First Flour Power & now Sour, can you tell we love puns here at Slow Food East End !
Sour Power is our newest initiative at SFEE to bring our community together to celebrate fermentation, a truly slow food process that connects soil, seeds farmers, and foodies. Fermentation traditions are ancient, rooted in the culinary traditions of many cultures.
The mighty cabbage is a versatile vegetable that has long been fermented into Sauerkraut. Save the date October 22 to join SFEE, Chef Peter Berley and the Jamesport Farmstead farmers for a lively and educational hands-on experience of shredding and making Sauerkraut with traditional tools.
And when we say eat local, support local we mean it. We collaborated with the farmstead and earlier this spring they planted rows of cabbage for SFEE that will be harvested mid-October for our event. Did you know that cabbage has been grown commercially on Long Island for about 200 years and Its so great to be able to watch these grow and know exactly where your food comes from, all part of the benefits of living life #nofostyle.
Peter Berley (pictured above) is a fellow board member with me at SFEE, author of several cook books and owner of The North Fork Kitchen and Garden, a culinary studio where he teaches intensive workshops on modern food craft and wood-fired bread baking and cooking. Covid has put a pause on those for the moment and I for one am looking forward to him leading this sauerkraut making process for us.
I mean who doesn't want to get their hands in there and shred some cabbage, which then will cure for a few weeks in repurposed wine barrels (hello we live in wine country, Thx Macari Wines) With the addition of salt and the power of fermentation, you get to take home a quart that's a bazillion times better than the store brought plastic bagged stuff of the past. It's so fascinating to me that all it takes is salt for all the magic to happen.
If that wasn't enough reason to snag those tickets (limited capacity at farmstead) the price includes an Octoberfest lunch catered by Maple Tree BBQ (smoked brats, fixings, veg pleasers too!), all while enjoying live folk music of traditional rural songs accompanied by fiddle, banjo, guitar, and mandolin at the Jamesport Farmstead. Macari Vineyard wines and local beers will be available for purchase. So its not quite Oktoberfest, but it sure sounds like a Slow Food version of it to me.
Ever since my Alpha-gal Syndrome diagnosis last year, I've been on a quest to help heal my gut with any and all foods that help and I am totally on board to explore the "power of sour".
-Sunita
Sunita is a blogger (is that a writer who adds photos?) who moved to the North Fork with her husband and their one eyed dog (Pirate Pepper) at the start of their empty nesting phase. She's working towards embracing minimalism (not even close yet) and living life in the pursuit of happiness. A lot of her happiness and zen comes from watching and capturing her daily sunset view that she shares on her instagram at her account @nofostyle