Virtual Ferment Fest! | Frozen Pizza | Recipe: Brownies
Issue No. 37
In this week’s edition, we throw a festival 🎉 — and you can join the party while staying indoors.
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Cherry Bombe, a platform supporting women in food, recently hosted their annual Jubilee conference entirely on Instagram. I only caught one event — an interview with Mashama Bailey, whose restaurant The Grey in Savannah was the setting for the best meal I’ve eaten in the past year. The event inspired me to organize a virtual festival of my own, on fermentation of course!
On Sunday, the Florida Ferment Fest (the real-life fermentation festival I co-organize yearly) is taking over Instagram with a full day of classes taught by a dreamy assortment of fermentation superstars, including the microbial philosopher king himself, Sandor Katz. The whole event came together at warp speed. We have been completely bowled over by the response.
My heart is full that an idea of mine has struck a chord with so many people. I can’t wait to see it all come together. There will be nine hours of fab content. To watch, first, you’ll need an Instagram account. Once that’s sorted, go to the instructor’s profile at the time of their demo. Their profile pic will have a little “play” arrow over it (as the kids say, they’re “going live”). Just click the pic and watch!
I hope you’ll tune in to a demo or six throughout the day. Check out the full schedule here.
👇Four Demos You Should Definitely Check Out
10-10:30 a.m. | Capturing Wild Yeast off of Neighborhood Blossoms with Kirsten K. Shockey
Kirsten is my number one fermentation hero. She and her husband Christopher have a new book coming out on cider making. I’ve always been a bit scared to ferment alcohol (one time I made pineapple tepache and my friend and I both agree it sent us on a full on hallucinogenic trip). But with their expert guidance, I’m sure I’ll be brewing cider (with wild neighborhood yeast!) before you can say saccharomyces!
12:45-1:30 p.m. | Fermenting Milk with Kefir Grains with David Asher
I have always wanted to take a class with David Asher, the [insert your preferred sister] Kardashian of the natural cheesemaking community. I use milk kefir to culture most cheeses I make, and I’m looking forward to picking up some tips from the master.
3-3:15 p.m. | Kosho with your gal!
I’m teaching a quick demo on my favorite condiment: kosho. It’s an addictive Japanese citrus and hot pepper paste. A great starter ferment for those looking to dip their toes in with something foolproof.
4:45-5:30 p.m. | Fermented Foods & Microbiome(s): What to Eat and Drink with Ky Guse
I like eating fermented foods. You know this about me. But even though eating them makes me feel good, I’m wary of some of the miracle health claims thrown around about ferments. There’s lots of promising science, but it’s still a fairly young field of inquiry. Ky is getting a doctorate on the subject, and I can’t wait to hear what she’s learning in her research! SCIENCE 👩🔬
love,
Jackie
Share this newsletter and the Ferment Fest schedule with any aspiring fermentation lovers in your life.
Get Involved!
Supporting Florida food producers, from field to table.
Help assist food producers during the pandemic. We’re working with local food producers to create a directory of resources for direct sales. If you would like to be included in the directory, please fill out this form.
Search what’s already on the directory, here. If you live on the Treasure Coast, you’re in luck. We’re heavy on businesses there right now. Spread the word!
In next week’s issue, we have an interview with a member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in southwest Florida about how the pandemic is affecting farmworkers. You can support Florida farmworkers by signing this petition and by donating to a fund for masks for agricultural workers.
-Matt
Fresh links
⚜️‘Wearing a mask won’t protect us from our history.’ | Washington Post
Burnell Cotlon runs the only fresh grocer in New Orleans’ impoverished Lower 9th Ward. He used his life savings to open Burnell’s Grocery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, providing healthy eating options in a food desert. In the middle of a pandemic, he spoke with Eli Saslow about serving desperate customers and the tough decisions Cotlon faces as well.
Last week, I caught a lady in the back of the store stuffing things into her purse. We don’t really have shoplifters here. This whole store is two aisles. I can see everything from my seat up front. So I walked over to her real calm and put my hand on her shoulder. I took her purse and opened it up. Inside she had a carton of eggs, a six-pack of wieners, and two or three candy bars. She started crying. She said she had three kids, and her man had lost his job, and they had nothing to eat and no place to go. Maybe it was a lie. I don’t know. But who’s making up stories for seven or eight dollars of groceries? She was telling me, “Please, please, I’m begging you,” and I stood there and thought about it, and what am I supposed to do?
The whole first-person interview is a must-read.
🍕☃️Frozen Pizza is (One of) the Hero(es) We Need in These Times | Outside
Brendan Leonard runs ultra-marathons and would eat baked Amy’s Frozen Pizzas rolled into burritos at miles 35 and 65 in the race. But now that he’s spending more time in his PJs than his running shoes, he’s finding a frozen pizza scratches some key itches during these times of frozen expectations.
He illustrates the satisfying pleasure of heating up a frozen pizza in quarantine through silly charts and graphs (plus a cartoon on how to make a pizza quesadilla).
🛁Coronavirus: Should I disinfect EVERYTHING? | Science Vs.
There’s so many rumors flying around about COVID-19. In the early stages of the battle against this virus, the podcast Science Vs. has done a fantastic job of answering questions regarding what we know about the disease.
In this episode, host Wendy Zukerman speaks with a microbiologist, a toxicologist and other experts about how long coronavirus can survive on surfaces. What precautions do we need to take to ward off the disease? Must we be disinfecting our groceries?
It doesn’t hurt to go wild with wiping everything down. But what’s most important remains the same: When outside avoid touching your face, and keep washing your hands. Learn the science behind all this in the latest episode.
Peanut Butter Olive Oil Brownies
A sweet treat for you, dear readers. Here is a brownie recipe that would honor any middle school bake sale table. They’re rich and fudgy but not too sweet.
Makes a 9x9 in pan
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour (white is fine, but sweets are a great opportunity to sneak in more fiber)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup water
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sourdough discard (optional)
Step-by-step
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease bottom and sides of 9 x 9 inch pan with a drizzle of olive oil.
Bring water to a boil, then turn off heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking powder together. Set aside.
In another small bowl, pour 1/4 cup of the water over peanut butter and stir together until incorporated. The consistency should be pourable but not runny. If it’s too thick, add more water, a bit at a time. Set aside.
In a large bowl (last bowl, promise), pour 1/2 cup of water over chocolate chips and whisk until smooth. Mix in olive oil, vanilla extract, eggs, and sugars, whisking in between each addition. If using sourdough discard, mix in now.
With rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix flour mixture into wet ingredients until just combined.
Pour batter into greased pan. Spoon peanut butter on top. Using a knife, make figure eights and swirls until peanut butter is marbled throughout the batter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a tester knife comes out mostly clean (you want your brownies a little undercooked).
I can hear it calling in the kitchen tonight … oh lord
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Sunshine + Microbes team
Jackie Vitale is the current Chef-in-Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and co-founder of the Florida Ferment Fest. Her newsletter explores the intersection of food, culture, environment and community.
Matt Levin is a freelance reporter based in Colombia. He edits Sunshine + Microbes and contributes other scraps to each issue.