Month: January 2023

Do you want to know how to transition your kitchen to ancestral methods? Maybe you’ve tried before? Perhaps you have the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, but feel so overwhelmed that you don’t know where to go next?
.
In today’s episode of @ancestralkitchenpodcast (#50), we will make it easy for you! Listen in for a road map of twenty steps that will take you from a standard diet to a beautiful nourishing ancestral one; we’ll detail them all, tell you how we both started and give you many resources to help your journey!
.
You can download the free printable ’20 Steps To An Ancestral Kitchen’ from www.ancestralkitchen.com/20steps. The link is in my profile.
.
This is our 50th episode!! Thank you to everyone for listening, sharing and sending us such wonderful and interesting messages. We hope your enjoy our half century 🙂

… Read More

Have you ever tried an olive straight from the tree?
.
They’re incredibly bitter, verging on inedible!
.
These olives have been on my counter in a large bowl of water for nearly 2 months (and if you’ve seen the size of my kitchen you’ll know how difficult that’s been!). I’ve been changing the water every day. This leeches the bitterness from them.
.
Now I’m putting them into a herbed brine and will leave them for at least 6 weeks before tasting.
.
This is an age-old Italian tradition called olive in salamoia. The ‘sal’ referring to salt and the ‘muria’ being the latin for brine.
.
Is the first time I’ve ever done it. And as with so many of my kitchen processes, I need patience – because I want to eat these now!

… Read More

This is a recipe from the 1929 book ‘The Scots Kitchen’ (check my story today to see it) for Scottish scones made with sowans, the oat fermentation.
.
The first thing I noticed biting in is that they are seriously squidgy, with a satisfying firmness! That’s important, right? After that came the tang (from the ferment) and the flash of the odd caraway seed.
.
I ate with butter – the scones have holes in them (a bit like English crumpets) perfect for melting butter.
.
I’m hoping to add this scone recipe to my sowans course over at @thefermentationschool. There’s a link to my course in my profile if you’re curious.

… Read More

Sourdough oatcakes.
.
In researching Scottish oats (for a forthcoming article in the Weston Price journal) I was surprised to learn that the Scottish did not pre-soak or ferment the oats that they used for their staple ‘bread’ – oatcakes.
.
In my kitchen, anything that stands still for too long gets fermented, especially grains! So despite loving the standard Scottish oatcake, I really wanted to have a go at creating a fermented, sourdough version.
.
Here is the result. It’s got all the creaminess of oats, and fresh from the pan it’s crunchy. But the sour tang of the ferment makes it almost cheesy too! Warm, with salted butter, these have become a go-to breakfast the last few weeks!
.
The recipe will go out in my newsletter tomorrow. If you’re not on my list and you want to get it, go to ancestralkitchen.com/newsletter (link in my profile).

… Read More

In my story today, I ‘unbox’ my latest jar of sauerkraut!
.
We get through 2 litres (quarts) of sauerkraut a month and I have a rotation of two jars on the go at all times – one fermenting on the shelf and one open and being eaten (stored in the fridge). Once the current one is all eaten, the fermenting one gets moved to the fridge and I make another jar ready for fermentation.
.
I use glass pickle pebbles and a cabbage leaf to keep the vegetables under the brine (this is *very* important for good kraut).
.
Sauerkraut is one of those foods that cost pennies (or cents, depending on where you are from!) to make and yet costs the earth in shops. You can hear @farmandhearth and I talking about 5 foods that are expensive (and yet really cheap to make) in @ancestralkitchenpodcast episode #4 via your podcast app or the link in my profile.
.
If you have sauerkraut questions, feel free to drop them below 🙂

… Read More