The foraging and culinary partnership of Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich continue to make amazing discoveries. I’d describe their work as elemental–start with wild, local ingredients, use direct but often novel techniques to create a cuisine at once sophisticated and neo-primitive. We blogged about their acorn processing workshop back in October. This month we were fortunate to have taken their class on cooking with clay.
A KCET blogger asked a couple of Master Food Preservers, including myself, what we thought would be good gifts for homesteady types. We all came up with, pretty much, the same items. Here’s the ones I suggested:
Saving the Season by Kevin West. We reviewed this book a few months ago but I’ll say it again: this is my favorite book on food preservation.
Excalibur dehydrator with stainless steel trays. Expensive, but this thing works a lot better than those cheap round dehydrators. Truly the Cadillac of deyhdrators.
1.5 liter lactofermentation kit. Yes, you can make one yourself, but this is a nice all-glass model. Plus, when you buy this you are supporting Ernest Miller who has given countless volunteer hours to build LA’s Master Food Preserver program.
What did you give to the homesteaders in your life? Or did you forgo gifts altogether?
Southern California has its first flour mill in a hundred years: Grist & Toll. G &T will be milling grain grown by small farmers here in the Southwest. We’re on the verge of a grain revolution and small mills like Grist & Toll are leading the way.
Dig Grist & Toll’s Austrian grain mill and sifter:
Rumor has it that Santa is bringing me a mini version of this mill.
Grist & Toll is open for special hours this holiday season:
Friday December 13th 12-6pm
Saturday December 14th 12-5pm
Friday December 20th 12-6pm
Saturday December 21st 12-6pm
Grist & Toll is located at 990 S. Arroyo Parkway #1 in Pasadena, California.
Stop on by and get the bakers in your life some hard to find flours. Make those holiday cookies with tasty Sonora wheat!
If you’re not in the Southern California area leave a comment with some tips on where to find interesting grains where you live . . .
We’re lucky to live a few doors down from LA’s coolest caterer, Jennie Cook. When I hear about an event she’s working I always try to skank an invitation. We had her caterer an event for us a few years ago and it was at that dinner that I first encountered Jennie’s legendary vegan lasagna.
Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis.
In the last 20 years bakers around the world have revived the art of baking with a sourdough culture. At first this revival was related to flavor, but increasingly bakers are turning to sourdough cultures in the interest of health. It’s possible that the unique qualities of sourdough cultures may offer hope to those who think they are gluten intolerant or have an allergy to wheat.
