Foodvice is a state of mind, it has to do with a constant curiosity about good food and a deep respect for the people who produce it and transform it

Generously Modified Organisms is a project by Sofia Corte Real and Maria Tarantino. It is rich food for poor people, incredibly energizing fermented vegetables, very rich in vitamic C and enzymes, produced by salting simple inexpensive roots and cabbages together with herbs and spices.

The initial recipes come from the wonderful book “Wild Fermentation” by Sandor Ellix Katz. The idea is that every type of roots, cabbage, leaves can be mixed with fresh herbs, garlic, ginger and chili peppers to create aromatic and fresh-tasting vegetables that are best eaten raw.

Anybody can prepare fermented vegetables at home. It is simple, safe and wild!

What follows is really handy info for GMOs enthusiasts, tips, recipes and a basic blog of preparations and their adventures through time.

ATELIER OGM 13 MARS 2010 – GMO WORKSHOP 13 MARCH 2010 – ATELIER OGM 13 MARCH 2010

16h (confirm by mail please)

I was really well behaved and refrained from poking my finger into the jars, especially the one contaning the Makdous (see recipe below).

Troubleshooting: the first three days of fermentation inside the ceramic crocks are very sensitive. You have to make sure that the juice of vegetables, mixed with salt, rises to the top of the pile of vegetables. Why? Because contact with air, even inside the crock, will make things spoil. If this does not happen by the second day, it is wiser to make some brine, that is, to boil water with quite a bit of salt, let it cool and pour it inside the crock until the veggies are covered. Why does the juice of veggies not rise to the top? I think it depends on the water content of the specific veggies, cucumbers having more water than leafy greens. Secondly, we are working in winter and the veggies we are handling come often from a fridge or at least they were picked some time ago and so their water content is reduced. When you make this preparation at the end of the summer, the vegetables contain more water.

Another thing to pay attention to is that water seal is full of water: the groove around the ceramic lid must be filled with water so that the air can come out the crock but no air will come in.

KISHK

Kishk has been an obsession of mine since the last TERRA MADRE meeting in Torino. It is a Lebanese preparation but variants of it can be found from Greece to Tajikistan. In fact, it is a kind of cheese made with kefir and bulgur wheat, fermented over a few days, dried, mixed with spices and rolled out into small balls:

http://www.slowfoodbeirut.org/presidia/kishk.html

You can also prepare it without milk, like they do in the Lebanese presidium. The taste makes you think of cheese and the little balls are kept in jers filled with olive oil. The dry, crumbly version of kishk is known in other countries and used to prepare soup.

from a Lebanese blog:

Kishk is a powdery cereal of burghul (cracked wheat) fermented with milk and laban (yoghurt). It is easily stored and is valuable to the winter diet of isolated villagers or country people. Kishk is prepared in the early Fall when the wheat crop is harvested. Milk, laban and burghul are mixed well together and allowed to ferment for nine days. Each morning the mixture is thoroughly kneaded with the hands. When fermentation is complete the kishk is spread on a clean cloth to dry. Finally it is rubbed well between the hands until it is reduced to a powder and then stored in a dry place.

KUSHUK (Iraqi version of kishk):

Iraqi; parboiled wheat and turnip allowed to undergo lactic acid bacterial fermentation for 4-10 days; liquid used as soup and the solid eaten as porridge or mixed with vegetables. Also an alternative name for kishk.

TARHANA (Turkish version of kishk)

Tarhana (Turkish), tarkhina, tarkhana, tarkhwana (Persian ترخینه، ترخانه، ترخوانه), trachanas/trahanas (Greek τραχανάς) or (xino)chondros ((ξυνό)χονδρος), trahana (Albanian), трахана/тархана (Bulgarian), kishk (Egypt), or kushuk (Iraq) are dried foods based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk (Persian Ash-e tarkhina doogh آش ترخینه دوغ). As it is both acid and low in moisture the milk proteins keep for long periods. Tarhana is very similar to some kinds of kishk.

The Turkish tarhana consists of cracked wheat (or flour), yoghurt, and vegetables fermented then dried. The Greek cuisine trahana contains only cracked wheat or a cous cous-like pasta and fermented milk. In Cyprus, it is considered a national specialty, and is often flavored with bay leaf, wild thyme, and fennel seed.

FEEDBACK SATURDAY 23 JANUARY 2010

Thanks to all for their enthusiastic participation! There were quite a few of us so we divided up into groups: Effi, Amir, Estelle tried to duplicate a wonderful Syrian recipe of fermented stuffed aubergines in olive oil. The stuffing went through several stages of approximation and in the end it tasted pretty amazing. Sofia, Christina and Cathy followed the Guler method (picking directly in a closed jar) and used different mixes of vegetables and mustard seeds. Anne, Emmanuelle, Benoit and myself made two pots, one with the spices mixed up with miso and the other using cooked potatoes to funk things up.

THE RECIPES:

•    MAKDOUS (stuffed aubergines)

•    Ingredients:
•    2 pounds small, thin eggplants (3-4 inches long)
•    Salt
•    olive oil
•    Stuffing:
•    1 cup finely chopped walnuts (or more)
•    A bundle of parsley
•    chili, finely chopped (you choose the amount, depends how spicy you like it)
•    4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
•    Salt
•    olive oil
•    you can also add some soja, as we did in the workshop.
•    PS: the stuffing itself makes a very nice salad so if you are tempted (and hungry) you can stop here.
•
Directions
1.    Trim the stem end of the eggplants
2.    Poach in salted water for 5-10 minutes, weighing the eggplants down with a small, heavy lid. Drain
3.    when they are cool, very gently squeeze to get rid of the water.
4.    Cut a slit lengthwise down the middle of each eggplant but not right through, leaving the ends so as to form a pocket.
5.    Put a pinch of salt in each aubergine and close it .
6.    Put the salted aubergine in a colander over a bowl with a plate and weight on top and leave it to drain for next day.
7.    Mix all stuffing ingredients
8.    Stuff the aubergine with the walnut mixture (+/- a small spoon in each aubergine).
9.    Transfer carefully to a jar, and cover with oil.
10.    They should be ready in two weeks,
11.    Cheque the jar from time to time to see the level of the olive oil.
12.    PS: add more olive oil in case you find that it does not cover the aubergines.

This dish is often served with Labneh, a sour cheese (fermented) that i will bring for our next atelier.

NOW, couple of you told me, and they were right, that it is not “pure” fermentation so i found another recipe of the same dish BUT fermented. it goes like this:

after transfrring the stuffed aubergines to a jar, instead of covering with oil, you cover them with the following:
Half of the jar with salty water (1 spoon of salt for a cup of water)
the rest with vinegar.
you shake it well and wait for three weeks.

Batch 1 Fermented vegetables:

Mix of spices: red miso, 2 sticks of lemonrass, grated skin of two bergmot lemons, mustard seeds, allspice, anchovy juice, ginger, parsley and shallots. Add this to white cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, Jerusalem artichoke, chinese cabbage, navet and parsnips.

Batch 2 Fermented vegetables:

Mix of spices: garlic, onion, … + Red cabbage, broccoli, carrots, radishes, cooked potatoes.

Let me just add that crocks need to be checked on the first two days of the process, if the liquid coming out of the vegetable has not risen up to cover the mix, there is a BIG risk that things will rot. To avoid this, one prepared a salty, very salty brine and pour it over until the level is reached. The salt will slow down the fermentation process but ensure that the rest won’t spoil. Also, a reason why the vegetable juice does not rise has to do with the amount of water contained in the vegetable, thus on what veggies they are (cucumber has more water than cabbage) on the time of the year (in winter we are dealing with vegetables like cabbages, which have been picked a while back and lost some of their juiciness). This time I had to make quite a lot of brine, just to make things clear. Also, I noticed that one of the jar made with the Guler method had no water rising to the top. I opened it up and saw that the mustard seed and other roots had soaked up the water and that the exposed garlic cloves on the top had turned fluorescent green. I added a spoonful of salt, water and closed the jar again, hoping it will be fine.

The KISHK repice turned out pretty good. Basically it consists of bulgur soaked and rolled in kefir (I used buttermilk) over a period of 9  days and then dried in the oven and crumbled. The part I dont like is the fact that it takes a whole day in the oven at 50 degrees to dry the stuff (and how much electricity is that?). But in the summer, it is another story.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE BASIC METHOD IN FRENCH (if you have any questions, please ask!)

NEXT WORKSHOP/PROCHAIN ATELIER:

SATURDAY 23 JANUARY/ SAMEDI 23 JANVIER, 16h-19h rue de Fierlant 164, free/gratuit, reservation necessary before January 21 to tarantino.maria@gmail.com

Back to pickling after the Christmas vacation and the snow. It’s time to try the vegetables we prepared in December: a very fresh mix of daikon, celeriac, topinambur, carrot, Chinese cabbage which will be served as a “winter salad” together with cooked vegetables and nuts. Also more pickles from previous workshops are available to take home.

Retour a’ la fermentation apres les vacances. On va gouter les preparations de l’atelier de decembre: le melange de diakon, celeri rave, topinambur, carotte et choux chinois sera servie en “salade d’hiver” avec des legumes cuits. Plus des legumes fermentes lors d’autres ateliers sont a disposition.
Link to “nuka pickles” from the book “WILD FERMENTATION” by Sandor Ellis Katz (it’s the recipe we use)/ Lien a’ la recette de legumes “nuka”
RECIPE (c’est on pag.54/ just scroll down)

CURRENT GMOs IN THE PIPELINE:

December 2009

- Nuka bed: wheat bran, Belgian beer (taras boulba), kombu seaweed, miso and salt provide a bed in which one buries different vegetable and roots, cloves of galic, radishes, almonds. Basically anything.

- Classic pickles: carrot, dailon, celeriac, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic.

- Guler method: carrot, Jerusalem artichoke and celeriac stuffed in a glass jar as tight as possible and topped with salt. They ferment in the jar but need 18 degrees to actually ferment (minimus 3 weeks).

27 Nov 08

- Mixed cabbage (white and Savoy), carrot and Jerusalem artichoke. Lots of garlic, ginger and onion. Bay leaves and chilies. This was made with the brine method. Removed from the crock after 10 days. Taste was not fantastic. I added some brine I saved from a super batch (Daikon+lavender leaves) and kept in the fridge. After 3 days, already better. Now I placed one jar in the cellar to see how long it can keep. Current batch is 2 weeks old.

- red cabbage, white cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke, carrot, beetroot, garlic and onion. Current batch is 2 weeks old but taste is not wonderful and I guess it is because I did not put enough ginger, which add a very perfumed and fresh note. Also, the quantity of cabbage was too much and kept a rather bitter monotone flavor. The sage leaves did not help much either.

- kimchi with Jerusalem artichoke, white cabbage, carrot, parsnips. This is one week old. The vegetables have been cut small and I also added fresh leaves picked in the Kobe’s garden, a sort of wild celery with a slightly bitter and lemony scent.In this way, Jereusalem artichoke tasted best, nutty and sweet.

- garlic in tamari sauce. Has been there since June. Now the tamari is tasting of garlic quite a bit.

- garlic in miso and mirin. Three months old. It is starting to produce a bit of liquid and taste is getting quite interesting.

- salsify in a super spicy sauce (Thai sauce with beetles, or whatever insect is portrayed on the label), garlic, ginger, soy sauce and some wild celery plant we got from Kobe’s garden. This is a Japanese tsukemono recipe that normally takes 24h but since I did not cook the salsify I am waiting still. Time: 1 week.

- aubergines in tamari sauce and water. They have been kept in salt water for one night, squeezed and filled with a mix of garlic, onion, ginger, salt and chili. Time: one week.

5 December 2008

- Mixed cabbage: 3 weeks old. The addition of fermented juice helped a lot to make the flavor more complex.

- Red cabbage mix: 3 weeks old. I decided to add lots of ginger and I wait to see what happens.

- Aubergines: 2 weeks, taste is good, tamari seems to keep everything in good shape. The aubergine still keeps a firm texture. Taste is very good.

- Kimchi: 2 weeks. This is wonderful, perfect. What makes it special are the wild leaves and odd lemon peel bits. Parsnips are a very good idea.

New batches

- kimchi:

- celeriac (1), carrots (1), red cabbage (2), bay leaves and poivre long.

- celeriac (1), white cabbage (1), navet (1), daikon (3), ginger, garlic, lavender leaves.

- kimchi: carrot (1), cauliflower (3), garlic, ginger, onion

10 december 08

- red cabbage went bad (maybe room temperature was too high) – END 4 weeks

- kimchi went bad (bubbles), maybe not enough salt and too much opening of jars – END 3 weeks

20 december 08

- Kimchi  in Brussels is two weeks old: no news yet

- NERVIANO: new kimchi 3kg, two parts of cauliflower, one part of carrot. Spices: garlic, ginger, spring onion, leek, red onion, stems of parsley, peel of lemon and orange, bay leaves. Used large glass jar as recipient (same container used to make anchovies).

6 January 2009

Brussels: blue mushroom appeared on the kimchi, sauerkraut looks dry. Nobody had the courage to taste.

Nerviano: managed to keep off contamination in the glass jars (covered in plastic film) I used to store the kimchi. Opened one jar and kimchi tastes ok. Maybe I used too much orange peel (after one week it was strong but gets subdued over time). It has a dry flavor due to the fact that I only used a few carrots and that cauliflower is not exactly very juicy.

THE GMOs PROJECT SO FAR:

It’s the end of March, we have been running our GMOs workshops for four weeks, took a two-week pause