Sowing the seeds of a new journey

They say a seed can only grow if the soil is ready, and the conditions too, for that particular seed.  The seed too has to be viable, and if space is limited, worth growing.

I am going to stop there, as this could lead me down the garden path, which is a place I love to be.  The other place I love to be is at the start of a new adventure.  Not too daring, not one that will take many air-miles, or cause any more pollution than is necessary, but an adventure that has the potential to enrich my life.  If it is an adventure will be based on food and eating and the Kitchen, I am ready.

It will be a journey, and an adventure and Mr S is 'behind' me.  I don't think he has a choice really, and I am sure he will greatly enjoy being my 'pack carrier' and bless him: washer upper.  I have probably been in training for this journey which will be an adventure, for which different other seeds were sown, from my earliest years.

Food and eating: good food and 'moderate' eating, has since I can remember, been one of my greatest pleasures.  Buying/growing and preparing food is one too. Whether it was 'standard' fruits and vegetables grown on volcanic soils under a semi tropical sun such as bananas, pineapples, mangoes, pawpaws, lobsters, fruit bats, hedgehogs and venison, or enjoying other delicacies such as imported olives, which my father adored, or coming back to England and enjoying iced lemon buns, and the wonderful wholesome dishes at my Grandmothers, I have always been adventurous.

A few weeks ago I happened to be listening to BBC Radio 4 Food Programme on the topic of 'how to get Sour back into your life'. ( How long the Programme will remain viable in the link, I cannot guess). At the time most probably, I was making Sourdough, which is another sort of sour.  Of course we love my chutneys, some of which I post on my other blog. 

From the library, I am enjoying reading Mark Diacono's prose on

sour/the magical element that will transform your cooking

I had started to dip my toes in a not unfamiliar pond, and am now a regular in the making of kefir.  I had been making kefir around fifteen years ago regularly, but something went wrong with it, and not having access then as we do now, didn't understand properly the needs of the kefir grains, which after some time, just died!  This time I am enjoying my kefir in all sorts of ways.

I happened to have ordered Fermentation by Asa Simonsson at the same time.  Reading up and planning is part of the excitement before a new journey, which I also enjoy. 

When I popped round to my special salad leaf supplier: Frances, and we were talking about this and that, she invited me to taste the Beetroot Kvass she has recently made.  I love beetroot, I love salty...she poured a little in a small bottle for me take home. 

I had been hearing and wondering for some time about preserving without vinegar.  When I was about eight, I heard my grandmother talking about salting down, and bottling garden produce for the winter...but how she cooked and ate them, I haven't a clue.  I suppose this sort of preservation points back to the days before electricity.  They lived in a part of Lincolnshire where electricity only arrived in the early 60s. My parents also make a type of Achard which used many of the techniques, which I enjoy making and more importantly love to eat.

Earlier in June, on our way back from our holiday in Devon, I wanted to stop off at a plant nursery on my HPS list...White Post Nursery near Wellington.  We had a little turn there...and it was near lunch time, and on cue Mr S asked 'what are we doing for lunch'?  He had gone back to the car,  and I had just returned from having a second tour of the nursery on my own, and I took it as a hint that I had spent too long looking at plants.

I said how about trying that cafe there...just on the side of the car park.  In we went, and I was amazed at the love and  thought put into the assembly and display of a myriad of fresh produce, and the deliciousness of the lunch.  Sadly it is a little too far from home or else I would be a regular!  I knew just by seeing the bread and other baked goods that this was my sort of place.  If you are in the vicinity of The White Post Cafe, do please plan in a visit.  With a few leaflets to hand, which I was pointed towards when asking about who supplies their bread, I came away with information about The Bakery which used to be on the other side of the hard standing but had now moved a little way away to Tracebridge: Tracebridge Sourdough and Fermenteria.

Not surprisingly after we had settled down after our holiday, I looked into Tracebridge, and fancied maybe one of their patisserie courses.  As we were in thick of decorating, the thought was parked.  However after the tasting the Kvass...and being determined to beat off the winter blues and in need of an adventure, last week I checked to see if they had any Fermentation classes.  Yes there was one only a week away, and only one place left.  I am on it!

Achard Revisited

Now a 'new' member of the Wells WI gourmet club, for my first evening I have made some preserves for our 'Curry Evening'.  As achard tends to be unknown in this area my host was keen for me to make some.  It is ages since I last made it.  It takes a lot of preparation if you are chopping my hand, and there have been many other jams, pickles and chutneys made and eaten.Many of them posted are posted my other blog: Mrs Mace Preserves.

Having to provide a  recipe sheet for each of the members of the club, I opted for a manageable amount of Achard, and  fine tuned quantities, and developed my own spice blend.

Achard using the salting method with cider vinegar giving a twist of Somerset

The following are prepared weights and is based on a small whole cabbage and cauliflower.  Weigh the ones you have, and adjust the other ingredients accordingly.

575g hard white cabbage, chopped into julienne sized pieces
500g tight cauliflower, subdivided into tiny florets which will look good in the pickle
200g carrots cuts into fine julienne about 5cm long
150g fine french green beans, cut on the cross into fine slivers
200g shallots or pickling onions, cut through the root end so as to keep pieces together

300ml cider vinegar
50g  unrefined sea salt

4 large garlic cloves
50g crushed fresh ginger

125g cold pressed virgin rapeseed oil

Olive oil to dress the tops of the jars

Achard Spice Mix

3 level tablespoons ground turmeric, 1 tablespoon dark mustard seeds, 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, one or two small dried chillies or to taste.  Put the spices all except 1 tsp mustard seeds and put through a spice grinder...not over fine. Mix in the whole mustard seeds, and set aside until needed.

Pack the prepared onions tightly  into a kilner jar or similar, cover with all the vinegar, cover and leave steeping at room temperature overnight.

Prepare all the other vegetables, except for the ginger and garlic,  the afternoon of day 1.  Place them in a large strong plastic bag, toss in all the salt, and turn with your hand.

Squeeze down the bag, to exclude as much air as possible, and shut it tightly with a clip.

Move and turn the bag around a few times over the next two to three hours to distribute the brine.

Place the bag of vegetables and brine in the fridge overnight.

 Overnight, the vegetables in the bag 'wilt' visibly as water is removed under osmosis.

 After 24 hours, cut a corner off the bag, and drain off the fluid, squeezing the bag. Then in a colander, quickly rinse the vegetables in very hot water in batches, then squeezed them very thoroughly in clean kitchen tea towels, to dry them as much as possible.

In a large pan heat the oil , then added all the spices, ginger and garlic, and cooked these gently stirring for five minutes on a gentle heat...taking care as they should not scorch or stick to the pan.

Add the drained onions, and cooked these for a couple of minutes. Add all the vegetables and  toss and turn these in the oil, with the heat still on.  Add as much of the vinegar from the onions to give a good coasting to the vegetables.  Stir for a minute or two...that's all the cooking done!  Taste and add a little salt according to taste.  Take care, it is better to add salt at the serving stage later, when you have tasted the mature achard.

Pack the pickle very tightly into sterilized  jars, pressing layers with the back of a strong spoon or similar.  Run a spoonful of oil over the top to form a seal.  Close the lids.  As soon as the achard is cool, store the jars in the fridge.

This achard needs at least a couple of weeks to mature in the fridge, then ought to be eaten within the following six weeks.

To serve, place in a bowl, and flick through with a fork...it will look like a dressed salad.  Do not return to the jar, but keep and eat within a day once taken out of the jar.

In Mauritius this sugar free pickle is traditionally eaten as a side dish to curry and rice, and great in crunchy sourdough type rolls with cheese.

Its interesting to ponder the history or origins of the Mauritian Achard.  My father was born to French and Portuguese settlers to the Island and the family were great entertainers having the whole extended family for 'banquets' where over 50 fifty people would congregate for New Year's day lunch.  I am sure Achard would be on the table. 

My father explained that before refrigeration, and particularly when there was a glut of vegetables, it was an effective way of preparing in advance and preserving  large amounts of vegetables.  The jars or most probably large stoneware jars of pickles were also easier and safer to transport.  In the heat of tropics a cabbage or cauliflower can go to seed in just a few days, or even when picked, without refrigeration will be spoilt in less than half a day.

The pickle also adds that tang which aids digestion to plainer dishes of rice, lentils, and meat or fish curries.

Mauritian Achard a variation developed by my father

I've been meaning to make this pickle for so many years, and at last it is made. For several weeks I have been researching this, and came across a fellow Mauritian who writes a blog called Inspired to Bake



Prerrna's recipe for Achard uses the blanching technique. I remember 'elders' talking about putting vegetables out in the sun to dehydrate somewhat as a start to preservation. However I remember several bouts of achard making at home when I was a child, with used neither of these.




Back in 2001 when I asked my mother for the recipe, she explained that my father had devised a different process that started the pickle off by salting the vegetables. I know it is 2001, because after lots of searching, which is something I DO NOT LIKE TO DO, I have found a copy of the original printed out email from Mum and Lizzie. Lizzie has only just made Achard in Australia, and having been warned that hers was a little on the salty side, I was very careful with the washing away of the brine phase. My father was a thorough scientist both academic and practical so I have followed his system.




On Thursday which is market day, I bought two firm and tight cauliflowers, a tight cabbage, some carrots, and as there were no small pickling onions, used two large onions, the first of the french beans from the garden, some fresh ginger about two inches of a plump root, 5 cloves ofgarlic, organic cider vinegar, oil, sea salt, and 1/3 of a packet of Achard Spice brought for me from Mauritius, and olive oil. It took me some time chopping all the vegetables, which more than filled the largest of my bread mixing bowls.




Except for the chopped onions, which were packed very firmly into a jar, and immersed under vinegar, the rest of the vegetables, minus garlic and ginger, went into a large plastic bag. Into this I tossed three small handfuls of coarse unrefined sea salt, then squeezed down the bag, to exclude as much air as possible, and shut it tightly. Over the next day, the vegetables in the bag 'wilted' visibly as water was removed under osmosis. Every so often, I moved the bag around, to distribute the brine, and after 24 hours, cut a corner off the bag, and drained off the fluid. Then in a colander, I quickly rinsed the vegetables in very hot water in batches, then squeezed them very thoroughly in clean kitchen cloths.




In my largest pan, I put a teacup of oil to heat, and added all the spices, ginger and garlic, and cooked these gently. I added the drained onions, and cooked these for a couple of minutes. That's all the cooking that is required. All the vegetables are then added, and tossed and turned in the oil. It was at that stage that I was wondering what to do with the drained off vinegar. I added a spoonful or two, and tasted, and in the end I put all the vinegar in. I followed the instructions of putting the whole lot in the fridge when cold enough, then every few hours, turning the mixture. The next day, following instructions, I packed the archard very tighly into jars, then ran a spoonful of olive oil, over the top to form a seal. Its strange to think that all those vegetables eventually fitted only five jars.





So in this Achard there seems to be several methods of preservation: brining, preserving spices, and I wonder whether any anoerobic fermentation takes place as in sauerkraut, but maybe this is inhibited by the vinegar present. I remember that made in this way the Achard keeps in the fridge for several weeks. At home it was very much a making and sharing activity, with about five jars made, and three given away....Looks like I am carrying on this tradition.

Already two jars are with other Mauritians: Marie-Claire and Jenny, and a third is promised to Rita.