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Heather is a traditional addition to mead and beer in the UK. When I saw that my local herbalist stocked the dried flowers (called Erica in Italian), I knew I wanted to add some to my wild fermented ancestral beer. . I’ve used local spelt grain for this batch of beer, as it’s milder than my usual rye and I want to see what the flowers bring to it. As usual, I malted half the grain and made the other half into small par-baked loaves. Both of these go in the ferment, along with water and some home-created yeast from a previous beer batch. . I don’t have any special equipment – this ferments in the ceramic part of a slow cooker, inside my turned-off oven which has a home-made proofing set up in it (that allows me to keep it at 22C). I just guessed the amount of heather flowers. . I (and my hubby and son) are used to eating and drinking whatever comes of my experiments. Thankfully, they are usually good :-) . Do you want to experiment with traditional wild fermented beers in your kitchen? Several people have asked me about a potential ancestral beer course. I am still experimenting, but hope that in the future, I would be able to pass on what I’m playing with in a way that would see more beer made this way in more kitchens!! For now, back to the stirring…

March 3, 2022 by

Heather is a traditional addition to mead and beer in the UK. When I saw that my local herbalist stocked the dried flowers (called Erica in Italian), I knew I wanted to add some to my wild fermented ancestral beer.
.
I’ve used local spelt grain for this batch of beer, as it’s milder than my usual rye and I want to see what the flowers bring to it. As usual, I malted half the grain and made the other half into small par-baked loaves. Both of these go in the ferment, along with water and some home-created yeast from a previous beer batch.
.
I don’t have any special equipment – this ferments in the ceramic part of a slow cooker, inside my turned-off oven which has a home-made proofing set up in it (that allows me to keep it at 22C). I just guessed the amount of heather flowers.
.
I (and my hubby and son) are used to eating and drinking whatever comes of my experiments. Thankfully, they are usually good 🙂
.
Do you want to experiment with traditional wild fermented beers in your kitchen? Several people have asked me about a potential ancestral beer course. I am still experimenting, but hope that in the future, I would be able to pass on what I’m playing with in a way that would see more beer made this way in more kitchens!! For now, back to the stirring…

… Read More

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I’ve got a small cup of chicken stock (the remains of a big batch) in the fridge, three jars of beef heart stock cooling on the counter (the heart was in the slow cooker overnight) and some pig bones waiting in the freezer. . Stock is a joy, boon and essential routine in my kitchen. I believe in its magic; what it brings to body and mind, its versatility and its flavour. . The latest @ancestralkitchenpodcast is all about this wonder food – its history, the health-giving qualities, how to make it and how you can use it. . Find the podcast by searching in your app, or if you prefer, you can stream/download using the link in my linktr.ee.

March 1, 2022 by

I’ve got a small cup of chicken stock (the remains of a big batch) in the fridge, three jars of beef heart stock cooling on the counter (the heart was in the slow cooker overnight) and some pig bones waiting in the freezer.
.
Stock is a joy, boon and essential routine in my kitchen. I believe in its magic; what it brings to body and mind, its versatility and its flavour.
.
The latest @ancestralkitchenpodcast is all about this wonder food – its history, the health-giving qualities, how to make it and how you can use it.
.
Find the podcast by searching in your app, or if you prefer, you can stream/download using the link in my linktr.ee.

… Read More

Podcast

#26 – Bones & Water – The Magic of Stock

March 1, 2022 by

Take the left-over bones from an animal, combine them with water and some gentle heat and then wait. You’ll be gifted with one of the most revered food stuffs worldwide: Stock. It’s nourishing, comforting, tasty and the base of so much good food. Listen in to hear us wax lyrical over this simple food, then talk about how we make it, the different types and how we use it in our kitchens.… Read More

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I love lardo on pizza. Not only does the fat come out, making the whole thing glisten, but the remaining bits crisp up giving a salty crunch. . This is #sourdoughspelt pizza (with home-cured lardo) cooked on the stove in my cast iron pan! Thanks to @charlieb_eattheearth who shared this method with me a few weeks back. She made pizza this way on the road when she travelled with her family on @babybusadventures around Europe. . Hoping to get Charlie on @ancestralkitchenpodcast soon. I’m so interested to hear her experience of attempting to eat ancestrally whilst living, with two little ones, on four wheels. . Meantime, the ancestral ale we drank with this pizza is in my highlights today, along with more pizza pictures and, if I can get the tech to work, Charlie’s method! . Let me know if you want to give the stove-top pizza method a go :-)

February 28, 2022 by

I love lardo on pizza. Not only does the fat come out, making the whole thing glisten, but the remaining bits crisp up giving a salty crunch.
.
This is #sourdoughspelt pizza (with home-cured lardo) cooked on the stove in my cast iron pan! Thanks to @charlieb_eattheearth who shared this method with me a few weeks back. She made pizza this way on the road when she travelled with her family on @babybusadventures around Europe.
.
Hoping to get Charlie on @ancestralkitchenpodcast soon. I’m so interested to hear her experience of attempting to eat ancestrally whilst living, with two little ones, on four wheels.
.
Meantime, the ancestral ale we drank with this pizza is in my highlights today, along with more pizza pictures and, if I can get the tech to work, Charlie’s method!
.
Let me know if you want to give the stove-top pizza method a go 🙂

… Read More

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Food cannot be separated from politics, and hence, through the actions we take every day in our kitchens we can make a difference to the systems that we live under. . I feel super-strongly about at-home, wild-yeast breads as a sane alternative to the whipped-to-fluffy plastic loaves in our supermarkets. . Thankfully, @thefermentationschool let me get some of my passion onto (virtual) paper by publishing my article, Why Sourdough Bread-Making is a Political Act. The link is at the top of my linktr.ee. Go read and tell me if you agree!!

February 25, 2022 by

Food cannot be separated from politics, and hence, through the actions we take every day in our kitchens we can make a difference to the systems that we live under.
.
I feel super-strongly about at-home, wild-yeast breads as a sane alternative to the whipped-to-fluffy plastic loaves in our supermarkets.
.
Thankfully, @thefermentationschool let me get some of my passion onto (virtual) paper by publishing my article, Why Sourdough Bread-Making is a Political Act. The link is at the top of my linktr.ee. Go read and tell me if you agree!!

… Read More

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I like to keep breakfast simple. I mostly choose something that’s already in the fridge and I like to have 2 or 3 things on repeat. My creativity has time for expression later in the day when I haven’t got to get a 7-year-old fed, watered and out of the house. . This is where sowans – the fermented Scottish oat preparation – is a wonder. I grabbed this pre-made jar from the fridge this morning. I poured off the probiotic liquid and drank some whilst I heated up the porridge for my breakfast. . Add my porridge staples – ground linseed, a few soaked almonds, a spoon of barley miso and a generous drizzle of local olive oil and I was done. . Despite the Scottish and Japanese influences, all of this was grown in Italy, which makes me smile. . Check my story today for a couple of videos of how I prepare the sowans. My course on how to do it is available over at @thefermentationschool

February 22, 2022 by

I like to keep breakfast simple. I mostly choose something that’s already in the fridge and I like to have 2 or 3 things on repeat. My creativity has time for expression later in the day when I haven’t got to get a 7-year-old fed, watered and out of the house.
.
This is where sowans – the fermented Scottish oat preparation – is a wonder. I grabbed this pre-made jar from the fridge this morning. I poured off the probiotic liquid and drank some whilst I heated up the porridge for my breakfast.
.
Add my porridge staples – ground linseed, a few soaked almonds, a spoon of barley miso and a generous drizzle of local olive oil and I was done.
.
Despite the Scottish and Japanese influences, all of this was grown in Italy, which makes me smile.
.
Check my story today for a couple of videos of how I prepare the sowans. My course on how to do it is available over at @thefermentationschool

… Read More

Instagram

If you want to improve your relationship with food, get closer to it. . At 20 years old, weighing more than 280lbs (130kg) I knew no other food source than the supermarket. I used to go to my local one, buy kilogram bars of chocolate and eat them, in one go, in my bedroom. . Many years on, my chocolate has a different story. I source the raw beans myself, roast them on the stove, take the shells off my hand, grind them in my kitchen, mix into a paste and wait for the deliciousness to set before eating. . Many of the foods I eat have this kind of work behind them – the bread, the lard, the beer. And my relationship with my food and my body has completely changed. There is just no way I’d eat more than a serving of this chocolate at one time; I am satisfied with so much less. Partially it’s the quality, partially it’s the work that’s gone into it, and partially it’s the changes that tipping my life upside down this way has wrought. . This transformation didn’t happen overnight – it’s been over 25 years since my supermarket chocolate binging sessions – but bit by bit, the deeper I have dived into my food, the closer I have gotten to its source and its processing, the more grounded, satisfied and fulfilled I have felt. . Besides all of what I’ve written above, the joy it’s brought me is amazing. Playing with your food – in every sense – is such a soul and sense sustaining thing to do. . These beans brought me a lot of joy in my kitchen this morning. I’d love to know what’s cooking/fermenting.making has brought a smile to your face the last few days :-)

February 21, 2022 by

If you want to improve your relationship with food, get closer to it.
.
At 20 years old, weighing more than 280lbs (130kg) I knew no other food source than the supermarket. I used to go to my local one, buy kilogram bars of chocolate and eat them, in one go, in my bedroom.
.
Many years on, my chocolate has a different story. I source the raw beans myself, roast them on the stove, take the shells off my hand, grind them in my kitchen, mix into a paste and wait for the deliciousness to set before eating.
.
Many of the foods I eat have this kind of work behind them – the bread, the lard, the beer. And my relationship with my food and my body has completely changed. There is just no way I’d eat more than a serving of this chocolate at one time; I am satisfied with so much less. Partially it’s the quality, partially it’s the work that’s gone into it, and partially it’s the changes that tipping my life upside down this way has wrought.
.
This transformation didn’t happen overnight – it’s been over 25 years since my supermarket chocolate binging sessions – but bit by bit, the deeper I have dived into my food, the closer I have gotten to its source and its processing, the more grounded, satisfied and fulfilled I have felt.
.
Besides all of what I’ve written above, the joy it’s brought me is amazing. Playing with your food – in every sense – is such a soul and sense sustaining thing to do.
.
These beans brought me a lot of joy in my kitchen this morning. I’d love to know what’s cooking/fermenting.making has brought a smile to your face the last few days 🙂

… Read More

Instagram

Fermented potatoes for lunch (with accidental malt vinegar)! . These white potatoes were in a 5g salt to 1 cup water brine for 3 days before I drained and baked them. . Coincidentally, my malt vinegar experiment (which started accidentally when I I left some spent malted grains (previously used for ancestral ale-making) in the fridge for too long) was ready just at the right time. I sprinkled it over the chips! . I’ve got another potato ferment on the go – sweet potato this time, with rosemary and garlic in the brine. . Meantime, one more batch of these to eat. Thanks @kirstenkshockey for the potato inspiration :-) . Another pic of the chips and one of my malt vinegar fermenting on the grains in my story today!

February 18, 2022 by

Fermented potatoes for lunch (with accidental malt vinegar)!
.
These white potatoes were in a 5g salt to 1 cup water brine for 3 days before I drained and baked them.
.
Coincidentally, my malt vinegar experiment (which started accidentally when I I left some spent malted grains (previously used for ancestral ale-making) in the fridge for too long) was ready just at the right time. I sprinkled it over the chips!
.
I’ve got another potato ferment on the go – sweet potato this time, with rosemary and garlic in the brine.
.
Meantime, one more batch of these to eat. Thanks @kirstenkshockey for the potato inspiration 🙂
.
Another pic of the chips and one of my malt vinegar fermenting on the grains in my story today!

… Read More