How to lacto-ferment fresh figs
October in the forest and garden, join us in Peru, Fig Kimchi recipe
Golden is the garden
Golden is the glen
Golden, golden, golden
October is here again.
-From a poetry book from the 1990’s that was tattered with use. Book is missing.
When my children were small, we started each morning sitting in a circle together on the floor of our living room, or outside when it was nice. We started out with a poem that we recited together and some small movements to engage our brains. We then would talk about what we were doing that day, academic activities or otherwise. I would share something—a story, activity, game, or song—that was pertinent to what we were doing. Then all five of us would sit with our notebooks and write or draw. I admit this was for me. This gave me a chance to journal silently. The children had no rules other than they had to sit with their notebooks and do something. They all began by drawing. One son spent two years drawing elaborate scenes with sailing ships, often in battle. As they grew older, they transitioned to words. Okay, I admit that I often ended up not writing myself, but rather helping with their spelling. However, it was still a time I could count on for as much stillness as is possible with four children. The oldest of those littles turned 35 last week and has a strong journaling habit.
The past few weeks Christopher and I have stepped up (pun intended) our weekly hiking routine as we are headed to Peru in November, where we will be teaching a workshop as part of a Sacred Valley experience. After the workshop, we will be hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I have to say my knees are a little intimidated by all the downhill portions, while we can’t practice on ancient stairs, a walk out our door offers infinite up and down opportunities. And so we “practice.” Over the last weeks we have felt autumn move into the forests. The recent rains softened the earth. The paths are soft, fluffy duff instead of dry powdery soil on crispy needles. The smell of the forest is of waking fungi instead of sun on pine. The onset of colors are a bit behind—early gold maple leaves only punctuate the landscape. Distant single amber leaves shine through the forest green like small glowing lanterns.
The last few years I have co-developed workshops with others that are exploring the art and science of the ancient craft of fermentation by working with the abundance of place. This time, Christopher and I were invited to partner with Müta Experiencias in the Sacred Valley in Peru. We will celebrate place through the richness of the foods and culture of the region. By the end of this program, both beginners and seasoned fermenters will have the skill and confidence to successfully collaborate with the microbes that transform and enliven your food for extraordinary health and flavor in the places students call home.
We will explore the microbes that ferment our food in concert with local biodiversity, stories, and shared knowledge. We will work with fruits from the Andean highlands and cloud forest to make cheong, make wild yeast starters to make fermented sodas, vinegar, and shrubs. We will work with native potatoes and grains and more.
Putting the garden to bed (means so much to ferment)
We have hit the time of year when the fluctuating night time temperatures start to dip precariously close to freezing. And I ask myself how much I am willing to gamble. We live in an area that is a wrinkled landscape of ridges and glens. At any given moment, where you are matters when it comes to weather; south facing, east facing, west facing, north facing, high on a slope, or at the bottom of a drainage. Our garden is situated in the low point of a narrow-ish valley. This means that even when the ambient temperature at my house is suitable for tender perennials, it is not necessarily the case in the garden. The cool air settles like a blanket over this flat area, and more than once, I have been surprised to find a frosted garden when the forecast was far from freezing.
I have been disapointed enough that I decided a few days ago I wasn’t willing to risk the loss, especially because we were headed out of town for the week. So…I put our dear (long lost by 27 years) friends to work playing homesteader over the weekend. I do feel a little guilty but we did have a lot of fun in the garden. I fermented the immature peppers, cherry tomatoes, and a few other things that weren’t going to wait patiently while I was gone. When I get home the green tomatoes are at the top of my list. Stay tuned as there will be new recipes here in this space.
Figs
Our fig tree is finally producing a little more than what the little birds I call our grandchildren eat. We also have a friend who has several fig trees. All this to say, for the first time, I found myself with enough fig abundance to play, or some might say, to take one of my harebrained ideas out for a stroll. Sometimes they work, sometimes so well that we have new favorites, but there are also those times when I look at a less-than-successful ferment, and I think I did the beautiful fruit or vegetable a disservice. Fresh figs have always felt too precious to risk for one of my notions. With the abundance, we ate them with wild abandon. I dehydrated some (safe bet for future figgy tastes), and I made Fig Kimchi and a Fig Chutney. I had to repeat the kimchi immediately because it was so tasty that we devoured it. The chutney feels rich and earthy, an accompaniment to the hot dahls and stews of winter. I hid it, from myself, in the back of the fridge, to be brought out when the season is properly cold. (Stay tuned, also excited about my ground cherry salsa.)
How to lacto-ferment fresh figs
In general, when I want to use fruit in a lacto-fermented vegetables I use dried fruit. This is because of sugar! Sugar drives the fermenation but too much sugar, especially watery fruit sugars, and team lactic acid bacteria can be overtaken by team yeast. This can make an overly funky flavor, or too much fizz, and finally a too short shelf life. When using dried fruit the sugars seem to get “locked up” in the density of the fruit. The fruit usually hydrates but it doesn’t get funky and sour. It is a good way to also add more texture and sweetness to a ferment. This works well with small fruit like cranberries, but I didn’t love the way regular dried figs behaved in a ferment. Enter fresh figs.
