned from internet research (which can be hilarious. i've stumbled upon one or two eccentric raw food folks explaining their recipes.) you want the wheat berries to sprout little tails. mine actually look a little too much like sprouts.

this is really an experimenting process. you can follow someone else's instructions meticulously, but a lot of it comes down to your own living environment; a combination of temperature and light. it's science-y. i like it for that reason. science is sexy, but i was never very good at it. this is as close as i'll get.

if it's not delicious, i'll start over again and hopefully get it right. i'll post the process next time.

birth of this blog

i was born the day after thanksgiving. my mom likes to joke that all the food she ate pushed me out. i needed to go. i had had a lot to eat.

eating and transforming food have continued to be themes in my life, including a digestive disorder diagnosis called ulcerative colitis 5 years ago and my subsequent search for new ways to eat. a search that turned into an obsession with fermented and sprouted foods.

and then there’s the holiday itself: thanksgiving. i love thanksgiving; a day completely dedicated to food and storytelling, at least in my family, because there was always plenty of drinking, too, and that meant storytelling.

but then there’s the story behind thanksgiving: the pilgrims giving thanks to the native indians for helping them live on this land. and the respect for this land the native indians had—the respect we’re all searching for to help us transform how we live here now.

these are the ideas behind late november.