Silky divine varenets. The steps: raw or pasteurized milk is baked for hours until a deep golden skin forms. Lift off the skin and eat it, or save it for later. If you don’t have or don’t want to use an oven, an Instant Pot at 200F for 10 hours works well. Traditionally, this was made when the masonry stove in your house was cooling down.
Once you have your cooked milk, called топлёное молоко in Russian, cool it down. It then gets inoculated with sour cream, buttermilk or milk kefir. A teaspoon of any of the above added per cup of cooked milk is enough. The milk should be about 110F. Make sure your sour cream has live bacterial cultures – not just enzymes.
The more sour cream you add, the thicker it will be. Inoculate it for 6 to 8 hours exactly like yogurt, although 110F is the ideal temperature for this. Any yogurt maker will do, as will your Instant Pot or any place it can stay warm and covered for 6 to 10 hours at 85F or higher. But try to get it to 110F at least.
The baked down milk you make is never really sweet, but even after chilling down and adding the sour cream starter and inoculating it, it’s also not very sour. Just smooth and tasty. By the way, milk kefir can make this a little grainy and a little more sour, so we always use sour cream or buttermilk.
Eating varenets – actually, drinking it chilled – alone is rarely enough. It is typically eaten with other things as a snack. Sometimes these garnishes go in, or on the varenets.
This is an example of how to take varenets and turn it into riazhenka by adding heavy cream. You can actually just add heavy cream to it when eating it. The contrast in tastes and textures makes this a real joy. But add some heavy cream, about 1/4 cup per cup of baked milk, to make riazhenka. It should be much thicker.
As any cook knows sour cream cultured dairy will not curdle, so we really use it in everything. Using varenets and riazhenka as an alternative to sour cream can add a new taste to everything from salad dressings to smoothies to baked goods.
Quick riazhenka with all the garnishes: heavy cream in a bowl, the milk skins, stewed dried figs, sour cream and of course the tan colored silky smooth, thick and chilled varenets.
Sour Cream, Heavy Cream, Baked Milk Skin, Varenets, and Figs
There is from an event that is an ongoing benefit for World Central Kitchen. This $45 benefit package is available until 12/31/2022. An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – gets you in as an annual subscriber with access to hundreds and hundreds of videos in our library as well as future events in 2022. Everything in the library is also viewable until 1/1/2023.
Whether or not you are making a donation or getting an annual membership that also gets you into hundreds and hundreds of videos, you must register at https://paypal.me/FermentsandCultures to get on our mailing list. Otherwise send an email to kojibook@earthlink.net and we’ll figure something out.
What is Darra Goldstein’s latest book, The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food, about? The simplest answer is bread. And Salt. Saltness. Rye Bread and Saltness (Khleb da sol’).
The concept of using bread and salt to communicate hospitality is so important that even under the most severe circumstances, such as famines, during which the only ingredients available were chaff, sawdust, cellulose, tree bark, acorns and maybe a little actual rye, these ingredients were made into bread.
This is not simply some ancient ritual. In 1975, when Americans and Russians jointly ventured into space, salt tablets and crackers were used in the actual spaceship of the Apollo-Soyuz mission to express hospitality and hopes for success.
Varenets Skin – the top of the slowly evaporated milk that has caramelized into a tasty treat that is sometimes layered into rice pudding. Riazhennka is basically the same thing as varenets, but with cream added.
A narrative history of food in Russia (and Russian food), The Kingdom of Rye is a compendium of sorts to Goldstein’s previously published cookbook Beyond the North Wind. Despite outside influences that during periods of nationalist rallying were often denounced as not “our food,” Russian cuisine developed over hundreds of years based on a small number of ingredients coaxed from a harsh environment, and these foods came to define national identity. According to Goldstein, Russian cuisine is characterized by
the sour taste of fermented foods, found in pickles, brined fruits, rye bread, kvass, and cultured dairy products like sour cream
the earthy flavors of wild mushrooms and buckwheat groats
the zesty bite of horseradish and mustard
soups soured with kvass and pickle brine
the tart tang of Antonov apples and sea buckthorn
the sweetness of honey and milk baked to caramelized sweetness
Sourdough bread for kvass, a refreshing mildly alcoholic drink typically made from leftover or stale sourdough rye. Hops can be added to it – and any bread or even fruit can be used – to make a quick, tasty beer. The colder the better.
There’s so much in the book about how food was grown, made, procured, and eaten that any culinary enthusiast will want to try making at least a few of the dishes mentioned. Some are actually meticulously described, including how and why the beloved Russian rye bread was sliced in a certain manner – as on the cover of the book itself.
In fact, the title of the book comes from an expression translated from the Russian that means “the tsardom of rye,” but I think we can all agree that The Kingdom of Rye better suits the English language. Rye was sacred, a bountiful crop that could subsume memories of eating famine foods. A small piece of bread represented both talisman and community. And it very often was the difference between life and death.
The Russian kingdom of rye was one in which “begging for crusts” was a ritualized practice, something well known to serfs who could easily starve to death if their supplies ran out.
But the book is also about fermentation and the beloved tang of sourdough and fermented cabbage and beets and kvass, made from stale rye bread. As Goldstein notes, the Russian expression for “living hand to mouth” – as most people have lived throughout history – is living “from bread to kvass.”
This book is a trail of bread crumbs left over hundreds of years by writers and workers and peasants and the landed gentry and soldiers, reminding us that food and comfort and freedom are often controlled substances, often weaponized, or used as a beadle for religious compliance, or manipulated to encourage or enforce a state mandate or a politician’s ambitions.
The first thing I look at is the index of a book. Other than hospitality, the most indexed topic is food insecurity and famines, something Russia has a long history of confronting. Woefully, not all of the starvation periods during Russian history were the result of nature, or anything that a devout believer could be convinced was the result of divine retribution.
As Goldstein notes, famines and starvation are frequently the results of “cynical political determinations.” Such decisions are immediately relevant today, as Russia destroys farms and ravages farmlands, steals grain, and destroys the equipment and Ukraine’s capacity to grow more, thus potentially starving millions of people around the world.
Putin has done this before. Very recently, in fact, when hundreds of thousands of tons of food imported from Western countries and the EU were destroyed in mobile crematoria in response to the rage against sanctions imposed after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
But, these bread crumbs also lead to a very special kind of place where “kitchen dissidence” occurs: “The kitchen table defied the constraints of a life defined by scarcity, as abundant vodka and food invariably appeared on the table. Friends crowded in, sitting on stools and laps, often with a dozen adults and children crammed into only five or six square meters. The impromptu meals of hearty black bread, tins of canned fish, and home-salted mushrooms pulled from the stash under the bed, accompanied as they were by a lively exchange of ideas, represented an undeniable triumph over diversity, a genuine, loving communality.”
Goldstein claims that The Kingdom of Rye is an historical and ethnographic addendum to Beyond the North Wind.
But, no.
It’s also a review of Russian literature that includes lush, evocative details about specific foods. As Goldstein states: “Writing about food calls for an appreciation of food’s sensory qualities, whether it’s the heady fragrance of Antonov apples in autumn or the visceral smell of pig’s feet simmering into the meat aspic called studen’. What equivalences are there between an aristocratic table, laden with flowers and shimmering with candles à la russe, and a peasant family’s rough board, upon which a communal pot of wild mushroom and barley soup has been set? Where but in Russian literature can you find that nineteenth-century prototype, the superfluous man, bemoaning the emptiness of life even as he reaches for another piece of pie as if for the embodiment of truth? And who is to say that the superfluous man isn’t right to find truth materialized in sensory delight? This domestic history of Russian food offers a look into people’s daily lives, to serve up a history that originates from the wooden spoon rather than from the scepter.“
Sourdough Rye bread with cracked coriander seeds, with spiced and salted tvorog cheese
Every word in this book is relevant to the situations we face worldwide in regard to sustainability, famine, food justice, foraging, self-determination, ingenuity, the weaponization of food, religion, politics, and what Goldstein describes as the most crucial attribute of culinary identity: “..and, perhaps above all, [food’s] cultural resonance and the emotional value of traditional flavors, how people know who they are by what they eat together.“
Goldstein isn’t a stranger to receiving awards for her cookbooks. This one, however, deserves a Pulitzer. There has never been a book like it – an ethnographic treatise on the history of a people as told through their food and the techniques they devised to feed themselves through centuries of victory, defeat, the miseries inflicted by the state or by nature, and the sheer joy of eating. After reading the book, you will not look at bread, grains, pickles, mushrooms, pies, restaurants or politics the way you did before.
This book leads through the forest of history to a place, where we can hopefully all taste food and taste freedom.
It’s a generous invitation to learn from the past, using food as a universal language.
We all eat. History is filled with stories of those involved in violent conflicts or centuries-long animosity coming together by sharing bread or recognizing that it’s a universal need. A source of survival. And of national identity. And always a bargaining chip that should not be used to starve or blackmail.
But will we ever learn from history? Will we ever accord food security and equity the same status as political power? Will we ever learn to quickly and rapidly deal with tyrants and bullies who would gladly let grain and other food rot to advance their control over others? This is not exclusively a Russian tactic of waging war.
Buckwheat Blini with Onion Vzvar
Hopefully, by communicating the importance of sharing food and drink, this book will encourage everyone to stop the use of food as a weapon in Ukraine, and in every other country around the world. This book is indeed a culinary ethnography, but for anyone that has ever felt love, hope, gratitude, and belonging when eating, when sharing food, when tasting home. The world desperately needs this book right now.
Full length interviews with Darra Goldstein on both of her books, Beyond the North Wind and The Kingdom of Rye, is available in our Ferments and Cultures library for members.
Whey based thermophilic starter culture at Cascina Lago Scuro – Mozzarela
Wooden vats as microbe reservoirs – Ragusano
No added starter culture but udder microbes – Langhe Tuma
Specific temperature starter cultures from selected animals – St. James
Cross cultural observations on natural or no starter culture cheeses. The notion of slow fermentation, which like sourdough can lead to more complex flavor and is the antithesis of the industrial approach (fast=safe). The diversity of pastoralism. Transhumance. Taking cheesemaking to its source, teat and udder health, how fresh healthy milk from healthy animals is the starting point for great cheese.
There is no fee for this event, but it is still part of a benefit for #wckitchen. Whether or not you are making a donation you must register at the paypal.me/FermentsandCultures link. Hit Send and fill in the information. Or jump on now, and do it later if you want to watch later. That includes any of the sessions from this year as well. This $45 benefit package is available until December.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – gets you in as an annual subscriber with access to hundreds and hundreds of videos in our library as well as future events in 2022. Everything viewable until 1/1/2023. #cheese #fermentation #wildfermentation #artisancheese #culturesgroup #fermentsandcultures
Schedule for remaining May events. These events are free, but you must use the PayPal link to register (therefore, whatever minimum they have). To register it’s $45 for the entire month and all events, plus all the events from March and April with related videos you can watch until the end of the year. If you have already donated for April or purchased an annual subscription you are not required to do so again for May. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
May 20, 2022, 4PM EST (Streaming now for subscribers) The Silk Road and the Origins of the Foods we Eat Rob Spengler
May 21, 2022 , 4PM EST (Live) The History of Perso-Arab Cuisine Charles Perry
May 22, 2 PM EST (Live) A tour of history and culture through Russian cuisine Darra Goldstein and Kirsten Shockey
May 23, 12 PM EST (Live) Bread and Community Soiree-Leone, Dawn Woodward, Naomi Duguid
May 28, 7 AM EST (Live) Naturally Fermented Cheeses Trevor Warmedahl
Kundiumi, baked then steamed dumplings filled with mushrooms, sorrel or mustard greens and buckwheat from Darra Golstein’s Beyond the North Wind. Photo by Stefan Wettainen
Schedule for May events TBA, although most likely all live events will take place between May 20 and May 25th. To register it’s $45 for the entire month and all events, plus all the events from March and April with related videos you can watch until the end of the year. If you hav e already donated for April or purchased an annual subscription you are not required to do so again for May. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Videos being Edited
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
“Ukrainian cheesemakers are facing great uncertainties and challenges. Listen to some of their stories, including Olga Ternytska’s @karote777 whom I met on a visit in 2017, on an excellent program recently released by @cuttingthecurd radio with @carlosyescas .
Also; this Saturday at 12pm EST I’ll be talking about the traditions of Ukrainian dairy fermentation as a fundraiser for the @wckitchen and their excellent efforts to feed refugees fleeing the violence.Organized by @cultures.group as part of their April Flours event” by David Asher
To register just for one day of sessions, full schedule below, we are asking for a $15 donation. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month and all 20+ sessions that you can watch until the end of the year, however. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Friday, April 29
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos ( Eiko Takahashi) Live 4 PM – 6 PM EST (ZOOM)
Saturday, April 30th
Crème fraîche – No Chemicals, No Inoculants, Lots of Goodness by David Asher
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live 11 AM – 12 PM EST (ZOOM)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher) Live 12- 1 PM EST (ZOOM)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live 1:30 to 3 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
To register just for this session, full schedule below, we are asking for a $15 donation. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month and all 20+ sessions that you can watch until the end of the year, however.
$75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Friday, April 29
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos ( Eiko Takahashi) Live 4 PM – 6 PM EST (ZOOM)
Saturday, April 30th
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live 11 AM – 12 PM EST (ZOOM)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher) Live 12- 1 PM EST (ZOOM)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live 1:30 to 3 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
To register just for one of these sessions, full schedule below, we are asking for a $15 donation for each one. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live.
No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
From StoryCooking.com – “Food has a way of transcending circumstances, time and place. My friend Amy Halloranand I read and cooked from @oliahercules book Summer Kitchens today and Amy reminded us of our connections to Turkey Red Wheat, brought to the United States by Mennonite immigrants from Russia then, now Ukraine and how it is part of our daily bread. I made varenyky two ways – one using my 321 sourdough egg pasta recipe and the other whole wheat dumplings adapted from ilia’s book Summer Kitchens. Amy showed us how to make Pampushky, sourdough garlic bread.”
As then, when you all come together your donation will support World Central Kitchen https://wck.org work to help Ukraine.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos ( Eiko Takahashi) Live 4 PM – 6 PM EST (ZOOM)
Saturday, April 30th
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live 11 AM – 12 PM EST (ZOOM)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher) Live 12- 1 PM EST (ZOOM)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live 1:30 to 3 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Comparison of flours in cookie: Whole Rye, Buckwheat or Wheat. Guess what?
Laura Valli, a PhD candidate @wsu_bread_lab and a habitual presenter for Cultures.Group on rye and fermentation described several experiments during a recent session of April Flours – recorded thanks to the super janine Johnson. It was an absolute masterclass in rye baking and microbial interactions.
Laura Valli uses a rye starter that is very different than any starter we’ve seen.
Having @evelyns.crackers Dawn Woodward and Ed just made it all the more excellent. We have that as well on video in the April Flours benefit showcase. Most people have no idea about the aspects of rye based fermentation that makes it so unique and fascinating. We will rerun this later on. So register for the full #aprilflours benefit now to help WCK feed Ukranian refugees, and you will be able to watch it. Or subscribe for an annual membership.
Rye Starter.
A lot of baker’s won’t go near Rye. And very, very few know of the development of different raices of rye and how individual characteristics contribute to how rye performs. Lots of that information shared during this session.
Thanks to a resurgence of grain farming and milling, often in collaboration with the bakers and chefs that are using the end product, rye and whole grains like rye are more under study than ever before. That will actually b e part of the far ranging discussion of Zev Robinson’s film we are showing live this Saturday April 30th. Another reason to register now for the April Flours benefit.
Experiments in Rye Bread Baking
April Flours is our month long benefit for #wckitchen to feed the people of Ukraine. $45 for a year of viewing event related videos and live sessions and edited replays when available. We have been uploading new videos as we go along. These videos are always in the showcase for the event, regardless of when you donate. We have turned the final week into two days with many sessions.
Two of these cookie types taste almost identical, mouth feel and all.
To register just for one of these sessions we are asking for a $15 donation for each one. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live.
No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however.
$75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos (Live ) Eiko Takahashi 4 PM EST
Saturday, April 30th
11 – 12 PM EST Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live
12- 1 PM EST The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation David Asher (Live)
1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Seasoned Sourdough Yeast Salt Popcorn and Sourdough Garlic Cream Cheese by Heather Willensky@fermentsh
Sourdough Starter, and Kvass (or bread beer) for that matter, typically contain both lactic acid, yeasts, and sometimes acetobacteria that are associated with vinegar and acetic acid. Dehydrating sourdough starters of different kinds, like dehydrating pickling or fermenting brines, can create distinct tasting seasoning agents.
There seems to be a resurgence of the use of microbe infused salts and the use of dehydrated ferment brines and cultures, including sourdough starters and leftover bread.
Sure, the idea of backslapping, or using a small portion of a previous batch of something cultured or fermented to make a new batch, is not a new concept, but it is interesting to see people realizing that unless a very specific set of microbes and environmental conditions existed in a specific area, recycling at least a few of the successful microbes is what has enabled us to create generations of cultures that can be passed down.
The problem is how these things were and are passed down, and what creates a break in the links between generations. When that happens, artificial cultures are often used to replace what would have been created naturally.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, but culture is not just about specific microbes, but how we have interacted with the enormous diversity of animals, plants, insects, bacteria, yeasts, fungi that are part of the human existence in the world.
With dairy fermentations, but also with all kinds of grain and legume and plant fermentations, we are rapidly losing that knowledge due to forced relocation, the convenience and cost of processed foods, lack of financial opportunities or Amy equitable resource sharing system, irreversible climate change, and apathy.
Recycling cultures is not at all a new concept. Salt was always a very cherished commodity historically, so reusing it to create a sour, salty type of seasoning similar to citric acid or dehydrated vinegar or salt is very well documented. The tanginess of lactobacillus bacteria creates taste. It also provides safety to newer ferments by lowering the PH similar to how soluble lactic acid is used today in brewing and even things like soy sauce or miso.
Heather relates her history of craving the umami of smoked salmon with a bagel and cream cheese, but sometimes specific ingredients are out of financial reach. But substances like bacteria, fungus, molds and yeasts are everywhere, often for free when you know understand the basic methods to create safe edible items and if you have access to resources like water and land and air and sun.
Ironically, the practice of dehydrating starches that have soured or fermented (sometimes both) is at least 5,000 years old and was really the start of grain, seed and other substances that served as the substrates of levain in dumplings, noodles, and breads. The Qi Min Yao shu, for example, describes in detail how soured rice or other grain water, or the lees from wine were used as leavening agents. Often, these were dehydrated into starters for a later date. In effect, the original qu (麹)or koji as most of you know it as represented by cakes and balls and disks of mixed microbes.
Heather has some pretty creative ways to use the yeasts in breads and sourdough starters, searching for an umami taste that tasted like the comfort of home. She began fermenting in her kitchen in 2008. From the moment her swing-top bottles exploded at 4PM raining ginger beer down over her kitchen she knew she was in love. A former music licensing specialist, Heather has spent the past 14 years experimenting with fermentation from pickles to beer and bread.
The pandemic and new motherhood provided an excellent opportunity to delve deeper into fermentation, exploring its limitless applications and techniques and connecting with the online fermentation community. You can follow her adventures on her @fermentsh instagram page.
April Flours is our month long benefit for #wckitchen to feed the people of Ukraine. $45 for a year of viewing event related videos and live sessions and edited replays when available. We have been uploading new videos as we go along. These videos are always in the showcase for the event, regardless of when you donate. We have turned the final week into two days with many sessions.
To register just for one of these sessions we are asking for a $15 donation for each one. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos (Live ) Eiko Takahashi 4 PM EST
Saturday, April 30th
11 – 12 PM EST Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live
12- 1 PM EST The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation David Asher (Live)
1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
