Fermented Foods
Fermentation is the most common cooking technique worldwide and primates have relied on bacteria and fungi to transform our food for far longer than fire. Even birds do it.
Most people’s refrigerators are stuffed with condiments, dairy products, meats, fish, grains, and fruits that have undergone fermentation. What would civilization even look like without ketchup, coffee, chocolate, cheese, soy sauce, and pickles? Count me out.
A whole slew of microorganisms are responsible, including brewer’s and baker’s favorite fungus saccharomyces cerevisiae and the more exotic and rapacious aspergillus oryzae. The latter digests not only sugar, but also starch, protein, and fat, melting it all down into the delicious enzymatic slurries we know as soy sauce, miso, garum, and even saki wine.
During early colonial American history, ginger ale exceeded the production of both beer and cider. Until Johnny Appleseed changed the game, it was a favorite brew of Martha Washington and the recipe she published was almost certainly the invention of Chef Hercules Posey, a slave owned by the Washingtons
"At the end of hardship comes happiness." - Korean Proverb
From the bonny bells of Heather, they brewed a drink long-syne, was sweeter far than honey, was stronger far than wine...
"If you wish to drink deep at a banquet and to enjoy your dinner, eat as much raw cabbage as you wish..." - Marcus Porcius Cato, De Agri Cultura
Sprouts are how our ancestors accessed the sugar locked inside starchy grains like farro, wheat, barley, rye, buckwheat, and millet.
Use this recipe to preserve anything the Korean kimchi way. Just make sure to get the right kind of salt!
Making yogurt from fresh milk is an ancient preservation technique because milk fermented in this way will keep for at least 5 times longer. Try it along with
Grilled Flatbread and
Marinated Olive Salad, mixed with tahini and cucumbers, or in traditional Indian riata.
