The French Broad
  • Mountain Alchemy

  • February18th

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    Simplify – Reduce Your Kitchen Anxiety

    Posted in: Mountain Alchemy, People

    From my in-box.

    Alisa forwarded this email from her cousin:

    “I’d love to make a winter salad but things like a “silicon” board and drying the produce..WHAT.  I like  to get my salad greens from the bag of salad section because it is  so much easier to throw some Romaine, baby spinach and sliced tomatoes and cucs into a bowl with feta and balsamic and olive oil.  We usually add some chicken.  So how about some stuff for those of us who have no clue what fennel is, don’t own any kind of board but a nice blue plastic cutting board and don’t know a ceramic dish from a little bit of pyrex.  Some of us don’t take pride in our kitchen ’cause we want to get in and out as FAST as possible, We’ve got multiple loads of laundry, kids to drive to swimming, basketball, brownies and two Dioramas due to the 3rd and 5th grade teachers by Friday.   Hold on ’cause while I was in the middle of crisping my greens the dog threw up on my oriental carpet, while I was cleaning it my greens got a bit over crispy, read BURNED.  LOL.  Its us ignorant American housewives who really need help, after all our chidren also deserve whole, clean food with out toxic substances that cause obesity and mess with our brain. ( because they have neurotoxins)  ………horrors, no wonder we are all suffering from anxiety disorders, we are probably consuming a stew of anxiety in our food.” Read More | Comments

  • February13th

    4 Comments

    Dark Mountain Chocolate

    Posted in: Food, Mountain Alchemy

    Chocolate is not indigenous to these mountains.

    Does that matter?  Of course not.  One could make the argument if you threw everything else out of the larder and kept the chocolate, life would be good.  What is significant, chocolate, starting with the fermented bean, is being made here in southern Appalachia.

    Chocolate is not an ingredient that was on the Cherokee shopping list, nor that of the Scotch-Irish settlers of two centuries ago.  Luckily, we have it here now.  Chocolate, however is something that is transforming and itself is transformed before we eat it – harvested, fermented, dried, roasted and ground.  I for one never tire of eating or working with it – “Theobroma – the food of the gods’.  In a past life, I made hand-formed truffles, sometimes 5,000 in a day, but  I have never made Chocolate.

    There is big difference, starting with the whole, fermented bean and coaxing it to transform itself into a marvelous, velvety Diva of Pleasure.  David Mason does that at  Black Mountain Chocolate, located east of  Asheville, North Carolina. Read More | Comments

  • February5th

    3 Comments

    Appalachian Table

    Posted in: Food, Mountain Alchemy

    Table and hearth, the center of the home, or perhaps it was once.

    2010 is not a year that will find many homes with a “hearth” – a central source for heating as well as cooking, being replaced by gas or electric stove and central heating.  There are not as many homes where the family collects around a “table” on a daily basis – all rushing in different directions, eating in the car, sitting on the sofa or walking down the sidewalk with a cup in hand.  This change in lifestyle is a real tragedy.

    Having made my way for forty years working with food, there are a few practices I have come to believe are essential for balance.  The act of cooking and then gathering around the table to share fulfill so many of our needs.  It is not a difficult or complicated matter to have this happen, but it does require a conscious decision to do so.  We are not solitary creatures.  Gathering around the table is a communal act and from that place all civilization emanates.  We teach our children there, honor our ancestors, begin and continue courtship, celebrate our fortunes; happy or sad, solidify partnerships, negotiate treaties of peace, brainstorm the future, and give thanks with offerings of food.  I challenge you to name an activity MORE important than sharing food around the table.  The Table is the foundation of civilization, culture stands on the backs of cooks. Read More | Comments

  • January27th

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    Mountain Alchemy

    Posted in: Mountain Alchemy

    Mountain Alchemy – It is about the Earth.

    Geology defines culture. Among many things, geology shapes the technology, the arts, religion, language, agriculture, government, medicine, gesture, dress, dance, family and the food of a particular place.  The influence is inescapable, whether we are speaking of a culture of yesterday or today.  It is the “genius of the dirt.”

    Culture is the total way of life within the boundaries of any given place.  It is not just limited to human beings, culture also characterizes the Earth as well. Fundamentally, people shape and change the face of the Earth through their culture.  Humans change the earth and the earth shapes who we are – one changes the other and round again.

    The Great Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the ranges of the Southern Appalachians define this region – the Unaka Front, the Blacks, the Plott Balsams, the New Founds, the Great Craggys, naming a few.  Surrounded, indeed, defined by these mountains, the river flows, tying together and feeding all living creatures that inhabit the ridges, hollers, and valleys. All are transformed by this mountain alchemy, the life-blood, it’s water. Read More | Comments

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