What’s cooking?

Home-grown oats!
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Back in spring, when Silvia at @lebarbarighe sent me some of her naked oats (so I could sprout them for ale), I had the crazy idea of planting some.
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Crazy because I have no garden; no soil…just a collection of pots squeezed together on a patio. Crazy because I no *nothing* about growing grain. Crazy because I knew I would be away for 5 weeks with no-one to care for them.
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But I couldn’t help myself!
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And look at these! They are one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen for ages. I literally can’t stop looking at them and smiling. The experience has given me just a tiny, tiny taste of how my ancestors, who subsisted on oats, whose calendar was built around them – who literally grew up with all their smells, tastes routines and rituals – must have felt.
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I feel joyful and amazed and humbled and connected. ‘Just’ by a grass.
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Next task (if I can bring myself to do it) is to thresh them and get the grain out.

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Struggling with milk kefir?
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Me too! Turns out it wasn’t me…it was my grains. Listen in to hear why.
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How’s your milk kefir? Have you experienced this before?

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You can make rye bread kvass with old rye sourdough and use the same bread for batch after batch. It’s simple, fizzy, delicious and doesn’t need much attention.
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I like it flavoured with fresh mint (which is going crazy in the garden!). If you’re a kvass fan, I’d love to hear how you flavour yours.
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My method is in my profile (it’s the first one under the recipes sections).
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If you are interested in expanding your fermented drinks repertoire, have a listen to @ancestralkitchenpodcast #60 ‘”What Fermented Drinks Can I Make?’

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Mace is my favourite spice. Last week, I stumbled on it whole in my local herbalist shop.
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Italy has a herbalist (‘erboristeria’) in most towns. Some of them have almost been taken over by ‘products’ (i.e. the plastic-encased things you can spray or squeeze!) but usually, at the back, there are shelves and shelves of herbs and behind the counter there is an extremely knowledgeable person who can help with a myriad of things…including getting me some whole mace!
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So back to the mace. I love it with sweet potato, add it to my fermenting beet kvass and often plop some into my stock pot at it’s bubbling.
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Here I’m grinding it with all spice berries, black pepper and sea salt to make a spice mix for beef liver pate. The pate will also include onion, mushrooms, red wine and lots of butter/lard. Mace mixed with all spice brings wonderful warm tones to the pate, making liver-eating a really pleasurable experience (my 9-year-old loves it).
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Have you tried mace? What do you use it for?

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Sourdough spelt and carrot muffins.
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There are no eggs here – sourdough provides all the rise and carrot gives softness to the inside.
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There’s no sugar either – the sweetness is from the carrots and some local honey.
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This is an adaptation of a recipe that I previously made as a cake. Why reinvent the wheel if you like what you did?! I love taking things I know how to make and presenting them differently.
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The recipe will be in the forthcoming @ancestralkitchenpodcast spelt sourdough cookbook.
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Talking of grains…I’m really excited that I have finally taken the plunge and decided to buy an electric grain mill! It should be arriving in the next few days. I can’t wait!

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Boza ice lollies!
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It’s very hot here and my little man is in need of something summery, so, thanks to a nudge from @kitchencounterculture, I made ice lollies (or popsicles) by simply pouring fermented Boza into freezer moulds. I know the starter for Boza can survive freezing, so I’m officially calling these lollies probiotic!
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Whilst I was in the UK, I passed on some Boza starter to @iamcultured_ – the second pic here is of her first batch which she declared both ‘feisty’ and ‘delicious’ (a great combo, right?!).
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The same day the lollies were ready, I got a fab email from a student of my Boza course – swipe for the words that made me smile. And, if you don’t know what Boza is, keep swiping to my explanation.
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A video of the boza lolly being eaten is in my story today!

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Black oats! I finally got to see them in the field at @hafodcheese – thank you Rebecca for taking us around your beautiful Welsh Farm.
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These are being grown as part of Holden Farm’s crop rotation (as well as making Hafod cheese onsite, they also grow oats and peas). The black oats were *almost* lost – they have the most incredible journey of rediscovery (if you’re interested google Llafur Ni (our grains, in Welsh) to find the Gaia foundation’s beautiful film). Incredible thanks to @the_edible_gardener for being the co-ordinator – I only heard amazing things about you on my trip :-).

This, along with the work that @harrigendall is doing with pillas, the Cornish naked oat that was also almost lost, is bringing me so much closer to British oats and informing the shape of the oat book I am at the very early stages of writing.
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I didn’t get to try any of these black oats, but I did (thanks to @kitchencounterculture) come home with a packet of British naked oats from @hodmedods. I’m excited to play with them – my fellow oaty-nerds have told me the flavour is amazing.
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I’ll post more pictures in my story today – including my 9-year old with Holden Farm pigs (that was his favourite part of the visit), the delicious cheese we took away with us and a magic book find I made 🙂

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