Concoctions

When I was a little girl, I liked to make "concoctions." There was nothing I enjoyed more than putting together various strange ingredients in some magical combination to create something new and different. Whether it was a food, home remedy or beauty product, or even simply make-believe, the idea of brewing up a potion could always get my mind racing. Still does!

I enjoyed it so much that a lot of my concoctions became vivid childhood memories. We had a children's book by David Suzuki-- I think it was about human anatomy-- that for some reason had a recipe for eggnog in it. I remember being thrilled that I could make eggnog by myself. It was easy! And it didn't come in a carton! I used a manual egg beater. The kind you hold with one hand and spin with the other. And I am pretty sure this was my first experience using nutmeg. I love that I can remember that, when half the time I can't even remember where I left my boots!

Over the years, I also put a lot of weird things on my face and skin. There were oatmeal masks, milk baths, and egg and salt foot scrubs: on those days everyone in my family would get a foot massage, except maybe my Dad, whose feet I wasn't willing to make contact with. I had a desire to heal the body with homemade ingredients: I would scour the books we had for home remedies. Thank you, Reader's Digest.

More often than not, there was an element of play in my creations. Concoctions were an outlet for creativity, one which I shared with my sister. I'll never forget the day we decided to make a game of creating different appetizers for each other. It started out innocently enough, but quickly became a competition to see who would do a better job of tricking the other into eating something really weird disguised as something delicious! I think the kicker was a dessert-like creation with peanut butter and graham crackers and marshmallows-- with a surprise dob of horseradish in the middle! Thanks, Brooke.

As a teenager, I got into aromatherapy. Lavender and cedarwood for relaxation, orange for energy, mint for health. I would take baths with essential oils, and burn them in my room. Strange smells would spill out into the hallway, but my family never complained. The smell of cedar still throws me back to those days.

I wanted to be a herbalist before I really even knew what a herbalist was. I was thrilled when I realized that there was an endless supply of mint growing in our yard! I also wanted to be a witch. Not the wart-nosed cackling kind, but the earth-mother, pagan ritual kind. Witches know things about the earth. They have the secrets. I wanted to find those secrets, learn how to make potions, and live outside in the woods with the trees and the wildflowers and the wind. I still do. But I'm not about to make any blood sacrifices-- and I'm pretty sure that eye of newt would not legitimately help with any type of ailment. And cauldrons are pretty pricey, so I'll have to settle for a rocket stove or something!

As I grow older, I have come to understand that concoctions were a learning tool, as well as a creative outlet. Through my experimentation, I learned a lot about the natural world, as well as the food we eat. I love how food is our connection to the elements of life: the sun, and the rain and the earth and the wind. There is magic in those elements. It's all connected, and it's all beyond our understanding, no matter how much wisdom we collect, and no matter how much we think we know. We really know nothing at all. It's painful and beautiful at the same time.

But what we do know is still valuable! And I still love my concoctions.

Which is why, when I was recently introduced to the magic of fermentation, I went a little crazy in the head.

It's not that I wasn't already aware or interested in some of these things, I just didn't realize how good they were for you, and I hadn't taken the time to explore the topic in its entirety. Now that I am learning more, I'm getting pretty excited about it.

I've decided to share with you, in installments, my experiments with growing 4 different kinds of cultures, yeasts, and ferments: yogurt, kombucha, sourdough starter, and fermented vegetables (aka sauerkraut).

In case you are skeptical, or are wondering what is so great about these things, I would suggest that you start by visiting this web site, which is a really good source of information regarding the health benefits of fermented food (thank you, Jake, for sharing this web site as well as your enthusiasm!).

Stay tuned for the first installment: homemade yogurt.