Homemade Fermented Food and Drink

Ever since I bought a copy of Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation shortly after moving to Portland I've been a food fermentation freak.

I love everything about home food fermentation. I love the DIY aspect of crafting foods that I love such as sauerkraut, wine, and miso. I love the time and patience involved in creating these foods and drinks -- most ferments I make take anywhere from a few days to a year. I love the full flavor of food ferments -- from pungent and sour to salty and spicy to sweet and effervescent. I love that fermented foods and drinks are inherently good for me because of the live micro-nutrients they contain. I love that I'm carrying on food traditions born well before refrigeration, artificial preservatives, and pasteurization. The list goes on and on.

In January 2009, I got to travel to Nashville to meet one of my heroes -- Sandor Ellix Katz -- and interview him for The Sun Magazine. In October of 2009, we got him to come out for the inaugural Portland Fermentation Festival that David Barber, George Winborn and I organized and continue to organize every year. The date is still TBD for this year's and I'll let you know soon when/where it will be.

For now, I've got a bunch of home food and drink ferments that I've been checking on, bottling and eating up lately to share with you here. This weekend I started a sour cherry wine with fruit collected from a neighbor's tree. I'll post about that soon.

I've got two batches of miso going right now that I started in November -- soybean miso and red bean miso. Here's what they're looking like now after several months of fermenting...

I scraped the salt off the top of this red bean miso and it's looking pretty and already tasting DELICIOUS. Going to be patient though and let it ferment until fall. At least.

The soybean miso is looking and tasting great too. Did the same and scraped off the salt and mold, repacked with a nice layer of sea salt, covered and put back in the utility room till fall.

Yes, you have to be very generous with the salt so you don't get too much mold.

This year's three gallons of Brooks plum wine has finished fermenting and is now bottled. It's so good. It's tart and off-dry and tastes like a perfect plum. The alcoholic kind.

These petals and more went into this year's gallon of dandelion wine. We bottled last year's and it's delicious as always, a little more flowery this year too which is nice.

If you've never done any home food/drink fermentation I recommend starting with saurkraut or kimchi. They're both quick and easy ferments that pack a lot of flavor. I can't recommend Sandor Ellix Katz's book Wild Fermentation enough. I use it all the time. Happy fermenting! Let me know what you make.

Friend Food Pt. 2

So many good things have come our way food-wise from friends in the last few weeks. We're so lucky. Here are some of the yummy things we've been gifted lately...

Our next door neighbors recently went to Portugal for a couple weeks and brought us back this lovely olive oil.

Our friend Ariel Kempf gave us a jar of her Creaux Creole Mustard. Hot and spicy good. Learn more about it at www.creaux-mustard.com.

Our friend Dave gave us two jars of super yummy almond butter.

We got a couple Woodblock Chocolate bars from the makers themselves. Delicious!

Eat anything tasty lately?

Check out Friend Food Pt. 1

Preserving with Friends DVD

I'm so happy that I got an advance copy of Harriet Fasenfest's DVD Preserving with Friends (190 minutes, watch the trailer here) but I do have one gripe -- I wish it had been available when I started my journey into the wide world of food and drink preservation. My hand holders were books -- Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation and Linda Ziedrich's The Joy of Pickling. So I'm very pleased to now own Preserving with Friends, which features both Ziedrich AND Katz, along with host Harriet Fasenfest (author of A Householder's Guide to the Universe) and another guest who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting -- Marge Braker.

The DVD takes you through demos of everything from homemade jam/jelly/preserve making, home pickling (with Linda Ziedrich), home fermenting sauerkrauts and kimchi (with Sandor Ellix Katz) and home food dehydration and more (with Marge Braker). It's really nice to be able to watch, listen and learn the techniques from seasoned home food preservers.

I do a lot of home food and drink preservation -- everything from homemade fruit wines, hard cider, and miso, to sauerkraut, beef jerky and kimchi -- and I can tell you from experience that this video is invaluable if you're just setting off into this territory. It'll save you a lot of grief and give you loads of great ideas.

Purchase Preserving with Friends directly online as well as in Portland at Mirador Community Store. Check out clips from the video here as well as over at the Facebook page.

Preserving with Friends DVD $24.95 Purchase directly

OSU Extension Service Spring Events & Classes

In 2008 I took the organic version of the Master Gardener program here in Portland -- the Organic Gardening Certification Program -- and got so much out of it. Ever since then I've been on the OSU Extension Service mailing list and so from time to time get the scoop on cool classes and events. The latest newsy email has all sorts of local edible gardening and farming things in it that I'm sharing with you here. Today is the first official day of spring after all!

Straight from the source...

OSU Extension Service, in partnership with Multnomah County, is proud to announce open registration for a new educational program in 2011: The Beginning Urban Farming Apprenticeship (BUFA) program provides in-depth and comprehensive training in urban farming and sustainable farming methods. Through formal classes, hands-on training, field-trips, online learning, and supervised apprenticeships, BUFA prepares students to produce and market fresh vegetables, fruits, grains, cut flowers, and other value-added products using organic methods. Participants will also learn the knowledge and skills needed to design, install, and manage farm and landscape infrastructure in urban and peri-urban settings. BUFA program begins on April 6, 2011. For program dates, more information, and to sign up, see: www.multco.us/sustainability/bufa.

Online, for-credit HORTICULTURE 260 Organic Farming and Gardening through OSU Ecampus will be conducted summer 2011. Visit the OSU website for more info.

FREE Metro natural gardening workshops in partnership with OSU Extension Service. Natural gardening workshops on a wide-range of natural gardening topics throughout the gardening season. See www.oregonmetro.gov/garden for a schedule of workshops.

OSU Extension Service Master Gardener training: January – March 2012 in three locations in the Portland metro region for a comprehensive, introduction to horticulture class and volunteer program. www.metromastergardeners.org Registration opens October 2011.

Clackamas Community College Horticulture Department and Portland Community College Landscape Technology both offer AA degrees and a wide range of practical classes in horticultural science and more.

Urban Growth Bounty 2011 class series produced by City of Portland on a wide range of gardening topics.

OSU Extension Service will not be offering the Organic Gardening Certificate Program (OGCP) in 2011 to make best use of limited staff resources.

Yard Fresh Pt. 10

I love these Yard Fresh installments because no matter what the season is we're always cooking/eating well in Portland. It's a testament to this city, our garden, our kitchen and all of the productive and delicious surrounding farm land.

Speaking of delicious homemade food -- I'm really looking forward to a package that's due to arrive by mail any day now that contains Harriet Fasenfest and Zach Powers' DVD Preserving with Friends. I'll be sure to post more about it here in upcoming weeks since I've been looking forward to checking it out for months. Looks like it's due to arrive in stores in the next couple weeks. Yahoo!

What's something delicious that you've cooked lately? I'd love to hear about it here...

I made this pizza with spicy Italian sausage, ribboned kale, castelvetrano olives and lots of minced garlic and serrano.

And my boyfriend made this one with pepperoni, olives, garlic and serrano.

A simple dinner of sauteed kale with a little pickle juice and cheesy rice.

Roasted beet, anchovy, almond salad with miso Meyer lemon dressing.

Chicken curry with beets and beet greens over basmati.

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Happy Anniversary Blog: Two years and counting

It's been two years since I started this blog as a sort of companion piece to my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland. Since the beginning I've aimed to keep my posts short and sweet and informative for Portland food folks and visitors. I hope it's been helpful. This time last year I celebrated one year of blogging with a sort of year-in-review. It was a nice way to take stock so I'm doing it again for the two-year marker. Thanks for stopping by now and again. Thanks for chiming in now and again. Thanks to each and every one of you out there who celebrate our local food scene in Portland and beyond. Here are some blog highlights from the past year...

I started off February 2010 with our semi-annual Cincinnati chili feed. Can't beat Gartner's dogs, spicy Cincy chili and finely grated Tillamook cheddar...

Sometimes 3-ways are sloppy. Cincinnati chili 3-ways that is...

Portland International Film Festival followed shortly after. PIFF is my favorite local film fest and we always do PIFF + Pizza. Was going to giveaway some tickets here for this year's now in its final week but unfortunately got too busy. Go to PIFF while you still can!

Cheese followed by egg...

I won an Excalibur Food Dehydrator and made my first batch of spicy beef jerky late March. It was amazing and I've made it many times since...

Thin sliced tri-tip ready to marinate and dry...

In May I had my first interview in The Sun Magazine with one of my favorite people -- Sandor Ellix Katz...

I never thought this day would come...

Several weeks later I had a kick-ass book launch party for Food Lover's Guide to Portland the day it came out -- July 1st, 2010...

The best celebration I could have hoped for. So much fun.

At the end of summer my boyfriend and I went on a magical 10-day sailing trip around the San Juan Islands and I blogged about our DIY galley cooking in three installments...

We have a stainless grill too but most of what we cooked on the boat happened here.

In the fall we put together a filled-to-the-gills second annual Portland Fermentation Festival at Ecotrust...

Biwa's rocking kimchi with big chunks of daikon and lots of fire.

Late December I got to press hard cider with our friend Nat and he gave me a carboy of the stuff to take home and ferment myself...

Nat sorting through one of the last Newtown Pippin apple bins.

And just in time for the new year I made miso for the first time. In a month or so I'll be checking on it...

After mashing the soybeans you mix that with the koji...

THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!

Eat, drink and be hairy!

Oregon Tilth's Urban Growth Bounty Classes

Spring will be here before you know it and Oregon Tilth has a great line up of spring Urban Growth Bounty classes in partnership with the City of Portland that center around organic food gardening techniques from February through April.

Registration just opened up so visit the Tilth website to enroll. Individual classes are $35, three for $90 or four for $120. Here's some info. about the February classes below from the press release. Also, keep in mind that registration is about to open for Oregon Tilth's March Comprehensive Organic Gardener Program. Dig in!

Visit the Oregon Tilth website for more information.

Plan your Garden Tilth Toolshed Series: Class 1 Wednesday February 2, 2011 6-8pm

Spring is right around the corner and what will you grow, how much should you plant and what varieties will perform best? Learn practical planning techniques for selecting seeds, optimizing space, increasing harvests, and rotating crops. Maximize your bounty by applying new spacesaving strategies in your home garden. Participants receive free seeds and a “Tilth Garden Planning Packet” full of useful planning tools and worksheets that can be used at home! Faubion School, 3039 NE Rosa Parks Way

Garden Fresh Greens Year Round Tilth Cornucopia Series: Class 1 Wednesday, February 9, 2011 6-8pm

With a little planning and added frost protection, it’s easy to grow a variety of fresh greens all year round. Join us for this fun class and learn how to grow your own salad and stir fry mixes, and discover new varieties of tasty hardy greens. Crop timing, season extension, organic pest and disease management and soil fertility will be covered. Attend this class and take home a salad mix to get greens growing in your own garden! Faubion School, 3039 NE Rosa Parks Way

Plan Your Garden Wednesday, February 16, 2011 6-8pm

Spring is right around the corner and what will you grow? How much will you plant and what varieties will perform best? Attend this class to learn practical planning techniques for selecting seeds, optimizing space, increasing harvests and rotating crops. Maximize your bounty by applying new space‐saving strategies at home. Participants receive free seeds and a “Tilth Garden Planning Packet” full of useful planning tools and worksheets for home! Luscher Farm in Lake Oswego, OR

Growing Tomatoes and other Summer Fruits from Seed Tilth Cornucopia Series: Class 2 Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6-8pm

Do you enjoy eating homegrown tomatoes, peppers and eggplant? Attend this class to learn practical techniques for indoor seed propagation so you can grow all your favorite summer fruits from seed to harvest. Pruning and vertical gardening for vining crops will be covered. You’ll also discover methods for extending your growing season to encourage an earlier and more productive harvest for your heat‐loving crops. Participants will take home newly sown tomatoes and peppers! Faubion School, 3039 NE Rosa Parks Way

Oregon Tilth www.tilth.org

Yard Fresh Pt. 8

There's been a lot to report here on the blog lately so posts like this tend to get put on the back-burner. Even though I made most of these foods weeks-to-months ago I still hope you find something here to inspire you or at the very least just make you hungry. I promise that the next Yard Fresh installment won't be so delayed and will actually reflect the season. Happy eating!

One more thing, if you want to purchase signed copies of my book you can get them straight from the source with shipping included here.

Roasted chicken with sauteed chanterelles, annaheims and zuke and rice.

Lamb kibbe stuffed zukes topped with a thickened warm yogurt sauce.

And breakfast with leftover kibbe and corn tortillas. Kibbe migas sounds like a funny combo but it was delicious.

Lemon cuke, grape tomato and French feta salad with oregano, mint and vinaigrette.

Since we didn't get many, we cherished the tomatoes we got this year -- simple and unadorned.

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Friend Food

It seems like every week or so we give and receive delicious homemade and often homegrown food. You know, the old take over a pot of soup one week and the next week get your pot back and it's filled with something else delicious. What can I say, we have great friends and lucky for us they are all good eaters and many are fantastic cooks.

Especially our neighbor Alison. Every time I take Alison something I've made to eat (she's vegan so it's not as frequent as I'd like) she brings us back something incredible. She's a really good baker and her sweets -- especially her pies -- are hard not to make a meal out of. They're that good.

The last few weeks we've been gifted some really tasty food and drink. Here's some of what I'm talking about...

Nick Zukin's guajillo salsa. He handed this to me at a food event late this summer. Awesome. I got to try all sorts of his homemade salsas and Mexican dishes at a dinner party at his home a few weeks ago. There's a very important reason for that. Mum's the word now but you'll find out more soon...

Culinate's Kim Carlson dropped off a bag of these tasty local sweet dream peaches and summer flare nectarines in September...

Pine State Biscuit's Kevin Atchley gave me a jar of his oh-so-very-good homemade pickled okra.

Our friend and neighbor Alison brought us back all these tasty treats from her cross-country trip this summer.

Our friend Karen gave us a tray of seed saver celery starts this summer and we've been enjoying a lot of great soups and stews the last several weeks as a result.

Our friend Craig gave us a bunch of different hot and not-too-hot chiles from his garden and we've been making lots of sautees and salsas with them.

Alison gave us these delicious apple tarts this Monday. We had them Tuesday morning with coffee. So good.

Go make some yummy things and give them to your friends. They deserve it.

Salsa Days Are Here Again

This summer has been unique for many reasons -- one being it's September and this weekend I made salsa for the first time this season. I'm usually cooking up all sorts of fresh and spicy salsas and hot sauces from the garden all summer long. I can't exactly make salsa out of zucchini though (the only thing that's truly rocking the garden at the moment) so I had to break down last weekend and buy supplies. Luckily, I had great selection at the Beaverton Farmers Market -- namely Sosa Farms.

I bought from other vendors too because I needed everything for big batches of red and green salsa. I made both back to back and we've been happily eating it all ever since.

I almost always make my salsa the same way. I throw my veg. in a thick pan, set the oven to broil, and put the pan directly under the broiler until everything is nicely blackened. Then I put all of that, including the juices, into the food processor with salt, lime, lots of cilantro and fresh chiles and that's that. This time I added a lot more of the blackened skins and I'll do that again -- added to the smoky flavor.

Next up, need to get my hands on some habaneros and moritas ...

I left some of the charred skin of the onions on for flavor.

Maybe this is why green and red are two of my favorite colors.