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Earth to Hearth
Otillia M. Richmond, MH
Bread is not Dead
Bread has been the food of humans since the first seed was ground. Adding water to seed meal hydrates and activates the natural germination compounds found within the seed: nutrition to grow a plant and feed animals.
We tend to think of bread as leavened. Although, thoroughly hydrated and cooked seeds make bread. Pasta, cereal, donuts, bagels, breadsticks, pretzels, flatbreads, dumplings, tortillas, crackers...are bread.
Why we Care
Seeds are one of the primary ingredients in the human diet for a human's number one need: energy for the body, brain, and biome-yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
The Better Loaf
Not quite flat bread, often called focaccia, sheet breads are my new whole wheat sandwich bread. Yeasted or sourdough, this super hydrated dough is easy to loaf, bakes in half the time of traditional loaves, and produces a soft open crumb with whole grain wheat.
One formula makes sheeted breads, loaves, baguetts, rolls, buns, and soft breadsticks. Find my number one favorite bread formula in book two-Health from the Hearth-Chapter 34, page 588, of The Human Nature of NEED and FEED.
Bread made easy-fast or slow, flat or loaved.
A Landscape of Seeds for Feed
Seeds, seeds, and more seeds from the Earth to the Hearth to rinse, hydrate, and boil. By autumn, the seeds of plants and grasses have matured in to an abundance of life supporting, storable human food.
When humans eschew carbohydrates, therefore seeds, they cannot be aware of the high quality fuel and nutrition in nature's bounty of complex carbohydrate and fiber rich seeds. They simply need to say goodbye to those pernicious white carbs found in the industrial world and say hello to delicious and nutritious whole seeds.
Too many to count, too many to eat, find favorites from the multitude of seed varieties to bring plenty of fiber and flavor to the plate and palate, here are a few of mine.
Get to know 200 edible seeds, pages 68-251, in The Human Nature of Need and Feed.
Fermentation
In food, fermentation occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria and yeast, use enzymes to reduce carbohydrates to organic acids and CO2. The acids create environments of beneficial organisms, defending against pathogens and preserving food. Fermentation is nature's process of recycling: microorganisms reducing plants.
Fermentation is used to make leavened bread, sauerkraut and kimchi, yogurt and cheese, kombucha and compost and, in humans, additional energy.
Why we Care
Besides enhancing the shelf life of food, fermentation can improve digestion, strengthen immunity, increase the availability of nutrients, and provide easily prepared, delicious foods and beverages-at home. And, it is what humans have done for centuries.
See The Human Nature of Need and Feed, Book Two, Health from the Hearth, chapters 42 and 43, for streamlined instruction and recipes to ferment food and beverages at home.
Hearth Baking
More than a million years ago, firing a hearth to cook food was a cornerstone for the human species, expanding their nutrition while decreasing their need for food appropriation, leaving more calories available for growth and brain development. The introduction of heat to nature’s food triggers enzymatic, chemical, and/or biological reactions that change texture, add flavor, improve digestion and nutrient accessibility.
Why we Care
The heated oven, whether sand or earth, (30,000 ya), stone (25,000 ya), clay (7,500 ya), iron (375 ya), or steel (125 ya), further revolutionized food preparation with ground, fermented, and baked grass seeds. Winter is the time to fire the hearth and bake. A little time in our kitchens can provide days of wholesome food.
See The Human Nature of Need and Feed, Book Two, Health from the Hearth for concepts of cooking and recipes.
Crispy Breadsticks
page 591
Seeded Okara Crackers
page 192
Ciabatta Buns
page 590
REAPING WHAT WE SOW
Spring's Green Thumb
Spring brings greens. Whether on the landscape or cultivated garden, the color of spring's food is green. Grass for bears and bovine, weeds for rabbits and rodents, and greens for you and me: spinach, lettuce, mustard, chives, roquette...after a long winter, plants and animals join for a festival of green nutrition and flavor.
For northern gardeners, spring is the time to get seeds in soil indoors: cool season Brassicas, like cabbage and kale, and long season Cucurbits, squash and cucumbers, and Solanaceae, pepper, tomatoes, and aubergine.
Why we Care
Turn exercise into cash and antidepressants growing delightful health and spirit lifting food. Plant and harvest patio pots, raised beds, or garden rows to discover what a green thumb really means.
For Tilli's garden tips, see Nature's Garden, Chapter 46, page 733, in the easy to read treatise - The Human Nature of Need and Feed.
REAPING WHAT WE SOW
Summer's Jewels
Like spring delivers menus of greens, summer is the season of fruits and vegetables, developing from the increasing heat of the summer sun, offering a bounty gems for the table and pantry.
Asparagus, artichokes, beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery,...are the ABCs of vegetables, eaten raw or gently steamed. Vegetables also kickstart the pantry with fermented or vinegar pickles to pair with the cooler seasons stored tubers, roots, and bulbs.
Sweet fruits are the staples of summer. These cool and refreshing, water laden carbohydrates add to the breakfast bowl, lunchbox, and dinnertime desert buffet. Tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, cucumbers, are the savory fruits, and meld for fresh salads, salsas, and sides.
Fruits, sweet or savory, are also ready for conserves in the wintertime larder: jams, chutneys, sauces, and curries to dress those cool season's stored protein rich dried seeds.
Why we Care
Chockfull of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fiber, to eat out of hand or off the plate, nature's earth to hearth fruits and vegetables are the summertime bounty for year round human health.
For further information, gardening tips, recipes and more, reach for the easy to read treatise - The Human Nature of Need and Feed.
REAPING WHAT WE SOW
Autumn Harvest
Autumn ushers in the harvest. Storage and preservation become key to extending summer's bounty for the cool days of winter. Fall roots go dormant to await another season, holding best in cool, dry environments with enough air flow to remain viable: too much air flow and heat dehydrate, too little air flow and cold temperatures rot.
Once removed from the soil, onions and garlic need a warm and dry period, out of the sun, to wither the plant and dry the outer skins. When dry, trim the dried roots and tops and spread into flats to store at or just below 10º C / 50º F.
After digging potatoes and picking winter squash, place unwashed in a warm, dry, dark area to reduce surface moisture and firm skins prior to storing loosely in ventilated boxes at or just below 10º C / 50º F.
Tomatoes and citrus fruits also keep well in the same environment, lain in flats and covered loosely.
Root crops, such beets, carrots, parsnips, swedes, ginger, turmeric, leeks, and the like may be stored in the ground where winters are mild. For those areas where the ground freezes, I have found they keep all winter placed upright (how they grow), with tops shortened to an inch, in loose lidded buckets of damp ½" minus wood chips, at temps just above freezing.
This environment also holds cabbage, summer squash, peppers, blueberries, apples, pears, even grapes through autumn.
Why we Care
Whether you have a garden or access to farmer's markets, storing a supply of nutritious food, nature's way, provides freedom with food security without the need for refrigeration, freezing, or canning.
For many more tips and ideas for successful food storage, refer to the concise treatise, The Human Nature of Need and Feed.
Late Summer Harvest Recipe
Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
Seasonings
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 chopped large cucumber
2-3 diced tomatoes
1-2 diced sweet/hot peppers
1/2 diced medium onion
1 clove minced garlic
Fresh herbs to choose:
dill, basil, or chives
Condements to add:
choice of vinegar
lemon or lime juice
choice of oil or dressing
This is one of many variations for late summer salad, side, or main dish. Choose a pea or bean, add favorite veggies, fresh herbs, and condiments to make fiber filled dishes from just one recipe. See book two-Health from the Hearth-pages 179-181, of The Human Nature of NEED and FEED, for additional fiber filled pulse recipes.
Early Autumn Harvest Recipe
Tomato Medley
Ingredients
Seasonings
2 chopped summer squash
1 chopped large cucumber
3-5 diced colored tomatoes
1-2 diced sweet/hot peppers
1/2 diced medium onion
1 cloves minced garlic
Fresh herbs to choose:
parsley, dill, basil, chives
Condements to add:
choice of vinegar
lemon or lime juice
choice of oil or dressing
This is one of many variations for a late autumn salad, side, or main dish served over a bed of cooked grains. Choose a blend of heirloom colored tomatoes and add favorite veggies, fresh herbs, and condiments to make fiber filled dishes from just one recipe. My tomato faves, for growing and fresh eating, are Oregon spring, black prince, orange banana, yellow taxi, and German green. See book two-Health from the Hearth-pages 71-251, of The Human Nature of NEED and FEED, for choosing seeds to bed or top this quick salad for a main dish, hot or cold.
Winter Pottage Recipe
Potato Bake
Ingredients
Seasonings
4 diced potatoes
1 chopped large onion
3 chopped celery stalks
1 diced sweet peppers
2 diced small hot chilis
3 cloves chopped garlic
Dry herbs to choose:
parsley and/or thyme
Toppers to choose:
dash liquid amminos
dollop of butter
or
drizzle of olive oil
This is one of the simplest variations of a veggie bake. Combine all of the ingredients and bake at 175ºC (350ºF) until tender, about 45 minutes, serve hot or cold. Lack an oven, steam covered on the stovetop. Or plan ahead, bake or steam the the potatoes ahead of time and refrigerate, when desired, cook vegetables and add the diced precooked potatoes and heat through for a hot meal in minutes. Chop one half head of cabbage and a few carrots to add for an excellent variation.
Daily Spring Recipe
Spring green salad
Ingredients:
Seasonings:
Choices:
Red and Green Lettuces
Mustard Greens
Arugula
Kale
Spinach
Pea Shoots
Cress
Chives
Green Onions
Choices:
Salad Dressing
Vinegar and Oil
Fresh or Dry Herbs
Spices
Croutons
Nuts
Seeds
Cooked Pulses and Grains
Edible Flowers
This is the simplest of salads-seasoned greens-and the base for the plate all season long. From the backyard garden, local pea patch, farmer's market, or grocery produce section, spring begins the season of the goodness of greens.
Seed Harvest Recipe
Granola
Ingredients
TIPS:
4 cups choice of rolled grain
(oat, wheat, rye, barley)
1 cup choice of nuts & seeds
1/4 cup choice of oil
1/3 cup choice of sweetener
(honey; maple, sorghum,
malt, or date syrups)
1-2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1 cup dried fruit- see tips
- Be creative and mix and match your favorites grains, nuts, seeds, sweeteners, and fruit.
- If planning to store cereal for any length of time, add dried fruit when serving. Dried fruit contains enough moisture to soften the grain while further dehydrating the fruit.
This is a staple in our house, a go to for breakfast, snack, or dessert. Measure and mix dry ingredients in a bowl and wet ingredients in a liquid measure, reserve fruit. Drizzle liquids over dry while mixing. Divide and spread mixture on two 25x38 cm (10"x15") sheet pans, place in hot 175º C / 350º F oven, bake 30-40 minutes or until light golden brown.
Allow granola to cool and dry completely before storing airtight, staying fresh for several weeks. Add fresh or dry fruit when serving. Recipe can be easily halved or doubled.
For more recipes, see book two-Health from the Hearth-in The Human Nature of NEED and FEED.