Insane in the Brine

This mugolio (foraged pine syrup) is almost ready for final processing. Do you have healthy baby green pinecones growing around you? It's still the season in many places but time is running out. This was equal parts baby cones and turbinado sugar. I am further along than the photos show but eventually as you can see, the sugar becomes almost totally liquified. Shake or stir well daily for a month. You can then process or wait longer. Put everything in a saucepan, simmer for just a few minutes, ensuring all the sugar has melted, just a few minutes in all. Important not to go too long or to boil. Strain through a sieve to remove any debris. You can keep different pine varieties separate if you want to experience the nuances in flavors. Enioy!

Foraged fig preserves on homemade sourdough. Recipe: This was a pectin-free recipe (used sliced lemon instead). Equal parts sugar and figs (was 1050g or 2.33 lbs. of each) in covered saucepan overnight. I opted not to add any spices but you certainly can. Over high heat, stir constantly until sugar is liquified. It will still be very thick. Add very-thin slices from one whole lemon excluding the ends, reduce heat to low and simmer around 3 hours. Pack into jars and store in the fridge for a month or hot water bath jars for long-term room temp storage (refrigerate once opened). This yielded a quart and half pint perfectly. If you cut the recipe in half, only simmer for about 2 hours.

Wild foraged fig preserves in the works (swipe)... a friend has a tree on his property and he doesnt go for figs so they're all mine!I Actually used to live there and can say the tree just sort of appeared out of nowhere. Well, it was presumably there but took until it became a huge, massively producing tree for either of us to notice. Ill post the recipe and final results when I'm finished!

🫒🧄🍋🌿🌶️🔥7 months and they're done. Brined olives finished with some red wine vinegar, EVOO, lemon, red chili flakes, peppercorns, and homegrown garlic, thyme, oregano, and rosemary. Various olive recipes in the next #insaneinthebrinecookbook

🍯🥒🔥Honiggurken (German honey pickles) from intentionally overgrown cukes. Peel them and scoop the seeds. This is a popular method resulting in very crisp, fun pickle bites. Much crispier than you might imagine. This method is just like senfgurken (mustard pickles), of which I have a free recipe on the blog and a couple more versions in the cookbook. But for this particular recipe (with some secret ingredients) you'll have to wait for the next... #insaneinthebrinecookbook

Delicious sourdough American-style pumpernickel. I'd love to hear what you put in your pump / method to expand my horizons. I want to improve my scoring skills but love how this came out. Super happy with texture and crumb. Swipe for the money shot. Ingredients 50g active starter 365g water 125g whole dark rye flour 375g bread flour 40g molasses (2TBSP) 10g salt 30g sunflower oil (deodorized) 2 tsp caraway seeds

Phase 2 of the organically homegrown blackberry wine (nearly 3 gallons). For my recipe check out 7/14/22. Update in about 4 months ❤️

🧄🌿🧂🍞 Easy recipe below. Nice open crumb sourdough focaccia with garlic, rosemary and flaked sea salt! 50g starter or levain 375g water 20g honey 450g bread flour 50g whole wheat 10g salt 3T EVOO Rosemary, garlic and flaked sea salt for topping 1. Combine the first 6 ingredients evenly in bowl. Cover with damp towel. 2. After 30 mins, stretch and fold, followed by one more after another 30 mins. Keep towel moist and covered. 3. Allow bulk rise at moderate room temp for 12-18 hours until roughly doubled. 4. Oil the exposed side liberally as well as oil a baking dish or pan (I used pyrex). Turn dough onto the pan, then flip and liberally oil other side. You can use more than the suggested oil above but don't use less. Allow to rise and get very bubbly, around 2-3 hours. When only 30 minutes remain, preheat oven to 450F. If available, place a small cast iron pan in the bottom rack of the oven to add ice later for steam. Allow to preheat for 30 minutes. 5. Gently press fingers into the dough all the way down to the glass, to create dimples throughout the entire dough. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary leaves or sprigs (omit hard stems). Press garlic cloves (still in thin papery skin) into the dough but they should remain visible. Top the dough with the flaked salt, if desired. 6. Place the baking dish on a metal sheet pan, this will help prevent the bottom burning, and place in the oven. Place a generous amount of ice into the heated cast iron pan at the bottom of oven. Reduce heat to 425F and allow 25-27 minutes. As the time wraps up, check to see if the top is toasted to your liking and as desired, broil on low for 1 minute and 1 more minute if needed. Final temp ideally 205, give or take just a few degrees. 7. Turn off oven and open door but do not remove focaccia for ten minutes. Then allow to cool and gently remove dough from baking dish or pan, using a thin metal spatula if needed.

🍷🔥I've been pulling about a half pound to pound of blackberries off my bushes every day for a few weeks. They're absolutely delicious but there's only so many I can eat every day. Last year this led to many pounds of frozen berries, in spite of pie, cobblers, syrups, hot sauces, muffins and more, I still have pounds of the stuff. I'm trying to avoid even more frozen so what better way than with berry wine. I don't mean like MD20/20, I mean turning out a really smooth, high quality product akin to a Merlot or Malbec. The last time I made this much berry wine was 2018 and I still have a bottle left. Anyway, my next cookbook will have a full write-up for anyone to easily follow, but for those who have experience, here's my basic deets: 2 gallons water 7.25 lbs sugar 8.5 lbs blackberries 1 tsp pectic enzyme 2 tsp yeast nutrient 1 tsp yeast energizer 1 tsp acid blend 2g Premier Rouge yeast The photo shows my primary fermenter with a mesh bag full of the berries.