Soup’s On

When it comes to winter I have a very selective memory. I’ve lived in Canada my entire life, yet each time December rolls around I am aghast when I wake up in the morning to find a blanket of snow covering the front lawn. Oh, the nerve of Mother Nature! I even live in one of the warmer parts of the country (as confirmed by friends who spent their childhoods in Manitoba)…

While I find there to be few redeeming qualities about this time of year, the transition from a summer palette of overwhelmingly cool, light dishes to the hearty, warm foods of winter is definitely one of them. My favourite winter-appropriate dish is a piping hot bowl of soup. Sure, you can eat soup any time of the year, but it’s just not the same! Soup is an easy way to layer different flavors, textures, and use up vegetables nearing their expiry date in your fridge.

Today I am sharing a soup recipe I created that is an amalgamation inspired by ramen and pureed vegetable soups. For me, ramen is a beloved staple during the colder months that has provided me with much comfort from the illnesses that winter often brings. Admittedly this version was a complete creative experiment which turned out relatively successfully. This particular soup is chalk full of warming, anti-inflammatory spices like fresh turmeric, fresh ginger, five-spice, garlic, and chili oil that will make you feel really good.

White miso paste

Mise en place

Five-spice powder

Twice As Nice

I had made mention in part one of my blog on fermentation that I would make another post about my kombucha brewing adventures. As I typed those words, my mind swirled with the possibility of yielding a moldy batch and not being able to follow up with you. But I am happy to report that my batch was a resounding success and was my most flavourful kombucha yet.

In today’s post I will tell you how to flavour your kombucha after its initial fermentation period. I left mine to ferment for 8 days.

The SCOBY is added

Day 3

Day 8

Bubbles galore

(Day 1, Day 3, Day 8)

Fabulous Fermentation

“To ferment your own food is to lodge a small but eloquent protest – on behalf of the senses and the microbes – against the homogenization of flavors and food experiences now rolling like a great, undifferentiated lawn across the globe. It is also a declaration of independence from an economy that would much prefer we remain passive consumers of its standardized commodities, rather than creators of idiosyncratic products expressive of ourselves and of the places where we live, because your pale ale or sourdough bread or kimchi is going to taste nothing like mine or anyone else’s.”– Michael Pollan [1]

Today on the blog, I am tackling the art of fermentation.

While fermented foods have been brought into the culinary spotlight with folks like Joel MacCharles and Sandor Katz spreading the good word, fermentation is a naturally occurring process that predates human history.  Humans just happened to discover it and began using it as a method of preparing our food. We’ve been doing so since 6000 B.C., the earliest record of fermentation.

By definition, fermentation happens when the carbohydrates (starch and sugars) in a food item are broken down by microscopic bacteria, molds, or yeasts and transformed into acids, gases, and alcohol. When you see it written in scientific terms, fermentation can sound a bit grotesque and potentially dangerous*. As a society we are told to avoid bacteria, not willingly ingest it.

What if I told you that beer, cheese, sourdough bread, yogurt, wine, and coffee are all common fermented foods? Interesting.

Fruit Hunting in Kensington Market

Fruit is something that I have taken for granted…

As a southern Ontario consumer I can walk down the street to a store like Sobeys or Loblaws and purchase all of the groceries that I need in one place. This includes a variety of cosmetically beautiful fruit that is available on their shelves year round (thanks, globalization). Our ancestors did not have this same luxury and ate only what was available to them seasonally; fruit was a rare treat to be savoured, even preserved for the long winter months. Yet at present time many of us will settle for these flavourless and often expensive imported strawberries and peaches, even in January.

I had the opportunity in school to watch the first part of an episode of David Suzuki’s Nature of Things named “Fruit Hunters”. This focused on the concept of “permanent global summertime” in our super markets, and profiled individual fruit hunters. These are people who go far beyond the walls of the supermarket, traversing the globe to find, preserve, and cultivate unique species of fruit. If you have time, check it out here.

After watching this, I was inspired to go on my own fruit hunting mission and seek out a type of fruit I had not yet tried. It’s unknown how many species of fruit there are in the world – there are over 7500 varieties of apples alone –  so surely I would be able to find something new. Due to my student budget, I stuck to exploring a place that was much more local than the rainforests of Brazil. I decided to visit Kensington Market, which is a short trip South of Spadina station on the streetcar.

Kensington Market is an eclectic, magical place that holds a small piece of my heart; it was one of the first places I visited in the city when I moved here during my first round of College back in 2004. I remember being in awe of the racks of vintage clothing, the musicians that communed in the middle of the sidewalk, and the sight of so many different delicacies in open containers on the street. It has an abundance of specialty stores for any and all items on your grocery list (fruits, spices, herbs, cheese, and meat).

Any description I’ve read of the market does not do it justice; it is one of those places that you need to experience for yourself if you have the opportunity.

Kensington Market

Was Mona Lisa a fruit hunter, too?

Oxford Fruit

Another fruit market

A bevvy of Ontario apples

Dragon fruit, Pithaya, Mangosteen, Cactus Pear, Durian, and Sugar Apple

Above are some of the unique fruits and sights that I encountered as I crawled the market and walked through Chinatown on my way home. (Click to enlarge).

A tip for fruit hunting in Kensington? Bring cash. Very few places took debit or credit cards.

Sunwah Fruit Market

Selecting a Persimmon

I ended up at Sun Wah Fruit Market, located at 229 Augusta Avenue (near the corner of Nassau Street). I was combing through their fruit selection when a basket of fuyu persimmons caught my eye. They looked like orange, flat tomatoes with large leaves. Persimmons weren’t completely unfamiliar (I had never tasted, or cooked with one) but unfamiliar enough that I scooped up a bag of them to eat. I chose persimmons that were firm and smooth with little bruising for $2.49 per pound.