In short, I feel like we as a society have lost valuable skills in this age of computers and instant gratification. Not that instant gratification isn't nice, but there is a price to pay when you become reliant on anything other than yourself and I feel like I have become a very impatient person... I'm ready to slow down. My grandparents knew how to do things that my parents stopped doing, and as a result, I never learned how to do them (they say you always blame your mother - I also blame my dad, hahaha). It's part curiosity, part contingency plan, but I am determined to resurrect some of that knowledge, and I am finding that others have already done the work for me, I just have to collate the material and do the homework.
In that vein I am always looking for articles on how to do things, how to make things - in short, new skills. I am lucky in that Mike is also interested in the same thing, just on a different level. Where I'm all about the food (how to grow it, how to preserve it, how to turn it into something tasty and good for you) and comforts (salt scrubs, essential oils to make natural insect repellents or bath salts or use medicinally), he is more interested in how to create power from wind, water or sun, and more technical things in that vein.
All that is a long segue into how I'm going to start using this knowledge while we're on the road. In a word: fermentation.
Fermentation fascinates me. I am giddy over it. The things I have been reading about its health benefits, how easy it is to do... it blows my mind. I am determined that Mike and I are going to be healthier when I have more time on my hands to actually plan for it and make it happen. I have gone a little crazy with it to be honest. But I think it's a good kind of crazy.
So far this week I have purchased:
Water kefir grains - Water kefir grains are little colonies of beneficial bacteria. There are also milk kefir grains... simple enough distinction - instead of water, you use them with milk... if you want to know more you can look here. When placed in sugar water, much like yeast, water kefir devour the sugar and turn it into something else. In this case, the resulting liquid, or "kefir water," is a probiotic drink. You strain the grains out, add flavorings if you wish, it can even become carbonated and is supposedly still sweet even though the sugar is basically gone. This is something I hope to drink instead of soda. I also hope to make my own (healthier) syrups to create "sodas" using carbonated water I make with my Soda Stream. I'm a realist... I love soda and I can't quit cold turkey (*cough* don't want to), but if I can find a satisfactory replacement, I will gladly switch over.
I love this site, and this lady explains it so much better than I can
Yogurt Culture - There are several different varieties of yogurt cultures available and I chose one that has a milder flavor and cheese-like taste - but more importantly - it cultures at room temperature - no oven required. It's called filmjolk. You take milk, mix it with the starter culture, sit it on the counter for however long the directions recommend (and a little common sense)... voila - you have yogurt. Take a few teaspoons of the yogurt to set aside as culture for your next batch, and as long as you have culture and milk, you have perpetual yogurt that you make yourself so you control what goes into it. And you can use milk from the grocery store, just not the ultra-pasteurized kind.
Cheese - I finally bit the bullet and bought a cheesemaking kit. This particular kit purports to make about 10-30 lobs of 8 different kinds of cheese. I know you can also make soft cheeses with milk and lemon juice as well, but I prefer hard cheeses and like to have options. I have been fascinated and intimidated by cheesemaking for a while now. It probably won't happen much in the 5th wheel, but I can envision making cheese and leaving it to ripen in a climate-controlled bug/rodent-proof section of our building. Soft cheeses could probably be made in the 5th wheel, but with humidity being something of an issue I don't see myself doing a lot of boiling. Which brings me to...
Pickling / Brining. I have been interested in canning too, but with all the steps and the rules and the botulism warnings I haven't dipped my toe into the pond. Did you know that you can make fermented pickles, pickled green beans, pickled okra, sauerkraut and kimchi without vinegar, and without having to can it? All you need is salt, spices, water and time, and magic happens. No boiling required = no humidity issues. I am really eager to get started on that. We love pickles, but in reading about what we are and aren't supposed to eat according to the Blood Type Diet, we aren't supposed to have pickled anything if it's pickled using vinegar. And that made us very sad. This possibility makes us very happy.
I read this and it made a lot of sense to me:
"The synchronicity of traditional cultures pairing fermented foods with heavy protein and fatty dishes is remarkable and speaks to the genius of humans who pay attention. The bacteria and increased enzymatic action of naturally fermented foods helps the human body to digest and assimilate these proteins and fats. In Eastern Europe you find sauerkraut with sausages, in India lamb dishes are often served with yogurt. Chinese pickled cabbage is often found with animal proteins, while in Korea kimchee, a spicy type of sauerkraut, is served with barbeque meats and fried dishes. Japanese fish and meat dishes are usually served with pickled ginger or diakon radish, all of which help the body digest easier."
Also intriguing is kombucha. It's another drink. When I read that it was tea-based I wrote it off. I hate tea. It makes me want to gag. I loathe it. (except for cold chai tea lattes) But then I read another article about the possibility of kombucha tasting like hard cider... and my interest was piqued. I do like hard cider. Kombucha is another one of those fizzy drinks that could potentially replace my soda addiction.
Speaking of hard cider... also printed off a recipe for that. :)
Jerky is another thing I am determined to make this year. I don't like store bought because it's usually got a lot of pepper and I'm not a huge fan of peppercorns, but there's also something off about it... it's rare that anything store bought tastes as good as something homemade, and I also figure it's high in sodium and full of chemicals. Also not sure what kind of meat it is... if it is meat. So I want to try out some recipes and see what works for Mike and I. He's going to be climbing towers, so he needs easy to carry food that doesn't require refrigeration and is nutrient dense. Jerky fits that bill, and despite our blood type... we are carnivores, so we aren't giving that up, maybe we'll just cut back.
I think it's neat that some of these things can be done perpetually (sour cream and buttermilk can be too). If I have milk, I have yogurt, cheese, sour cream and buttermilk. If have kefir grains and kombucha scobies, water/tea and sugar, I have healthy drinks. If I have salt, water and vegetables, I have pickled anything. I can even make fermented salsa. And I don't need electricity to make any of it. Hell, even if the power goes out and I need to refrigerate something to stop the fermentation process, I can make one of these (as long as it isn't humid out...), and I'm set. Also, fermented veggies can be lacto-fermented using whey that I strain off of my cheese... I don't need to buy another starter if I want to do that instead of using salt.
As another self-sufficient move - at some point in the near future we are going to go live with our new enterprise: Volunteer Tactical. Tennessee is "the volunteer state" if you didn't know, thus the name. We're going to have some really neat stuff, so if you're interested in firearms and other tactical goodies, keep checking back.
