An Eater's Bill of Rights

Eaters have a right to food.

Eaters have a right to safe food.

Eaters have a right to nutritious food.

Eaters have a right to food with country of origin labels.

Eaters have a right to know whether food has been genetically modified.

Eaters have a right to food produced without harming air, water or land.

Eaters have a right to food produced under socially just conditions.

Eaters around the world have a right to a secure food system.

Eaters have a right to good food at a fair price.

Eaters have a right to know the conditions of their food production 

(transport, working conditions, treatment of animals and scale)

 - taken from The National Catholic Rural Life Conference "Eaters' Bill of Rights".

A fair and just food system does not end when a person is fed.  It begins when all people have equal access to healthy and ethical choices for nourishing our selves and our families.  It requires that we pay attention, that we demand information and that we deeply value the true cost of what we consume.   It is no longer enough to simply ask "how can we feed a community?" it is essential that we ask "how do we as a community feed ourselves?".

Meet the Booch

Kombucha.  Sometimes it really hits the spot as I smack my lips after that first big gulp.   It is a tangy zingy zap of flavor that quenches my thirst.  I've started making it myself because its so durned cheap.  I flavor and ferment it to my liking and can chug it all week long.  I have high aspirations of a kombucha schedule to carry me through the summer so we never ever have to buy over-sugared, over-packaged and over-priced juice again.

The kombucha "mother" is a colony of yeast and bacteria, a living being with a complicated personality.  Sometimes my kombucha mother works hard and sometimes it is sluggish, I am slowly deciphering what it needs to be a happy and productive citizen.

First things first...I know people who grow their own mother from scratch but I have heard recent report of a friend whose kombucha supposedly drowned through this method?  I didn't get the details.  So the biggest step is to get a hold of someone who is already making their own kombucha.   Any person regularly making kombucha is going to have a mother  to give away every few weeks, so make sure you get both a mother and some of the kombucha tea.

When I'm not brewing I put the "mother" to sleep in the fridge.

These are my steps for brewing:

I put about four quarts of water in a big pot and leave it out overnight to off-gas.  (yikes!!)

The next day I brew my sweet tea using the water left overnight.  For the tea brew I have been alternating between The Republic of Teas  bulk pomegranate green tea or their mango black tea.  Both are delicious but there is a world of inspiring tea flavors out there to try.  I use fabric tea bags that I can wash and reuse over and over.  I fill my tea bag full and throw it into the pot of just boiled water with 3/4 cups of sugar.  I have yet to experiment with other sweeteners like honey and agave syrup but its worth a shot.  I let my tea steep overnight and pull my mother out of the fridge at this time so it can reach room temperature.  The mother needs to be at room temp. to be active and should not be added to hot tea.

The next day the mother and the sweet tea find themselves at room temperature and consequently it is time for worlds to collide.  I pour my tea into a glass gallon jar.   I add my mother and about 1/2 - 1 Cup of the kombucha that was carrying the mother.  Make sure your hands and the equipment are clean at this point and all throughout to avoid icky contamination problems.  I use a thin cloth with a rubber band to cover my gallon jar as this allows air flow and prevents critters.

I put the jar in a cool dark place and try not to disturb it while its doing its thang.  Originally I left my kombucha to brew for a week, but it wasn't enough fermenting time for my taste and came out pretty sweet.  Now I brew it for 11-14 days depending on when I can get to it.  This is going to be a matter of taste.  The longer it brews and breaks down sugar, the more vinegary it will get.

When I get around to bottling the booch, I remove my mother with clean hands and store it in a jar covered with more brew.  Back into the fridge it goes to rest or straight into another batch and another fermenting session.  The mother will grow another layer each time it brews a batch.  You can just peel off a layer and give it away, compost it, give it to the chickens..whatever.  I have noticed the mother works best when it is separated regularly and not allowed to build up too many layers.

I bottle the rest of my booch and let it rest at room temperature for at least three days.  (I really like these bottles I got from Ikea...3 bucks yo!!!)

This is where the fizzy fizz happens.  The longer I leave it out before refrigerating, the more carbonation happens.  When you just cant wait any longer throw it in the fridge then pop it open.

Next step...smack those lips.

hey there little dumpring.

I have a weak spot.  It's called asian dumplings.  That little pillow of perfect bounce wrapped around succulent filling kills me.  In a good way.  For some time now, my sweetie and I have been dedicating ourselves to the weekly practice of dumpling making.  And when I say dumpling making I am talking about hands-on, from scratch, "take it all the way baby" dumpling making.  We want to perfect the dough, the paper thin, translucent wrappers that cradle our various pork, shrimp, ginger and garlic fillings.  Most books suggest numerous fillings and dipping sauces and instruct the cook to purchase "wonton wrappers" from the asian grocery.  But Andrea Nguyen's book Asian Dumplings has been such a recipe resource for so many different types of wrappers.  It had always been about the filling for me, until I discovered the importance of the "vessel".

The basic dumpling dough recipe is easier than pie:
2 Cups of flour
3/4 Cups of just-boiled water (I bring my water to a boil, turn it off and use it within 30 seconds)

After making a well in the flour, I add the water in a steady stream and mix it in with a wooden spoon.  I knead the dough until it comes together in the bowl, and then transfer it to the counter to knead for about two minutes.   Kneading this dough is a pretty delightful feeling given the warmth and texture and it doesn't take much for the dough to transform into a smooth and cushy ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for at least a half hour.  "Earlobe soft" is the description that the author uses to describe the dough...it is very appropriate.  

Now comes the shaping, rolling, folding part (soon to be followed by the eating part).  I work with half the dough at a time and with plenty of flour on the counter, roll it into a long 1" thick rope.  Now divide the rope into 16 pieces, put them on end like a scallop and squish it down into a disc shape.  The whole time I am working with the dough, I am careful to cover it with a cloth to keep it from drying out.

I use a 1" dowel to roll out the dough into a 3 1/2" circle.  The small roller allows a quick back-and-forth motion with one hand, while my other hand is methodically turning the dough.  This creates a dough that is thicker in the middle and thin on the edges where it will be folded over on itself.  Again, keep all the dough you aren't working with covered to keep it moist and pliable.


About a tablespoon of filling in the center of the dough is followed by any number of folds.  The easiest is to just fold the dough into a half circle and pinch down the edges.  You can also pleat the edges or crimp them with a fork.  The dough is so fresh and easy to work with, it stretches and seals like a good dream.

My favorite fold is a super chubby one. 

I keep my left thumb on the filling and pull up the sides of the wrapper with my right hand.  I slowly feed the wrapper into my right hand, and pinch and pleat my way around the edge.

I just keep working my way around my thumb until there is no more room and then pinch it closed.

With a little twist n' squish its sealed.  

So freakin' cute...just look at em'!!

Now just boil them in water to add to a broth or gently  steam them for a delicate delight.  For a more dynamic texture, pan fry them till they sizzle for a couple of  minutes and brown on the bottom.  Then add 1/4" deep of water and throw a lid on to contain the sputter-fest.  Once things quiet down (literally), remove the lid, give them a minute to crisp up again and serve with your favorite dipping concoction.  Dee-lish!!!

Edible Alchemy: Whey to Sauerkraut

What to do with that jar of homemade whey that was left over from making the soft cream cheese?  How about using  it as an inoculant for making sauerkraut? Me thinks this is a mighty fine idea.

This way of making sauerkraut from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook feels really accessible to me and has lip-smacking-good results.  The scale and details surrounding making kraut in a large crock have always seemed a touch daunting.  This one-quart kraut recipe  was squeezed in during a rainy twenty minute afternoon interlude.

I used a medium sized organic cabbage and sliced it thinly.  As it turns out all the pounding I did later in the process really broke it up so don't worry too much about how you slice it.  I put in in a bowl with 
1 tablespoon of carraway seeds
1 tablespoon of sea salt
4 tablespoons of homemade whey
and used my handy dandy pounding implement to punch down the mixture for ten minutes to get all the juicy goodness out.  I used a 1-inch dowel that we had lying around from mulling mojitos.  

After ten minutes of pounding, the cabbage was really broken down and there was a lot of juice in the bowl.  I transfered it to a quart sized mason jar and seriously packed in the cabbage, pushing it down to make sure the cabbage was covered by liquid.  It is important to leave about an inch of space above the cabbage otherwise during fermentation pressure will build up and push out liquid...ooops, it happened to me! 

 I covered my jar tightly with a plastic lid and left it out in a warmish spot for three days. Then I sent it off to my stash in the basement, dark and cool for as long as I could stand it.  The longer it stays in storage the yummier (up to 6 months) but for our household it only made it one month before we just couldn't wait any longer.  It came out fantastic.  Super delicious and so cheap.  I still feel the whole whey fermentation thing is a little elusive in concept to me but  it worked and we can't get enough.  


p.s.  Recent discovery - sauerkraut added to a bowl of broth or soup....ziiiing!!

Edible Alchemy: Yogurt to Cheese

The cheese that I have been making from yogurt is more of a "gateway cheese".  I have this sneaky suspicion that this simple cheese will lead me down the slippery slope of rennet and who knows what after that.   When that time comes, I will venture forth with culinary boldness into the unknown, but in the meantime this is where it starts....

I use a couple layers of cheesecloth that can easily be washed and reused to separate my yogurt into whey and cheese.  My set-up is to lay the cheesecloth in a colander over a pot to passively drain my yogurt.  I've used my plain homemade yogurt but any organic yogurt will work. 

The whey is the liquid that drains out of the yogurt and is a valuable ingredient in lacto-fermentation.   I've used it to make super yummy sauerkraut - stay tuned for my next blog entry on that.  Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions has great info and recipes for using whey.  Its "whey" cool.  

I drain my yogurt in the colander for just a couple of hours at room temperature, resulting in a type of creme fraiche or sour cream that is delicious as a dollop in soup.  I have also left it longer and made a yogurt "hammock" by simply tying my cheesecloth to a pair of chopsticks and suspending my little pillow of yogurt in mid air.  This works great for a firm cream cheese. Make sure to save the whey, it should last in the fridge for a couple of months.  


Basically, how long to drain the milk solids is a matter of taste.  It depends on what I want to use it for - a dollop, dip, or spread.
  
I like to leave my sour cream unflavored and tangy but I've really fallen for a cream cheese mixed with the zest of one lemon and some coarse salt.  Its a "real punch" of flavor as my friend exclaimed. Definitely going to experiment with herbs, garlic, and olives.  I imagine once I have worked my way through the savory pantry I will move on to sweetly flavored cream cheeses.  Is it berry season yet?

Edible Alchemy: Milk to Yogurt

I have noticed recently that the food we have been savoring at home has evolved.  A summer spent canning and preserving, started a rhythm of preparing and appreciating food from its most basic raw materials.  I am learning the difference between food that takes time and food that takes planning.   Fermenting results in some of my most favorite things to eat, and I know now that for most of these foods it takes me 5 minutes of active work and sometimes 12 hours or a week of waiting.  That seems really manageable to me on a busy schedule and (as a person who likes to receive birthday presents early so I can enjoy the anticipation of NOT opening them) this fermenting business gets me really excited.

I have had the time to experiment and to learn from Tressa Yellig, the amazing creator of  Salt, Fire and Time.  Tressa follows a style of cooking promoted by the Weston A. Price foundation and made accessible by the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.  It focusses on nutrient dense foods, rich with healthy animal fats and made digestible through fermentation.  I have been inspired by her boldness and her integrity as a person and a chef.

And so when a quart of farm fresh organic milk recently made its way into my hands I decided to venture forth into a world of edible alchemy.   It is not in my personality to understand the physics or chemistry behind these simple creations, instead I accept it as magic.....delicious, accessible magic.

Milk = Yogurt
Yogurt = Cream Cheese and Whey
Whey = Sauerkraut

What a tidy little sequence of events, wouldn't you say?  I could go to the store and buy each of these items quite easily, but I get such pleasure from having the building blocks at my fingertips.  I know that I save money, avoid packaging, and have complete control over what goes into my food.  And like I said...its magic and its a hoot.

Here's the first round.  I got this yogurt  recipe from Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation book, an incredible and informative read.

Heat a quart of organic milk in a heavy bottomed pot until the temperature reaches 180 degrees, stirring gently the whole time.  If you don't have a thermometer look for the small bubbles starting to foam around the edges.  


Turn the heat off and allow to cool till you can put your finger in the milk without flinching. (110 degrees).  

At this point add only a tablespoon of organic yogurt that has live cultures.  This will be your starter culture but next time you make yogurt you can use a tablespoon from the previous batch.  Mix the starter in until its  dissolved in the milk.   Pour into a pre-heated quart jar and close tightly.

In the meantime you need to devise a way to tuck your  jar of yogurt-to-be into a warm and cozy spot for the night.  You could wrap the warm jar in towels and set the bundle in a toasty spot, but my favorite method is to fill a couple hot water bottles and snug them into a small insulated cooler.

Close the lid and surpress any desire you might have to peek and wiggle your jar of yogurt.  It likes to rest in its cozy nest for 8-12 hours.  

Our house runs cold this time of year and I often struggle with finding a consistently warm spot for my ferments and for my toes.  I have to say the hot water bottles given to me by my British nana are well cuddled around here.  In fact, for full disclosure, after I wrote that last sentence I got so inspired that I went and put the kettle on to fill up my hot water bottle for a bit of blogging warmth.

Soon enough, out comes yummy warm yogurt, sometimes with a thick layer of cream on top.  You know the rest.....

Falling

On my walk to the "friendliest store in town" I beheld glorious fall.

Dragging my feet along the way.....just to savor it.