In the News

Learn To Preserve Produce — the Old-Fashioned Way, By Karen Bartomioli, The Lakeville Journal, Thursday, November 2, 2006

CORNWALL, CT — Folks do a lot of worrying these days about what's in the food they eat. Some of us may think about trying to grow and preserve our own, a process that involves lots of glass jar and lids, boiling water, a steamy kitchen — and questions about whether we're doing it right.

There was a time when every rural home had a root cellar. Jars of food were stashed there to halt the simple fermentation process that had preserved them, an alternative to the hot, steamy canning method. It was a safe way to keep food for the winter and it was a process that required no heat, thus preserving nutrients.

Known as lacto-fermentation, it is fast becoming a lost art — though it's really more of a process than an art form. However you want to describe it, it seems to be one answer to the growing desire for more natural food all year long without spending a fortune on groceries or devoting days and days to the process of "putting up."

Debra Tyler and Motherhouse Inc. hosted a lacto-fermentation workshop led by Thea Harvey last month. Tyler has been offering a series of "Old Style Life Skills:" workshops at her Cornwall farm (called Local Farm), and she was inspired recently to find a perfect method for making pickles. (This one, by the way, is great for using up the small, end-of-season cukes rescued before the first frost.) She tried mixing water, salt and a little yogurt whey with the cukes, and left them in jars on her kitchen counter. She had pickles in three days.

"The first batch, the skins were tough and the insides mushy, or so my mother complained," Tyler reported "I've heard that you can use oak or grape or horseradish leaves, anything with tannin in it. I used horseradish leaves and the next batch came out with a beautiful texture."

Green tomatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, hot peppers, the possibilities for preserved foods to carry cooks through the winter seems endless.

The interest in the pickling workshop was less surprising to Tyler than the overall interest in such seminars.

She began offering "family cow" workshops some time ago, attracting about an equal number of those who come out of curiosity and those who actually want to learn how to keep a cow.

The same seems to hold true for the Old-Style Life Skills workshops. What she is finding with this series is a sort of subset of people who find themselves among soul mates.

"There is an instant camaraderie, even among the people who haven't met before. When they get to the workshop, it's like homecoming week. They speak the same language and say they feel like they are the weird ones in their community, feeling a need to look toward the old way of doing things."

Among her most popular workshops were woolgathering and beekeeping. The latter filled to a capacity of 24 and she turned about an equal number away. Maybe a third of the participants, at the most, are from Cornwall.

"The rest come from New York City and all over Massachusetts. I think a lot of people here are already living a country lifestyle, or the skills were still in use a generation or two back.

"There is one man who live in New York City but rents a place in Wassaic so he can be involved in things in this area, including Motherhouse. Another man lives in a 17th century house in Fairfield that has always been in his family. He wants to learn how to can foods so he can keep the shelves stocked like he remembers, and like his ancestors did."

An obvious question: How long does lacto-fermented food keep?

"I made two jars of pickles and they lasted less than a week, they were so good." Tyler said, which answered the question but didn't really answer the question.

Next up is Taking Stock....or rather Making Stock, on Nov 11 at the UCC Parish House. The session is 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Cost is $35 per family. Herbal Salv-ation will be offered Dec. 9. Register at lifeskills@motherhouse.us or call 860-672-0229.