Burdock root is a terrific garden vegetable full of vitamins and minerals amazing medicinal properties – it’s also delicious if you know how to cook it properly! It’s perfect when simply roasted in olive oil with salt and pepper – the flavor is nutty with a slight chew. Learn how to cook burdock root with…
Cook
Cooking and preserving traditional food from scratch is one of my passions, and it’s even better if it includes homegrown, foraged, or fermented ingredients. I prefer to use whole foods and many of my recipes use herbs, flowers, and other fresh from the garden ingredients. Sourdough is another passion, and I also have a thing for cooking in cast iron pans!
Learn how to make sourdough tortillas, roasted beets and their greens, and traditional nitrate free corned beef.
No Knead Sourdough Rye Bread
I love homemade bread, and I especially love rye bread. The problem is that I haven’t always been too successful in making bread the traditional way with kneading and rising. It always seems to turn into a hard lump of some sort, and I’ve never been motivated enough to learn how to do it the…
Winter Herb Kvass: Bubbly Fermented Herbal Drink
Winter is the perfect time to make this herb kvass! It’s a bubbly, fermented drink that is traditionally made with beets, but can be made with any vegetable that ferments well. This fermented probiotic beverage is a wonderful winter drink with tons of health benefits, and the perfect drink to make for the holiday season….
How to Make Fermented Cranberries
These fermented cranberries are the perfect way to get some gut healthy probiotics into your diet for the holidays! Lacto-fermented cranberries are delicious and so easy to make. Lacto-fermented Cranberries for the Holidays The holiday season is here and it makes me so happy! I really do love this time of year, and Thanksgiving is…
How to Make Hard Apple Cider Jelly
This is an exciting recipe for me to share because it is something that I accidentally stumbled upon two years ago due to a fermenting mishap. I love it when I have the ability to turn mistakes into something useful, and this turned out so good that I actually want to make it every year!…
Rose Hip Whiskey Smash: Foraged Fall Cocktail
I have something really exciting for all of you today! I recently received a copy of Emily Han’s new book Wild Drinks and Cocktails, and let me tell you, this book is seriously awesome! It is all about wildcrafting herbs and plants and then making delicious drinks with them. Some have alcohol and some are…
How to Brew Jun Kombucha
Hello my fermenting friends! While most of you have heard of kombucha, I bet only some of you have heard of Jun. Jun is similar to kombucha, but instead of using black tea and sugar it is brewed with green tea and honey. Sounds better, right? I have been brewing kombucha for years, but have…
How to Make Balsamic Vinaigrette
Maybe some of you know this, but I actually used to be a cook for a living. Nothing much, just the pantry cook at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge in Yosemite National Park. I worked in Yosemite for almost 10 years with many different positions, but this was by far my favorite. As the pantry cook, I…
How to Make Milk Kefir Cheese
I have an exciting post for you guys today! Have you ever wanted to make cheese but were too intimidated by the complicated process? I have totally been there, and while I fully intend on conquering it someday (you know I will!), in the meantime this has become my saving grace in the homemade cheese…
Fermented Green Tomatoes: preserving the harvest
Green tomatoes are an inevitable part of homegrown tomato plants, as there always seem to be some that haven’t quite ripened before it gets too cold. While you can pick them green and bring them inside to ripen, sometimes there are so many green ones it makes sense to utilize them as they are. Of…