cultured, yet unrefined

it’s well established that i like a little culture and growth in my life. if it’s different, if it’s new, i’m interested.

i also like a bit of culture and growth in the kitchen, meaning foods that have so much more to offer nutritionally when you’re patient enough to wait. fermented and sprouted foods are something i became more familiar with while completing my certification as a living foods chef. “live” doesn’t just mean not killing the food’s live enzymes with high heat. sometimes it’s about breaking down the natural enzyme inhibitors to release the life. (like nuts and seeds that can grow a tree, but not until soaked with water.) at other times it means creating beneficial, live probiotic bacteria. (think yogurt, sauerkraut, and cultured drinks like kombucha and kefir.)

when training under chef mandy i learned how to do these things myself. now i periodically soak, sprout, culture, and ferment at home, which requires things to be…well…out. so my kitchen counters often look like this:

my most used room of the house is unfortunately located in the direct line of sight from the front door, so the first thing you might see when you walk in is what appears to be a bizarre science experiment. i enjoy the end result, but i feel like i need an extra room dedicated to these projects.

the draining rack of jars full of lentils with little tails and the bowls draped in flour sack cloth may look weird – hey, maybe it is weird – but i think it’s worth it. the awe of watching what develops brings out the inner mad scientist in me, and i value the health benefits of maximizing the life in the food by allowing it to naturally grow. the opposite of refined foods!