From the Rotted Foods Department

February 4th, 2010

Interesting discussion on making beet kvass on this Australian blog: http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/beet-kvass.  I tried using whey from organic yogurt in the last batch I made.  It’s not nearly as good as my raw whey efforts, but I can’t get unpasteurized milk here.

Speaking of rotted foods, doesn’t chocolate require a fermentation in the process of making it edible?  To paraphrase an old song making fun of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU):  “Can you imagine such a terrible sight, as a woman eating chocolate until she gets tight?”

Eatmore T.

Cafe Britt Gourmet chocolate


Winter Mushrooms

February 3rd, 2010

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From Bill Russell’s website:  http://www.brmushrooms.com/winter%20mushrooms.html.  Bill’s entire site is worth exploring.  You’ll find a few words on his book on my site also at http://eatmoretoadstools.com/Plant_and_Mushroom_Bibliography.php

Eatmore T.

Kimchee

February 3rd, 2010

tabasco.com (McIlhenny Company)

It’s cold and snowy.  Not a mushroom in sight.  So I am again concocting in my kitchen.  Making “rotted food,” as I call it.  This time it is kimchee.  I’ve found recipes on the internet and I alter them as I experiment.  I am not quite ready to publish my own recipe yet.  One thing I do is let the cabbage rot, I mean ferment, for 5 days.  Like sauerkraut. Then I add the peppers, garlic, leeks, etc.  I added spent beets from my kvass to one batch.  Worked out pretty good, even though beets don’t taste very Korean to me.

Eatmore T.

More Market Foraging

January 31st, 2010

I found these beauties on sale at an Asian market, where I was on a quest for ingredients for homemade kimchee.  I will probably write about that soon, especially since the ground is covered with snow.

Eatmore T.
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San Pedro Cactus

January 31st, 2010

Find Quality Trichocereus Cactus and more
Find Quality Trichocereus Cactus and more

I have found San Pedro cactus to be very easy to grow and very forgiving.  The one in the small white pot, without good drainage, went through several heavy storms outside this past fall.  Some plants would have rotted.  I brought it inside early in December and I just watered it again recently.

These photos contain cacti that is 4-5 years old, but have not achieved maximum growth because they have been kept in small containers.  I must also keep them away from humans and a curious cat because, as you can see, they have rather long needles and are potentially dangerous.

Eatmore T.

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Winter Mushrooms

January 21st, 2010

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I found these at a farmers market.  I’ve never seen shitake in the wild anyhow.  The caps went into a tofu stir-fry, served over brown jasmine rice.   The stems, which are too woody to digest, were tossed into the pot with leek roots and celery leaves for a vegetable broth.  I’m gonna make parsnip soup… if I  can find any good parsnips.

Eatmore T.

Holy Basil

January 19th, 2010

Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes & More

An excellent medicinal herb… “good for what ails ya,” as the old timers might say.  Scroll through my recent blog posts and soon you will find a Richter’s ad.  They sell it.

As you can see, there’s not loads of space between my house and the neighbors.  That’s a southern exposure, but I don’t get a full day of sun, and the months around the winter solstice are the worst.

Do you know what other plants are in the 2nd and 3rd photos?  Post and tell me.

Eatmore T.

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My Kratom Plant

January 10th, 2010

Quality Kratom from Thailand and Malaysia

I should have more of these plants.  I almost lost this one, probably by either keeping it too wet or not giving it enough sun.  I do not have a greenhouse, nor do I have a large bay window with a southern exposure.  And growing exotic plants from seed is a learning by doing experience.

I say “plant,” but actually this is a tree.  It has become a bit root bound in that pot (photos below).  I will transplant it into something larger when there is more sunlight.  I am thinking that it may produce seeds in a year or two if given a large enough pot, but I have not researched this.

In the third photo are other plants on the windowsill in my kitchen, including the “mystery plant.”  Can you name any of them?

If you want your own kratom seeds or plants, there are two reputable sellers advertised on this page.   I highly recommend both.  I bought seeds from another seller once,  and I got no germination.  I suspect the seeds were old, because only one plant (not kratom) germinated out of my entire seed order (and that plant produced seeds that readily germinate for me).

Sometimes it is my fault.  And sometimes the seeds are really difficult to germinate under less than ideal conditions away from their natural habitat.  Both of these sellers have replaced seeds that didn’t germinate that probably should have.  I do not ask for replacement seeds for some plants that I know are terribly difficult to germinate, because that would not be fair.  If the replacement seeds also refuse to germinate, I conclude that there is a problem on my end that a search of the available literature just did not turn up.

Eatmore T.

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More Mystery Plant Photos

January 10th, 2010

textbookx.com (Akademos, Inc.)

Hard to get a good photo of this plant.  The temperature reached 40, so I took a few photos outside.  But the wind was blowing and the plant wouldn’t stay still.  Same old problem with my inside photos… the glare.  Too bad I’m not a better photographer, but one cannot be an expert at everything.

What is this plant?

Eatmore T.

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Mystery Plant

January 2nd, 2010

I plant a lot of seeds.  They don’t always germinate, and some may come up much later.  I put most of my seed pots outside when the temperature is above freezing.  I leave a few outside in the winter if I know the plants need winter dormancy.  Seeds carried by the wind and the birds get into my pots also.

I have no idea what the plant pictured below is.  It came up in one of my pots. Its leaves are rather shiny.  The photos are not that great because I did not realize so much light would be reflected by the plant’s leaves.  Maybe I’ll take a few photos outside when we get a thaw, because I don’t think it is a freeze hardy plant.  Meanwhile, does anybody recognize this plant?  It might even be a tree, but it sure doesn’t look like anything growing in the neighborhood.

Eatmore T.

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