Stirring the Cauldron

New Moon Newsletters from Jessica Prentice

Full Wolf Moon

January moondark kitchen notes
from Jessica Prentice

Tonight is the full moon, and in old farmer's almanacs it was called the Full Wolf Moon. This was a reference to the howling wolves looking for prey in this heart of winter, and being a little too close to one's door. This puts me in mind of MFK Fisher's classic book of food essays, How to Cook a Wolf. Though these days it's the mice at my door that worry me, not the wolves. At least they don't howl. In any event, it's an ideal time to stay close to the fire and eat something warm and wonderful.

I have been doing lots of cooking lately, as usual, but no wolves in my cauldron. Winter produce at the farmer's markets and cold temperatures outside push me towards Northern and Eastern European meals, and of course towards soups (I just ate a bowl of "fairytale pumpkin" soup) and stews, so my cauldron has seen lots of beet borscht, and lots of cabbage, including my first try at Scotch Broth. Also sausages, potatoes and cabbage cooked together with caraway seeds and topped with sour cream has been a delicious recurring meal. The abundance of cabbage also put me in mind of sauerkraut, and I'm fermenting my own at the moment -- trying to resist the urge to eat it up before it develops real sour flavor. I am also continuing my love affair with nettles (you might think them too prickly to be in love with, but not so -- once cooked they are just pure pleasure), making lots of nettle soup and nettle tea, a high-iron herbal syrup loaded with nettles, and experimenting with making nettle ale (non-alcoholic) and nettle beer (alcoholic).

Before the holidays my culinary obsession was with cultured dairy -- making yogurt, crème fraiche, cultured butter and buttermilk, and cultured cream cheese. That obsession gave way to the fermented ales and other wonderfully historic and evocative fermented drinks. In addition to the nettle and dandelion ales, I tried making a traditional root beer from sassafras bark and wintergreen herb. Sassafras is such a special and evocative plant, its aroma so distinctive. It's still aging, but I finally broke down and tasted a bit last night -- a little early -- and really enjoyed it.

Another source of fascination has been a traditional Russian drink called kvass:

The recipe I made is an apple kvass (a classic one) that has no alcohol whatsoever, being a lactic-acid fermentation, and was a bit sweet for my tastes at first, but the flavor really grew on me. I ended up enjoying it thoroughly, and felt like a medieval Russian peasant when I drank it. I have also been making beet kvass for a couple of years now and LOVE it -- it has a wonderful sour richness and is an historic health tonic. I feel great after drinking it.

Anyway, that's some of what I've been up to, in addition to writing (working on my book proposal), and learning (also working on a website), and everything else in life...