Yellow Gold is Everywhere

It started yesterday as TC picked dandelions to make dandelion honey, a concoction of flowers infused in a sugar solution and then reduced to a syrup. It continued in the garter stitch with a lace border of my Beeswax scarf, started sometime in March and finished this afternoon. It culminated in the egg yolk bolstered hue of the Osterpinze, a sweet bread with Italian roots that is eaten in Styria at Easter. TC tried his hand at preparing one, jazzing up the classic recipe with anise seed and raisins doused in krupnik, a Polish honey vodka. The color of the hour: yellow gold.

This weekend we have been working on what I call the Mindful Kitchen Project. After two and a half years of sharing a kitchen, it was time to go through all the shelves, drawers, and storage space and scrutinize each object. Is it useful? How often do we use it? Is there an obstacle to us using it? If so, how can it be removed? What I have found is that we have much more than we think we need, starting with pots and pans. In the past, multiple pots of the same size have encouraged sluggish dishwashing and more countertop clutter. We removed 5 pots and pans and still have 12 left. It looks shocking to see that in print since we only have four burners on our stove, but the 12 in question are of a variety of sizes and materials from the stainless steel soup pot to the cast-iron skillet to the pressure cooker. At least now they are stacked so that I can just open the drawer and grab what I need  in seconds without unstacking or searching for the right lid. Another factor to consider when deciding where to put things in the kitchen is how often they are needed. The items you use every day should be closest to the stove. We previously had a spice shelf within reach of the stove for quick access to seasonings – as well as a shelf full of spices in the pantry at the other end of the kitchen. Everything except two large jars of saffron and oregano (which I don’t use on a daily basis) is now housed on the shelf next to the stove. The new arrangement looks and feels great, though I’m sure we’ll still need to make some minor adjustments. It was a very satisfying weekend project to take a good look at the objects we have that allow us to create the tasty, nourishing food we call home cooking. Most have justified their existence and will continue to serve us well.

There’s still a little more yellow gold in the house, but not for long. We’ll burn the cat and rabbit beeswax candles this evening in the company of friends and polish off the Osterpinze along with some Easter eggs. If the deluge outside ever stops, perhaps we’ll make it up to the garden to harvest a horseradish root and grate a little to accompany the eggs. Hope you’re keeping dry and enjoying some tasty food – traditional or not.

Why Go against the Grain?

TC’s latest loaf made my mouth water. The joy of anticipating the taste of the first slice of bread from a freshly baked loaf has been commonplace for the past 10,000 years since the the ancestors of the wheat and spelt in this loaf were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. I recently finished reading the book Am Anfang war das Korn (In the Beginning was the Grain) by geobotanist Hansjörg Küster. It tells the story of how the domestication of plants changed the course of human history. According to Küster, agriculture (a word that comes from Latin and means the cultivation of fields) is the central innovation of human history. The choice to cultivate certain plants with qualities we found desirable (including being able to be stored for longer periods of time) radically altered our whole way of life. Previously hunters and gatherers that moved around constantly in search of food, we decided to stay in one place and devote our efforts to tending a few special crops. Over time, we developed trade routes to obtain tasty things that didn’t grow where we lived. Our numbers grew with this stable source of food.

Since we need a combination of carbohydrates, fats, and protein to meet our nutritional needs, it should come as no surprise to learn that our ancestors in Southwest Asia who domesticated the founder crops, as they are called, chose plants that provide these three fundamental macronutrients: emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley for carbohydrates; lentils, peas, and chickpeas for protein; flax for oil. With time, other plants joined the roster, diversifying our food portfolio: fruit-bearing trees such as olive, fig, and walnut; poppy seed, which was used not only as a spice but also for oil; grapes for wine. The list goes on and on, and at some point I stopped taking notes and realized that when this book comes out in paperback, I want to buy a copy to have as a reference because there is so much in it worth knowing. It boggles my mind how many people today demonize grains because they are full of carbohydrates (which we need to live). Knowing the history of our relationship to grains, it seems a bit uncivilized, this rejection.

Despite being a staunch supporter of a grain-based diet, I am not growing any on my balcony, which is full of herbs, fruit, flowers, and vegetables. All the perennials are thriving with the warm spring temperatures. As it is wont to do, the savory above has just exploded, and I am happy to see that the sage I transplanted into the big planter feels good in its new spot. My camomile, thyme, lemon verbena, lemon balm, mallow, mint, and rue are all doing well. It looks like the parsley seeds I sowed a few weeks back have started to germinate. The only loss has been my marjoram – and that was a case of neglect on my part, I’m sad to say.

As for our garden, the strategy this year is to make one big bed (2 by 6 meters), enclose it with a slug fence, divide it into three sections, take good care of that, and not feel guilty about what happens outside that fence. The big bed is nearly ready to go, and after a round of weeding I started planting orach or mountain spinach (Atriplex hortensis) and kale in the two sections that have already been cleared. Outside the garden gate was a box with free sage plants, so I took one and planted it outside the bed in a spot that gets lots of sun. TC has already planted a bunch of Jerusalem artichokes along the edge of the raspberry bushes. If you plant by the moon or are a biodynamic gardener, this week is a good time to sow seeds as the moon is waxing. We hope to get peas, radishes, carrots, beets, red onions, and turnips in the ground soon. It’s also time to start zucchini and squash inside. After all that work, I can hardly wait to taste the first ripe strawberry of the year. I have never seen as many blossoms on the strawberry plants as there are this year.

I hope your gardening plans for 2014 are coming along. Enjoy the longer days and savor the grain of your choice!