When I was offered an opportunity to review the book “Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers” by Terry Hope Romero I was intrigued. Knowing latino cuisine as I do, the thought of a vegan adaptation of this heavily pork laden foodway boggled my mind. You can see from the traditional Colombian recipes that I have blogged about on this site, meat often figures heavily in our cuisine.

It should not have boggled my mind but it did. One has to banish the thought of chicharrones from one’s mind to be able to grasp vegan latino food and that seemed like too dear a price to pay! (winks)

When I got the book and browsed the recipes I had a huge head-bonking “I get it” moment.. of course! Latino food is at its VERY best when you eat the freshest ingredients and that doesnt really encompass chicharrones but avocados, cilantro, tomatoes, corn, platanos (plantains), yucas (casava), lime, and so much more.

When you remove the pork and replace it with olive oil you still have the beautiful flavors of latino foods. I would not recommend the margarines that the author does but she is trying to recapture some of the magic of butter that veganism bans. Any vegetable fat that is solid or semi-solid at room temperature is in some way modified (hydrogenated) and that is not good for your body. The best solution here is coconut butter – organic only and produced by a company that you trust and KNOW isnt using benzenes to purify their product.

The book consists of two parts and within those two parts a broad array of basic knowledge about vegan cooking and the adapted recipes:

Part One:

• The Vegan Latin Pantry
• Kitchen Tools (or How do I slice a mango)

Part Two:

• A Few Essential Latino Vegan Recipes
• Salsas and Condiementos
• Bocadillos, Snacks, and Appetizers
• Ensaladas
• Beans and Rice, Los Dos Amigos
• Vegan Asado: Tofu, Tempeh, and Seitan
• Complete Your Plate: Vegetables, Plantains, and Grains
• One Pot Stews, Cassaroles, and Cazuelas
• Super Fantastico Latin Soups!
• For the Love of Corn: Arepas, Pupusas, Tortillas, and More
• You, Too, Can Tamale
• Empanadas!
• Drinks
• Desserts and Sweets

For this review I intentionally chose a recipe that uses a common vegetarian/vegan ingredient that is relatively foreign to latino cuisine – tempeh – so that I can see if the author had been successful at making the translation. I prefer authenticity and loathe fake meat concoctions (tofurky?). I like tofu for its tofu-ness and would never eat it hoping to feel like I am eating meat.

What is tempeh? Trust me the following description might sound a bit – umm – revolting and it kept me from trying it for a long time but also trust me that tempeh is in fact really quite delicious!

“Tempeh, or tempe in Indonesian, is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy-foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in China or Japan. It originated in today’s Indonesia, and is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh’s fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins. It has a firm texture and strong flavor. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue.” Source

I bought the organic three grain tempeh for this recipe (in addition to whole soybeans – brown rice, barley and millet). I can highly recommend this product – quite delicious!

Just a quick side note: The notion of “stuffing” an arepa is most popular in Venezuela versus Colombia. In Colombia, generally, arepas are not stuffed but eaten simply with butter and salt. I am sure now a days the propensity to “stuff” them is also spreading into Colombia (its not immune to change!). I qualify the term “stuff” here because the arepa isnt really suited for stuffing because it falls apart. Its not a pita bread. You cant really form a hinge by cutting half way through it and then stuffing it. Its more like you cut the arepa in half and then make a sandwich sort of thing.

The Recipes

For today’s review I worked from the following recipes (with some modifications based on availability of ingredients):

• Pan-Fried Tempeh with Sofrito (page 112)
• Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito (page 32)
• Black Bean – Corn Salsa Salad (page 72)

Feedback: I can tell you ahead of time, before we go through all the recipes, that my non-vegan chicharron-eating family (3, 6, 13, adults) reveled in the deliciousness of this tempeh dish. I was fully ready for the kids to reject this new food (and I didnt tell them how it is made, they just need to trust me that its edible) but they LOVED it.

The tempeh has a unique nutty flavor (a stretch for our family too, we have extreme nut allergies here) and had a great mouth feel. My 13 yo said it tasted sorta like meat (likely with respect to the texture). They also gobbled down the corn-black bean salsa.

It was a definite hit here! I hope you give it a try and see for yourself. You do not need to be vegan or vegetarian to love these foods, they are a way to expand your own personal food habits and expose you to new flavors!

Pan-Fried Tempeh with Sofrito (page 112)

Ingredients:

• 1 (8-oz) cake of tempeh
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• vegetable oil, for pan-frying
• 1/2 cup Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito (pg 32)
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and minced
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup white wine, vegetable broth, or beer
• olive oil for pan-frying

Directions:

Slice the tempeh cake in half lengthwise, slice into thirds (I cubed it). You now need to steam it in a steamer basket, a covered saucepan with 1 cup water or in a microwave (covered dish, 1/2 cup water, nuke about 5 minutes). Drain all the water and then sprinkle with the soy sauce (I also sprinkled with lemon juice). Set aside.

Make your sofrito (see below).

Pan fry your tempeh on medium high in small amount of oil until golden on all sides.

To the hot pan add the following: sofrito, tomatoes, wine vinegar, cilantro, cumin; fry all until tomatoes are soft – 6-8 mins. Add in the tempeh and stir to coat and warm, ~ 5 mins. Pour the wine over this until almost absorbed, some sauce remaining. Serve in arepas, as shown.

Note on my modifications: We do not drink so we have no wine on hand, didnt add that. I also didnt add vinegar but added a splash of lemon juice.

Tempeh before preparation.

Steamed tempeh on to toast.

Golden tempeh

Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito (page 32) (note – I made a few key changes to this recipe for this review)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
• 2 pounds green bell peppers, seeded, chopped finely
• 2 pounds yellow onions, diced
• generous pinch of salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Saute peppers, garlic, onions, salt and ground pepper in a heavy pan on medium heat for about 10 mins. Lower heat and continue to cook for some 20 – 30 mins until all is soft and reduced to a 1/3 original volume.

Use immediately or cool and store in the refrigerator as a condiment.

Note on my modifications: In Colombian cuisine, we call the analogue to this “Hogao” and it doesnt include peppers or black pepper and would NEVER be made without cumin or cilantro. I had no peppers on hand so I made more of a traditional hogao versus this version. This means I also added cumin and tomatoes. Green onions are also especially good in this.

Arepas

Ingredients:

• 1 C “La Venezolana” or “ArepaHarina” precocida masa harina (extremely fine precooked corn meal – you simply can not use any substitutes here, find this ingredient)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 C boiling hot water

Directions:

Mix arepaharina with salt and hot water, mix well. Set aside for 5 – 10 mins. Shape into small balls (larger than a golf ball, smaller than a baseball) and then flatten into pucks (smooth edges).

Toast in a hot pan until brown on sides, put into 350 F oven until ready to serve. Poke holes on top and slather with butter and sprinkle with salt or prepare as per desired recipe.

Black Bean – Corn Salsa (page 72) (I am leaving out the salad part as I only made the salsa portion)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups roasted fresh corn
• 1 (14 oz) can organic black beans (2 cups cooked black beans)

Directions:

Drain the can of beans, add the roasted corn.

Note on my modifications: I added 1 tablespoon chopped vidalia onion (raw), 2 plum tomatoes (chopped), salt, good sprinkle of cumin, 1 teaspoon minced garlic.

Bring all of this together for a delicious meal! In a traditional latino home, this would not be served without rice (I recommend organic brown rice) but we are dealing with a nasty heat wave here in the Northeast (104.7 in the shade the other day, 109 with heat index) so cooking and eating rice was the LAST thing we wanted or needed. As it was, making these arepas and hot hogao and roasting corn – it all made my kitchen hot and I was POURING with sweat – not a happy picture, that.

There are MANY more very delicious recipes in this cookbook. I recommend it for all – vegan or not. I also especially recommend it to the Latino/a who is considering or is a vegan and would like a taste of home with not so much pork in it!

Product Details:

• Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books; 1 edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738212733
• ISBN-13: 978-0738212739

[This was cross posted at my raw food blog Raw+Simple]

I had an opportunity to dive into the book, written by by Mark Reinfeld, Bo Rinaldi, and Jennifer Murray, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw.

I had not previously read one of these Idiot’s Guides but I found that they use uncomplicated first person language that feels quite direct and the layout is actually a great one because there are useful summaries as you move through the content which leads to great knowledge pick-up and retention. There are little call out boxes with nice tips relevant to the recipe or topic on that page.

There is a VERY useful chart showing you times and temperatures for dehydrating a range of foods. As recommended by many raw food chefs, this book suggests starting the dehydrating run at 145 F and then turning it down to 105 F some 2 hours later. This might seem contrary to what you have heard, which is likely that you should NEVER raise the temperature on living foods above 115 F. What is happening in those first 2 hours at 145 F is that the rate of evaporation is higher because there is the most water at the beginning of the cycle. This evaporation COOLS the food so the food is not actually at 145 F, just the air blowing over it. This 2 step process is recommended to ensure that the food you have put so much work into does not begin to mold before it dries sufficiently.

There is so much fundamentally useful information in the first several parts that its hard to cover. I think there really is very little if anything they have failed to cover for the beginner and the experienced.

The chapters are well organized and include:

Chapters

• Part 1: Raw Foods Illuminated
• Raw Benefits
• Myth Busters
• Going Green with Raw Cuisine
• Ancient Foods, Superfoods, and the Future of Food
• The Perfect Pantry
• Tools of the Trade
• Part 2: Raw Techniques
• Preparation Basics
• Soaking and Sprouting
• Advanced Techiques
• Part 3: Recipes on the light side
• Appetizers and Spreads
• Salads and Dressings
• Sublime Sauces and Toppings
• Sumptuous Soups
• Nut Milks and Cheeses
• Bountiful Beverages
• Part 4: Hearty Fare
• Unbeatable Breakfasts
• Filling Wraps and Sandwiches
• Pizzas, Crackers, and Breads
• Delicious Main Dishes
• Puddings, Pies, and Parfaits
• Cakes, Cookies, and Energy Bars
• Part 5: Raw Transitions
• A Day in the Life
• Fasts and Cleanses
• Four Week Raw Success Program
• Glossary
• Further Resources

As usual in these reviews, I choose a recipe and test it as well as photograph it.

I chose the following mushroom recipe and I can tell you, I was quite happy I did. This is an explosively flavorful dish with a lovely contrast between the intense meaty mushroom and the fresh tartly marinated asparagus. It was a huge thumbs up from everyone in my family from the 2.5 yo to the old adults.

I also found the marinade so beguiling that I used it on other vegetables, loved it all.

Portobello Mushroom Steaks with Balsamic Asparagus (Page 226)

Ingredients

• 4 portobello mushroom caps
• 2 cups filtered water
• 1/4 cup plus 3 teaspoons nama shoyu (raw soy sauce)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
• pinch salt
• pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
• 1 bunch asparagus (or enough for 4 servings
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 medium yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and diced
• undisclosed amount of maple syrup (try 1/4 cup) – book left this out of the ingredients!

Directions

Must caps in quarters and place in a baking pan with gills facing down. Add the water and 1/4 cup nama shoyu and put into 145 F dehydrator for 30 minutes. Remove from dehydrator and pour off the marinade (save 1/2 cup).

In a separate bowl mix basil, garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons nama shoyu, salt, black pepper. Push mushrooms into this marinade, coat evenly.

In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard, maple syrup, 1 teaspoon nama shoyu.

Clean and trim asparagus, put into pan, add this balsamic marinade.

Put asparagus in pan into 145 F dehydrator for 1 hour, stir every 15 minutes.

After this hour, add remaining 1/2 cup balsamic marinade to bottom of mushroom pan and put it into the 145 F dehydrator with the asparagus for 45 to 60 minutes.

Remove from dehydrator and serve warm, if desired (its not bad at all cool). Recipe suggests sprinkling with the bell peppers but I didn’t for my photos.

Again, this recipe was amazing and I would recommend it completely, lots of amazing flavor.

Product Details

• Title: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 1 edition (July 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1592577717
• ISBN-13: 978-1592577712
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches

Some time ago I reviewed a cookbook called “Tassajara Cookbook: Lunches, Picnics, and Appetizers” by Karla Oliveira where I covered Tassajara, a magical mountain retreat for the San Francisco Zen Center.

Today’s review covers the related book Tassajara Dinners & Desserts by Dale and Melissa Kent, a beautiful and delicious cookbook that shares simple go-to vegetarian meals used at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Retreat to nourish the monks, trainees and students who live in this amazing place.

The photography is just fantastic, inviting you to dive into this book to learn how to make these tasty dinners. The front cover holds nothing back, just take a look at it!

Contents:

Foreword by Senior Dharma Teacher Eijun Linda Ruth Cutts

Introduction

• What is it like to do active cooking meditation
• How the zen kitchen works

Starters

• Ginger Hummus
• Grandma Chu’s Sweet & Sour Marinated Asparagus

Vegetable Side Dishes

• Pungent Cucumber Salad with Black Sesame ad Ginger
• Moroxican Spiced Potatoes

Vegetable Entrees

• James Creek Farm Ratatouille
• Tagine with Apricots, Olives, and Artichoke Hearts

Baked Entrees

• Baked Muffaletta Crepes
• Annie’s Frittata with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese, and Sage

Beans & Legumes

• Butch’s Black Eyed Peas
• Chickpea Stew with Collard Greens and Indian Spices

Tofu

• Dragon’s Head Tofu
• Mole Verde with Tofu

Grains & Pastas

• Mushroom Squash Risotto
• Mint-Cilantro Udon with Fresh Ginger and Meyer Lemon

Desserts

• Lemon Sponge Custard with Raspberry Sauce
• Ricotta Chevre with Ginger Berry Compote

Basic Techniques

• Vegetable Stock and Variations
• Basic Ingredients and Sauces

For this review I chose to make the a vegetarian lasagna with a change to the book’s recipe. Instead of just using a store bought past (fresh or dried) I used some homemade lasagna I made from organic sprouted whole wheat I had made (see this post for information on making your own sprouted whole wheat flour “Making Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour” and this post on how to make lasagna pasta out of it “Homemade Sprouted Whole Wheat Pasta“). I also used homemade goat cheese (chevre) from our own goats in our backyard (Making chevre cheese from our home-milked goat milk) and organic chard I grew in our garden and egg from our chickens (Humble Garden).

Tofu Lasagna with Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, and Chard

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried pasta or 1.5 pounds fresh pasta
• Sauce:
• 1.5 cups chopped onions
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minded
• 1 tablespoon dried italian herb seasoning (I used fresh oregano and basil from garden)
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cups crumbled tofu
• 4-5 cups diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
• Filling:
• 1 bunch chard
• 1 pound mushrooms, washed and quartered
• 1 pound goat cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• salt and pepper
• 3 cups grated Provolone, Mozzarella, Fontina, or Gruyere

Directions

Sauce:

Saute onions, carrots, and celery over medium heat until soft and a bit brown. Add garlic and herbs without stirring. Turn up heat to brown and then add wine to deglaze (scrape up fond – stuck bits). Add tofu and cook with much stirring until liquid almost gone. Brown the tofu a bit, coat with all other sauce parts. Add tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes.

Filling:

Wash greens, remove stems, set the stems aside. Cop stems into tiny bits. Blanch greens and stem bits in boiling water (or steam them) until cooked through. Shock in icy water (this “sets” the chlorophylls so that the chard will be a bright green) and then drain. Chop roughly and then dry completely.

Bake the mushrooms in a 425 F oven or sear them on the stovetop. Set aside with the greens.

Mix the goat cheese, egg, parmesan cheese and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Prepare the lasagna pasta as per instructions.

Oil a 9 by 13 inch baking dish, ladle some sauce on the bottom, add first layer of pasta. Spread 1/4th of the filling over the pasta and cover with some sauce. Layer on some tofu, goat cheese, greens, mushrooms as well as mozzarella (if using). Put down the next layer of pasta and repeat as before, 3 more times. The whole thing should end with a layer of pasta at the top and some more sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan and even, possibly bechamel sauce. (I didnt put the bechamel sauce, seemed a bit much to me).

Bake at 350 F for 30 – 40 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and top is toasty brown.

Our Take on this dish:
Everyone from the toddler on up completely enjoyed this dish. Remember that sprouted wheat yields a bit sweeter product (because the sprouting process started some of the starches on their enzymatic journey) and that any whole wheat pasta product will have a different sort of mouth feel than your usual “white bread” sort of “enriched” pasta product. In this case, the pasta had a lot of presence in this dish, lending an almost “meaty” sort of sensation, which was a plus to those family members who like to have meat at every meal!

My Take on this cookbook:

The book is simply beautiful, the recipes are diverse and quite inspiring for all sorts of eaters: vegetarians to omnivores! I can only say good things about this cookbook, it has been a pleasure to review and oogle over. I suggest giving it a try!

Product Details:

• Title: Tassajara Dinners & Desserts
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (January 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423605209
• ISBN-13: 978-1423605201
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is the famed mountain retreat of the San Francisco Zen Center. SF Zen center was founded by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in the 60s. It is a vibrant Zen community (sangha) that has been instrumental in bringing Zen to the West and has served as an important crucible in the inevitable forging process as Eastern and Western thought forms have mixed, melded, and reacted against one another to form a uniquely American form of Zen.

You can learn so much by visiting their sites (listed above) and also, if you would like to go deeper, you can listen to teishos on podcast. Teishos are essentially lectures that are interspersed between 30 to 45 minute blocks of silent meditation. The center leader will speak on all manner of things that will help the sangha develop their practice. The more traditional teishos cover koans – extended riddle type narratives that have been used for millennia by the Chinese and Japanese to facilitate the awakening (kensho) of the sangha.

There are three locations for the community: City Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center lies north of San Francisco in the Ventana Wilderness, near the Pacific. I know of it from reading about the SF Zen center, their history (good and bad) and from my life long personal journey in Zen.

It is the first zen monastery in the west and is tasked with keeping body and soul together for the many people who dedicate their lives to deepening their zen practice. Part of this has been a delicious tradition of feeding the monks and other visitors delicious vegetarian foods.

I have never even really entertained the fantasy of being able to spend time at any of these centers as my life doesn’t afford me such opportunities. Its ok, I, like a huge number of other zen practitioners, practice quietly at home.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t think on how splendid it would be to be able to spend time at Tassajara in quiet bliss, practicing and also enjoying the wholesome foods (grown on site and also at Green Gulch Farm).

All of this is prologue to explain why I would jump at a chance to review two cookbooks from Tassajara (published by Gibbs Smith in 2007): Tassajara Dinners & Dessertsand Tassajara Cookbook: Lunched, Picnics, and Appetizers

Today I am going to talk about Tassajara Cookbook: Lunched, Picnics, and Appetizers and will cover Tassajara Dinners & Desserts in another post.

This book gives you some background on the monastery as well as how lunches have become elevated to these feasts of wholesome and tasty goodness. The recipes in this book open a window onto some of these offerings. The breadth is fantastic and the images are simply beautiful.

Whether you are vegetarian or a carnivore, you should be able to appreciate the mouth watering recipes in this cookbook.

The Table of Contents reads as follows:

• Dairy Spreads
• Vegan Spreads
• Pate & Loaves
• Tofu, Tempeh & Egg Salad Sandwich Fillings
• Chutneys, Sauces & Salsas
• Marinades for Tofu, Tempeh & Vegetables
• Salads, Dressings, Pickles & Relishes
• Dairy Cookies
• Vegan Cookies & Sweets
• Composing Your Movable Feast

There are so many delicious possibilities to chose from, it was hard to pick. In the end, I went shopping for ingredients on a very hot day (we were taking a run for 95 F on that day here in MA) so I chose a cold recipe. It is also the recipe featured on the cover of the book. I certainly didn’t do the cover any justice but we were VERY happy with the results.

Our taste testing for this recipe came out a resounding YUM. We usually do NOT eat tofu (so many issues with soy products and we are not vegetarian so we don’t use it to replace other protein) but I made an exception for this review. This means that my family (DH, kids – 12 yo, 5 yo, 2.5 yo) are not accustomed to eating tofu.

When the DH and 12 yo tried it, they loved it and got many tastes. The 5 yo is in a picky phase so she decided against more. The surprise was the toddler, who called it cheese, he could not get enough! He just loved it. He loves any sort of cheese, especially brie, so I am guessing he just fit this into his cheese universe.

I am definitely going to be making more of these recipes. Let me know if you get the book and which ones become your favorite!

Tofu Marinated with Parsley and Olive Oil (page 125)

Ingredients:

• 2 (12 ounce) blocks firm tofu
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons capers
• 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, or thyme (optional)
• 1/3 cup olive oil, best quality

Directions:

Slice the tofu into cubes. Mix garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, capers, lemon juice, and fresh herbs in a small bowl. Let this mix sit a few minutes and then add the olive oil, stir. Add the tofu and gently mix to coat all pieces. I added all this to a baggie, purged the excess air and then closed it up. I let this marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Next day, let come to room temperature and serve with a sprinkling of fresh herbs.

Product Details

• Tassajara Cookbook: Lunches, Picnics & Appetizers
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith Publishers (August 31, 2007)
• ASIN: B001TLPEZK

I have been looking forward to doing this project for several years. I have distinct memories of when I was a child in Iowa, down in our basement in the bathroom we always hid in when the tornado sirens went off several times a summer. In that bathroom, near the shower, was an antique crock that was filled with little pickling cucumbers that were floating in this fascinating brine. A plate was put on top to keep the pickles from floating onto the surface.

I remember what it smelled like – a very distinct pickle aroma that makes my mouth water as I write this. I remember also being captivated by the scum that would float on the top and how it was ok that this scary odd concoction was being grown in OUR basement and by MY mother to be eaten by US kids.

I say that pickles are old school because there are records of pickles going back 4400 years to Mesopotamia. If you follow this link to the Wiki page on pickles you will learn that pickling has been a strategy used by humans for a long time and also by peoples across the globe.

• Aristotle of Ancient Greece (1100 BC – 146 BC) promoted pickles for their health promoting effects
• People on the move with mouths to feed figured out that pickles were a GOOD THING to have – Julius Caesar‘s army ate them but likely didnt understand that it was the vitamin C in the pickles that saved them from scurvy

Pickles have been immensely popular for 1000s of years across Asia, from India to China to Japan. Each region has its own special character and history. Each type of pickle is like a barometer of local authenticity.

What you likely do NOT know about pickles is that what you think of as pickles, those mass produced jarred pickles in the hot dog section of the grocery store are very little like the ones of history and do not possess the health promoting qualities attributed to pickled foods through the ages.

The difference is a matter of temperature and time, namely pasteurization and lactofermentation.

Most of us know what pasteurization is – the process of heating liquids for the purpose of destroying bacteria, protozoa, molds, and yeasts. (WIKI) We know that it is used to “make safe” our milk supply. This method has been used to “clean” up a vast majority of our foods that we buy from the store.

This is all new school – it was applied to our milk back in the time around 1900 (see this link about this whole saga) when milk production was industrialized and the dairies were crashing from management issues (conditions just like CAFOs today – crap in crap out).

Cows were fed the mash from nearby distilleries, cramped into standing room only pens with crap piled knee high and never cleaned, untested workers (think tuberculosis) worked in slavery like conditions – people and cows alike dropped like flies due to the conditions.

To be able to utilize the milk, which was burdened with e coli, brucellosis, tuberculosis, high cell counts from udder disease (mastitis) pasteurization was used.

This same broad spectrum bacterial killing method is now used in pickle making. Whats more, because bacteria are “bad guys” (ignoring the fact that our bodies are made up of something like 10% bacterial mass) pickles are not allowed to go down the fermentation route – they are pickled with vinegars or industrially produced lactic acids.

Lactofermentation

Lactofermentation is what has historically been used to make things like wine, beer, and pickles. Its what you get when you take a raw vegetable from the garden, add some salt, and then let it sit at room temperature a couple of days and then put it in the root cellar (fridge).

At first, there is a broad spectrum of bacteria and molds and yeasts, just like on your skin (no matter how many showers you take) in the jar.

Then a dance takes place.

Bacteria are like us – they care about where they live. For them it is life and death tho. Certain types of bacteria can live with oxygen, some can not tolerate oxygen at all. Some like low pH others need high pH. It goes on.

Bacteria are used to living in a menacing environment and have evolved ways to compete. They may produce poisons that kill off predators or they may change the oxygen composition or they may change the pH.

If you culture your lactoferment in a certain environment (certain pH, oxygen concentration, temperature) then you encourage some bacterial species and not others.

This is the art of non-toxic non-lethal very delicious lactofermentation.

Doing lactofermentation in the post-pasteurization post-modern world requires you to take a leap of faith in our ancestors or to read a bit about science and trust your eyes and the collective wisdom of your ancestors.

To successfully venture into the delights of fermentation, I think that you have to be the following:

• be ready to experiment
• be willing to fail
• be curious
• be a foodie
• be stubborn

You can learn a whole lot about lactofermentation from Sally Fallon in her book “Nourishing Traditions” and also from Sandor Ellix Katz at Wild Fermentation.

You will find a strong anti-germ theory running through a lot of this.

As a scientist, I can tell you one VERY important take home message – absolutism is foolish and will never serve you well. Its absolutism that has created our industrialized society (along with expensive lobbyists who have pushed massive regulation of food production so that the little farm cannot compete).

It is an absolutist mindset that will reject all germs and it is the same core absolutist mindset that will reject all regulations.

Don’t get caught up in the War of Germs or Anti-Raw Milk.

Moderation is key.

Follow what the germs themselves tell you. Equilibrium with functional moderation leads to a healthy ecosystem and a healthy body.

Delve into lactofermentation, make some pickles, sauerkraut, beet kvass, beer, wine, eat them raw, but also, clean that cut, take a shower, sterilize your bathroom for goodness sakes.

I am not going to give you recipes for these pickles because I think that people need to do some reading on the basics, learn about the lactofermentative process, learn what its supposed to look like when its going well and when its going UN WELL (its pretty obvious).

I have shared shots here of our pickles and sauerkraut. They were all made recently so its not time to taste yet.

I CAN tell you tho that the smell is HEAVENLY! I can’t wait to dig in!

Who has not stood before a pile of organic vegetables or fruits and compared their price to the price of the conventionally grown ones next to it? Who has not asked, on some level, is there some real qualitative difference? You likely appreciate the lack of chemicals used to grow it – artificial fertilizers and pesticides made from petroleum.

This question – “Are organic vegetables BETTER than conventional ones?” can catch you because there are several assumptions that are meant to trip you up.

Not all organic growers are the same, what the USDA means by Organic may not square with your idea of it, the USDA is known for letting certain things slide for Big Ag, and many other system issues that have been purposefully institutionalized.

You may also assume that “Organic Food” is more wholesome too.

Merriam Webster defines wholesome this way:

• Pronunciation: \hōl-sÉ™m\
• Function: adjective
• Date: 13th century
• 1: promoting health or well-being of mind or spirit
• 2: promoting health of body
• 3 a: sound in body, mind, or morals b: having the simple health or vigor of normal domesticity
• 4 a: based on well-grounded fear : prudent -a wholesome respect for the law- b: safe (it wouldn’t be wholesome for you to go down there — Mark Twain)

Unless you are standing in a farmer’s market where the veggies or fruits are honestly sourced from a local small holding organic farm, the organic items in question – in the big box grocery store – are likely to have MUCH more in common with the conventional ones.

How is this possible?

Big Organic growers grow their plants with the same industrial model as Big Agriculture – huge carbon foot print and constant destruction of the soils.

Depleted Soils

Soil, or dirt as some may think of it, is not just powdery minerals. It is a complex mixture that includes those minerals from long eroded rocks but also organic residues from all the activity that has happened in the soil.

Those organic residues can include:

• Living and degrading plant debris
• Living and degrading insect and animal bodies
• Living and degrading bacterial populations
• Living and degrading mushrooms (mycelium –mushroom roots-, and mushroom fruiting bodies, even spores)

The activities of these living things lend structure to the soil (different zones of life, mineralization, compaction, oxygen levels, nitrogen levels, moisture levels) and also help by making certain compounds, elements, minerals, available, things like:

• Plant-usable nitrogen (nitrogen fixation via bacterial-root-rhizome symbiosis)
• Vitamin production
• Plant-usable forms of elements like calcium, phosphates, and other more rare types.

When soils are plowed, the structure is obliterated and whole communities of plants, mushrooms and bacteria and insects are disrupted, killed, inhibited. They can no longer transmute atmospheric nitrogen and soil-locked minerals and organic debris into nutrients for plants.

The good stuff in the soil is also exposed to the harsh sun, rains, winds – all depleting the soils even further.

Our present day industrial Big Agriculture requires MASSIVE amounts of oil, mechanical toil, and amendments (also dependent on oil for their very manufacture) to compensate for the damage that plowing does to the soils.

Consider these stats:

Raw Broccoli

• From 1963 to 1999:
• calcium went from 103 mg/100g sample down to 48 mg/100g sample
• potassium went from 382 down to 325 mg/100g sample
• Water content went from 89.1% up to 90.6%

Red Tomatoes

• From 1963 to 1999:
• calcium went from 13 mg/100g sample down to 5 mg/100g sample
• magnesium went from 14 mg/100g sample down to 11 mg/100g sample
• potassium went from 244 down to 33 mg/100g sample

Raw Carrots

• From 1963 to 1999:
• calcium went from 37 mg/100g sample down to 27 mg/100g sample
• magnesium went from 23 mg/100g sample down to 15 mg/100g sample
• potassium went from 341 down to 323 mg/100g sample

On top of this soil holocaust, you have genetically modified plants (via breeding and the lab) that have been optimized for the industrial method and which are able to grow in depleted soils.

What you get are vegetables which LOOK like a carrot, a cabbage, a head of broccoli, corn, cucumbers, etc but if you were to measure the mineral and vitamin contents you would find something closer to a wet soggy sponge.

Let me repeat: Big Organic growers grow their plants with this same Big Ag industrial model – huge carbon foot print and destruction of the soils.

What this means to you at the store, is that when you buy Organic, you are buying a compromised promise of pesticide purity but not wholesomeness. You are buying simulations of vegetables.

Taking vitamins will not solve this problem because they are based on a false premise. Many vitamins are not absorbable by the human body unless they are embedded within the context of food (be it plant or flesh).

The only way to resolve this issue (and just how many diseases arise from our bodies being depleted almost from the moment of conception) is to buy veggies from small farms that are practicing permaculture and organic gardening methods.

Better yet, learn how to get your own permaculture and organic garden beds going so that you can eat REAL vegetables with actual vitamins and minerals.

What a concept

If you are interested in learning how, visit my garden blog at Humble Garden and also ask me in comments.

Can I tell you about a secret thing I learned recently?

We planted asparagus last year and this spring we have been sampling a few spears from the 1st year growth. The production quantity is meager in the first year so its sampling, by definition.

No, thats not the secret.

Let me tell you the secret now. Homegrown asparagus is as different from store-bought as a rainbow is to the pitch black of a new moon night.

My vocabulary for flavor is just unprepared for the job of describing the difference between freshly picked, homegrown asparagus versus the poor things at the big box grocery store that has been soaking in germy water for days, traveling unknown miles. That asparagus is also bred specifically for putting up with the rigors of early picking, bruisy travel, oxidation, and temperature changes – all so that the poor defeated spears can sit on the grocery store shelves in pallid water until you pick them up, dump them in a bag, drag them home, and put them into your fridge for some short period of time. They are also likely grown on mineral and micro-nutrient depleted soils, leaving them mere simulations of asparagus.

Another secret – the flavor of the asparagus changes if you taste the stem versus the tip.

The main aspects of intact homegrown asparagus flavor include:

• complexity
• no bitterness
• vegetal sweetness
• a unique asparagus favor that is present in store-bought but which is divine in it’s purity

As you nibble your way to the tip, it becomes sweeter and more tender. If you are not paying attention, it is gone before you have had a chance to really appreciate the flavor.

Just like all of life right?

Its especially dear if you grow it yourself and you know it will be a whole year until the next chance to have such delicious flavors.

In terms of cooking, I would recommend a quick blanch, chill, and then a quick warm up in a bit of melted butter. There is no need to add anything besides a sprinkle of salt.

Let the asparagus sing to your soul.

Yikes, I have been so blocked with both of my blogs this past week. I can not put my finger on exactly why but that is the way writing is. For me its a double block because its both writing and shooting. Part of the problem, I think, is that the baby is starting to fight one of his naps so my writing time has been severely curtailed. Now the baby goes to sleep just as the middle child comes home from preschool. *sighs* I also am finding that shooting is more difficult because the baby and the middle one have decided that they must throw tantrums when I set up for a shot and that they need to scream the entire time I am shooting. I have said this before, while other photographers have to worry about the food looking stale in their shots, I have to shoot as fast as humanly possible in fears of hyperventilation and loss of 1 and 4 year old mental competence. Peace returns when the setup is put away. Gotta find a way around this problem. So, all excuses aside, I am trying to fight my way out of the double block, lets hope this post comes off ok!

On top of all of THAT, I am resisting this massive urge to write this post-modernist post-feminist paean to how my life has been impacted so utterly by the karma of the 1960s and the 1970s. I just watched the season finale of “Mad Men“, my favorite show, and I feel twisted up with conflictions around who I wanted to be and who I AM and who I want my kids to be and worry about what they may turn out to be. I won’t write it here, its off topic. But I do have to say that food plays a part of it but I am more concerned about the messy state of my kitchen and what that says about me than my ability to make puff pastry.

Back to the food.

We are finally starting to dig up some of our homegrown straw bale organic potatoes. I think next year we will be planting them in the ground because the straw doesn’t protect the tubers from the rodentia so we are getting some losses. We have also not gotten nearly as as many potatoes as we should have per plant.

If you have never eaten fresh out-of-the-ground potatoes then you have never eaten potatoes, period. They taste so fantastic, so perfect, the true realization of potato goodness.

I decided to make an autumn themed breakfast sort of celebration of potatoes.

I heated some olive oil, added some turmeric and salt, added some sweet onion, and then the sliced potatoes. Sauteed them until they were crispy and brown.

For the egg, I separated the yolk from the white. I heated some olive oil to about low medium and then submerged the yolk in the oil. Its a sort of yolk confit I guess. I put the white in a pan with olive oil and allowed it to harden on a low heat. I used a leaf cookie cutter and cut out some egg white leaves for garnish. I am not so sure I like the yolk preparation, I like mine much less done.

I served this all on one of my all time favorite things that are not really that good for me, a Nabisco Crown Pilot Cracker. I can not explain WHY I like these crackers so much, they just have this satisfying flavor. I had no idea that they were a New England obsession until I googled it. Check it out.

Technorati Tags: photographer, post-modernist, post-feminist, paean, karma, Mad Men, puff pastry, homegrown, straw bale, organic, autumn, breakfast, potato, olive oil, turmeric, sweet onion, potatoes, egg, white, yolk, Nabisco, Crown Pilot Cracker

Growing eggplants can be a speculative enterprise. I planted two types, purple and Turkish eggplants. The purples seem to go into suspended animation after sprouting and waited MONTHS before they got to a point where they are bearing fruits.

The Turkish eggplants were over-run but some very poorly behaved salad tomatoes that have terrorized me and my garden for months now. I will have to grow them again next year. I need to know what those are like.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to pick the first eggplant and see if it is any better than the bitter things you buy in the big-box stores.

I can say most emphatically that our homegrown eggplant was the furthest thing from bitter and had the most transcendent “eggplant” flavor I have ever experienced. I even left the skin on them and there was STILL no bitterness.

Using some technique from the Indian cookbooks, I revisited the previous spicy eggplant recipe but without any pretension toward heat, just spice.

I served it with some tangy turmeric panko encrusted goat cheese and these fantastic fruity and sweet seckel pears.

Coconut Spice Eggplant

Ingredients:

• 1 small eggplant, cubed
• 1/4 to 1/2 C oil (your choice, use something neutral in flavor)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds (yellow or black)
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 medium sweet white onion
• 2 T unsweetened coconut
• pinch of salt, to taste
• 2 T water

Directions:

If you have young eggplants you might want to leave the skins on or you can peel them. Cut into cubes and set aside.

Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a small well seasoned cast iron frying pan to medium and add a couple, three mustard seeds. Once the seeds pop, add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and cover. Once the popping stops, remove the lid and add the turmeric and the cumin. Swirl the spices around in the oil. They will foam up a bit.

After about 2-3 mins, add the onions and cook in the oil until somewhat translucent but NOT toasted or browned in any way.

Add the eggplant and coconut, with a sprinkle of salt.

Coat the eggplant and saute until the oil is absorbed.

Add about 2 tablespoons of water and cover, cook on low heat until the eggplant has cooked to a medium soft stage. Stir this mixture occasionally when you check on it.

Serve on rice or other starch or perhaps as I have here with some goat cheese and seckel pear.

Turmeric Panko encrusted Chevre

Ingredients:

• 4 – 8 ounces cold chevre
• 1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (use fresh if at all possible)
• panko, enough to coat the cheese

Directions:
Slice chilled goat chevre into medallions and replace in the refrigerator.

Add oil to small cast iron pan (well seasoned) or non-stick pan at medium to medium high heat (watch for scorching at any point in this process). Add turmeric to the oil, it will foam a bit.

Put panko in a bowl and then press the chevre medallions into the panko firmly to coat the ends (not the sides).

Place the cheese in the hot turmeric oil and allow to toast to a tan or brown you like. You need to cook it enough to form a crust so that you can flip it over. You may have to experiment at this stage to find the level of toasting that allows you to flip it with out making a mess!

Flip, toast on the other side, serve hot with fruit or crackers or some other inventive idea all your own!

The toasted cheese plays VERY well with the pear and the eggplant. It was such a refreshing lunch and I totally did not miss meat or starch. That is not a bad thing at all.

Links of Interest:

• Seeds of Change Turkish Eggplant seeds

Technorati Tags: eggplant, store, homegrown, transcendent, bitterness, Indian, heat, spice, turmeric, panko, goat cheese, seckel, pear, Coconut, mustard seed, cumin, chevre

(Tomato tart)

(Red Calabash, microgreens, cherry tomatoes, tomatillo)

Other people had tomatoes WEEKS ago, some MONTHS! We live in an area where the growing season dictates setting one’s tomato plants out on Memorial Day. Its been quite a rollercoaster ride with endless weeks of dark rainy days and then now drought conditions (it turned around so fast). Our trees are now already in a good fall color, WAY too early.

If you are thinking about coming to central Massachusetts on Columbus Day for peak fall colors, you will have missed it!

Back to my own little ecosystem.

We are simply awash in organically grown red gold. We have some mega beefsteak tomatoes that are stupendous if not grown from organic seeds (but organic thereafter).

We have many organic heirloom tomatoes from Seeds of Change that are yielding well. We are eating heirloom Arkansas Travelers, Yellow Perfection Pears, Calabash, Burbank, and Brandywines. I also planted “variety” salad tomatoes that are yielding a confetti of orange, red, and yellow cherry, grape, and pear tomatoes!

Our tomatillos are starting to fill out so I am looking forward to roasting some up and making a Rick Bayless recipe for roasted tomatillo salsa (see this blog post – Pre-constructed tomatillo salsa).

We are eating tomatoes at every meal now. A big part of me wants to have us eat all of these fresh, now, at peak flavor and nutrition instead of canning them.

One nice way to “dress up” a tomato for a meal (if you should feel the need) is to make a tidy little tomato tart out of it. I chose a heart shape because I was also shooting to make a logo for the Share Our Strength‘s Great American Bake Sale (you may have seen it in my side bar last week).

I simply used store-bought puff pastry and made little heart shapes. I scored the interior part of the heart to be sure it didn’t puff up too much. I sliced some tomatoes and put it on the raw dough. I roasted/baked these at 400F until the color was right on the dough (time totally depends on your oven!).

Before shooting/serving, I painted a bit of bacon fat on the tomatoes because 1) I had fresh bacon fat on hand, 2) you cant beat bacon fat – think BLT, 3) it has a lovely sheen (just don’t let it get cold!)

Related Posts:

• Pre-constructed tomatillo salsa

Sites of Interest:

• Humble Garden – Our organic garden
• Seeds of Change (organic seeds and other things you may need for organic gardening)
• Rick Bayless
• Share Our Strength
• SOS Great American Bake Sale

Technorati Tags: Tomato tart, Red Calabash, microgreens, cherry tomato, tomatillo, tomato, plants, Memorial Day, fall color, Massachusetts, Columbus Day, ecosystem, red gold, beefsteak, tomatoes, organic, heirloom, Seeds of Change, Arkansas Travelers, Yellow Perfection, Calabash, Burbank, Brandywine, confetti, pear, Rick Bayless, roasted, tomatillo, salsa, Share Our Strength, Great American Bake Sale, puff pastry