permaculture

[von-fi@elonmerkki.net]

Thanks for asking the recipes. 

I would be really happy to share some knowledge on this issue. 

This is the first time I try to translate the recipes I've used into english 
and have not yet read the other stuff found in english. So my apologies if 
this
is repetition but I would love to hear comments from others practicing
fermentation. English is not my native language, so I try to correct and 
explain in detail if necessary. 

  I suppose people interested in this issue have basic understanding
on fermentation process - so I don't describe it in deep detail here. I just
suggest that you use fermentation lock (water seal) and proper weight on top
to get the quality result as it suppresses the growth of yeasts on the
surface.  I have prepared these also in open jars by pressing them three
times a day under the surface by piece of wood and it's possible, but it's
good idea to invest a bit on containers.  Traditionally before water seal
was invented people used cloth (usually hemp, linum or nettle) on top of the
foraged greens, wooden block (usually birch) on top of the cloth and washed
granite stone on top of the wooden block as a weight. These were open
buckets, which meant the cloth, block and stone needed washing after 10 days
and yeast on the surface needed to be removed.  Now there are ceramic stones
and water seals available. Oak barrels would be great, but how ever, if you
have a plastic bucket with water seal, you can use plastic bag designed for
freezer filled with water as a weight instead of cloth, block and stone. The
point is that the food stays under the liquid.

Now into recipes.

  With a fermentation root I mean here something like liquid from earlier
fermentations, fermented cabbage, liquid made from sprouted grains etc. 

   I'm from the border of zones 3bc and 2, where the summer is really short,
so one has to work like a beaver to gather all the beauty the nature has to
offer. That's for explaining also why I've been practicing this.  


Equipment needed:

- Sharp blade for chopping and chopping board.
- a water proof container (wooden (leafy trees), ceramic (beware of low
temperature glass, since that can kill you), glass jar or plastic bucket
suitable for foods)  ...
- fermentation lock (water seal), 
- long wooden pole (rather big heavy branch), top is carved a bit.
- if container cannot be used for mashing, then another f.e. cauldron or
boiler.
- water, salt (seasalt, seawater (?), mountain salt) or/and fermentation root
- weight (cloth, block, stone, ceramic, or water filled plastic bags) on top


All in all, fermentation should happen in darkness. And it's good idea to
soak the equipment in water for about 24 hours before boiling or washing
with hot water. 

And for picking the greens it would be great if it hadn't rained for 3 days,
since water rinces the essential bacteria off the leaves. That's why these
are not washed at all before preparation. 


Basic springshoots #1 (in may) 

1. Gather springshoots of stinging nettle, cow parsnip (heracleum
sphondylundum & sibiricum) and willow herb.  Cow parsnip's young shoots are
light green and attractive, while older leaves turn dark green and are
disattractive. Only young shoots are safe to use, but however - if you are
sceptic, use Ground elder instead. 
2. Chop 'em freshly in small quantities and immediately mash with wooden
pole so the cellstructure is crushed and pour that much liquid that they
stay under the surface (fermentation root or clean water mixed with 15 grams
of salt per 1 liter of water) 
3. (optional) mix with whole tree onions or small shallots and female
flowers of willow (tree) which have not yet turned too fibrous, are light
green/blue and look like big maggots and/or unopened small dandelion flower
buds, and/or chopped wildroots (for example young creeping thistle is very
good, also reedmace, burdock root etc.) if you wish ... 

NOTE! Fermentation of Jerusalem artichoke results inulin to break down to
fructose, so you get it sweet and sour. Very tasty if juiced with other
stuff during the winter. 

4. Pour fermented liquid diluted in water on them or salt water (15 grams
per liter)
5. Put a weight on the top so they stay about 2 cm or more under the liquid
surface.
6. Keep two days in temperature around +20 celsius degrees 
7. Keep 10 days in temperature around +15-16 celsius degrees.
8. Move to cellar in temperature below +8 celsius degrees for a week or year.
9. (optional) can into smaller jars (fill 'em full and pour liquid until it
touches the lid.

version #2 

1. as above
2. Not chopped at all. Fermentation root and saltwater (15 grams per liter)
is poured on the plants. Wooden pole is used to gently press the plants in
small layers so they get into thick layers and less water and space is
needed. This version takes a lot of more space than previous, but is faster
to prepare but not so easy to eat in large quantity.
3-9. as above 

version #3 (traditionally used with nettle, creeping thistle and cow parsnip)

1. as above
2. Plants are steamed so they get a bit soft. 
3. Plants are mashed into container and fermentation root is poured on them
so they get under the surface of water.  Might be good idea to have freshly
fermented ones present in the root. 
5-9. as in version #1. 


- Flower power (this one can squeezed into enlightening juice during the
winter, altough they can also be eaten on any kind of dish or with fermented
bread etc.)

1. for this you need to sprout up grains (for example qinoa)
2. soak grains in clean water (or birch sap) for two days in warm room with
cloth on top. (for example 2 parts sprouts and 3 parts liquid).
3. eat the fermented sprouts and mix dandelion flowers immediately after
thet open and are full of yellow pollen.
3b. (optional) mix with norway spruce young shoot tips, Scot's pine male
flowers with pollen, field horsetail shoots, young yarrow leaves. 
4. keep the flowers under the liquid for another 2-3 days in around +20
celsius before moving to cellar. If you use water diluted fermentation root
or salt water, it's good idea to add also black currant leaves in phase 3
and keep 'em still 10 days in around +15 celsius degrees before moving in to
cellar.
9.  as in version #1


- Basic springshoots #2 (may-june) 

1. as above, with onion shoots, caraway, chickweed, violet leaves (optional)
etc. 
2. mashed as in  basic springshoots #1 
3. mix with Sweet Cicely or Cow Parsley flowering stems (peel 'em and chop
'em to small circles) and freshly opened flowers full of pollen. Also flower
buds of purple or water avens are nice.
4. pour some liquid (salt water 15 grams per liter or fermented liquid
diluted in water) If you use fermented liquid, you can add less salt in
phase 2 as it helps the water come out from the plant cells. 
5-9  as in basic springshoots #1


- Midsummer's preparation.

1. Pick plantain leaves, lambsquarters, big dandelion leaves by ripping them
so that leaves come to your hand but petiole stays in the ground. Now the
scale of reagents is so diverse it's up to your imagination and what you
have available. 
2. Chop and mash the green leaves as above or don't if you don't. 
3.  In this wersion mix willow herbs (flowers are in bud, so use the top and
remove few leaves and ferment them into tea or mix in with greens),  stems
of Marsh thistle (flowerstalks are peeled), flowers of violets, Caraway,
Oxeye Daisy, Clovers (precaution! known hazards from Plants for a Future
database: White clover has been known to cause problems for grazing animals,
though this has never happened in Britain. The problem may be associated
with the climate in which the plant is growing. The species is polymorphic
for cyanogenic glycosides. The leaves and flowers of certain cyanogenic
phenotypes contain a glycoside which releases cyanide on contact with the
enzyme linamarase. ) and so on...
4-9. as in basic springshoots #1.

-> also worth of trying, willow herb flowers (freshly opened) and nettle
shoots (best to have somewhere fresh growth since these start to flower
otherwise (do that either by cutting 'em down few weeks before (they need
wet weather to grow back rapidly) or by harvesting actively (if you just
take the top, the plant will divide and grow twice as many tops you have
taken)


So ... by this far I think you got the idea and are able to develop local
recipes. Every set I ferment is unique and I don't even try to count amounts
of this and that. I have not yet found a bad combination of good tasting
greens, but I have also few notions, that also some more bitter leaves can
turn out into mild through the fermentation.


- Mushroomer's  fermentation (not for milk caps)

1. Sprout up grains (for example Quinoa or other) as in Flower power recipe,
or use liquid from earlier fermentations. Grain root is good as it's mild in
taste and doesn't affect so much the aroma of mushrooms. 

2. Pick cantharelles, boletus, horn of plenty, sheep polypores, funnel
chantarelles, morels, hydnum -species or any mushroom that can be eaten
without special preparation. Be careful in picking to get 'em clean from the
beginning.

3. Drop whole mushrooms into fermented liquid (birch sap is great, since it
has phosphorous and calcium which are not present in mushrooms)  and keep
'em in warm room temperature for three days. Their texture softens and they
just melt in your mouth! Superb vibrations throughout the
body-mind-soul-planet !

4. Store in full jars in below +8 celsius for winter. The fermentation is
short because you should drop them into strongly fermented liquid, so the
process doesn't need to start from the beginning. 

NOTE! Milkcaps make delicious salads if fermented, but they need short
boiling and rinsing to make them edible. Also soaking three days in water by
changing the water is said to remove the bitterness but I've not yet tried
this recipe. Mix these with onions and cucumbers, pour salt water (15 grams
per liter) on them. Keep two days in warm around +20 celsius and move then
to around +15 celsius for 10 days and then to cold cellar below +8 celsius.
Serve with fresh chopped onions and seed cream from pinenuts or sprouted
sunflower seed etc. 


- Primitivist's porridge

1. Pick nettle as in earlier recipes, cut and mash and mix with raw russula
(brittlegill) mushrooms (taste before picking, since if they're bitter they
are not suitable for eating in large amounts - and don't mess around). 
2. Pour fermented birch sap on 'em or use other fermentation root.
3. Ferment 2 days in about +20 celsius, and 2 weeks in around +15 celsius
after putting into cellar (less than +8 celsius) ... the result will be
green porridge as the russula mushrooms melt down. Sounds wicked but taste
is superb and really nutritious!
4. The rest as described in other recipes.

So. Now you maybe have visions what to do with your local plants and
mushrooms  if you want to diversify from the dried uses ? I'm interested to
hear about other acts of fermentation ? Is it found traditional anywhere
else but in northern cultures (I'm not interested on animal milk
fermentation) ? It seems the learning never ends, while the practice becomes
familiar. 


Ahh.. and about the recipies.

Yes, well I once had a tropical staphylococcus infection which I needed to
overcome by fasting and having only raw/living foods.  Since I was not in
the tropics, but in boreal and I got the infection in the middle of the
darkest winter I chose to do it locally. After three days of fasting with
water only I started to drink following:

- sprouted red clover seeds, 
- parsnip root 
- fermented wild greens and mushrooms
- fermented grains
- a tiny amount of garlic

and squeezed it through the manual wheatgrass juicer with love. 

(after ten days with drinks like this (and with fruit & berries) the disease 
 had been driven away) 
 
 Essential for the drink to be tasty is to have some sweetener, which I had
 in this case fermented Sweet Cicely seeds (not yet ripen) mixed with stems
of cow parsnip (flowerstalks peeled) or fermented jerusalem artichoke. 

-> drink with a lot of time (every mouthful takes you to paradise) 

The fibrous leftover I dried in afterheat of wood stove to be eaten later as
a bread with mushroom salad from milkcaps. 

....

Delicious drink from fermented wild greens

- apples, black currants or other berries/fruit
- fermented wild greens

Put them into blender and blend until it becomes smoothie type of drink. 
In this it might be necessary to use the chopped version #1 -style of wild
greens.  Apples can be fresh, black currants can be dried and soaked in water
overnight and so on ... Also frozen berries do fine, but I like the dried
ones better (except with blueberries the frozen ones are best) ...  Sea
buckthorn is superb. Also frozen rowan berry is great (once upon a time they
were hanging in trees all the way till february, before birds ate them and
become drunk, but now along with the climate change it no longer happens as
they get moldy in the autumn unless picked.)

...

And of course, fermented wild greens are good in that you can mix 'em with
almost anything on any kind of food serving, cooked or raw. You can even
cook them in sauces if you wish, but I prefer them like they are or as above
or mixed with seed cream (even though nutty fats are usually better digested
alone ...)

...

so that's about it ... I would like to hear comments about how readable this
was ? Thanks for you all, this list is superb!

Orava Ituparta,
Fennoscandia, boreal zone 3


On Mon, Jun 26, 2006 at 08:15:52PM -0400, Jill wrote:
> Hi Orava,
> 
> I wonder if you would share some your recipes for fermenting wild greens.
> 
> Thanks!
> Jill
> 
> von-fi@elonmerkki.net wrote:
> 
> >Hi Kathy and others too!
> >
> >Well, since then I've fermented wild greens with
> >flowerstems, buds, flowers, roots, whatever during the summer and eaten 
> >them
> >mixed with berries, fruit, roots or seeds during the winter. 
> >
>