This page is a work in progress, as this is a large subject and I feel that some info is better than no info… Succinctly, pickling is a process of adding shelf life to food, usually fruits or vegetables. When folks talk about pickling they are usually speaking of one of three distinct processes. Natural…
Seared Shishito peppers with corn grits topped with fresh tomato and red onion. Whether whipping up a quick table sauce from grilled serrano chiles or fire roasting whole green chiles to peel and use for chile rellenos the midsummer pepper crop is a season highlight for us. Most peppers are great candidates for pickling or…
This time of year the simpler the better. Fresh living foods need very little to shine. Besides the occasional blistering of cherry tomatoes on a grill pan for inclusion in a pasta dish or with some crusty bread or a classic pesto we tend to keep things simple. During the height of summer especially we…
This is a broad topic. I make no attempt to cover all aspects of the preservation of seasonal produce, but I will offer some thoughts and link to resources that I’ve found valuable. Food safety, the primary goal of any type of presurving is to transform perishable food stuff into a more stable form that…
One of my favorite ingredients. I say this about a lot of things, but it’s true. Whenever you encounter an ingredient that is truly at its best it is a joy to work with and that shows in the final result. Young freshly harvested leeks are to be celebrated and the grilling season is the…
One of the mysterious inclusions in many CSA boxes. What does this “scape” plant look like and what other flavors is it available in? Scape – /skāp/ noun1. BOTANYa long, leafless flower stalk coming directly from a root. Scapes are the flower stalk produced by many members of the allium family. The allium family includes onions, garlic,…
If you’ve bought our beets, you’ve probably heard me ask “And you eat the tops, right?” So many people toss the best parts of so many crops. Partly because we’re just not used to seeing some of these items in the grocery store, but that’s often due to how poorly some of these items ship.…
Storage of produce. For the home cook the question usually becomes the question “Should I refrigerate or not?”, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Most refrigerators are designed around keeping PHF (potentially hazardous foods) safe. That translates to hot foods held at 135 degrees (variations based on local regulation) and cold foods below…
Almost every sourdough method I’m aware of from the ones I caught casual glimpses and mutterings of from relatives’s kitchens as a child to some of the more scholarly writing on the subject that dogmatically mandate a ritual sacrifice of starter for various stated reasons.
We eat a lot of sourdough, the only bread we eat was naturally leavened by Pharmakulur, Lillian St. Bread, Forest Creek Farm, or in our kitchen. I believe in fermented foods. The fermentation process seems to make wheat more digestible for many people and it taste fantastic. One of my favorite basic bread recipes is…