Author: Ali

Have you ever tried an olive straight from the tree?
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They’re incredibly bitter, verging on inedible!
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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.
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Now I’m putting them into a herbed brine and will leave them for at least 6 weeks before tasting.
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This is an age-old Italian tradition called olive in salamoia. The ‘sal’ referring to salt and the ‘muria’ being the latin for brine.
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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!

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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.
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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.
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I ate with butter – the scones have holes in them (a bit like English crumpets) perfect for melting butter.
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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.

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Sourdough oatcakes.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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).

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In my story today, I ‘unbox’ my latest jar of sauerkraut!
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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.
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I use glass pickle pebbles and a cabbage leaf to keep the vegetables under the brine (this is *very* important for good kraut).
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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.
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If you have sauerkraut questions, feel free to drop them below 🙂

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‘The most delicious winter food imaginable’ is how I’d describe what I’ve learnt from @almostbananas about Slovakian cuisine!
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In my conversation with her, which is today’s episode of @ancestralkitchenpodcast, we talk about dumplings, cooking with sauerkraut, the importance of pork products, 20-litre vats of sauerkraut, bread, plum brandy and much more.
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Listening in, you’ll hear her weave food, culture and history together and you’ll leave understanding two traditional Slovakian dishes that you’ll want to cook up in your kitchen right away!
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Get @ancestralkitchenpodcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or stream/download from the link in my profile.

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If your whole ancient grain sourdoughs aren’t turning out how you want don’t despair!
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I have made *many* disappointing loaves in my sourdough life. To get there it takes time, patience, practise and a bit of good advice.
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There’s a lot of advice out there on sourdough. So much so that frankly, it’s overwhelming. So find one person you resonate with and stick with them, making loves and learning.
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I will be bringing out a free sourdough starter video course over at @thefermentationschool in a few weeks and @farmandhearth have had so many questions between us, that we’re putting together a ‘Sourdough Q&A’ episode of @ancestralkitchenpodcast soon.
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If you have questions (no question too ‘stupid’ or ‘small’), comment here or send me a DM. We’ll try to cover them all in the forthcoming episode.

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