Snow-Melting Turmeric Pickle

This recipe is raw, tangy, enzyme-rich, highly nutritious and cleansing. Most people are primarily familiar with turmeric in its dried, powdered form, but, increasingly, the fresh root is available in general markets- it looks very much like ginger, its close cousin, but the color and flavor are markedly different. Fresh turmeric has an ethereal quality, unlike any other flavor- peppery, bitter, and slightly reminiscent of orange- it's quite transporting.

For thousands of years cultures in the East have used turmeric as a potent and delicious medicine. It is a main spice in dishes throughout Asia such as curries, chutneys, and tagines. Turmeric tea is a staple beverage of the Okinawans- who also, perhaps un-coincidentally have the highest life-span in the world.

It is only relatively recently that turmeric has made its way into the Western diet. And there it has generally stayed relatively on the periphery- added in modest quantities to curry and to mustard. But increasingly, people are turning to turmeric as a preventative and potential cure for things like arthritis, inflammation, skin problems and even cancer and dementia.

Turmeric helps the body detoxify by stimulating bile production from the gallbladder and helping to cleanse and protect the liver. Because of its assistance to the body’s detoxifying methods, turmeric is often used to help treat acne, arthritis, heavy metal toxicity, high cholesterol etc.

Chinese medicine and Ayurveda both use turmeric to treat liver disorders- everything from hangovers to jaundice. In Ayurvedic medicine turmeric is referred to as "the great detoxifier". It is used internally to combat dangerous bacteria from food poisoning as well as to drain excess “kapha”- or damp, cold, sluggish states of the body- such as excess mucus. This time of year kapha excess is rampant as the warm spring sun begins to drain the accumulation of cold dampness in the body (think of snow melting after winter).

Turmeric works primarily by reducing inflammation in the body, which helps neutralize the effects of the stressful, and inflaming Western lifestyle and diet. The active agent in turmeric is curcumin- a powerful antioxidant now proven to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects. Curcumin has shown to strengthen cell membranes and boost resistance to infection.

Traditionally in India mothers slather a paste of powdered turmeric on every cut or wound that appears in front of them and modern studies have shown that turmeric is an excellent disinfectant.

Interestingly, studies have shown that turmeric is more available to the body when it is combined with black pepper. Black pepper contains piperine- a compound that helps increase absoption and bioavailability of curcumin.

Learning about the health benefits of turmeric, I was looking for a way to use fresh turmeric and came across several variations of this traditional pickle. This is a potent relish that adds spice, pungency and tang. It would be delicious on soup or curry, but also on eggs, rice or meat.

There are many ways this recipe could be altered- more jalapeno, cilantro perhaps, or toasted cumin or fenugreek would be nice.

Another option for this recipe is to lacto-ferment it. By adding a few teaspoons of whey to the finished recipe and leaving the relish covered and in a warm place for a few days to allow the lacto-bacilli to grow, the recipe adds beneficial bacteria as well as having the additional benefit of keeping much longer.

RECIPE:

(I wrote out the weight for the ginger and turmeric ratios so that you get an exact proportion, however, feel free, as always, to adjust to your taste)

1/4 lb fresh turmeric root

.1 lb fresh ginger (or about 3-4 inches)

1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely minced

1-2 limes (depending on how juicy they are)- zest and juice- only the green part, avoid the bitter white pith

1 tablespoon raw honey

1 tablespoon coriander seed

black pepper

sea salt

2 tsp. whey (optional)

Lightly heat coriander seeds in a heavy skillet until fragrant- set aside. Grate turmeric- I don't bother to peel it, but be careful, as it will stain everything from your clothes to your skin bright yellow (the color of monk's robes and a symbol of prosperity)

Finely mince or grate ginger. Mix everything together in a bowl.

Let sit for several hours before serving. It will keep for at least a week or so in the fridge.

Snow Moon Chutneys

It's the full moon. Last night, the glorious orb rising in the sky was so large it almost seemed like an intruding guest on the horizon- its reflection shimmering across the bay. In the agrarian year, there are thirteen lunar cycles. Most of the cultures of the world have names for each of the moons. These names vary depending on the culture- so for instance, many of the native tribes of the pacific northwest have moon names that refer to salmon, while agriculturalists of the Southwest have many moon names that refer to corn.

In her book, Full Moon Feast, Jessica Prentice explores each moon cycle. The moon that we are entering now was called the Snow Moon in sixteenth-century England. It was the time when the first snows began to fall- when people were gathering there last stores of food for winter and preserving the last of the harvest.

Almost every culture around the world has a traditionally "cultured" food- which is how people preserved food before modern canning and refrigeration. Much of the world depends on lacto-fermented vegetables to help the body digest the meat-heavy diet of winter, when fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce. These foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut were traditionally made with whey, which allows a slow careful decay- by introducing micro-organisms that our bodies need. With the introduction of pasteurization, people became obsessed with "sanitized" food. Food began to be cooked at high temperatures, killing all of the helpful bacteria, leaving our bodies susceptible to viruses and harmful bacteria. The lactobacilli in traditionally fermented vegetables and fruits enhance their digestibility, increasing their vitamin levels and restoring the healthy partnership between our bodies and the billions of microscopic organisms which we need to stay healthy*

To make the whey for these recipes, simply put a quart or so of live, organic, whole-milk yogurt in a colander lined with cheesecloth. Let it sit over night in a bowl. The liquid that drains out is whey- in the cheesecloth is yogurt cheese- which you can use like cream cheese- it's delicious!

Here are two recipes for chutneys. One is lacto-fermented, the other is cooked. You could make the persimmon chutney in the same way the cranberry chutney was made- I just wanted to present two styles. They would both be delicious with turkey, so you can start some of your Thanksgiving cooking now! The persimmon chutney I made with Fuyu persimmons because I have such a surplus, but you could also make with Hachiyas- it would be more jam like.













Make sure to use organic cranberries, yes they're much more expensive, but it's worth it. Cranberries are grown in big bogs, which means that conventional cranberries are sprayed with pesticides by saturating the entire bog in toxic chemicals. As Dan Wandler, a cranberry farmer in Wisconsin says of the difference between organic and conventional,

"After we used to spray the bog, you didn't hear a sound for two weeks. You knew you'd killed something. Now the bog is full of sound. There are beneficial insects, and that means the frogs have something to eat."

ORANGE CRANBERRY CHUTNEY:
1 1/2 pounds fresh cranberries coarsely chopped in food processor.
1/2 cup filtered water
grated rind of two oranges
juice of two lemons
1/2 cup dark raisins
1 bosc pear- diced
1 red onion- chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tbsp. brown mustard seeds
1-1/2 cup sucanat
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 cup whey

Mix the water, lemon juice, sucanat, salt and whey. Add the cranberries, pear, and raisins and spices and mix well. Press the mixture into quart, wide-mouthed jars. Press the mixture down, adding more water if necessary to cover the fruit. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for 2-3 days before transferring to the fridge. It will keep for 2 months in the fridge.

" Spice a dish with love and it pleases every palate" - Plautus, Casina, 200 B.C.


PERSIMMON LIME CHUTNEY:

6 large ripe persimmons
1 small onion chopped
1 jalapeño chili chopped
1 tsp. celery seeds
1/2 cup dates, chopped
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
1/3 cup sucanat (or other unprocessed sugar)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lime

Combine all ingredients, except persimmons in a pot- bring to a boil and simmer for at least a half an hour. Add peeled persimmons and boil slowly until it thickens- about 20 minutes more. Pour into hot sterilized jars. Makes about a pint.

*If you're interested in making sauerkraut, kimchi, or other lacto-fermented foods you can look at Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Rosemary chocolate fig spread...

15th of October

The mornings have begun to be cooler, I suddenly find myself cold when I leave my room in the early morning to go outside- slippers are in order....
The days are still warm though...Indian summer, and the fig tree is slowly offering up its jewels- one at a time almost... a coy seductress....

After a few days of neglect, there was a basket worth of the soft, sun-warmed fruit interspersed among the bird-pecked offerings- the ripe insides torn open like carrion.

RECIPE:

4 cups quartered figs
1 cup organic sugar
1/2 bar dark unsweetened chocolate
1/2 lemon squeezed
1 tablespoon minced rosemary

I quartered the figs and boiled them with sugar- slowly the pink seeded interior dissolved, leaving the firmer outsides floating in a translucent dark purple soup. I let them cool and then pureed them in the food processor, which turned them into a pinkish brown puree dotted with the seeds.

I returned it to the heat and mixed in some chopped rosemary and some finely chopped dark chocolate.- Decadence.... almost like a healthy nutella- although nothing's as good as nutella....


I canned it in a water bath, but I don't think it can keep on the shelf because of the chocolate content.

It would also be good with lavender instead of the rosemary.......