Year: 2020

Chocolate-Coated Garlic!
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From the moment I saw this, I knew I had to give it a go. I did 3 raw cloves and 3 fermented cloves. All covered with Lindt 99% chocolate.
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Garlic is an astounding medicine…but all its power is lost in cooking. European cultures have included it raw in dishes for eons.
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Click on my profile for an article detailing how to make this and giving you 3 other ways to eat raw garlic that are joyful, not medical.
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And for the record, I could only manage half a raw chocolate-coated clove, but I loved the fermented clove ones and so did my hubby and son!

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I love making curd cheese. It’s delicious, yes, that’s important, but, just as importantly, it’s a lazy cheese!
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All I do is leave the #rawmilk we get from @aziendaagricolapodereruggeri out. When I notice that it has separated, I pour the liquid through a muslin-lined funnel into a jar.
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What drips through is whey (check out my #wheysoda story to see what I do with it), what’s left is the cheese. I tie up the muslin and leave for another day, then I mix in herbs, garlic and black pepper.
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Then I eat it!

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Millet and sorghum are both grown in Italy, so were my default for creating a #lectinfree sourdough. This is the best combo so far: 50/50. The bread is made soft and sweet by the sorghum, but given structure and tang by the millet.
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250g millet flour
250g sorghum flour
10g psyllium husk
120g millet sourdough starter
9g salt
500g water
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I mix the flours and salt together. When the starter is peaking, I gel the psyllium in the water for 25 mins, then add in the starter. I mix all this into the dry ingredients and then leave overnight in the fridge. In the morning, I take it out, leave till room temp, the pan it up and proof for an hour and a half. 200C for 20 mins, then 175C for 35 mins and it’s done.
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This is only my third attempt at a #lectinfreebread, but 2 years of making soudough has helped. Still, my next attempt will be 75/25 in favour of sorghum…we’ll see how that turns out.

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We made home-cured bacon! It is good. The first taste was, as captured here, with bread, a bacon sarnie. Next, I’m turning my attention to making a Tuscan flat bread with bacon bits hiding inside.
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Gratitude to @lavalledelsasso for the pork belly, @farmandhearth for reminding me it’s something you can do at home and @rivercottagehq for the instructions.
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If you need me, I’ll be somwhere licking my lips…

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It’s not Sicilian lemonade. It’s got more fizz (check out my story to see just how much!) and it’s got less sugar. But it *is* really lemony.
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This is homemade whey soda, in a vintage bottle I picked up for pennies just before we moved to Italy. It’s pretty apt home for these lemon bubbles.
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I created this soda by fermenting goat’s whey (left over from cheese made using milk from @aziendaagricolapodereruggeri) with sugar and flavourings – in this case a lot of freshly squeezed lemon.
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I found out recently that whey is a good source of #glutathione, which has tonnes of healing properties. My hubby has been taking some to help him recover from a nasty burn. Now I get to give him it straight from the goat, via some magical fermentation, in a tasty, tangy form. And I thought I was making it for a bit of fun. Result.

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I’m still on my 100% chocolate quest. These are the latest: non-toasted cacao beans that I ground myself, cacao butter and a sprinkle of home-ground, home-roasted coffee beans. The gentle crunch adds a touch of magic.
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I am really proud to be raising a son who gets as excited about chocolate that has no sugar as he does the sweeter types.

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I made one of these for a friend, explaining how to make water kefir. She loved it so much, I thought I’d do another for Bread Kvass.
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Bread Kvass is fun, fizzy and full of probiotic goodness. I’ve written up the process and you can find a link in my profile – I’ve got vids in there too that’ll make it super-clear.
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As well as exploring in the kitchen, I love playing with colour. If you fancy a nose, you can see some of my colour play at @alisonfaithkay
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@brenna_quinlan inspires me. She makes such fun art with such big messages. I promised her I’d tag her when I posted this. Take a look at her feed, it’s wonderful.
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Back to the Bread Kvass, it’s this month’s #ancestralcookup, I’d love it if you fancied fermenting it up with me.

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I’m grinding oats today to make more Sowans.
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Sowans (pronounced soo-ans) is a traditional Scottish fermented drink made from the bran/husk of newly ground whole oat groats. I’ll put what you can see here through a sieve – leaving bran and tiny bits of white oat in the bowl and rolled oats still in the sieve.
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I’ll then take what’s in the bowl, cover it with water and ferment it for a week. And the rolled oats left in the sieve, we can use to make porridge.
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Check out my story today for grinding in motion (the #marcato grinder is so quiet and meditative) plus more Sowans pics and words.

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My bay leaf love is finding it’s way into more corners of my food creation. I’m fermenting garlic today and have decided to add bay. It’ll be on my shelf doing its thing for at least 6 weeks before we start eating it.
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Both bay and garlic have compounds that break down proteins. So when this is ready, we’ll get a double boost of digestive power as well as wonderful flavour.
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If you’ve never fermented garlic, it’s easy and very much worth it health-wise – I believe it to be the single most powerful foodstuff there is. Sterilise a glass jar, chop the garlic, add a salt solution (5g of salt to a cup of water) till well covered, top with something to keep the garlic under the water (a glass weight and/or cabbage leaf), put a lid on and leave for 6 weeks.

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