Spicy sweet roasted pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds are super nutritious! They are the basis of several herbal remedies and also a major component of our animal feed. But to be honest... Are they tasty?

Yes! With this recipe they are incredible! A bit like spicy sweet candy. Yum!

Tip: Start with heirloom pumpkins. They do taste different, better than hybrids. There seeds of an hybrid are just not the same somehow.

To make:

Preheat the oven to 400. Cover the bottom of a glass baking dish with organic extra virgin coconut oil. Remove the seeds from a pumpkin but do not wash them. In fact, do not even clean the fiberous center of the pumpkin of the seeds, just scoop them out. Place seeds on a mixing bowl and sprinkle with Redmond real salt and organic chili powder to taste. Toss gently then place in the baking dish in the oil.

Roast at 400 degrees until nicely Brown, almost but not quite burnt.



The fibers from the center of the pumpkin will carmelize into a sweet almost sugary coating, and the coconut oil brings out a nutty sweet flavor. Absolutely the best pumpkin seeds ever!

posted from Bloggeroid

Yummy Recipe - Salami in onions

Everyone know that salami is a great snack food. It travels well, has a long shelf life, is tasty (and healthy when made right) and is just quick and easy. But what about cooking with salami?

We tried a dish the other night that came out beautifully....  perhaps this will inspire some unique dinner ideas.

Ingredients:

2 Little Sprouts Mild Salamis, sliced thin

1 heaping scoop of Little Sprouts Lard with Cracklings

1 large onion, yellow or red, sliced thick

1 entire cluster of garlic, smashed, peeled, chopped

2 cups of cooked "starch" (we used rice, sub with whatever your acceptable starchy food is)

2 tablespoons of dried oregeno

Salt to taste (always real salt, not white)

crushed red pepper if you like spicy

In a large skillet, melt lard and get hot to sizzling stage

Add onions and cook until almost tender

Add salami slices

Stir frequently, this is almost like a stir fry

When salami just starts to get crispy on edges, add in garlic, oregano, rice, salt

Cook until rice is heated through and soaked up the lard

Sprinkle with crushed red pepper if desired, and serve!

New Favorite Recipe: Turkey Dressing

This Christmas dinner we tried something new, and it worked out unbelievably wonderfully, so we would like to share this with you.

We very very rarely touch breads, but Christmas dinner is one time where we will splurge a little... with dressing. But the turkeys we made were smoked long and slow, so doing the stuffing inside the birds is next to impossible. The question then is how do you get that stuffed turkey taste from dressing made in the oven?

It is actually quite easy... fat! The realization came from thinking "what gives dressing cooked inside the bird that amazing flavor?". The main difference is, dressing inside the bird soaks up all the fat that renders out while cooking, fat from skin and suck. Based on that, I came up with the following recipe and it was nothing short of AMAZING.

Broth - make your own by boiling some giblets (hearts, gizzards, livers, etc) in a small amount of water with a few peppercorns, a quartered onion, and a pinch of salt. The amount is roughly 2 cups per box of bread crumbs, but check the dressing box for recommend proportions.

Fat - remove all the fat possible from inside the turkey. A heritage turkey properly raised will have about a handful of orange or deep yellow fat inside the body cavity and around the neck area. pull all that you can out and put in a small pot to render slow on the stovetop. If there is not enough rendered fat for the amount of dressing desired, add sticks of grass fed butter to it. Again, use the dressing box as a guide, but use about 50% more total fat then they suggest.

Veggies - my favorite is equal parts onion, carrot, celery. Chopped to quarter inch or so pieces

Garlic - Peel an entire head of garlic and mince it up with a knife

Stuffing mix - we use 1/3 wheat dressing, 2/3 corn dressing

Now your ready to build... First mix the chopped veggies and garlic to the dry dressing mix. Gently mix this together in a large bowl by slowly flipping.  Then add the liquid broth slowly as you continue flipping gently. Be gentle as to not break up the bread any more than necessary.  When it is all uniform and the moisture is pretty much all soaked in (about 10 to 15 minutes) then add the liquid  fat, preferably warm. Again, flip slowly to coat all evenly without breaking the bread apart.

Now just shovel this into a flat glass baking dish and cover with foil. Then into a hot oven at 350 degrees for about half an hour.  Check, it should be bubbly at the bottom. If so, remove the foil and continue baking another half hour or so, until the top is brown and a little crispy.

There you go! The best dressing ever, made in the oven, taste like it comes from a bird.

NOTE: do NOT try this with a storebought turkey. They wont have enough fat, and what they do have is not healthy anyway due to raising and feeding.  This will only work with a heritage turkey raised where it can get access to lots of bugs.

Mint cranberry lamb sausage test

One of the fun parts of selling sausage off farm is the need to develop our own recipes. Usually YUM!

Today we are exploring a new lamb recipe... mint cranberry lamb sausage.



Recipes often take several rounds of tweaking and testing... so we can not predict when this will be available... but we have high hopes!

Stay tuned!

posted from Bloggeroid

Todays bacon experiment

Today we have homemade salt cured bacon wrapped around slivers of onion, sprinkled with paprika, chili powder, and a little dry mustard.

Oven roasted at about 400 degrees.

Yum!

First taste of little sprouts lamb

We finally had put first taste of our heritage lamb.  In a word.. . WOW! The meat was amazingly tender, mildly flavored,  and just plain delicious!
The most amazing thing is ease of use.  Instead of an elaborate lamb recipe with all the preparation. .. it was so easy.  Brenda took the leg of lamb from the freezer in the morning, placed it frozen into a Dutch oven with some water,  sprinkled a little salt, pepper,  and thyme - baked it for the day in the oven. 
It tastes much like grass fed beef. In fact I had to think about it to tell the difference. It was  more tender than beef though.
So we are pleased with our lamb.  It is totally grass fed,  organically raised, heritage Jacob sheep. Healthy,  nutritious,  and delicious.
If you would like to sample some lamb this year,  just contact us.  You can also reserve yours for next year now!

French Style Heritage Turkey Recipe

A recent customer has a unique way to cook a heritage turkey, a french style recipe. She was kind enough to share it with us so you can give it a try.

=============================================

Duo of Roasted and Braised Heritage Turkey

By Alain Sailhac, French Culinary Institute

--For an 18 lb. heritage turkey, legs & thighs removed, and wings removed at the second joint.

The hardest part of this recipe is cutting a raw turkey into 4 parts – 2 leg/thighs, the back that was between them, and the breast attached to everything else. Prepare all the ingredients first as it can take over ½ hour cut up the bird. The turkey comes up to room temperature during that time, but you don’t want to leave it sit out much longer than that.

-- Preheat oven to 350 ˚.

--Make a mirepoix by chopping:

            1 large peeled onion

            1 large peeled carrot

            1 celery branch

            1 small peeled rutabaga

Combine all these, then divide them equally into 2 bowls.

           

-- Make a bouquet garni with:

            2 bay leaves

            2 branches of sage

            5-6 parsley stems

            A few inner celery leaves

--Stem 25-30 sage leaves, and preserve the stems

-- Chop 4 oz. onion

-- Have ready:

            3 C. white wine

            11 ½ C. chicken stock

            4 garlic cloves, unpeeled and lightly crushed

  

For the Braise:

§ Season legs with salt and pepper.

§ In a pot just large enough to hold the legs comfortably, heat 1/3 C. oil; add the legs and brown well on all sides.

§ Add half the mirepoix and cook until soft and it develops some color. Remove the legs and strain the contents, leaving 2-3 T. of the fat in the pan.

§ Return all ingredients to the pan and deglaze with 2 C. wine. Reduce the liquid until syrupy and add about 7 C. of the stock. The liquid should come about halfway up the sides of the legs.

§ Add the bouquet garni and 2 garlic cloves, bring to a boil, cover, and place in the oven. Let braise, turning occasionally, for 2-2 ½ hours, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the inner thigh (not touching bone) registers at least 180 ˚ F.

§ Remove the legs, cover and keep warm.

§ Strain the braising liquid and return to the heat, skimming diligently and reducing slightly.

For the Roast:

§ At the same time you start braising the legs, begin roasting the breast.

§ Rub it all over with about 2 T. of oil and season with salt and pepper.

§ Chop the neck and wings into 1-inch pieces.

§ Place a small roasting pan in the oven to heat it for a few minutes. Add ¼ C. of oil to the pan, place the breast in the pan, skin side up, and distribute 2 garlic cloves, the neck and wing pieces, and the other half of the mirepoix around it.

§ Place the pan in the oven, and roast the turkey for 30 minutes.

§ Baste with one T. butter to encourage browning.

§ If the neck and wing pieces have developed color, deglaze them with 4 ½ C. stock and bring to a boil.

§ Return the pan to the oven and continue basting every 15 minutes for approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 168 ˚ F.

§ Remove the breast, cover loosely with foil, and keep warm. Let the breast rest a minimum of 15-20 minutes before carving.

§ Strain and degrease the cooking liquid and skim well.

For the Sauce:

§ Marry the braising and the roasting liquids together and reduce them to just under 1 quart.

§ Meanwhile, soften the onion in 4 T. butter and deglaze with 1 C. wine. Add sage stems and reduce by two-thirds. Combine this with the reduced stock and simmer for just a few minutes to meld the flavors.

§ Strain the sauce through a fine chinois and mount with 2 T. butter.

§ Taste for seasoning and add a chiffonade of sage leaves.

Don't forget the Turkey Stock! Here's how.

Now that thanksgiving is past, there is one more benefit to having a heritage turkey... stock! The leftover carcass from a heritage turkey makes the absolute best soup stock and broth you will ever taste.  Don't waste those bones... use them!

Our own turkey stock recipe  is quite simple. We have a very large stock pot, maybe 5 gallons. We place the carved Turkey carcass in the pot and add enough water to cover. Add a couple spoonfuls of vinegar. Optionally you can add a quartered onion, carrot, celery, a soon of peppercorns and a little salt. Being it all to a simmer. Skim off any scum that floats to the top, then cover tightly and let it slowly simmer for a couple days.

After a couple days take it off the heat and let it cool slightly. Then pack it into hot quart canning jars and seal. Leave them on the counter to cool, then you can freeze or refrigerate.  In the fridge it keeps for a week or so, in the freezer it is almost indefinite. Just be careful to leave plenty of headspace  to freeze (an inch or so should do)

this stock is great for soups, cooking, or just drinking as a warm treat! It is both healthy and nutritious!

Our own Thanksgiving turkey

here is a look at our own family's Turkey roasting in the oven. we prefer to use a cooking method where you start with a high Temp (450) for a few minutes,  then turn it down to roast. this Sears the skin with a nice color and seals the juices inside.  here is the bird after the 20 minutes or so.
this is a brined Turkey,  so all w did was rinse it well,  place an onion inside,  and rub a little butter on the outside. this year we have shiny new roasting  pan to try. even the biggest size pan that was available barely holds the heritage birds!  and this was only 13 pounds!
were invite our customers to share your cooking experience as a testimonial. just click the tab above for testimonial and enter your own at the bottom of the page. if you have a recipe to share please  email it to us at littlesprouts@salchfamily.org

Absolute Best Tasting Turkey Ever!

The heritage turkeys we have cooked before have been outstanding in flavor, exture and moistness, but today my wife created the absolute best tasting turkey ever! Even better than any we have done before.

This was a heritage narangansette tom, about 15 pounds, about 9 months old. It was processed, brined in our Little Sprouts brine recipe for 3 days, then smoked in a commercial smoker and frozen. That was about 2 months ago.  Today she pulled it out FROZEN, placed it into a turkey bag and in a pan. In the oven at 200 for about 2 hours, 350 for about an hour, then back to 200 for about four hours more. At the end of all that it sat in the cooling oven for maybe an hour or two.

I dont know if hte temp time and changes had anything to do with it, but the end result was the best tasting, moistest, and tenderest turkey ever. The full flavor of hte heritage bird combined with the soft brine was phenomal and really came out under hte smoke flavor.  The combination was hand down a winner!

Smoked Roasted Heritage Turkey

Heritage turkeys are not the same as store bought commercial turkeys. The common store bought variety is highly bred or genetically altered to produce more white meat at a faster rate than nature itself will support. Heritage birds are fully mature, processed at 6 to 9 months, and have a normal body shape that allows them to naturally mate.  This does mean a few things to be aware of in the kitchen.

The picture below is a 12lb narangansette tom that has been roasted and smoked on our own pit. You can see from the picture that hte body shape os a natural bird is quite different from what you may be used to. Thee birds have a much longer and narrower body, higher more pronounced breastbone, and much less breastmeat. What you find when cutting into this fine bird is equal amounts of white and dark meat, and plenty of juice from the internal fat to keep it moist all throughout.

I usually roast / smoke mine to about 170 degrees, allowing about 6 hours for snoking at low temperateure and 2 to 3 hours of actual cooking time. This is all on a Traeger Grill with a full water pan below the bird. Traeger grills are pellet grills that allow you to set the temp like an oven and walk away, and you can choose any type of hardwood pellets for flavor. My favorite is mosquite and hickory, sometimes mixed. Apple does ok for poultry also.  

Best results are obtained by brining the birds for 2 days before roasting. I take the frozen bird and place it in an insulated brining bucket with the brining solution and just leave it for 2 days. It defrosts slowly and brines at the same time, keeping it cool enough to not need ice except in summer. The flavor imparted is unbelievable! Then I go form brine to smoker for a day.

We will have these turkeys avaialble this year for christmas and thanksgiving. I can assure you that when raised properly, processed properly, and cooked properly, there is no better turkey on earth!

Homemade Turkey Broth

When your done with your super tasty heritage turkey, what comes next? Well, dont waste the bones... It makes hte absolute best turkey broth avaialble!

Warning - We do not recommend trying this with store bought turkey or chicken. The results will not be as pleasing, and the heatlh benefits will be limited. The raising and breed of the animal is what produces the health benefits and taste.

With the disclaimer out of the way.. here's a simple way to make yoru own turkey stock or broth. It is excellent as a warm drink, a stock for any soup, addition to any dish that needs liquid, etc etc. The list is endless!

Ingredients:
1 heritage pasture raised turkey
4 organic carrots
1 organic onion
4 stalks organic celery
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon organic black peppercorns
6 organic bay leaves
2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
Water

Procedure:
Place the turkey leftovers into a large stock pot. We use a 32 quart one and it just holds 1 turkey without breaking the bones apart.  Fill with water to cover the entire bird. Add all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer and very slowly simmer over low heat. It is very important to set heat as low as possible to keep a slight simmer. Cover completely and let it simmer for about 3 days. Check every day to stir and add water as necessary to keep level up. On the thrid day you should have a slightly brown, completely unclear stock that smells wonderful.

To bottle it for use later, take a large strainer and press down on top of hte stockto provide some clear broth to scoop out. Now use a ladel to scoop out as much of hte stock as possible into quart or half gallon mason jars. Fill the jars to about an inch or two from the top (to leave room for freezing).  Its best to do this while the stock is still hot.  Once the level becomes too low to scoop out with a ladel, just put a large bowl in the sink, place strainer in the bowl, and pour the rest of the contents into the strainer. Let all the juice drip out. Then you can finish filling hte jars from the bowl.

the jars should be sealed, allowed to cool, and placed in the fridge or freezer. Do not attempt to keep tham at room temperature, they are not processed for that. The flavor is better if you do not process for long term storage.  These bottles will keep for about a week in the fridge, or much longer if you freeze them. If you wish to freeze them, let them cool on the counter, then place in fridge overnight, then freezer. This prevents weakening of hte glass and jar breakage.

Enjoy! you know have plenty of super nutritious turkey bone stock for use whenever you need.

This stock forms the basis of many health diets including Weston Price, GAPS, SCD, etc. They all hail this type of broth as one of the healthiest foods you can consume!

Oven Roasted Pork Spare Ribs Recipe

Last night we had the absolute best pork spare ribs ever! The naturally pleasing flavor of the Red Wattle pork combined with light seasonings creates a flavor combination that is unlike any other. They are also amazingly easy to make right in the oven, no BBQ required. I suspect a little smoke flavor from the BBQ would be an added benefit, but not necessary!

WARNING: if you reproduce this recipe without the Pastured Heritage Red Wattle Pork, it will not be the same. As is the case in all foods, the quality and natural flavor of the core ingredient is the most important element. Regular factory produced pork spare ribs require much more seasoning and flavor help than this recipe provides. To cook the best food, you must start with the best ingredients!

Recipe

1 or 2 racks of Pastured Red Wattle Pork Spare Ribs
1 T Salt
1 T Black Pepper
1T Paprika
2T Brown Sugar
1 Medium Onion

Mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Cut the ribs into serving size portions (2 to 4 ribs each). Lay the ribs in a flat casserole pan in a single layer. Sprinkle both sides with the rub. Don't go too heavy - this is not a coating, just a sprinkle. Slice the onion and lay the slices across the top of the ribs. Cover with foil and place in fridge for  4 to 8 hours.

Heat oven to 250. Move the casserole pans to the oven with foil still on. Bake for about 4 hours.

Remove the foil, turn up the oven to 450, and roast for about 15 to 20 minutes, just till edges start to turn black.

For a serving Sauce:

3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup water
2 t vinegar (prefer rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t salt
1 t black pepper
1 t chili powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1 T finely chopped onion

Mix all ingredients in  a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil stirring almost constantly. Remove from heat and serve warm. Its best to leave the ribs without sauce and pour the sauce over the individual portions when serving.

Enjoy!

Quick n Easy Lunch with Little Sprouts Red Wattle Pork Sausage

Here's a quick n easy idea for a lunch featuring Red Wattle pork sausage, the absolute best sausage in the world !

2 cups of cooked pasta
2 cans chunky tomato soup
1 lb pork sausage
1/8 cup of cheese cubed (any type)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves of fresh garlic chopped)
sprinkle of parsley
sprinkle of basil
salt and pepper to taste


Cook the pasta and drain thoroughly.
Cook the sausage in a flat until nicely browned. Pour off excess fat.
Turn down the heat a bit to medium
Sprinkle the cooked sausage with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and mix in the pan.
Add tomato soup and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Top with cheese chunks. Turn off the heat completely and while cheese melts sprinkle with a mix of parsley and basil.

Serve and enjoy!

If you like a softer flavor for on the tomato, try adding a little milk to the soup, maybe 1/4 can per can.

this oddly tastes amazingly like lasagna, but is sooooo much easier!

NOTE: you could use any type of pork sausage, but it just wont be the same.  Red Wattle sausage, raised to our standards, has an amazing yet subtly combination of flavors that cant be reproduced.

Naturally cured bacon recipe submitted by a customer

Here is another customer submitted recipe

Home-made bacon


I found this one online somewhere.

Make a mixture of Redmond's Real Salt and unrefined sugar crystals, and add fresh ground peppercorns, oregano, sage, bay leaf, or any other spice you might like to experiment with.

Lay the sliced side pork (which is the cut bacon is made from) in a single layer on a big cutting board, plate or baking pan.

Thoroughly sprinkle both sides of the meat with the salt/sugar/spice mixture, massaging it in.

Put the slices into a plastic zip-lok bag and place in the refrigerator.

Massage the bacon each day through the bag, for up to 3 days, turning bag over in rotation.

Remove pork, rinse well, blot dry with paper towels, and bake at 200 degrees to dry and lightly cure the bacon.

It is now ready for storage as bacon, ready to be fully cooked to eat. I didn't bother with the low temperature baking, but went right to a 350 degree cooking. I figured it would store better fully cooked, though I'm told the lighter-baked meat will last up to a week in refrigerator. But why cook it twice? I just warm up the cold cooked meat in a toaster oven when I'm ready to eat more of it.

No smoking involved, which adds flavor and lengthens storage time, but also adds complexity and infrastructure.

I found this simple bacon quite tasty enough and easy to make. It was a bit too salty, and I was surprised that more of the saltiness didn't rinse out. Next time I'll use less salt and perhaps more sugar.
 
 
NOTE: views, opinions and procedures expressed by customers do not necessarily reflect the views of Little Sprouts Farm and we urge the reader to do their own research into food safety before attempting to reproduce these recipes.

Pork Chop Recipe from a customer

Here is a recipe submission from one of our pork customers :

Marinated pork chops


Place thawed pork chops in a deep-dish baking pan, wide flat-bottom bowl, or even a deep plate.

Pour apple cider vinegar and the water strained from the simmering of seaweed over the chops.

Crumble bay leaves and sage into the marinade.

Cover and let marinate for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days, turning the chops half-way through.

Remove and press out extra marinade with one of those mashing utensils.

Cook by baking, pan frying, or barbequeing, but keep them medium-rare, where you can still see some pink near the bone. It's okay, tricinosis is almost non-existent anymore, and is killed at lower temperatures. Lighter cooking makes the meat easier to digest, as does the marinating. Your stomach pH needs to be around 1.5 to thoroughly digest such complete proteins, and that's very acidic-something assisted by the vinegar in the marinade.
 
 
 
Note: opinions expressed in recipes submitted by individuals other than employees of Little Sprouts Farm do not necessarily express the views or statements of Little Sprouts Farm

How to Prepare Bulk Sausage

Sausage is one of my personal favorite morning foods. The simplicity, ease of preparation, and yet versatility of this traditional breakfast meat puts it at the top of my list. We are sometimes asked though, what is the best way to prepare bulk sausage. Not everyone is used to purchasing sausage in this form.

First the basic.. What is bulk sausage? Simply put, sausage is a combination of meat and fat, ground and mixed together with spices, and delivered in a package of some sort without being pressed into a skin or casing.  The spices used can range anywhere from exotic and flavorful to basic and light.

When you purchase pork from little sprouts farm, we always recommend turning a good portion of it into sausage, and having it only lightly seasoned with basic spices like salt. This is how we have our own sausage packaged at the butcher. Doing a light seasoning on the sausage itself allows you versatility at preparation time to create any flavor you desire, and a different flavor each day.  Here's a simple recipe we use:

1 lb bulk sausage (hopefully from Little Sprouts pastured heritage organically fed pork)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 to 2 teaspoon dried herb (my favorite is Thyme, but rosemary also works well)

Simply mix the sausage and spices in a small bowl, being careful to ensure an even mix throughout. You can then either form the sausage into patties or just drop it in the pan crumbled. Either way cook until just starting to brown on the edges and all pink is gone in the thickest parts.

You can use any combination of spices or flavorings. Dress it up with a little jalapeno, brighten it with some soy sauce, soften it with a little milk, or whatever flavor strikes you as tasty. Be aware though not to add too much flavor. Too much flavor will hide the good taste of the pork. When working with commercial factory created store bought sausage heavy spices are necessary to create flavor, but when you start with farm fresh naturally raised pork the meat and fat itself has flavor and texture that are enjoyable and healthy. Hiding that natural goodness is a shame.

Its always important to remember that naturally raised meats are entirely different in texture and flavor from factory produced meats commonly purchased in the grocery store. The recipes used should be adjusted for this fundamental and significant difference. Adding too much flavor to an already flavored meat is both unnecessary and prevent enjoying the true flavor of the meat itself.

So unwrap a package of Little Sprouts bulk sausage and ask yourself... which flavor explosion do I want to enjoy today?!?!

Whole Wheat sourdough bread from fresh ground wheat made in breadmaker!

I have been struggling with recipes for making whole wheat sourdough bread in a bread maker from fresh ground wheat. Combining the ideas of sourdough, fresh ground wheat, and bread machine is amazingly difficult. There seems to be practically no recipes combine all those elements.  Until now.....

Before I share the recipe, here's a bit of background on WHY combine these three elements:

1. Fresh ground wheat instead of store bought

I was raised on whole wheat bread, thinking it was good for you. It's whole grain just like nature intended, right? Well.. think again.. it actually isn't as whole and as healthy as you might think. The reality is that oils in the wheat kernel make the ground flour go rancid very quickly. True whole wheat flour has a shelf life of only 1 to 2 months before going rancid. This can be extended somewhat by refrigeration. However, have you ever seen a "milled"  or "use by" date on a bag of flour? Most don't have it. So, either they are selling food that goes bad quickly without telling you, or they have processed the grain somehow to extend shelf life.   The technology exists to extract the oil from the kernel, leaving what the government calls "whole grain" but increasing the shelf life.

Ok, wait you say.. if it says 100% whole grain, then it has to be 100% of the grain, right? Wrong. Here is the government regulations about labeling:

From the FDA website about food labeling:

Depending on the context in which a "whole grain" statement appears on the label, it could be construed as meaning that the product is "100 percent whole grain." We recommend that products labeled with "100 percent whole grain" not contain grain ingredients other than those the agency considers to be whole grains. Consumers should be able to look at the ingredient statement to determine whether the predominant or first ingredient listed is a whole grain. We note that wheat flour should not be labeled as a whole grain flour because wheat flour is a synonym of flour (§ 137.105), and thus, the bran and germ have been removed. However, whole wheat flour (§ 137.200) should be considered a whole grain flour because it contains all the parts of the grain, i.e., the bran, endosperm, and germ. We recommend that pizza that is labeled "whole grain " or "whole wheat" only be labeled as such when the flour ingredient in the crust is made entirely from whole grain flours or whole wheat flour, respectively. Similarly, we recommend that bagels, labeled as "whole grain " or "whole wheat" only be labeled as such when bagels are made entirely from whole grain flours or whole wheat flour, respectively.

Read carefully, the government considered only the presence of the three basic components of wheat: bran, endosperm, germ. It does not refer to the OIL. IT is the OIL that contains much of the nutrition and also what causes rancidity. By removing the oil or processing it somehow, the shelf life can be extended and still called 100% whole wheat, even though it is a different product than what you would get with fresh ground flour.

Here is a website describing in more detail.

Nutritionally, fresh ground flour looses its nutritional value in hours from milling, so it must be ground right before use to achieve the best product.  This is simply not possible with store bought whole wheat flour. So, we bought a small electric grain mill and mill our own flour in the kitchen on demand.  (another blog post could cover grain mills)

2. Sourdough instead of yeast?

Now that we have achieved flour that contains all the nutrition of nature in fresh ground... we have a new problem. Whole grain flour also contains this magic chemical called "phytic acid". In the world of seeds, this is a magical and necessary chemical. It is what makes the seed lay dormant for months until enough water comes along to support life, and then the seed sprouts with hours.  The phytic acid keeps the seed dormant until enough water soaks the seed to dissolve out the phytic acid, and life begins.

Great process right? Well, there is a side effect. Phytic acid, when consumed by animals including humans, is a negative in our bodies. Through processes I don't understand the phytic acid in seeds prevents absorption of many minerals, including calcium.  What that means is, if you eat enough  whole seeds (wheat) it matters not how much milk you drink, the calcium goes right through you and you suffer from calcium deficiency.

There are two answers to this... you can remove the outer coating of the wheat where the phytic acid is. This would be the wheat bran. There is then no phytic acid, but you also have no whole wheat and little fiber left.  This is what you find in standard all purpose flour.  The better answer is to soak the flour in water for enough time to dissolve the phytic acid, leaving the full nutrition of the wheat intact.  This is called "soaked wheat bread". Obviously those concerned with nutrition opt for soaking instead of stripping parts of the wheat away.

Ironically then, if you consume whole wheat bread that is unsoaked as it is commonly available, you are overall potentially worse off than eating white bread, but in a different way. White bread stresses certain parts of the body potentially increasing diabetes, heart disease, etc. Unsoaked whole wheat bread blocks absorption of minerals, increasing conditions such as osteoporosis and other mineral deficiency conditions.  Neither is a healthy lifestyle choice. Only soaking wheat makes fully nutritious and healthy bread.

Now, if your are going to soak your bread for hours, why not go the extra mile and let it ferment into sourdough naturally. Sourdough is a magic combination of bacteria and yeast that, along with destroying the phytic acid, increases nutritional value in much the same way yogurt is healthier than milk.  It is a nutritionally positive experience (beware again.. much bread called sourdough in the store is not true sourdough, it is yeast bread made to taste sour, which has no value over white bread)

So this is our choice, fresh milled whole wheat flour turned into sourdough and soaked at baking time long enough to destroy phytic acid. the best of all worlds and NO negative nutritional components.


3. Bread machine ???

Simply put.. I'm too lazy to manually make bread every day through mixing, kneading, etc.  As with most things on our farm, if it cant be automated, it doesn't get done regularly. I find comfort in the old saying "If you want to find a way to make something easier... find a lazy man to do it, he will figure out an easier way".

The challenge here is that most bread maker recipes call for yeast that rises quickly, much too quickly to destroy phytic acid. Wheat must soak for 8 to 12 hours to be mostly free of phytic acid, and most bread machines only rise for a couple hours.  We found one with completely programmable cycles, that fits the bill nicely!


Ok, so that is the  background of why this is necessary, and hard.  Nevertheless, here is a recipe that so far is the best yet. It comes out fairly fluffy, airy, tasty, and soft crusted.  More adjustment may be made to fine tune this.

1 cup fresh baked pumpkin
2 cups sourdough starter - i use a mix of fresh ground hard wheat and rye
2 cups of fresh ground flour - again a mix of hard wheat and rye
dash of salt

Just throw it all in the bread maker and hit a button. It is necessary to watch for a bit in mixing cycle to ensure proper consistency. The dough should NOT ball up, but should be pulled away and torn by the paddles. If it balls up, add a spoon or two of water. If it does mixes like pancake batter, add a spoon or two of flour.

The cycle times for this are :

20 minutes mix and knead
12 hours rise
1 1/4 hour baking

Be sure to take the bread out as soon as it is done. Sitting in the pan changed the crust texture.

I welcome all comments, especially if you try this and have success or failure.

Four more gallons of the best sauerkraut ever!

We harvested cabbage and kohlrobi today, and made 4 more gallons of sauerkraut. that makes a total of 8 gallons so far this fall.

The first batch turned out extra yummy! In fact, by far the best sauerkraut we have ever made, or tasted. it has an excellent balance of sour, salty, and a hint of spice from the kohlrobi.  We made some sausage and sauerkraut the other day that was incredible!

Check the previous post for the full recipe. it basically just :
1 to 2 cabbage,
3 to 5  kohlrobi,
2 heaping tablespoons sea salt,
1/2 cup fresh gathered whey

Combine all this in a large bowl and squeeze / mix for about 30 minutes, then pack in gallon glass jars. Use the gallon size Ziploc bag with water to hold cabbage in place, and let it sit for 3 to 4 days then refrigerate.  the flavor really develops after a week of so in the fridge.

Once we get further along in the food production business, we will be bottling this for sale as a completed product in smaller quantities. It is definitely too good to pass up!

Heritage Turkey and Dressing recipe - our favorite

Today we have further "perfected" our Thanksgiving turkey and dressing recipe for heritage turkeys.  Here are the details of what makes it the best turkey you will ever taste. The actual recipe is at the bottom of this long list of necessities. although this may seem like a lot of work, if each step is followed as stated below, you will not be disappointed. to achieve the best end result, you have to have a combination of all of these elements. One missing will alter the finished product significantly.

1. start with a heritage breed

our preference is by far the Narragansett breed. This breed is one of the larger heritage breeds, resulting in a nice size body cavity for dressing, and a good even balance between white meat and dark. It is the breed we have chosen to raise and sell, and our favorite in taste tests thus far.

2. raise naturally:

It is critically important that the birds be raised in a natural environment. By definition this means not cooped for most of their life, feed mostly consisting of grass and bugs freely foraged on their own, only light supplement with organic bird food when necessary. They need to spend their life in the sunshine and grass, free to fly when necessary, nest under the moon, and forage under the sun.

3. allow to mature:

Non-genetically altered turkeys (real turkeys) need to be allowed to mature to at least 5 to 6 months.  The best age is between 6 and 9 months. less than 6 months and the fat does not develop, more than 9 months and the meat gets tough. That magic windows of 6 to 9 gives a bird full of moist flavorful and healthy fat, that cooks up tender in a short time.

It is important to note here that this is utterly impossible for factory produced birds. The genetics in these birds do not allow them to live long enough to develop healthy fat.  If they did, they would be unable to walk due to genetic deformities.

It is also important to not, in this day of fat-fear that the fat which develops on these birds is healthy, if the above 3 items are followed. If, on the other hand, the bulk of the birds diet consists of artificial foods, than this is not the case and fat should be avoided.

4. humane and healthy processing

the actual processing of the birds must be done as stress free as possible. If the birds experience stress during the act of butchering, the body releases stress hormones that do affect the meat quality.  the best way to avoid stress (we have found) is quite and efficient catching, tie the legs together to prevent thrashing, followed by placing a full size dark bag (such as a feed bag) over the entire bird. this keeps them calm while awaiting the inevitable.

Killing the bird is best done by placing the bird upside down in a kill cone, and slitting the artery on the side of the  neck at the base of the head  with a very sharp knife, allowing the bird to bleed out quickly. The faster the blood leaves the body the more humane the act is, and the more tasteful the meat is. for this reason we do not chop off the heads. The goal is to drain the blood as quickly as possible with as little movement in the body as possible.

Lastly, the processing must be done cleanly. We do hot water bath scalding, followed by defeathering in a drum. Then the bird is placed in an ice water bath to drain off the body heat quickly while awaiting the next step.

Evisceration must be done quickly and carefully under running water to ensure that no contamination of the meat occurs. This is then followed by another ice water bath.  This second bath is then followed by a third clean ice water bath to ensure that the body tempo of the birds drops to about 35 degrees as quickly as possible in clean water.

5. aging

The best meat is aged meat. Just as an aged steak required proper aging so does poultry. We have found 24 to 48 hours of aging in a refrigerator yields the best meat.  We place a clean damp towel over the meat while aging to prevent drying out.

6. storage

Freezing does alter the quality of the meat, so the best end result is achieved by using fresh - never frozen birds. This  of course requires that the processing be done within a few days of cooking, as stored non frozen poultry only has a shelf life of a week or so at best.

now... what you have after these 6 steps is the best quality meat available  ready for cooking.  to make the best turkey and dressing, here is the actual recipe we use:

Brine

Brining further moisturizes the meat and adds flavor deep into the meat evenly. You can alter the brine recipe to include any flavors you prefer, just leave the water to salt to sugar ratio the same.

 container - 5 gallon plastic drink thermos
3 gallons water
6 cups salt
3 cups sugar
herbs - thyme or rosemary - if dried, about 3 or 4 tablespoons
1 entire garlic, crushed and peeled

Directions - mix the salt, sugar, and herbs in a large saucepan with a gallon of water and heat until it dissolves and steams. Then let it cool back to room temperature. Pour this into the thermos and add the rest of the water as cold as possible. The resulting mixture should be about 45 degrees. If your water temp does not allow this, substitute some ice for water in the thermos to bring the total to 3 gallons within the thermos. Rinse the bird and drop it into the thermos. If the water does not completely cover the turkey when it is held down, add a little more water.  Then fill a gallon size zip lock bag half way with water and place it on top of the water / turkey. This bag needs enough water so that when the lid is tightly fitted on the thermos, the total level of liquid rises to the top and just spills out.  Let this set in a cold place for 24 to 48 hours (we prefer 36 hours).

---- wait 24 to 48 hours

Giblets

We prefer to use the giblets in the stuffing because it is healthy, and if done right quite tasty.

Place giblets (heart, liver, gizzard, neck)  in a small sauce pan of water. add half an onion chopped in quarters, and a few black peppercorns. Sprinkle with a half a teaspoon of sea salt. Bring to a light boil and let it boil for about 2 hours. If the water level drops, add more to maintain the level above the giblets.

After 2 hours strain the  mixture in a strainer, retaining the liquid (to be used in dressing). Chop the giblets finely.

-- now is a good time to preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Stuffing mix

For each10 lbs of  bird, we use one box of stuffing mix (2 - 6 ounce packages). If you need more, its best to make no more than 1 box at time to make mixing easier.

1 box (2 6oz bags) unseasoned stuffing mix (croutons)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
giblets from above
1 cup of liquid from giblets above
1 cup of slightly melted butter (half softened, half melted)

Mix the chopped veggies with chopped giblets in a large bowl. add in the semi melted butter and mix thoroughly to coat all evenly. Then mix in the liquid and again mix until uniform.  Then pour in the bread crumbs and fold it all together gently. Continue only until everything is uniform again.

bird preparation

Remove the bird from the brine and rinse it inside and out. (don't worry, the flavor is now in the meat, not on it). Drain thoroughly and sprinkle a little black pepper inside the bird.

Now it is time to prepare the oven bag. I suppose a turkey roaster would do as good a job, but i don't own one, so we use the oven bags.  Open the bag and drop a spoonful of flour inside. Hold the neck closed and shake violently to spread the flour evenly. Place the bag into the pan and open it. inside the bag place 2 carrots chopped into 1 inch pieces, and 1 onion chopped in quarters and 2 celery stalks, chopped into 1 inch pieces.  Spread the veggies evenly across the bottom so the bird can rest on them.

Slide the bird breast up, neck end first into the bag and place it on the veggies. Then rub some semi melted butter or olive oil across the top of the bird and legs. This aids in browning.

stuffing the bird

Now open the bag enough to reach inside and place the stuffing mixture into the neck cavity. Pack it loosely and cover as much as possible with the skin.  When this is full, start stuffing the large opening with the rest of the stuffing, again loosely. If you have any stuffing left and both cavities are full, I like to stuff the extra between the legs and the body. If you still have leftover (you shouldn't now) it can be placed in a glass casserole pan and covered with foil to bake later.

baking

The oven should be preheated as above to 450 degrees. just before baking, poke 6 half inch holes in the bag across the top. Then place the bird in the center of the oven and immediately adjust the temp to 325.  The initial high heat helps to seal in the juices a bit without overcooking it. this of course depends on how quickly your oven looses heat. every oven is different in this so adjust the starting temperature as necessary.

Bake for 2 to 4 hours.  You know its done when 3 things happen;

1. The skin has nicely browned
2. The legs are completely free in the sockets, so when you push or pull on one it literally falls away from the socket.
3. The temperature of the deepest meat reaches about 175 degrees and the stuffing is about 165 degrees

The most critical one is actually #2, even if the tempo shows done, don't remove the bird until the leg sockets give little to no resistance when moved.

Presentation

Remove from the oven and cut the bag open, being careful to watch for the steam, its hot! We like to remove the stuffing from the bird and place it in a serving dish covered with foil. this lets it rest, voids some moisture through steam, and just balances the flavors while the bird is carved.

Remove as much meat as possible. If all above steps were followed, the meat should fall away from the bone. instead of carving most of the meat can be removed with a fork.

Lastly, sprinkle some of the juice from the bottom of the pan (bag) across the meat, especially the white meat. this gives a nice shine and keeps it moist and hot for serving.

Soup bones?

the bones make an excellent turkey stock, just drop all the bones in a large soup pot with enough water to cover. then add tablespoon of vinegar for each gallon of water.  drop in a few peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, lightly salt it, and perhaps a half an onion. bring this to a simmer and hold at simmer with a tight cover on for 2 to 3 days. the bones should more than half disappear.  strain the mixture and you have excellent turkey stock for soup or cooking. it can be canned while hot and stored in the fridge for a few weeks. this is a great source of calcium and minerals in our diet, not to mention much better tasting then any store bought broth.

Enjoy! You have just created the world's best turkey and dressing, and it is healthy for you!