Baking Powder

What is Baking Powder? How do we get it and what does it really do?

Baking Powder has always been a rather mysterious ingredient to me.  Baking is a controlled chemistry experiment in your home.  Like Rachel Ray, I am not a great baker because I rarely measure things so precisely (I leave that department to my wife, Chaya).  While the “little of this, little of that” method works great for sauces or stir fries, it is wildly unpredictable for something as precise as baking where ingredients are weighed by the pros not measured by volume. 

We happen to have three very dedicated fans of Pooh Bear in our house, and I cannot tell you how many times we have read the story, “Honey of a Cake” to them.  In case you are not as conversant in the adventures of the Hundred Acre Woods I will bring you up to speed on the story, Rabbit wanted to bake a cake and Pooh, Tigger and Piglet wanted to “help.”  Rabbit gives the advice that every baker would give a novice: the recipe is to be followed exactly or else you run the risk of ruining it.  As you may have guessed, this controlled chemistry experiment in Rabbit’s kitchen goes awry when Rabbit turns his back after dispensing the bit of knowledge to the group that the baking powder helps the cake to rise and become bigger.  Well, if a little cake is good then more cake must be better, right?  The story ends with a huge mess that the foursome has to eat their way out of, but it shows the power of this unassuming chemical leavener. 

For millennia bakers knew of two ways to leaven (or create a rise in) a baked product: yeast or elbow grease.  Yeast is the natural way of getting a rise in a baked product as this single-cell fungus digests the sugar it releases carbon dioxide (see Chaya’s great blog on yeast).  The trouble with yeast is that it takes awhile to work (after you proof it) and when you are in the mood for cake you probably do not want to wait that long.  Alternatively you could have a batter with a high egg content and vigorously whip it to introduce air bubbles into the batter.

The use of a chemical leavener seems to be uniquely attributed to the (perhaps accidental) success of early American bakers.  America’s first cookbook written by Amelia Simmons titled, American Cookery (you can preview it here from the LoC) is the earliest written source known to call for a substance known as “pearlash.”  Pearlash (Potassium Carbonate) is the refined residue that is reclaimed from wood ashes (potash) which was known to be used to make lye for soap, but the possibilities for it to be used for baking were pretty novel.  “Recipes for cake-like gingerbread are the first known to recommend the use of pearl ash [sic], the forerunner of baking powder” (Library of Congress).

The U.S. Patent Office granted only three patents in 1790, its first year of existence. . . . One concerned the manufacture of pearlash, the precursor of baking powder, and the other was for automated flour-milling machinery, which led to the fine white flour.  Both are evidence of the importance of our cultural drive for improved cake baking (Ettlinger, 2007). 

The Potassium Carbonate in the ingredient pearlash was a strong alkali thus releasing carbon dioxide (when it reacts with an acid) into the dough thus leavening the final product.  Today we depend on a more reliable alkali called sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)—more on that in Part 2.  The problem was that pearlash was great for gunpowder, soap or glass making, but largely unpredictable to bakers with its potency or timing of effect—baking, after all, is an exact science.  A better method needed to be devised because acids were also either unpredictable or hard to come by i.e. sour milk, lemon juice, vinegar or cream of tartar (Ettlinger, 2007).  A more predictable, shelf stable acidic source was needed that could be shipped to the baker and used on demand. 

What is baking powder?  “Baking powder is a crystalline powder that combines baking soda with dry acidic ingredients that react when water is added, plus cornstarch to prevent clumping and to control the amount of gas produced per unit of baking powder”  (Joachim & Schloss, 2008).  So what are these dry acidic ingredients that made Rabbit’s cake expand beyond belief?  To answer that, we need to go back to Eben Norton Horsford, a Harvard chemistry professor from 1847 to 1863.  As with many American inventors, Horsford’s life was rather interesting.  He was formally trained as a civil engineer in his home state of New York.  He wanted to marry, but his fiancée’s father would not approve until he was more established—so he set out to Germany for further scientific study.  It was there that the fortune would change for the man who eventually authored, The Theory and Art of Bread-making, A New Process without the Use of Ferment. 

Horsford spent two years in Giessen, studying the nutritive value — including the protein content — of various grains among other topics in organic chemistry. . . . In any event, while in Germany, he was nominated for the Rumford chair at Harvard University. This academic post had been established by Count Rumford, an inventor and entrepreneur. With the strong support of Liebig and his old mentor Webster, Horsford was formally offered the professorship in February 1847, with an annual salary of $1,500 (American Chemical Society, 2007).

How did Eben Horsford help the plight of bakers worldwide?  What is monocalcium phosphate (MCP)?  Read Part 2 and we will wrap up this very interesting story of baking powder.  Here is a hint:

Wilson

Pro Deo et Patria

Works Cited:

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Amelia simmons, american cookery (1796). Retrieved from http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/books-that-shaped-america/1750-1800/ExhibitObjects/American-Cookery.aspx

Ettlinger, S. (2007). Twinkie, deconstructed, my journey to discover how the ingredients found in processed foods are grown, mined (yes, mined), and manipulated into what a. (First printing,March 2007 ed., Vol. 1, p. 136). London: Hudson st Pr.

Ibid.

Joachim, D., & Schloss, A. (2008). The science of good food. (p. 121). Toronto: Robert Rose.

American Chemical Society. (2007). Eben horsford. Retrieved from http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/bakingpowder/horsford.html

Photo Credits:

Simmons, A. (1796). American cookery. (p. Cover). Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc006181.jpg

Rumford Baking Powder from Clabber Girl: http://www.clabbergirl.com/consumer/products/rumford/

Additional Resources:

Recipe for Challah Bread that shows vigorous kneading: http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/basic-challah-dough

Recipe for Sourdough that also calls for vigorous kneading: http://www.instructables.com/id/No-Sourdough-Buttermilk-Easytastybread/step3/Because-I-knead-the-dough/

Another great baking blogpost on the early uses of pearlash: http://www.fourpoundsflour.com/the-history-dish-pearlash-the-first-chemical-leavening/

Biography of the life of Count Rumford: http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/bakingpowder/count.html

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

 When Giving Thanks Starts with 5 Kernels of Corn

Forgotten First Thanksgiving History

Turkey has always been in fashion for Thanksgiving.  Along with that, add in the traditional Pilgrim buckles and Native American feather head dressings and you have a uniquely American holiday steeped in lots of tradition and even some folklore.

Digging a bit deeper into the first Thanksgiving story, four years before the Pilgrim’s landed at Plymouth Rock there was a large tribe of Native Americans there called the Patuxets.  All the members of this tribe, every man, woman and child, died of a mysterious plague.    Neighboring tribes had refused to come to the grounds because they were thought to be cursed.  The Divine Providence of the Pilgrims even getting to the New World is an entire story within itself, but the Pilgrims happened to land at the one part of land that was uninhabited because the previous residents had been wiped out.  I have personally lived through many New England winters along the coast, and they are predictably brutal.  This makes the resolve of the Pilgrims all the more remarkable to establish their colony within the context of religious freedom in the New World.  Of all of the times to arrive, it was in the unenviable month of December, 1620. 

By the time March arrived the Pilgrims had lost forty-seven of their original number.  They had been living primarily off of the finite amount of stored food from the ship’s galley, had depleted their supply of lemon juice, and had a building (that housed the sick) catch on fire.  Moreover they did not know anything of the agriculture of America and only had English wheat and barley to attempt to cultivate come spring.  The body can only endure so much exposure to wet, cold, and lack of vitamin C for so long and it was looking like things could not get much worse.  At about this time a Native American man approached the settlement and greeted them in English.  The man’s name was Samoset and he was driven by wanderlust to come and greet the newly arrived settlers.  He was from a tribe further north.  He had learned to speak English from various fishing crews who had put in to shore near his village on the coast of Maine.  Samoset would leave and return with another Native American man named Squanto (real name was Tisquantum), “and he was to be, according to Bradford, ‘a special instrument sent of God for their good, beyond their expectation’” (Marshall & Manuel, 1977).

Among many other noteworthy mentions about Squanto was the fact that he was a member of the decimated Patuxet tribe.  God had seen Squanto through a number of remarkable circumstances to prepare him to be the one person who could help the Pilgrims evade death and starvation. 

His story really begins in 1605, when Squanto and four other [Native Americans] were taken captive. . . . Squanto spent the next nine years in England, where he met Captain John Smith, recently of Virginia who promised to take him back to his people on Cape Cod, as soon as he himself could get a command bound for there . . . On Smith’s 1614 voyage of mapping and exploring, Squanto was returned to the Patuxets, at the place Smith named New Plymouth.  Sailing with Smith’s expedition on another ship was Captain Thomas Hunt, whom Smith ordered to stay behind . . . as soon as Smith departed, he slipped back down the coast to Plymouth, where he lured twenty Patuxets aboard, including Squanto, apparently to barter, and promptly clapped them in irons. . . . All of these he took to Malaga, a notorious slave-trading port on the coast of Spain. . . . Most of them were shipped off to North Africa, but a few were bought and rescued by local friars, who introduced them to the Christian faith.  Thus did God begin Squanto’s preparation for the role he would play in Plymouth (Marshall & Manuel, 1977).

Squanto did eventually make his way back to Plymouth, however when he landed (approximately six months before the Pilgrims landed) he found that his native land was devoid of his people who had been previously wiped out by a plague.  It was not until March when he met these poor, wretched, starving settlers that he knew why God had taken him on that long circuitous route back to his homeland.  Squanto first taught them how to catch eels, then taught them something far more valuable:

For it would save every one of their lives.  April was corn-planting month in New England, as well as Virginia.  Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn in the Indian way, hoeing six-foot squares in toward the center, putting down four or five kernels, and then fertilizing the corn with fish.  At that, the Pilgrims just shook their heads; in four months they had caught exactly one cod.  No matter, said Squanto cheerfully; in four days the creeks would be overflowing with fish. . . . Squanto helped in a thousand similar ways, teaching them how to stalk deer, plant pumpkins among the corn, refine maple syrup from maple trees, discern which herbs were good to eat and good for medicine, and find the best berries (Marshall & Manuel, 1977).

The agricultural knowledge of Squanto was critical to the Pilgrim’s survival.  Some have wondered what that knowledge would have developed into today had it not been for other factors in history.  But the point remains that the body of knowledge that allows humans to produce food is indispensible to our livelihoods.  Since Thanksgiving tradition centers around the bountiful meal, I thought it fitting to take a minute to think about how that food is produced and brought to market.  How long the supply chains are, possible customs or tariffs involved, what the farmer has to do just to break even or turn a profit on that crop or livestock?  Buying local is great, but producing and preserving your own food is tough to beat.  And if you think about it, the benefits to reduce the pressure on the small percentage of American farmers who produce all that food for our nation as well as other parts of the world is considerable.  More on that in later blogs, back to Thanksgiving history.

The Pilgrims were brimming over with gratitude—not only to Squanto and the Wampanoags who had been so friendly, but to their God.  In Him they had trusted, and He had honored their obedience beyond their dreams.  So, Governor Bradford declared a day of public Thanksgiving, to be held in October (Marshall & Manuel, 1977).

And so the first Thanksgiving was a joint feast with the Pilgrims and their new found Native American friends led by Sachem Massasoit—who brought turkeys and venison.  In November 1621, just before the onset of winter a ship dropped anchor letting off thirty-five additional settlers who did not bring any food, tools or extra clothes.  The joyous reunion was cut short. 

Thus, they did enter their own starving time that winter of 1621-22 (with all the extra people to feed and shelter), and were ultimately reduced to a daily ration of five kernels of corn a piece.  (Five kernels of corn—it is almost inconceivable how life could be supported on this.)  But as always, they had a choice: either to give into bitterness and despair or to go deeper into Christ.  They chose Christ, and in contrast to what happened at Jamestown, not one of them died of starvation” (Marshall & Manuel, 1977).

In spite of one more close call with a near weather disaster during the planting and harvesting season, the Pilgrims experienced a bountiful harvest the following summer of 1622.  So great was their food surplus that they were able to trade with other northern tribes who had not reaped such an abundance.  And so came the second Thanksgiving feast with Sachem Massasoit and company—who again brought turkeys and venison.  It really makes me wonder why venison did not catch on. 

There was one twist to the second Thanksgiving regarding the first course that was served: “on an empty plate in front of each person were five kernels of corn . . . lest anyone should forget” (Marshall & Manuel, 1977).

 What is Thanksgiving?  It is a feast, yes.  It is American history, that is true.  But it is the realization that Providence is enough.  Thanksgiving is remembering the overabundance of  things for which we give thanks, but it is also remembering the times in which we had little, and being thankful anyway.

Wilson

Pro Deo et Patria

Post-Script: Some critics of Peter Marshall have taken exception to his lack of pedigree for historical studies while juxtaposing that criticism next to the fact that he is a Reverend.  I personally do not put stock in the thrust of this book.  I love America dearly, but I do not see her as a “New Israel” (Here are two randomly chosen different views on that subject).   Nor am I concerned on whether the Puritan Pilgrims believed that or not, rather I am focusing in on “the starving time“, the tradition of the 5 kernels of corn, and Thanksgiving history as told through the early Pilgrim settlers on Plymouth Rock captured so well in chapter six of this book. 

1. Marshall, P., & Manuel, D. (1977). The Light and the Glory. (p. 130). Old Tappan: Fleming H Revell Co.
2. Marshall, P., & Manuel, D. (1977). The Light and the Glory. (p. 130-131). Old Tappan: Fleming H Revell Co.
3. Marshall, P., & Manuel, D. (1977). The Light and the Glory. (p. 135). Old Tappan: Fleming H Revell Co.
4. Marshall, P., & Manuel, D. (1977). The Light and the Glory. (p. 139). Old Tappan: Fleming H Revell Co.
5. Marshall, P., & Manuel, D. (1977). The Light and the Glory. (p. 144). Old Tappan: Fleming H Revell Co.

Photo Credits:

Hanging Corn:  http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/nogkO8C/hanging+corn

Squanto Teaching: Bricker, Garland Armor. The Teaching of Agriculture in the High School. New York: Macmillan, 1911. Page 112.

Corn by Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Lemons by Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Turkey by Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Empty dish by chawalitpix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Carrageenan, the Dark Side of Chocolate Milk

What is carrageenan? Is there a connection between carrageenan and cancer?

You take the perfect thing like milk and you combine it with another perfect think like chocolate and what results is awesomeness by the glassful.  So why do things that we love so much have ingredients that are so hard to pronounce?  Does anyone remember their Mom adding carrageenan to their chocolate milk?

First of all, what is carrageenan?  It is actually in the family of gums derived from plants (which differ from gelatins, “think protein” derived from animals) which “are complex carbohydrates, long chains of sugar molecules (polysaccharides) that have the ability to absorb liquid in an amount that is many times their volume” (Joachim & Schloss, 2008).   Carrageenan is widely used as a thickening agent because it can attract water, can be ethically harvested, has excellent properties for industrial food processing plants and is pretty cheap. 

Carrageenan in food is actually not new, it has been around for hundreds of years because of where and how humans have developed it as a natural resource.  Carrageenan Moss also known as “Irish Moss” or Chondrus Crispus is a type of seaweed.  Its job in seaweed is to help hold the plant erect while yet allowing it to be flexible as it gets tossed about in the surf.  The carrageenan in plant cells improves the strength of the plant fibers without allowing it to break—think of a water bed.  As mentioned above, it is among the most ethically harvested crop produced by small aquaculture farmers because it does not require soil to be tilled or fresh water to cultivate this plant (FMC Corporation).  The Chinese have been recorded to use it as far back as 600 BC (Bechtel, 2012) and it also appears to be a long standing part of Irish culinary tradition. 

Modern uses for carrageenan in food includes veggie burgers, soy milk, beer, ice cream and yes, chocolate milk.  Here is why: “In industry they [gums like carrageenan] are highly valued because they have the ability to thin under pressure and then return to their original viscosity, a quality that makes them ideal for being pumped through factory pipelines without losing their thickening abilities” (Joachim & Schloss, 2008). 

When Scooter was a baby, he showed allergies to milk—pasteurized homogenized feed lot milk to be exact.  He was a breast fed baby so he was fine with real milk and likely would have been fine on raw milk, but we were not including that as a part of our family’s diet then.  However, he did well on soy milk, so the-ever-thrifty-Chaya decided that we could save some money if we bought a plant milk maker to make soy milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk, etc.  No matter how hard we tried or what recipe we followed, our final product never came out like the store bought stuff—why not?  It lacked the wonder additive carrageenan.   

If you have ever eaten sushi, then you have likely had seaweed, so what is the big deal?  It turns out that there is much discussion and some disagreement on this food additive.  It is “natural” and even has been accepted as being organic.  The disagreement surfaces around the nexus between carrageenan and cancer.  Just when you thought that there was not one more thing that could cause cancer, carrageenan gets thrown under the bus—but wait . . .

It turns out that carrageenan comes in three main classes (kappa, iota, and lambda) and two clear types diverge from there: degraded and undegraded.  This is where the food label conscious consumer needs to keep a sharp eye out for how the words get parsed.  The neigh-sayers for carrageenan claim that the degraded variety can cause inflammation (a red flag precursor for cancer) and has been linked to show that it causes colon cancer in lab rats.    Degraded carrageenan is basically short chain polysaccharides.  Where have we seen this before?  Corn sugar is not bad, but when you break long chain corn sugar into short chain high fructose corn syrup—all kinds of bad things happen in the body. 

On the pro side of carrageenan are some heavyweights like Stoneyfield Organic, the FDA, the independent scientists of the Joint Food, the Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) (Lundgren, 2012).  The above group clearly draws the line between degraded (not used in food) and undegraded (approved for use in food) as the link between carrageenan and cancer.  The plot thickens (pun intended) . . .

Concerns about carrageenan have centered on the “degraded” type which is distinguished from the “undegraded” type by its lower molecular weight. Most of the studies linking carrageenan to cancer and other gastrointestinal disorders have focused on degraded carrageenan. But Dr. Tobacman thinks that undegraded carrageenan – the kind most widely used as a food additive – might also be associated with malignancies and other stomach problems. She suggests that such factors as bacterial action, stomach acid and food preparation may transform undegraded carrageenan into the more dangerous degraded type (Weil , 2002).

We have clearly made the line between degraded (clearly bad) and undegraded (bad?) carrageenan in food sources, yet that above quote seems rather indicting to carrageenan altogether.  So what else can be said about the transformation of carrageenan from undegraded to degraded inside the gut—is this possible?  Turns out that science has asked this question too, and here is a quote from Stoneyfield’s website:

Undegraded carrageenan resists degradation in the digestive tract, and is therefore unlikely to be absorbed by the intestine, according to a review of the toxicology literature on carrageenan conducted by Cohen and Ito in 2006.

“Because carrageenan is extracted from seaweeds under alkaline conditions, degradation to smaller polymerized polysaccharides is avoided. As long as the pH is maintained above 6.0, carrageenan is stable to heat processing. Once carrageenan is in the gel configuration, as is the case for its use in food systems, the carrageenan becomes highly resistant to degradation, even under more acidic conditions, such as occur in the stomach (see Section 1.2.3).” They go on to state, “Carrageenan ingested in the gel form (either as a homogenous carrageenan gel or one consisting of a carrageenan /protein gel from a meat or a dairy food) is also stable to the conditions of passage through the digestive tract (Abraham et al., 1972; Benitz et al., 1973; Arakawa et al., 1988; Weiner, 1988). Because of its large molecular weight, carrageenan remains within the lumen of the digestive tract and is not absorbed (Weiner, 1988; 1991). Thus, there are no systemic effects of carrageenan following ingestion by rats, mice, or monkeys.” [Emphasis Stoneyfield] (Lundgren, 2012).

It becomes much more clear now.  Milk is acidic (lactic acid) and the stomach is definitely acidic (hydrochloric acid), so the PH seems to be within tolerance and the gut will not transform the carrageenan from undegraded to degraded as was hypothesized by Dr. Tobacman.  However, there are those who are against carrageenan getting a “free pass” (Bechtel, 2012).  Juxtapose that with other supporters like the website Carageenan.info and you have another conflict of claims.  However, the science above settles it for me. 

So why do I personally not want to drink chocolate milk with carrageenan in it?  Let us look at these three labels for Trickling Springs Organic Chocolate Milk, Trickling Springs Natural Chocolate Milk and Nesquik respectively:

If you look at the Natural chocolate milk and the Nesquik® you see that they both contain carrageenan.  Hmmmmmm, and then you look at the label on the left that says the organic chocolate milk does not have carrageenan in it—wait, I thought that carrageenan was approved for organic foods? 

Here is a little secret, Trickling Springs Creamery out of Chambersburg, PA (and other responsible dairies like this) is a commercial grass fed dairy farm.  Their creamline style milk (the label on the left) is as lightly pasteurized as the law will allow and usually has a big head of cream on it, while their “natural” style milk (label in the center) is pasteurized and homogenized.  This organic grass fed milk is loaded with the fat soluble activators that makes grass fed milk nutritionally superior, thick and naturally creamy to boot.  So why do I not drink chocolate milk with carrageenan in it anymore?  Because grass fed cow’s milk does not need to be thickened—the carrageenan is unnecessary.  You can always take raw milk (where legal) and Frontier Cocoa Powder and have the best chocolate milk ever!

Wilson

Pro Deo et Patria

Addendum: My whole argument above concludes that the organic milk does not need to have carrageenan in it because the milk is better off as a raw product and does not need a thickening agent.  I recently had a reader look up the Trickling Springs Creamery labels and find that the organic chocolate milk ingredients list does have carrageenan.  “Please advise” the reader wrote.  While I have had this milk and have enjoyed it, I did not notice that TSC has added carrageenan now making my above statements only true on the date that I wrote this blog one year ago.  I was glad that someone took the time to fact-check my work, but I was disappointed to find out that the organic version does include carrageenan.  I have not heard back from TSC on why this is so.  –Wilson Nov 2013

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

Photo Credits:

Chocolate Milk is from http://www.tricklingspringscreamery.com/products/milk/chocolate-milk

Chondrus Crispus is from http://www.carrageenan.info/Home.aspx

Composition photograph contains nutrition labels from Trickling Springs Creamery http://www.tricklingspringscreamery.com/products and Nesquick http://www.nesquik.com/adults/products/nesquikreadytodrink/chocolate.aspx#.  The picture of the Chondrus Crispus is from http://www.carrageenan.info/Home.aspx

Works Cited:

Joachim, D., & Schloss, A. (2008). The science of good food. (p. 292). Toronto: Robert Rose.

FMC Corporation. (n.d.). Carrageenan (seaweed extract): Setting the record straight. Retrieved from http://www.carrageenan.info/ClaimsvsFacts.aspx

BECHTEL, J. (2012, March 17). Carrageenan: A food additive that’s not as safe as you think. Retrieved from http://blog.healthkismet.com/carrageenan-cancer-health-inflammation

Joachim, D., & Schloss, A. (2008). The science of good food. (p. 293). Toronto: Robert Rose.

Lundgren, B. (2012, June 01). The question of carrageenan safety. Retrieved from http://www.stonyfield.com/blog/2012/06/01/carrageenan-safety/

Weil , A. (2002, MAR 21). Can carrageenan in some soy milk cause cancer? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA44833

Lundgren, B. (2012, June 01). The question of carrageenan safety. Retrieved from http://www.stonyfield.com/blog/2012/06/01/carrageenan-safety/

BECHTEL, J. (2012, March 17). Carrageenan: A food additive that’s not as safe as you think. Retrieved from http://blog.healthkismet.com/carrageenan-cancer-health-inflammation 

Wilson’s Book Review: The Backyard Homestead

Carleen Madigan writes on everything from chickens to gardening

Chaya actually read this book first and had always recommended it to customers at various expos that we have been to across our great nation.  So on a particularly rainy afternoon I found myself not being able to put this book down as Carleen Madigan covered just about every major topic involved with running a homestead. 

Written in 2009, this book is the real deal, a contemporary classic in my opinion.  If I may respectfully do so, I would liken it to a modern digest of Carla Emery’s quitessential classic The Encyclopedia of Country Living.  Yes, it is that good.  When people talk about a homestead they normally are talking about food production—and this book does not disappoint! 

Navigating the book is a cinch.  You probably will find it largely intuitive as I did, and you will likely be dreaming about your own homestead.  You start off in chapter one talking about gardening; naturally when people think about producing food they think gardening.  Chapter two is fruits and nuts, then you are onto herbs, grains, then all things poultry, meat & dairy, and capped off with foraging food from the wild.  Just about anyone can start here and enjoy a large measure of success; the book is sprinkled with pictures, recipes, shortcuts, advice on pitfalls and plenty of straight common sense.

The book is not technical like Carla Emery’s, you are not going to find half a dozen recipes for duck liver, the best cross cut saw for woodland chores or advice on calving—but what you will find is that in one long afternoon The Backyard Homestead will take you through all the topics you wanted to know about, but did not want to drill through hours of web searches. 

Whether you’re starting off with an acre or two or just an apartment with a small patio, there’s something you can do to provide some of your own food (Madigan, 2009).

From chickens to chutney, I am blown away with how much I walked away with and was able to retain from this book.  And you do not have to be a large land owner to make use of this book.  Page 10 walks you through considerations before you start a homestead, but by page 13 you are already getting plot designs from a professional (utilizing great artwork I might add) on how to set up 1/10 th of an acre for viable food production! 

If you’re deep into gardening and self-sufficiency, sooner or later you’ll want to try growing your own wheat, if only to get yourself away from the commercial process that grows a perfectly good grain, scrapes off the bran, peels out the germ, and bleaches the flour, and then sells all those things back to you separately (Madigan, 2009).

Chaya could have made that quote—I love this book.  The chapter of the book that deals with grains is both amazingly complete and concise which is actually characteristic of the whole book itself.  I highlight the grains part because we deal so much with bread baking in our house and with Pantry Paratus.  Taken as a whole I am thoroughly pleased that she starts at the precept of grinding your own flour before she mentions baking bread.  Truthfully, whether or not you plan on brewing your own beer (yes, she covers that too) the fact that you can grow the grain that you use to bake your bread is a heroic concept on the order of Jackie Clay. 

Since the rest of us likely did not grow up on working farms or with family members close to us to pass along all of this knowledge to us, we find ourselves at an informational disadvantage.  If that is you and you dream of a homestead where you grow more than just grass, then you need The Backyard Homestead on your shelf. 

Wilson

Pro Deo et Patria

Works Cited:

Madigan, M. (2009). The backyard homestead. (p. 10). North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Ibid (p. 186)

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Hard to believe they taste this good and are that easy to make!

Okay, so we have all done it before.  You show up at a late summer picnic, church potluck or party of some kind with the least popular side dish as evidenced by how much you had to cart home.  Let us be honest, there is only so much Jello-fruit salad you care to eat one week later.  These bacon wrapped dates are sure to be a crowd pleaser!

Dates wrapped in bacon, so simple yet so yummy!  Hat tip to our buddy Ann Marie over at Cheeseslave for the scoop on this new easy favorite:

Ingredients:

Your quantities are approximate, so depending on how thickly your bacon is sliced you will need approximately 3 dozen dates (check your local ethnic grocery store), 1 lb of bacon (nitrate free if you can find it), and about 3 dozen toothpicks.

1. Soak your toothpicks in water.

2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

3. Start out with half slices of bacon.

4. I used already-pitted dates, but if you have to pit the dates yourself please be careful. 

5. Take an individual date and wrap it with a half a slice of raw bacon. I had the best luck with toothpicks to hold the form together.

6. Place the dates wrapped in bacon in a cast iron skillet or baking dish suitable for the job.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.   When the bacon is done to your satisfaction—you are done!

Quick Tip: the tighter the bacon wrapped dates are packed together, the longer you will have to bake them to get that perfect crispness.

8. Remove from oven and place in a serving dish.

Give this easy recipe for bacon wrapped dates a try and leave a comment to let us know what you thought—you too may just develop a new favorite!  Or, take it up a notch with bacon wrapped dates with almonds! 

Wilson

Pro Deo et Patria

Photo Credits:

All photos by Pantry Paratus

 This blog is linked to Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

Cast Iron Cornbread

Our favoritie way to make Cornbread

Cast Iron, such a timeless kitchen implement.  Scrambled eggs & bacon, fried catfish, pancakes, there is just something about cast iron cornbread that makes it one of life’s simple pleasures with any hardy meal.  

Check out our new favorite recipe modified from Ree’s original post over at the Pioneer Woman.   Cornbread in a cast iron skillet can make an ordinary pot of beans, well, extraordinary.  Serve it with honey as a great breakfast option on the go or just serve it along chicken fried steak for a tough-to-beat crowd pleaser.

Here is Ree’s original recipe.  I modified ours by substituting real lard for shortening and home ground flour for all-purpose flour.  In fact, milling regular popcorn for the cornmeal will give you very moist bread!  Feel free to use raw milk (where legal) and my favorite pasture raised eggs in place of their store bought replicas. 

Cast Iron Cornbread Recipe Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Lard
• 1 cup Yellow Corn Meal
• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 
  

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat lard in an cast iron skillet. Combine corn meal, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, milk, and egg. Add baking powder and baking soda. Stir all ingredients together. Add ¼ cup melted lard, stirring constantly. Pour into hot cast iron pan, smoothing surface with spatula. Bake the cast iron cornbread for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Here are the steps (more or less) in pictures:

Heat the lard in a cast iron skillet.

Mix dry ingredients and then mix wet ingredients.  Then combine all ingredients together.

Cook the bottom of the cornbread over heat for about a minute, (you should see a few bubbles).

Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with local honey!

The key to success of this cast iron cornbread recipe here in my opinion is the cast iron.  Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think down in the comments section.  I am sure that this cast iron cornbread will happily satisfy the hardest working homesteader appetite. 

Wilson

Pro Deo et Patria