Foodcrafting

If you’re reading this blog, your interested in health, or at least good, wholesome food. The more you know about healthy habits, the more you’re going to veer away from pre-packaged foods and towards making your own, and with that comes the curiosity about product quality, and the desire to fully express your own unique flavors. Choosing whole, organic foods is a given. Sourcing your produce at local farmer’s markets also goes without saying. But deciding what to do with it…well that’s the dilemma. At that point it’s helpful to have a foundation of simple time-tested techniques to build upon.

I recently enhanced my arsenal of base-knowledge by attending a Foodcrafting course at the Institute of Domestic Technology in Altadena, California. The Institute aims to “reignite the passion of how we make food” and explore some of the lost arts of traditional homesteading, such as coffee roasting and making preserved foods like pickles and jams. This can sound intimidating and complicated, but once you learn the basics, you’re on your way to delicious homemade heaven!

As a newbie to “foodcrafting”, the hands-on, experiential learning was a great way to explore these unfamiliar methods. If you don’t have access to these types of courses, there are plenty of resources out there.

- Fermenting. The main benefits here are the wealth of probiotics, which help your entire digestive system. This goes for foods, as well as beverages such as kombucha.

- Pickling is another great way to preserve foods for an extended time without having to refrigerate or freeze.

- Jams and fruit preserves are fantastic for saving the flavors of a season at their peak.

-Extracts and infusions are so simple to do, and often times way better than anything you can buy. At the very least, try your own vanilla extract, and/or keep an infused oil on-hand.

- Make your own nut butters and milks. More fresh and less expensive than store-bought.

- Try making condiments, like mustard, from scratch. Make your own to match your palate, or impress dinner guests with unexpected flavor nuances.

- If you have a green thumb, grow an herb garden or try seed sprouting.

Remember that the quality of your ingredients has a big impact on flavor and nutritional content, so shop local and stick to organic.

These are also plenty of good books and online resources out there.