edible COLUMBUS | FALL 2016 | Issue No. 27

edible COLUMBUS

®

Our Food, Our Land, Our Culture, Season by Season

Fall 2016 • Issue No. 27

Food & Design COMPLIMENTARY Member of Edible Communities

Fall

DEPARTMENTS 4 6 8 14 16 18 20 23 28 36 60

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

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32

THE ART OF THE PLATE

38

FARM TO RUNWAY

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR LOCAL AND IN SEASON IN THE GARDEN

Creative tools for making your home-cooked meals beautiful

By Joshua Wickham, Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

Designer Celeste Malvar-Stewart’s Midwest-inspired fashion

By Claire Hoppens, Photography by Rachel Woodard

FROM THE CHEF’S PERSPECTIVE LOCAL FOODSHED

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A POTTERY REVIVAL

51

TOGETHERNESS AT HOME

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HOME KITCHEN REDUX

EDIBLE WELLNESS EDIBLE READS FROM THE KITCHEN EDIBLE CULTURE EDIBLE AESTHETICS

RECIPES 11 12 26 30 35

FEATURES

Mont Blanc Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Chestnuts Chicken Noodle Soup with Sautéed Mushrooms and Parmigiano Wild Fermented Sauerkraut Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Charred Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash Pureé, Crispy Sweet Potatoes, Chive Oil and a Tawny Port Reduction

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Craft pottery grows in Ohio and with it the experience of the handmade aesthetic when you cook and dine

By Colleen Leonardi

Setting the table with found objects Writing by Sarah Lagrotteria Styling and Photography by Tricia Wheeler and Emily Kaelin

Tips of the trade for designing and renovating a well-loved home kitchen

By Courtney Burnett

Cover: Our cover features fresh-cut flowers and pears from the pear trees at Jorgensen Farms in Westerville, Ohio. Photo by Marlene Rounds, marlenerounds.com

PieTeR ClaeSz, Still life with Fruit and Roemer, 1644. FROM The MuSeuM OF FiNe aRTS iN BuDaPeST.

Contents 2016

letter from the PUBLISHER

edible COLUMBUS PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF

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he end of summer is always hard. At my house, we try to squeeze the last bit of fun from our days. Even though we talk about earlier bedtimes and better schedules—I always give in, making the beginning of school even harder and more tiring! I was reminded late this summer about the importance of making our days memorable and fun. A friend passed away, and his final message about midnight tea parties and the joyful spontaneity of going all out for those you love crosses my mind often. His example of a life well lived and surrounded by loving relationships is something I take to heart.

Tricia Wheeler ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Claire Hoppens MANAGING EDITOR & EDITOR

Colleen Leonardi RECIPE EDITOR

Sarah Lagrotteria COPY EDITORS

Doug Adrianson • Susanna Cantor DESIGN

Melissa Petersen We all have limited time in a day to make count.

One of the areas I have wanted to improve upon is how to be a better connector and to use what I have learned through producing Edible Columbus to improve our food system. We are in the unique position of learning from small- and large-scale farmers, chefs, artisans, institutions and consumers about needs, challenges and successes. We know there is a bridge to build between all of us to make our regional food system stronger and better connected. By doing this we hope more opportunities are created and our community benefits from meaningful connections.

Edible Columbus and Chef Bill Glover of Gallerie Bar & Bistro are hosting “Our Regional Food System,” a community think tank and luncheon to help bridge relationships in our regional food economy on October 27. Our hope is that we can gather ideas to create tools and make introductions that will lead to a stronger, more interconnected regional food system. If you are a buyer of food and want to source more locally, we hope you will come. If you are farmer and you want to sell more of your food to restaurants and institutional buyers, we hope you will join us. If you are a chef looking for the best locally grown ingredients and would like to learn more about sourcing local fruits, vegetables and meat, we value your input in this conversation. And if you are a consumer who cares about where your food comes from and has ideas to share, we invite you to the table. Details are on the next page.

This issue of Edible Columbus is focused on design and how good design can make us happier in our kitchen, excited about how our table is set, better able to plate our food and more thoughtful about the objects we surround ourselves with. So, if you are able to pull your loved ones together and surprise them for a midnight tea party, pull out the china, or your best pottery, and celebrate those you love.

Have a wonderful fall!

PS: I hope to meet you in person at our luncheon in October!

FALL 2016

CONTACT US

P.O. Box 21-8376, Columbus, Ohio 43221 info@ediblecolumbus.com ediblecolumbus.com Edible Columbus

@ediblecbus

@ediblecolumbus ADVERTISING INQUIRIES

claire@ediblecolumbus.com Edible Columbus is published quarterly and distributed throughout Central Ohio. Subscription rate is $25 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.

Tricia Wheeler

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CONTRIBUTORS

Cheyenne Buckingham • Courtney Burnett Frances Cannon • Dawn Combs Janine Harris Degitz • Michelle Demuth-Bibb Claire Hoppens • Emily Kaelin Maria Khoroshilova • Debra Knapke Colleen Leonardi • Sarah Lagrotteria Sandra Miller • Nancy McKibben Marlene Rounds • Betty Rosbottom Leann Schneider • Jamie Simpson Stephen Takacs • Sharon Teuscher Carole Topalian • Susan Weber Joshua Wickham • Rachel Woodard

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y grandmother, Sarah, and I talk almost every night. We talk about the day—little things— and we laugh before saying goodnight. She tells me how some nights she wakes up worried about the state of the world.

Her remedy? To sit with a cup of tea and read what she calls, “the edible book.” She’s referring to edible: A Celebration of Local Foods by Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, co-founders of the Edible Communities Publications. It’s a healthy collection of articles and recipes from all of the different edible magazines around the country. It reminds my grandmother of her life as it’s defined by foods and regions she once savored and called home. The recipe for Lobster Rolls reminds her of her time living in Maine and grilling lobster on beds of seaweed, and the article about a certain variety of apples piques her curiosity as she wonders if she’ll ever have a chance to taste it.

The stories of the foods and farms evoke memories of relationships in her life—relationships to the food, the land and the people she calls family, friends, sons and daughter. This soothes her rattled nerves and puts her to sleep. It’s failproof, she tells me.

Relationships. As the coming autumn chill stirs the leaves on the maple tree outside my window and the school bus returns to the neighborhood to gather children for school, I’m meditating on this concept called relationships. For it’s intrinsic to the world of sustainable food and farming, and it’s the bedrock of gratitude. As the poet David Whyte writes, “Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and live together and mesh together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air, that the underlying gift of life and incarnation as a living, participating human being is a privilege; that we are miraculously, part of something, rather than nothing.”

Relationship—it’s the mark of good design, too.

Whether in a plate of home-cooked food or a nosegay picked fresh from the autumn woods for your bedside table, design is about how you place things in relationship to other things to establish purpose in your life—your aesthetic evocative of your relationships to those you call family, friends, farmer, husband and wife. This issue offers ways to re-imagine how you design aspects of your edible life—how you create and build relationships between things, people, experiences.

This issue also invites you to “Our Regional Food System,” a community think tank cocreated by us here at Edible Columbus and Chef Bill Glover at the Gallerie Bistro & Bar at The Hilton. When contributor Nicole Rasul and I sat down with Bill to share our idea to bring together people in Central Ohio from all across the food chain to reclaim the term “local foods” for what it really means to our community and build relationships between eaters and farmers, producers and distributors, we were humbled and inspired to find that Bill had been thinking along the very same lines. The collective unconscious is alive and well, and we encourage you to join us for lunch on October 27 for what is sure to be enlivening conversation and the beginnings of an evolution of Columbus’ local food community for 2017 [page 5].

We hope you enjoy reading about how to make sauerkraut at home [page 28], the rediscovery of an ancient grain in Athens known as the Chenopod [page 18], why craft pottery in our state is having a comeback [page 44], how a local fashion designer uses black eyed Susans and black walnuts for her couture dresses [page 38] and so many more vital and inspiring relationships between the pages of our fall issue.

In gratitude,

Edible Columbus, is supported by our advertisers and subscribers. With your paid subscription, you help support our mission by telling the stories of our local farmers, chefs, growers and food artisans.

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And autumn is the season for expressing our gratitude, isn’t it?

Colleen Leonardi

PhOTO By © SaRah WaRDa, SaRahWaRDa.COM

letter from the EDITOR

local and IN SEASON

What to Eat Fruits: apples, Blueberries, apricots, Blackberries, Cantaloupe, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Strawberries, Watermelons, Tomatoes Greens: Collard, Mustard and Turnip Greens; lettuce, Kale, Spinach Cabbage Crops: Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Radishes Root Vegetables: Beets, Celery, Green Onions, leeks, Okra, Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, Garlic

Squashes: yellow Squash, zucchini, Winter Squash, Pumpkins

Carrots tops at The Chef’s Garden in Huron, Ohio.

See what’s in season at The Chef’s Garden, www.chefs-garden.com.

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PhOTO By © MiChelle DeMuTh-BiBB

Last of Summer: herbs; hot, Bell and Sweet Peppers; Sweet Corn

Chestnuts…

By Debra Knapke

“…do not fit into a category: they have their own special ways…”

The Way to Cook by Julia Child

C PhOTO By © CaROle TOPaliaN

hestnuts start arriving in stores in late October to early November, just in time for my birthday. They were a treat when I was younger and, like Winesap apples, signaled that fall was definitely here.

Once a majestic giant in eastern U.S. forests, the American chestnut tree virtually disappeared by the 1950s because of a fungal organism that traveled to the United States from China.

Chestnut wood was prized by woodworkers, and its flowers and fruit were an important food source for wildlife. According to Rick Gardner, Chief Botanist at the Ohio Department of

Natural Resources, “There are occasional fruiting-size trees in Ohio. We do track fruiting trees, but the trees rarely produce fertile fruit.”

The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) has spearheaded the efforts to re-establish the American chestnut in its native range, which once extended from southern Maine, across the Ohio Valley, and down to central Alabama and Mississippi. TACF has developed a blight-resistant cultivar that is genetically 94% American chestnut, and is currently working to increase the stock of resistant trees and to educate the public about the virtues of the American chestnut.

Others are working on breeding and trialing disease- and pest-resistant cultivars that can be grown in orchards. This effort is focused on production of a nut crop rather than re-introduction of the tree to our forests. At Rogers Reserve, a farm associated with Michigan State University, the chestnut orchard contains selections that were developed at MSU as well as cultivars developed elsewhere. One cultivar, “Colossal,” is a hybrid that was bred more than 100 years ago.

Which brings us to the chestnut itself. If you decide to harvest your own chestnuts, the first thing you will notice is the painfully spiny, animal-thwarting husk. You will need sturdy

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gloves to protect your hands as you remove the nuts. There will be one to five or six, depending on the species or hybrid and the growing conditions. The nuts will be shiny brown with a tan base and a tasseled, pointed tip. The reason for this detailed description is that you do not want to confuse the chestnut (genus Castanea) with the horse chestnut or buckeye (genus Aesculus).

Horse chestnuts and buckeyes are poisonous and should never be eaten.

One other caution: Chestnuts ripen after they are released from the husk. Like their cousins the oaks, chestnuts are full of tannins as a reproductive strategy. The message to predators is: don’t eat me, bury me until I’m sweet. For our palates, chestnuts need to cure for one to four days to lose much of their astringency and sweeten up. Cooking also reduces the tannins that give chestnuts their bitter taste. You seldom see a recipe that uses raw chestnuts.

Most of the chestnuts sold in the United States are the Spanish or European species. A chestnut is a nutritional gold mine. It contains most of the Bcomplex (folic acid, niacin, B-6, thiamin and riboflavin) vitamins, vitamin C, iron, calcium,

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magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc, potassium and heart-healthy monounsaturated fats.

Being a starchy nut, they are often processed into flour and can be found in gluten-free flour mixes.

But the reason we eat chestnuts is for their sweet and nutty flavor: wonderful by themselves, or as an ingredient in many dishes. In Tuscany the flour is used in polenta and breads, while the nuts can be found in recipes from appetizers to desserts. A special treat is marron glacé—glazed chestnuts. It takes several days to produce this delicious candied treat.

Each of the various species and hybrids has its own flavor profile. Last year I found wild chestnuts at a farmers market that tasted similar to a European chestnut, yet with a winey aftertaste that was not to my liking. These nuts were smaller than those from an American chestnut and it is possible that they were harvested from the shrubby natural hybrid Castanea x neglecta instead.

If you like unusual flavors, seek out chestnut honey. The Asheville Bee Charmer shop in Asheville, North Carolina, offers samples of honeys from around the world, and at their

honey bar last June I had my first taste of chestnut honey. The Bee Charmer staff is very enthusiastic about honey, and I have Taylor, one of the knowledgeable staff, to thank for refreshing my memory of that tasting. Imagine the fragrance of wet hay mixed with a small amount of wet animal. Then the taste: wood, tobacco and carob topped off with a bit of bitterness.

Needless to say, it is an intense honey and may be an acquired taste for some. Taylor suggests combining chestnut honey with chocolate or drizzling it over a persimmon mousse.

This year my birthday request is going to be: a disease-resistant chestnut, marron glacé and chestnut honey.

Debra Knapke is a teacher, lecturer, garden designer, consultant and gardener. She enjoys

snacking on plants as she tends her ⅔-acre garden. She has written five books and is a

heartland Gardener: heartland-gardening.com.

What to Cook

Savoring the Chestnut

By Sarah lagrotteria • illustrations by Frances Cannon

C

hestnuts evoke more nostalgia than any other nut, which is odd considering most of us have never eaten, cracked or roasted one. The drift between our cultural memory and actual experience is rooted in the American landscape. Chestnut trees once swelled the nation’s forest. Then fungal blight (see page 9) nearly destroyed our chestnut tree population, leaving us longing for a fragrance and flavor few of us know.

Let’s remedy that. I fell in love with chestnuts while living in France. There, as in Italy, sweet, soft chestnut meat is a familiar taste and texture. For those new to chestnuts, I offer here a traditional French holiday dessert and a new take on Brussels sprouts with bacon.

Mont Blanc Serves 6 Whimsical, wobbly and grand, Mont Blanc is a traditional French holiday dessert that widens eyes and elicits “Que c’est beau!”s from around the table.

Do as the French do and buy Clement Faugier chestnut spread rather than making your own chestnut purée. Bake your meringue the night before and all that’s left is to whip the cream, pipe the chestnut spread (through a hole in a ziploc bag) and dust powdered sugar to create your very own alpine peak.

Please note: this is one seriously sweet dessert. Balance with strong after-dinner coffee.

4 large egg whites 1 teaspoon cream of tartar 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup cold whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2–3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, divided 1 can Chestnut Spread Purée de Marrons by Clement Faugier (see illustration)

Preheat oven to 175°. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk on low speed until frothy, 2–3 minutes. add the cream of tartar and continue whisking, raising the speed to medium-high. When the whites thicken and form soft peaks (they will look like softly whipped cream), begin to slowly add in the sugar, letting it fall down the side of the bowl, adding slowly and continuously as the whites beat up into glossy, firm peaks. Sear the meringue: Beat on high speed for 10 seconds to stabilize. use a pencil and a cake pan or plate to trace a nine-inch round circle on parchment paper. Place the paper marked side-down on a sheet tray and spoon the meringue into the circle. use the back of a large spoon to slightly indent the center of the mound, forming a large, shallow nest. Bake for 1½ hours then turn off the oven, keeping the door closed to allow the meringue to cool and dry completely. let rest in the closed oven for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or use a hand mixer. When it starts to thicken, add the vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar. Continue to beat until just firm.

Spoon the sweetened whipped cream into the meringue nest and all over the top of the meringue. Fill a ziploc bag with chestnut purée. Cut a small hole in one corner of the ziploc bag, if using, and pipe the purée in stripes on top of the whipped cream, leaving a border of cream about 1-inch thick all around. Pipe high as this is your mountain rising from snowy ground. Dust with powdered sugar “snow” and serve immediately.

Sarah Lagrotteria is a FCi-trained chef who has worked for Mario Batali, taught writing classes on food culture at Stanford and contributed to numerous cookbooks. in 2003, Sarah co-founded apples & Onions, a private chef company in Malibu, California. She now lives in Worthington with her husband, daughter Marlowe, and son Ronan.

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Chestnuts Serves 4 if you’re game, use a sharp knife to carve an X in the round side of two handfuls of fresh chestnuts in their shells. Roast them at 425°, X-side up, for 20–25 minutes. They’re ready when the incisions split open, revealing the flesh inside. Don’t roast them too long or the sweet meat will harden. There are other caveats: the shells may break open, but peeling chestnuts is still difficult and hard on the thumbs. Not all the chestnuts may be usable—i once found myself on Thanksgiving eve with a bowlful of moldy ones—which means a lot of work for nothing.

But, oh the smell! My solution? Roast a few for ambiance and experience, but cook with the steam-packed variety. avoid any packed in liquid.

3 tablespoons olive oil ½ pound bacon, cut into lardons 4 shallots, thinly sliced 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved ¼ pound chestnuts, roasted and peeled Salt and freshly ground pepper 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425°. heat oil over medium heat in a roasting pan or oven-proof skillet. add the bacon and cook until golden brown and crisp. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Drain all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan. add the shallots to the pan and cook until soft. add the Brussels sprouts and chestnuts and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven until the sprouts are cooked through and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the oven and stir in the butter and balsamic vinegar. Transfer to a platter and top with the crispy bacon.

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in the GARDEN

Autumn’s Edible Garden I Fall musings of a garden designer

By Susan Weber

have to admit it: I have a life-long love affair with Ohio in the fall. Where to start? I love when the summer heat releases its relentless grasp to fall’s crisp, refreshingly cool days with cloudless skies. Parched lawns carpet themselves in a lush emerald green hue last seen in May. Ohio forests and urban trees begin their magical transformation to a kaleidoscope of blazing tints of crimson, gold and orange. And oh, the anticipation of savoring the rich spectrum of flavors available in our autumn food palette.

A huge vintage concrete urn at the base of some rustic stone steps is beautiful empty, but I’m considering planting it with a carmine jewel dwarf cherry bush this fall. This medium-sized shrub with glossy, green leaves reaches 6 inches high at maturity and is covered with pink and white blossoms in the spring. The attractive flowers are followed by large, wine-colored cherries in late summer to early fall. The fruit’s intriguing sweettart flavor allows it to be used for pies, tarts and out-of-hand eating. It’s cold-hardy and self-pollinating, so I’ll get loads of fruit quickly from just one plant. Carmine jewel has shown exceptional resistance to disease and insect damage, making it a great choice for gardeners who prefer to follow more organic maintenance practices.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for a good place to plant some of Brazelberries’ compact blueberry bush called blueberry glaze. A generously proportioned cedar packing crate from the 1920s that I recently picked up for a song might be a good 14

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PhOTO By © CaROle TOPaliaN

The cooler days of autumn also offer a great opportunity for evaluating the overall structure of the edible garden. I like taking advantage of sales at the local nurseries by evaluating bare areas in the garden that could benefit from additional edible planting. A long, narrow bed along the gravel path in my formal herb garden would lend itself well to a neat border of raspberry shortcake.

These dwarf thornless raspberry bushes are selffertile, and they mature to a compact size of only three feet wide by three feet tall. Their petite, rounded habit does not require staking or trellising; a light pruning of dead canes next spring will encourage prolific fruiting next summer. An extra bonus: many raspberry shortcake plants boast an attractive reddish-gold fall foliage color.

candidate. It’s deep, square profile should support four of the petite, boxwood-like blueberry plants. Blueberry glaze has showy white spring flowers set off by fine-textured glossy green foliage that turns burgundy in the fall.

Clusters of small, intensely sweet deep-blue berries appear in mid-summer.

All blueberries prefer soil that is more acidic than Columbus’s very alkaline soil, so I’ll need to adjust the soil in the planter box more to their liking. I’ll incorporate some peat moss into the soil mix at the time of planting, and will scratch some more into the soil once a year. I’ll also apply Espoma’s excellent organic soil acidifier around the base of each plant each spring to continue to help to adjust the pH balance of the soil.

Another enjoyable activity for those brilliant fall days is collecting seeds for the next growing year.

Collecting and saving seeds is an ancient practice that ensures that I’ll be able to plant my favorite crops next year. My small-scale collecting is primarily a personal celebration of an ancient fall ritual, but on a larger scale, saving seeds is a powerful strategy to preserve heirloom plant varieties and avoid genetic modification. After I’ve collected my seeds, I remove any lingering stems, pods, petals and foliage and spread the seeds out on an old screen in my garage. When they’re dry, I store them in labeled paper envelopes at room temperature.

I particularly love collecting scarlet runner bean seeds. Painted Lady, a variety documented as far back as 1596, has namesake flowers of red and white acknowledging Queen Elizabeth I’s penchant for rouge and face powder. Beloved by bees and hummingbirds, the foliage quickly covers iron tuteurs or bamboo teepees to create striking vertical elements in the garden. I usually steam or sauté the pods at the “snap” stage, but I allow a few to dry on the plants until the pods rattle for use in soups or for saving for the following year. The huge, black-and-pink seeds look glorious in a small silver bowl on the painted sideboard in my dining room.

shrub native to Central Ohio’s moist forest understory. Very early yellow spring flowers, golden fall color and medium stature make spicebush a great choice for urban landscapes. The small, bright red oval fruits appear late in the summer and in early fall. I’ve found that their warm, spicy, peppery taste partners well with venison and pork dishes. You’ll want to keep both fresh and dried berries in the refrigerator, as their high oil content can turn them rancid at room temperature. Fresh or dried leaves and twigs can be steeped in boiling water to produce a tea that is spicy with light citrus notes.

A mature eastern white pine, Pinus strobus, straddles the property line in my back yard. I collect its long, dark green needles repeatedly over the course of fall and winter to brew into a pungent, strongly flavored tea that is good sweetened with raw honey. The needles have extremely high levels of vitamin C and contain traces of the antibacterial sap. White pine tea was used by Iroquois tribes to treat bronchitis and sinusitis.

As I finally stretch white row covers over my raised beds around Thanksgiving, I’m fully in the process of moving into the quieter, deeper, more introspective season of late fall and early winter. Both the edible garden and I will spend much of the coming months under cozier, warmer cover. I’ll continue to reach under the garden’s row covers to collect small harvests of kale, lettuce, sorrel, rosemary, thyme and mint, and will enjoy combining them with dried herbs and fall root crops and meats to create comforting, savory dishes.

evaluate your garden this fall for areas that might lend themselves well to the addition of edible plants. here are some creative ideas to get you started: 1)

Use edible plants as decorative borders, formal hedges and screen plantings. Compact berry bushes, germander and garlic chives make great perennial borders and hedges. Bush basil and rosemary are great choices for aromatic annual borders. Bush cherries and elderberries create taller edible screens along property lines or add structure to perennial beds.

2)

Add vertical structure to your garden with dwarf fruit trees and edible vines.

Dwarf apple, pear, cherry and crabapple trees add wonderful fourseason interest to both small and large gardens. Perennial edible vines like hops, grapes and kiwi require sturdy structures like arbors or trellises to support them, but they provide attractive vertical interest for many years.

Train edible annual vines like scarlet runner bean, hyacinth bean and nasturtium on bamboo tripods or wroughtiron tuteurs for short-season fun.

3)

Consider planting containers with edibles. Galvanized buckets and washtubs, wood fruit crates and apple baskets—have fun turning unique ob-

See you in the spring!

jects into planters for edible plants.

Plant an attractive container with several varieties of mint; it’s a can’t-doSusan Weber has over two decades of experience

without-it herb, but it’s too invasive to

in sustainable landscape design. She is certified as

plant in a mixed perennial bed. Blue-

a master landscape designer with the association

berries are wonderful plants for the

of Professional landscape Designers and has

urban garden, and their need for an

leeD Green associate accreditation with the u.S. Green Building Council. her experience in land

I usually do some harvesting in the fall from the wilder corners of my yard for medicinal and edible use over the winter. Spicebush, whose scientific name is Lindera benzoin, is an aromatic

Beginning Tips for Your Edible Garden

acidic grow mix make them a great candidate for a container.

planning encompasses schools, residential and neighborhood projects.

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from the chef ’s PERSPECTIVE

Field Notes Between the pages of Chef Liaison at The Culinary Vegetable Institute of The Chef’s Garden Jamie Simpson’s fall journal

By Chef Jamie Simpson • Photography by Michelle Demuth-Bibb

A stalk of Brussels sprouts at The Chef’s Garden in Huron, Ohio.

See what’s in season at The Chef’s Garden, www.chefs-garden.com.

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This is a story about time and place.

The time: 5:45pm October 10, 2013.

The place: Northeast Ohio in the fertile bottoms of Lake Erie.

Walking through this productive land on this particular part of fall in this specific region, you may or may not notice the same things I have.

Either way, they're happening.

The vibrant green grasses still damp from this morning’s fog. Wild fox grapes slowly raisinate as their season comes to an end. A distant fire burning. Grasshoppers, ladybugs and wooly bear caterpillars make haste for their final destination to wherever their fate may be. The pheasants

silently emerge from the drying soybean fields in an apparent attempt to eat every last grain and insect that crosses their path. The sunflowers no longer look to the sun while the majestic shaggy mane mushrooms stand tall and fall within hours of emerging from the lawn. I especially love the unique hollow thud of the last falling black walnuts and the aromatic perfume that follows.

This time of year brings an incredible bounty of produce, as late summer crops can overlap into fall. Nature provides such a natural rhythm to what to eat and when, if we allow it. You see, there is no dividing line. It’s more like an imbrication, or one massive shifting Venn diagram.

Take from it only what speaks to you and try something new. This is micro-seasonal cooking in its purest form. These ingredients are not available at the store. They're available in these woods, in these fields and on this lawn, right here and right now. This is not progressive, pioneering, modern or avant-garde. This is a retreat to a pure connection with our surroundings, which simply requires observation and reflection.

I'm assembling a dish inspired by this particular moment. To act on it takes immediate initiative.

The ingredients: Sun-dried fox grapes

In the fields right now, the spring asparagus is still growing, three-foot ferns with red berries scattered throughout. Tomatoes are still on the vine hanging on until the very first soft frost indicates their time has come to an end. The lettuces, cabbages, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and spinach are in line to transform into intense colors and rich textures while the potatoes are set and ready, patiently waiting their turn to be harvested.

Out here in farm country, the combines create the only traffic jams this time of year. They move from field to field, and after the clouds of dust settle, the deer follow, cleaning up what was left behind.

Green walnuts, bruised on one side Rye grass Female pheasants Dry soybean plants Sunflower seeds young shaggy mane mushrooms Wild sunchoke blossoms and young tubers

The dish: Soy milk braised pheasant Sunflower seed hulls and soy bean stalks Smoke, a distant fire Shaggy mane mushrooms cooked in schmaltz and green walnut zest

What is happening around me here now is inspiring on so many levels. It’s easy to think about a carrot as simply a root vegetable, but for 5,000 years it was only an herb and a spice for its leaves and its seeds, and not for its root, which is all we have really explored for the past 300 years. The rich history and tradition of carrot herb and carrot spice is gone.

Mélange of wild grains, roots, fruits and blossoms Charred rye grass and oxalis emulsion

Chef Jamie Simpson is the Chef liaison at The Culinary Vegetable institute of The Chef’s Garden. he has quickly become internationally recognized

I’m inspired by the idea that every part of a plant’s life offers something new and unique to the plate.

From the root to the bulb, or the stem to the leaf, the bloom, the pollen, the fruit, the seed, in most cases, these are all incredible additions to the palate of colors and textures and flavors that nature provides, whether we explore them or not.

I’m inspired by the idea that despite standard agricultural models and grocery store box offerings, there are still vast regional distinctions of flavors based almost entirely on nature.

for his dynamic plates and inventive culinary artistry. The Culinary Vegetable institute is the extension of The Chef’s Garden, a family farm growing, harvesting and shipping specialty vegetables to the world’s finest restaurants. at CVi, every course that Jamie produces is an evocation of one moment in time; a testament to a profound understanding of the expression of the farm on that day, for a singular purpose, as an experience of a distinctive sense of place. Chef Jamie Simpson throws the seeds of technique and imagination in

To walk through the garden is to walk through a sanctuary of flavors, aromas, textures and sounds. Go placidly.

the furrows of an agricultural project unparalleled.

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PhOTOS COuRTeSy OF Paul e. PaTTON

local FOODSHED

The Chenopod: A Forgotten Plant

By Cheyenne Buckingham

“The past can really can help guide success in the present,” says Paul E. Patton, PhD. Paul, director of the Ohio University Archaeological Field School and Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Food Studies curriculums, has rediscovered a prehistoric seed that could potentially fight against food insecurity in the Appalachian region. The scientific name for the seed is Chenopodium berlandieri but more commonplace names include chenopods, lamb’s quarters and goosefoot. For the sake of this ar-

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ticle, Paul refers to the seed as the chenopod and his journey in rescuing this seed begins long before he became a professional.

“As a child, my parents and grandparents instilled in me a curiosity for a world that existed outside myself,” says Paul.

From the get-go, Paul had developed an innate interest in learning about places, people and cultures that were foreign to him, and he spent most of his childhood exploring the outdoors.

The more he explored, the more he became enthralled with uncovering information about the

natural world surrounding him, and all of the animals and plants that populated it. The Earth was his playground growing up, so his passions for anthropology began almost instantaneously in his life. One experience in particular, however, is accredited as a pivotal moment in what would be his future archaeological career.

Paul as a child sat atop his grandfather’s lap as he steered the tractor throughout his farm, pointing out things amongst the dirt as they went, which Paul would eagerly hop off to retrieve. It was on one of these habitual trips that his grandfather

“Crops that are particularly well-adapted to a region may end up being the key to stabilizing an unstable food system,” says Paul. found a leaf, or so that’s what he thought it was.

To young Paul’s surprise, the “leaf ” ended up being a projectile point (the tips fastened to the ends of spears, darts and arrow shafts) made by Native Americans 2,000 years prior.

“This ‘find’ stoked my curiosity in people that lived on our landscape before us; it became a lifelong obsession and love,” says Paul.

In 2006 he helped lead a team of students from Ohio University to excavate the prehistoric remnants on his grandfather’s farm. Their findings were astonishing—they excavated a small, domestic site where people had lived in what appeared to have been a rectangular-shaped home.

They were also able to determine that the people who had once lived there were gatherers of nuts and fruits and grew native crops. One of those crops was the chenopod, and it soon became the focal point of Paul’s research and work. Ohio’s own Ash Cave actually became the next site of interest for Paul.

In 1876, 100 years after the United States was founded, geologist Ebenezer Baldwin Andrews uncovered a hoard of seeds—about 9.6 million to be exact—along the back wall of Ash Cave in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. This plethora of seeds was immediately placed in storage at the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut. These seeds were chenopod seeds.

What archeologists hadn’t discovered until 1985, though, was that the chenopods at Ash Cave were not like regular wild seeds, they had been domesticated. In simpler terms, this discovery proved that the chenopod had been a vital source of food for the Native American peoples and that through selective breeding, they had altered the plant to such a degree that it could be distinguished from its wild relatives. Paul says that domestication, in short, refers to the manipulation of the plant over time, breeding for particular traits. The domesticated type was dependent on humans to help it grow because it was domesticated by Native Americans almost 4,000 years ago to have a thin-seed coat. This characteristic made it germinate and grow much more quickly, but also made it susceptible to harsh weather conditions.

However, only the wild type of the plant still exists in eastern North America today. The horrendous displacement and genocide of Native American cultures and the introduction of corn are two plausible explanations for the domesticated variety going extinct.

Chenopods remained an important part of the prehistoric diet for over 3000 years. If it was so successful for indigenous people in the past, its revival could certainly benefit the present generation. As of now, Paul says that the local, native variety of the chenopod is flourishing in humidity and high summer temperatures. Whereas quinoa, its sister seed, is the exact opposite: It cannot grow in warm climates. Unfortunately, many farmers throughout Ohio use herbicides to kill the plant so that it doesn’t take over their garden. But what they neglect to see is the potential the chenopod could offer the community.

“Crops that are particularly well-adapted to a region may end up being the key to stabilizing an unstable food system,” says Paul. “If we stopped wasting money resisting it, and instead started cultivating and eating it, chenopods could be one of our best and healthiest resources in the fight against food insecurity.”

Not only will it thrive in our soil and temperature, it also has higher amounts of protein and fiber and fewer carbohydrates and nearly one third of the fat in quinoa. More specifically, every 100 grams of uncooked chenopod (a little bit over one cup) offers 19 grams of protein for 42 grams of carbohydrates, whereas 100 grams of quinoa offers 12 grams of protein and 72 grams of carbohydrates. There wouldn’t be an importing cost, it could be cultivated directly in Athens County and the surrounding regions and feed the 19.8% of people who are food insecure.

“It’s bringing something back that’s origin resides in our own region,” Paul says.

Cheyenne Buckingham is a health food and fitness writer at Ohio university. in addition to contributing to Edible Columbus, she also freelances for Eat This, Not That magazine.

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edible WELLNESS

n the kitchen, the taste experience we call “bitter” is important to create a sense of depth and complexity. I see this most readily in the apple. Everything that remains of the original bitterness of an apple is found in the peel. Bite through this peel into a crisp apple and a symphony of flavor explodes across your palate. Remove the covering of that same apple and often the experience is one merely of insipid sweetness. The bitter is critical to our brain’s perception of the apple’s flavor.

By Dawn Combs

When something bitter crosses our palate at the beginning of a meal it’s also important to our digestive health and overall well-being. The flavor of bitter starts a chain reaction in the body. The bitter receptors on the tongue stimulate saliva, rich in protein-digesting enzymes, to surge in the mouth. This, coupled with proper chewing, begins the digestive process long before food ever reaches the stomach.

At the same time as the mouth is engaging, the liver, gall bladder and pancreas are beginning to get some exercise. The bitter stimulus tells them to get their digestive enzymes and bile production up to speed and transport them to the stomach.

In the stomach, hydrochloric acid is being produced in anticipation of the food it is about to receive.

The American diet used to include a bitter salad to start the meal before it was replaced with sweet iceberg lettuce and cream dressings.

There was time for the body to get ready for the

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main part of the meal. Without this bitter stimulation, food arrives to a virtually dry stomach.

What transpires at that point is similar to what happens to you when relatives drop by unannounced. All the digestive organs rush to accommodate the newcomers. They try to do their job despite being caught off-guard; often irritation and conflict occurs. If visitors continue to arrive unannounced day after day, eventually the systems responsible for digestion simply give up trying.

Many of the current health problems that plague our culture can be traced to a lack of the bitter taste in our food. Flavor development does not need to be exclusive to fancy restaurants, but it seems that the Standard American Diet makes it all too easy to access food that is sweet and salty.

In fact, as more and more Americans become addicted to these simple taste experiences, our technological advances allow us to manipulate nature to suit our whims. The simple cucumber was once a well-balanced bitter, but now our ability to selectively breed new cultivars means that cucumbers are advertised each year as “never bitter.” Not only have we lost a balanced flavor profile, we’ve lost a critical part for our digestion that is dependent on the bitter stimulus.

When we neglect the importance of the bitter stimulus in our eating, we cut off our body at the knees, so to speak. There is no way to be successful at burning our food down to its components and absorbing nutrition properly. It simply doesn’t matter what is on the nutritional label, if you aren’t able to digest your food. Without bitters in our day-to-day diet, the gas, acid reflux, indigestion, pain, constipation, bloating and allergies are inevitable.

illuSTRaTiONS By © ShaRON TeuSCheR, ShaRONTeuSCheR.COM

The Importance of Being Bitter I

What Can We Do? Common plants

Hippocrates told us “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food.” Unfortunately, times were different. When Hippocrates said that, there wasn’t much difference between a cucumber and the herbs that we use for medicine. Science has allowed us to play with our food a good deal more than is really good for us. These days the cucumber makes a nice addition to our salad but doesn’t particularly make the call to our digestive organs that we need. American culture has waged a war on bitter for some time, asking us to bury “bitter” feelings and encouraging us to remove the peel from our vegetables and fruits. This means that in many cases we must turn now to the wild plant world, to the weeds we call folkloric medicine, precisely because it is there that man hasn’t fooled around yet.

Any one of these common bitter foods added at some point during your meal will encourage good digestion, though you’ll get the best benefit if they make up your starter at the beginning of the meal.

The supplement aisle is now one of our best options for exciting the bitter stimulus. It is here that we find herbalists and manufacturers mixing the plants that contain varying levels of bitter, served up in tincture form. Some of the best known belong to Urban Moonshine, companies that make the traditional “Swedish Bitters” formula and our farm, Mockingbird Meadows, which offers four unique bitters flavors and a few make-your-own kits.

arugula Beer Bitter melon Chocolate Dandelion eggplant

that used to be bitter:

Cucumber lettuce Grapefruit

endive Frisee Radicchio Rapini Saffron Walnuts

While there are still some foods that we can incorporate into our diet that do the same thing, it is a long journey to get the American public to accept the notion that bitter is good for us.

Bitters, as a supplement, simply stand in for the missing component of our diet. Taken 10–15 minutes before a meal, they cause our saliva to rush in response and our stomach soon begins to warm. It is surprising to many how quickly the common digestive ailments clear up with just this one simple addition to their meals. To me, it is simply alimentary!

Dawn Combs is an ethnobotanist, educator and professional speaker. She is co-owner of Mockingbird Meadows Farm and the author of Heal Local and Con-

ceiving Healthy Babies.

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edible READS

Every Night a Soup Night Cookbook author, food writer, cooking teacher and Columbus icon Betty Rosbottom introduces her new cookbook, Soup Nights, at this year’s Culinary Capers and reflects on a lifetime of culinary exploration

By Nancy McKibben

I

know Betty Rosbottom only by phone, but with the first call, her southern lilt and unpretentious manner welcomed me as a friend. She spoke from the Paris apartment where she and her husband Ron, a professor of French and European Studies at Amherst College, spend two months each year.

Of the author’s 11 previous cookbooks, Sunday Soups, a seasonal treatment published in 2008, has been the most popular to date. But, Betty says, “a whole new stash of recipes and a whole new slew of ideas” clamored for their own soup book.

As her introduction to Soup Nights tells us: “Writing another soup book was like reinventing the little black dress—take something familiar and beloved, then add creative touches to freshen and give it new life.”

Culinary Capers Betty and Culinary Capers, the annual fall cooking demo/luncheon/fundraiser for ProMusica Chamber Orchestra (details on page 24), debuted together in 1992, and her appearance at the Westin Hotel in November will be her sixth reprise, each time to introduce a new cookbook.

“I love working with Culinary Capers,” Betty says.

“They are absolutely the most organized and do a terrific job for a really worthy organization. And Paul Bohn, the chef at the Old Southern Hotel, does a great job interpreting the recipes the way you’d like them presented and multiplying them out for several hundred people.”

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She will also teach a soup class at The Seasoned Farmhouse (details below).

Betty has kept up with the food scene here, and “I’m unbelievably impressed by what a foodie city Columbus has become—good things are happening.”

What Betty modestly does not say is that she was one of the catalyzing forces in teaching Columbus about fine food.

Betty’s Own Culinary Capers Of course, Betty did not begin life in a Paris kitchen. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she studied in France while in college and discovered that she loved French cuisine even more than French literature. Her marriage eventually brought her to Columbus, where in 1976 she opened a cooking school, La Belle Pomme. It flourished at Lazarus Department Store (now Macy’s) from 1981–1995, closing when Betty moved to Massachusetts.

For 20 years Betty also wrote a syndicated cooking column and regularly contributed features to Ohio and Bon Appétit magazines.

She continues to teach in Massachusetts. “I get to hear what students are cooking and what foods they’re interested in. I try to incorporate that in the recipes I create.”

And those recipes go into her cookbooks.

How to Make a Cookbook The recipe for a cookbook is long and complicated, nearly two years of steady work for Soup Nights. After Betty develops her recipes, she calls on her volunteer recipe testers, many from Columbus, and longtime assistant Emily Bell, from Dublin. About 10 volunteers prepare each recipe and answer a questionnaire: How long did it take you to make it? Did you like it? Would you make it again? Were there any techniques that needed explanation?

For problematic recipes, professional testers take over. “I spend a lot of time back and forth with the testers,” Betty says. Once the recipes pass muster, the book must still be designed and dishes photographed—for Soup Nights, Betty cooked 40 dishes in five days, all photographed in her own kitchen. Remembering, she chuckles at the feat.

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“We had a food stylist, and I was the prop stylist, and Emily came from her old farmhouse in Dublin and brought props, and I had my own collection—my house looked like a cookware store.”

The soups in Soup Nights are organized by category: Vegetable; Chowders, Gumbos and Bisques; Bean and Grain; Hearty Comfort Soups; Light Soups Warm or Chilled. Even better, says Betty, a salad or sandwich plus dessert recipe accompany each soup recipe, “especially created to complement the soup so you can make a meal out of them.”

The je ne sais quoi of French Cooking Betty fell for French cooking the moment she tasted it, and her yearly exposure to the country’s cuisine has only deepened the affair. “Paris is a great place to get ideas,” she says. “There are so many cuisines represented here. Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen a big Japanese influence.”

The great difference she sees in American and French home cooking is seasonality.

“We talk about vegetables and fruit being seasonal, but in the States we can get asparagus from Chile out of season and strawberries all year round. You would never find that in France, except perhaps in a grand food hall like Le Bon Marché. The everyday person cooking in France cooks seasonally, and not just produce, but scallops, for instance. You get a better price and a better product when they’re seasonal.”

The typical Frenchwoman also has une grande affaire with her butcher, who may provide not only a fabulous roast capon for a holiday dinner, but also the stuffing that accompanies it. “We have a number of friends who live here, and I noticed that none of them seem to cook the whole meal,” Betty says. “Typically, they make the salad and first course and buy the dessert and the bread.”

Time and Change In a career spanning 35 years, Betty has compiled a wealth of experience as a cooking teacher, so I asked her about the differences she sees in her current students and readers compared to her early years at La Belle Pomme.

“When I first started in the ’70s and ’80s, people seemed to have all kinds of time on their hands to make pâtés and terrines and complicated sauces. Now,” Betty says, “everyone is very busy.

They definitely want good food, but they want it healthier and quicker.”

And she finds people more adventurous in their eating. “We have a global cuisine now. South America is the current new area of discovery.

People are more informed, due to Food Network and PBS and other TV stations—they made people more able cooks, more technically informed. The overall public certainly has a great interest in food and good eating.”

Home Again Culinary Capers in Columbus is always a homecoming for Betty. “I loved living in Columbus,” she says. “I have so many good friends and I always look forward to seeing friends and former students. It’s such a friendly, open city and a very lovely place to live.”

Nancy McKibben is happy to combine her loves of eating and writing with the opportunity to advocate for sustainable agriculture in the pages of Edible Columbus. her latest project is Kitschy Cat alphabet, a rhyming alphabet book in postcards. She is also a novelist, poet and lyricist, the mother of six and the wife of one. View her work at nancymckibben.com; contact her at nmckibben@leader.com.

Read Betty’s blog at bettyrosbottom.com. Her book Soup Nights will be published by Rizzoli in October.

Betty Rosbottom’s Cooking Class for The Seasoned Farmhouse will take place in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday morning, November 12. See details at theseasonedfarmhouse.com.

Culinary Capers XXIII will take place on Friday, November 11, 9am to 2pm, Westin Hotel.

Visit promusicacolumbus.org/about/sustaining-board for ticket information.

Chicken Noodle Soup With Sautéed Mushrooms & Parmigiano

By Betty Rosbottom from Soup Nights Serves 6

MaKe aheaD Partially • PReP TiMe 20 minutes • STaRT-TO-FiNiSh 2 hours

This chicken noodle soup is a far cry from those of my childhood. Several things give this version its delicious flavor. First, chicken breasts are poached in a rich, aromatic stock to form the foundation. a mix of earthy sautéed mushrooms provides an umami touch. and, finally some dry vermouth balances the soup’s richness.

Extra-Rich Homemade Stock

Add All The Ingredients for the extra-Rich homemade Stock to a large saucepan over medium-high heat,

1½ pounds chicken breasts, with skin and bones

and bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a simmer until the chicken is

2 ribs celery, sliced into 1-inch pieces

very tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

2 medium carrots, sliced into 1-inch pieces Remove The Chicken from the broth and set aside to cool. Strain the broth, pressing down on the vegetables

1 medium onion, quartered

to release as much juice as possible; discard the vegetables. you should get 8 cups; if not, add enough

2 bay leaves, broken in half

water to make that amount. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones and

2 parsley sprigs

cut into ½-inch cubes. (Chicken and broth can be prepared one day ahead; cool, cover and refrigerate.)

2 thyme sprigs, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme 2 quarts reduced-sodium chicken broth

For The Soup, remove 1 cup of the broth and place it along with the vermouth in a small saucepan set over high heat. Cook until the mixture has reduced by half. Set aside.

Soup ¼ cup dry vermouth

Heat The Butter and oil in a large pot set over medium heat. When hot, add the mushrooms and cook,

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

stirring, until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. add the garlic and rosemary and stir 1 minute more.

2 tablespoons canola oil 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, such as shiitakes, oyster and baby bellas, sliced (see Market

Sprinkle The Flour over the mushrooms and stir constantly to cook the flour, 1½ to 2 minutes. add the remaining 7 cups broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. add the noodles and cook until tender according to package directions, (see Cooking Tip).

Note) 1 tablespoon minced garlic

Stir In The Diced Chicken, the reduced vermouth mixture and the half-and-half. Cook until hot, 4 to 5

¾ teaspoon dried crushed dried rosemary

minutes. Taste and season the soup with more salt and pepper if needed.

2 tablespoons flour 4 ounces short, wide egg noodles ⅓ cup half-and-half

Ladle Soup Into Bowls. if desired, garnish each serving with a rosemary sprig or chopped parsley. Pass the Parmesan cheese in a bowl for sprinkling.

Kosher salt

Market Note: Some grocery stores sell packages of mixed, sliced mushrooms including shiitakes, baby

Freshly ground pepper

bellas and oysters. This is a convenient way to buy them. if unavailable, use 4 to 6 ounces shiitakes (stems

6 fresh rosemary sprigs or 2 tablespoons

removed and mushrooms sliced) and 4 to 6 ounces baby bellas (trimmed and sliced through the stems).

chopped parsley for garnish, optional ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, preferably

Cooking Tip: When this soup is made several hours or a day ahead, the noodles sometimes absorb more of the liquid and make the soup thicker. Thin it with some purchased chicken broth if you like.

Parmigiano Reggiano

Recipe reprint from Soup Nights courtesy of Rizzoli Press. Recipe by © Betty Rosbottom.

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from the KITCHEN

The Mother of Vegetable Fermentation The joy of making sauerkraut from scratch

By Janine harris Degitz • Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

I

n the warm summer months in southern Indiana, fermentation took a strong hold on me as I watched the apple cider and grape juice spontaneously bubble and overflow their containers. Little did I know the smells of summer’s abundant foods would stay with me and become a passion of growing, preserving, learning and sharing all about fermented foods and their health benefits, especially the centuries’ old goodness of sauerkraut.

After years of experimenting with a variety of fermented foods and fermentation vessels in my own home, brined pickles, yogurt, kombucha, cheese and kefir were stuffed and squeezed into a variety of glass jars and clay crocks. My love and appreciation for sauerkraut was born in 2012 while attending an intensive training with fermented foods revivalist and author Sandor Katz.

Using stone vessels made by a variety of artists—Zanesville Pottery, local artist friends or traditional crocks still made in Poland—the ancient technique of using a clay, water-sealed crock to ferment sauerkraut is alive and well in my home. The benefits of the clay crocks are numerous and among them: keeping the temperature of the sauerkraut steady and enhancing the flavor.

Sauerkraut and its beneficial bacteria thrive in an anaerobic (without air) stable environment. This means a water-sealed crock is uniquely suited for creating consistent flavor and texture time and again. Stone weights are carefully crafted to fit within the clay vessel to weight down the vegetables, keeping them below the brine. The lid forms a seal that allows the gasses to rise and escape while keeping oxygen and yeasts, found in our air, from reaching the vegetables. A reminder of this simple process is the gentle sound of plop, plop, which signals the fermentation process is well on its way.

Twelve people from all over the country came together to learn the ins and outs of everything fermented—and the mother of vegetable fermentation— sauerkraut. We chopped and grated the abundant green heads of cabbage, carrots, daikon and dill, and communed over the beauty of the bounty of produce in southern Tennessee. Combining our vegetables in one giant bowl, we began salting the eclectic mixture to create the environment for the lactic acid fermentation to begin. We squeezed the vegetables to release the water that was trapped in their cells, and almost like magic the transformation of raw vegetables and herbs into sauerkraut had begun. The brine created would become the protective environment where lactic acid bacteria could thrive, preserve the vegetables and create beneficial digestive enzymes.

A unique, life-giving transformation occurs when fermentation meets our local food system, creating health-giving nutrition, environmental awareness, food preservation and community. Each new batch of sauerkraut I make is filled with as much adventure and curiosity as the previous batch.

One of the oldest forms of food preservation, sauerkraut was found in cultures all around the world and as far back as thousands of years ago in ancient China. Fermentation unlocked nutrients, enhanced digestion and supported overall health and immune function for people—the importance and value of fermented foods was intuitive.

I have found there is no “right way” to make sauerkraut, just a willingness to allow your creativity and intuition to lead, and to engage in the ordinary process of growing and preserving our food in community.

The sauerkraut from my younger days, which came from a jar, preserved with vinegar and enjoyed only after long hours of cooking with pork roast, is just a memory. The tangy, firm, sour aliveness of what I now know and appreciate as the raw simplicity of sauerkraut has taken its place. Somehow my body knows it needs this food.

Gathering seasonal vegetables from the local farmers market and from my own front-yard city garden, the simple ingredients I use are found in every season: from late spring carrots, radishes, cabbage and dill to the abundance of summer sweet peppers, onions, garlic and daikon. The fall cabbage is a favorite in my family, where the cool temperatures bring out the sweetest cabbage flavor of all the seasons.

Learn more about Janine Harris Degitz and her work at restorativeliving.org.

And check out her class this fall at The Seasoned Farmhouse, theseasonedfarmhouse.com.

Fall Farmers Market Sauerkraut: September 25, 1pm to 3pm

Right: Janine making sauerkraut at home using her stone vessel to ferment the sauerkraut

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Wild Fermented Sauerkraut

By Janine Harris Degitz Sauerkraut is easy to make and fun to adapt to seasonal vegetables. add your favorite vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. experiment in small batches and find out what you enjoy.

Number of servings: approximately 3–4 quarts

Ingredients: 5 to 6 pounds of red and/or green cabbage (2–3 medium heads) Fine ground sea salt (approximately 1–3 tablespoon)—more needed in the warmer months, less in cooler months

Prepping and Seasoning the Vegetables

Vegetables should be completely submerged

Slice cabbage in half lengthwise, so that the stem

Cover the container with a loose-fitting lid or a tea

keeps each half together. Shred all cabbage into

towel and rubber band to keep out flies and

¼-inch ribbons using a mandolin, chef’s knife or

reduce mold and yeast growth.

any tool that works for you, discarding the stem.

any other seasonal vegetables—ginger, garlic and onion, beets, carrots, daikon Optional: herbs and spices like caraway seeds, dill seed or juniper berries Small amount of fruit (apple or pear)

when weighted down.

Place the vessel on a plate (to catch any overflow Combine shredded cabbage into a large mixing

of brine during the first week of fermentation)

bowl. in layers, sprinkle salt throughout cabbage.

and place on the counter in the kitchen to

let sit while chopping the remaining vegetables.

ferment.

Brine will form as salt draws water from the cabbage.

after one week, check on the contents, tasting and observing for mold. Scrape off any surface

Equipment: Chop remaining vegetables to a size of your

mold and clean the plate or weight. Repack the

choice. Shredding creates a different texture than

surface, pushing down the sauerkraut, replacing

chopping. experiment with different sizes.

the plate and weight.

3–4 -quart wide-mouth canning jar

add any spices to the cabbage and vegetable

limit the number of times you expose the surface

Small weight that fits inside the jar opening – like

mixture.

of the sauerkraut to air as this allows yeast and

Cutting board and chef’s knife large mixing bowl Vegetable peeler, grater and measuring spoons

a 4-ounce “jelly” canning jar Wide-mouth plastic storage cap (or lid and rim that comes with jar)

molds to enter the environment.

With clean hands, begin squeezing the cabbage to bruise the surface of the vegetables and speed

The vegetables will begin to ferment within a few

the release of water from the cabbage, adding any

days. The length of time to ferment sauerkraut

remaining salt.

varies and is typically 1–4 weeks. however, as you observe the texture, flavor and feel of the

add bruised and squeezed cabbage to 3-quart-

vegetables, taste it and decide when it seems

size jars or larger wide-mouth glass vessel or ce-

right for you.

ramic crock. in the winter months i may ferment my sauerPack down contents into your vessel so that the

kraut in a crock for 4–6 weeks. in the summer

brine is above the surface of the vegetables.

months it may be to my liking in 1 week.

The Fermentation Process

in containers and store them in the refrigerator.

Place a weight (glass jar, plate or other weight)

tinue to age and transform.

When you are happy with the flavor put the kraut Sauerkraut will keep for several months and con-

that fits inside the container to weigh down the vegetables and keep them below the brine.

enjoy a forkful or two of sauerkraut with your meals!

Janine Harris Degitz lives in Clintonville with her family. She teaches fermented foods at The Seasoned Farmhouse year round. For the past 25 years Janine has deepened her passion for living in harmony with the earth and community through supporting local farmers, growing food in her front yard, wildly and abundantly fermenting food, teaching and sharing natural and sustainable beekeeping, urban zen integrative Therapy and compassionate communication. all things that bring her back into connection with her own being, the earth, the food that nurtures us and the love, compassion and interconnectednes of life itself.

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The Art of the Plate Creative tools for making your home-cooked meals beautiful

By Josh Wickham • Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

The Elements of the Plate When composing a plated meal, it is import to consider all of the elements used and their contribution of both flavor and texture to the dish as a whole. While a certain component might create a dramatic statement on the plate, one must make sure it will not cause an imbalance through a strong flavor or overwhelming texture.

A proper ratio of protein, starch and vegetable is an important consideration. By using one cup or six ounces of protein and a two-to-one ratio of protein to side, you can create a plate that satiates but does not leave the diner uncomfortably full and unable to enjoy another course.

A Classical Presentation All of the elements are presented “center plate.”

The purée is rather tight allowing it to support the sliced duck and Brussels sprouts. The duck has been sliced to show the natural shape of the breast and expose the perfect doneness. Note that all of the plate elements are immediately visible and maintain their natural shape.

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A Contemporary Presentation Here, the purĂŠe has been thinned and is used as more of a background element. The Brussels sprouts have been cut down to allow more surfaces to caramelize during the cooking process, changing both flavor and appearance. To create a shape that is complementary to the plate, the duck breast was squared before slicing. By creating interesting shapes and lines with the garnishes and accompaniments you can really add some excitement to the plate.

Play with Your Vegetables The above example shows the multitude of shapes and textures you can achieve from just two elements. Fresh vegetables can be cut into an endless amount of shapes to add dimension to your plate.

Creating more surface area on the vegetables will change how the light reflects, creating high- and low-light areas. You can use this to increase or decrease contrast on the plate.

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Get Saucy Vegetable purĂŠes are great for creating a backdrop or contrast color to back the main elements on the plate. By adjusting the viscosity of the purĂŠe you can achieve different effects like swirls and brush strokes.

Reductions and infused oils are a great way to get a pop of color on the plate. Both can also have an intense flavor yet have almost no effect on the overall weight of the dish.

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The Dish Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Charred Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash Purée, Crispy Sweet Potatoes, Chive Oil and Tawny Port Reduction Serves 2

Pan Roasted Duck Breast

Butternut Squash Purée

2 6-ounce duck breasts, fat trimmed and scored (find Maple leaf Farms

8 ounces butternut squash, peeled and large diced

duck at North Market or Kroger)

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon white pepper

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon olive oil

12 ounces chicken or vegetable stock Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pot over medium heat. allow the

Preheat oven to 400°, pour the oil in a small cast iron skillet, distribute the

mixture to come to a light simmer, continue to cook until squash is very

oil evenly throughout. Place the duck breasts in the cold skillet and place

soft but not falling apart. using a slotted spoon, remove squash from the

over medium heat. allow the pan to gradually heat under the duck until

pot, reserving the broth, and place into a blender. Begin running the

the fat begins to render and sizzle. Continue to cook the duck fat side

blender adding just enough stock to make a smooth purée. add the stock

down until the skin has become caramelized and crispy, about 6 to 8

only as needed, adding more is easy but too much will make the purée

minutes. Flip the breasts and place the skillet into the hot oven and cook 4

runny. Remove the purée from the blender and reserve for service.

minutes or until the internal temperature of the duck reaches 135° to 140°. Remove the breasts from the hot skillet and place on a room tem-

Crispy Sweet Potatoes

perature plate. allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing.

1 sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced into desired shape 2 cups frying oil

Charred Brussels Sprouts

Kosher salt as needed

8 ounces Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and split from top to bottom 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons butter

heat oil in a small sauce pot until it reaches 350°. Gently add sweet potatoes, being careful not to over-crowd. Fry until crispy and lightly browned,

2 teaspoons kosher salt

about 3 minutes. Drain and cool sweet potatoes on a dry paper towel and

1 teaspoon black pepper

season with salt.

in a heavy skillet or sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat

Chive Oil

until simmering. add the sprouts and shake the pan to evenly disperse.

¼ cup chives, chopped to ¼ inch

Resist the urge to shake the pan at this point and just allow the sprouts to

¼ cup parsley, chopped

cook on a single side for 3 to 4 minutes until lightly charred. Gently stir the

½ cup olive oil

sprouts, flipping as necessary to evenly char the other sides. Continue to cook until sprouts have begun to soften. Reduce the heat and add the butter, salt and pepper. Remove from the skillet for service.

in a blender combine all ingredients. Run blender on highest setting for 2 minutes. Pour oil into a fine filter and allow to drain without stirring, pressing or otherwise manipulating. Once drained, reserve oil for service.

Tawny Port Reduction in a small sauce pot, reduce 1 cup of high-quality port wine to a light syrup.

Joshua Wickham is an instructor and event chef at The Seasoned Farmhouse as well as a full-time culinary instructor at Columbus State Community College. a Clintonville native, Joshua currently resides in the neighborhood with his wife, Jenelle, and daughter, Guinevere.

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Rachel Ruysch, Roses, Convolvulus, Poppies and Other Flowers on a Stone Ledge, late 1680s. From the National Women in the Arts Museum.

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edible CULTURE

The Dangers of Vanity The vanitas image in Dutch still-life painting with its invitation to cultivate the spirit By leann Schneider

P

urposeful and present, the very act of preparing a meal by carefully choosing ingredients, pouring in time and effort to turn raw into delicious, separates into a whole, is in itself soulful. Food continuously reminds us of the fleeting nature of life: when the vegetables soften, the fruit rots, the bread molds. Every time you choose to invest and enjoy, no matter how small or fleeting the moment, you’re sowing the most meaningful seeds of life. Through our meals prepared for families, to care for ourselves and share with friends, we cultivate connections that will remain long after we are gone. When we fill our lives with love, friendship and excellent food, we unwittingly heed the warnings of centuries-old still-life paintings.

The recent focus on aesthetics in Edible Columbus had me considering the connection between the history of art and food. The still-life genre is the one most historically associated with grandiose displays of food. With deceptively bland subjects, still lifes do not often attract the same attention as a painted battle scene, or lifelike sculpture of a goddess. Nevertheless, these images are often packed with symbolic messages. Apparently pristine, the bowl of fruit and vase of flowers quietly peeking out from their ornate frames, upon closer examination, might actually contain fruits with split skins, and flowers with withered petals.

Though a still snapshot, you can watch as plums and pears turn ripe and decay. Tulips, poppies and roses burst, drooping with their own weight.

These paintings are a testament to the cycle of life—the subjects live and die in front of you.

Similar to the way a well-styled Instagram photo of toasted quinoa with a kale reduction brags of the photographer’s foodie acumen, the still life genre developed partly due to the desire of the rising middle class Dutch to show off personal wealth and the impressive global reach of their nation. In the Netherlands during the 1600s, still lifes gained massive popularity and sparked the development of the vanitas image.

Deeply religious, the Protestant Dutch sought to distance themselves from the Catholic Church, which they considered excessive, frivolous and corrupt. Vanitas refers to both the Latin word for emptiness and the biblical notion that all earthly pursuits and possessions are worthless, compared to the value of one’s soul. Yet, the Netherlands in the 17th century was one of the wealthiest countries in the world with shipping industries reaching from Brazil to the Philippines. A new Dutch Republic was born, and with it, personal wealth for a burgeoning middle class. Vanitas images extoled the glory of the Republic by boasting of Dutch prosperity through exotic and ex-

pensive trinkets and simultaneously reminded the viewer of one’s duty to the spiritual soul.

Warning their patrons of the soul-compromising dangers of vanity, wealth and excess, 17th century Dutch painters frequently included reminders of the swift passage of time in their works. Overturned, empty Venetian wine glasses paired with Peruvian silver pocket watches; lutes with snapped strings and history books with waterlogged pages. Empty drinking glasses, instruments in disarray, both might reference the eventual end of the party, when the wine is gone and the music fades away. Watches count down seconds, ticking away time. Books are shown torn and forgotten, much like how the achievements of this life will fade with time.

The message is clear: you might be able to afford oranges from the Mediterranean, porcelain from the East, sugar and tobacco from the New World, but there is no escaping death.

The Dutch no longer have a monopoly on world trade, and paintings have made way for other popular forms of visual entertainment. The days of still lifes showing off a household’s wealth have been replaced by a myriad of TV shows and lifestyle blogs. A bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers, meanwhile, are just as common in the 21st century as they were three centuries ago. Now, citrus is a staple, not a luxury; yet, humans continue to be tormented by the haunting reality of death.

A bowl of fruit—filled with a few oranges for breakfast, lemons for dinner, limes for drinks and peaches for a snack—still manages to find its place in modern homes. The fruit bowl is easily one of the most recognizable features of a well-stocked kitchen. At hand when a mother or father makes dinner for their family, the bowl is there to provide that final ingredient.

Though no longer the centerpiece of vanitas imagery, our collections of fruits, vegetables and flowers can still remind us to cultivate not only our material lives, but also our souls. The next time the zing of fresh orange juice hits your tongue consider its origins. When you run your fingers through a fragrant garden, remember to breathe. As you sit down to a fine meal, remember the lesson of the Dutch still life, and savor every morsel.

Leann Schneider recently moved to Columbus from Northeast Ohio and is slowly making her way through the city’s food and craft beer scene. While not hunting down her next meal, she teaches art history and 2D design history at the Columbus College of art & Design and works as a youth librarian in upper arlington.

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Farm to Runway Designer Celeste Malvar-Stewart’s Midwest-inspired fashion

By Claire hoppens • Photography by Rachel Woodard

C

eleste Malvar-Stewart calls her German Village design studio “The Hangar.” But it’s far cozier than the name lets on, a tall, slender brick house that’s been repurposed throughout the years, its charm pervasive. Celeste set up shop in The Hangar in early 2014, after a relocation found her starting a new facet of her career in the Midwest after five years in New York City. Here, Celeste has managed to transform homegrown materials into high-fashion gowns. Through her custom, couture designs, Celeste is revealing the immense potential in natural processes and materials, from raw wool to black walnuts.

beautiful orange but you have to boil it. If it doesn’t get to boiling state, you won’t see the orange.”

The first floor of Celeste’s studio is brimming with rich textures and colors.

Strips of dyed silk showcase gradients of color and a sprawling sawhorse table holds piles of ingredients and trinkets. Nuts and foraged plants, used for their natural dyeing abilities, lie amongst tools and dried flowers. Curled eucalyptus snakes up from a vase. Rusted bits of metal for iron water, a dyeing tool, are grouped in jars.

“I get quite a bit locally. I go to the local flower shop—Village Petals here in German Village—and they allow me to rummage through all their bins where they throw things out, like hydrangea. I go to the farmers market and they save the onion skins for me.”

Aptly, Celeste begins telling the stories of her garments at this table. “This is where I do my dyeing,” says Celeste. “I don’t have a big space but it all happens here.” Her smile is ever-present, it’s just a matter of how wide. A joy resonates in Celeste, and in her workspace.

“This is from black-eyed Susan and it creates this really beautiful purple,” she says, thumbing a snippet of fabric. Grabbing a stalk of eucalyptus Celeste says, “I’m from California so I bring back eucalyptus. It creates this

For a muted green plant, the rich orange is unexpected.

Many ingredients are locally foraged, even ones that sound exotic. Madder root is a perennial climbing plant and an ancient dye, traditionally used to create deep reds in Persian carpet. Celeste sources madder from at least one local farm.

Celeste’s interest in fashion intersects her desire to create sustainably. “When I got my masters it was through sustainability and concentrated on eco-designing. I wanted to make my carbon footprint much smaller and really reduce waste, if not eliminate waste altogether,” says Celeste.

Along the walls are mounted photographs of slender models wearing Celeste’s custom gowns, trains billowing with wind.

Completed garments hang from a single rack by the window. The colors and textures of the dresses are irresistible, hard not to touch. Even on the hanger, they evoke a sense of wonder.

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Upstairs, ample natural sunlight pours over tables where Celeste’s creative and constructive process is on full display. On one table, clear grocery bags are stuffed full of wool in tans and browns. On another, strips of wool lay ready to be felted. One more is covered in scarves and business cards, remnants of a recent workshop.

Celeste crafts her designs from wool, alpaca and pure silk.

“I use different types of silk,” she says, “from silk organza to crinkled silk, which is one of my favorites, to silk chiffon and gauze. And they are usually lightweight and loosely woven because I felt on them so they have to be able to take the felt easily.”

The type of felting Celeste does is called nuno felting. It’s a nontraditional method in which the fibers are strategically placed on pieces of fabric, typically a silk base, and bonded by hand with water and agitation. It’s a process that requires strength, careful placement and patience.

Celeste lays her hands on a bag bulging with grey wool. She might as well be touching the animal itself with such a soft and loving gesture. Celeste sources raw wool from Prairie Fields Farm, a small, family operation in Orient, Ohio, focused on prolonging the Lincoln Longwools, an endangered breed of sheep with large statures and long, curly wool.

“I use it raw,” she says. “I don’t card it, so it works beautifully for me. I love the colors. I love the textures.”

Moving down the table, Celeste says, “I just went to another farm called Hope Hollow Alpacas at Somerglen Farm and they just did an annual shearing of their alpacas. That’s what this is. So I’m kind of getting to know the alpacas because they’re all new to me,” she says. The alpaca in particular is slated for use in Celeste’s upcoming interior collection, including custommade pillows, rugs and throws.

Celeste doesn’t get to know the colors of the wool. She gets to know the animals. By name.

“These are all my Lincoln Longwools that I know very well,” she says. “This is Brandywine. This is Gandalf. Penelope.”

Gandalf ’s white wool is embedded in a dress, part of a collection Celeste designed for the Aveda Institute Columbus Earth Jam Fashion Benefit last year. “You know, when you know their personalities you know what to use their wool for,” says Celeste.

More wool went into designs for a collaborative project Celeste created with local artist Benji Robinson, called the Local Sound Project, an exploration of sound in Columbus.

“I collaborated with a local musician and he went around and taped different sounds from around Columbus. He created eight songs and I created eight couture pieces and we burned the music sound waves on to them,” says Celeste. Celeste collaborated with Dan Linden of Cut Maps to burn the sound waves onto the pieces using a laser cutting machine.

“We’re still developing this whole collection because we want to move into the sound affecting the structure of the piece and not just the surface,” she says. The collection was shown at the Fashion Meets Music Festival 2015.

In the studio with Celeste Malvar-Stewart. Bottom left: black walnuts and black eyed Susans in Celeste’s studio. Top right: fashion designer Celeste Malvar-Stewart.

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Celeste is driven by the depths of her creativity, but also by her sources and the purity of the product.

“I believe in energy that’s transmitted, so if the animal is happy from which you’re getting the wool, and it’s created in a happy environment, I think that really translates into the piece when you’re wearing it.” She adds, “So not only, technically, is it good for you, but the animal is happy somewhere and you know it was made in an environment where there were fair wages and it was comfortable.”

Celeste’s design ideas are typically sparked by a question. “It changes depending on how obsessed I get with the question,” says Celeste. “And it’s usually the question that gets the ball rolling in the direction of what I can do to answer [it].”

The Local Sound Project was born from a realization, as a relative newcomer. “I realized I don’t recognize the sound of being in Columbus,” says Celeste. “And so I was thinking, ‘Well, how can I figure out what Columbus sounds like so I know that I’m here?’ That way, if I do that, I know that it’ll feel more like home to me.”

To Rachel, owner of Prairie Fields Farm, Celeste is more than a client.

“I seriously consider her a friend now because we talk all the time and she’s always sharing new ideas with me, wanting to get me involved in the projects,” says Rachel. “It’s not just the fact that I have wool that she likes.

It’s that our farm’s trying to save an endangered breed from going extinct.”

The dresses, emblazoned with sound waves, infused with personality and created with abundant local resources, tell the story of a homecoming.

Learn more about Celeste, her designs and upcoming fashion shows at malvarstewart.com, or on Facebook.

The accessibility of resources here in Ohio opens the door for Celeste and future projects.

Claire Hoppens is now associate Publisher at Edible Columbus after years as a

“I feel like I’m in the perfect place at the perfect time to find even more resources if I want,” she says.

writer and admirer. She earned her degree from the e.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio university, and now specializes in digital communications, community engagement and professional snacking. She lives in upper arlington with her fiancé.

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A PotteryRevival Craft pottery grows in Ohio and with it the experience of the handmade aesthetic when you cook and dine

By Colleen leonardi

M

outhfeel describes the way food or drink feels in the mouth; the sensation of whipped cream on the tongue versus a bite of steak—two very different mouthfeels for very different reasons. Yet what if there was a word for the way the plate feels in your hands as you scoop chicken and biscuits onto it for dinner—platefeel—or the way your coffee mug feels in your hand— mugfeel—or the way a bowl feels nestled between two palms on a cloudy autumn morning when you’re having your oatmeal—bowlfeel?

PhOTO By © STePheN TaKaCS, STePheNTaKaCS.COM

We know an object is well designed when it feels so good to use it becomes an extension of our way of being. It’s both functional and beautiful and adds a certain grace to our mundane lives. These aspects of good dishware and kitchenware are concepts functional potters think about all of the time. As they throw clay and spin their potter’s wheel, they’re feeling their way to a good, functional, clay pot for your kitchen, or the restaurant down the street.

Ohio has a rich history of functional pottery. The state was once well known for the factories that made use of its abundant clay deposits along the Ohio River. East Liverpool in the 18th and 19th centuries was called the “Pottery Capital of the USA.” Westerville is home to the Edward Orton Jr. Ceramic Foundation industry founded in 1932 by Edward Jr., a pioneer in ceramics engineering who taught at The Ohio State University. Prior to starting the foundation, which provides products to assist the ceramic arts and industry, he developed pyrometric cones, which are used to measure the maturity of the clay in the kiln and determine the combined effects of heat on the clay over time (called heatwork). The cones, made of a blend of ceramic materials, are still used today, a staple among potters all over the world. Ohio has clay running through its veins.

Yet the majority of the pottery produced in Ohio during the 18th and 19th centuries was high volume ceramic production—lots of pots being shipped to lots of people. When industry and craftsmanship was displaced overseas

to countries like China for cheaper manufacturing, Ohio, like so many other states in America, lost its edge. The disappearance of ceramic production in places like East Liverpool and Zanesville left regions of Ohio once booming with clay, and its offspring, like ghost towns of a time past.

“Ohio has historically been home to art potteries including Rookwood, Weller and Roseville, as well as larger industrial manufacturers. When industry declined here we went through a stage where the knowledge that those artisans had was not passed on to a new generation,” says Jessica Knapp, editor at Ceramics Monthly and associate editor of Pottery Making Illustrated based in Westerville. “The history of ceramics in Ohio has been more focused on factories and industry than other states like North Carolina or Minnesota, which have been more focused on small-scale production, independent artists with a studio or small potteries with master artist/owners and apprentices.”

History does not repeat itself when it comes to what is happening now with ceramic studio arts and craft pottery in Ohio. There is a renaissance among potters and pottery fans, well-known chefs, devoted home cooks, fermentation experts and coffee lovers to bring more of the handmade feel of a good functional pot, and the craft it takes to make it, back to Ohio by way of our kitchens, large and small. And it’s a trend that is taking shape nationwide.

“In the last few years companies like Starbucks have become interested in working with some of the established ceramics factories in Ohio to make smaller, limited-run production pieces that are made by hand,” says Jessica.

“They’ve been able to restart production at certain factories and hire on more people because of the interest in handmade work and smaller batch runs. Some of the smaller factories that were once put out of business because of the production that moved overseas have been reopened under new ownership. So the interest in having things that are handmade and made in

Opposite: Ceramic mugs in the kitchen at Naysan McIlhargey’s Miami Valley Pottery in Yellow Springs, Ohio Photo captions for next two pages: Clockwise from left to right: Top left: Lance Thompson of Simply Tangled Ceramics in Columbus throwing clay; top right: Pottery at Naysan McIlhargey’s Miami Valley Pottery in Yellow Springs; far right: Naysan at Miami Valley Pottery firing pots in his kiln; bottom right: Simply Tangled Ceramics pottery; middle left: Naysan McIlhargey; bottom left: Lisa Belsky of Simply Tangled carving her designs.

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PhOTOS By © STePheN TaKaCS, STePheNTaKaCS.COM

TOP RiGhT TWO PhOTOS By iTiNeRaNT STuDiOS, © TOM heaPhey aND ViCKi Rhulli.

the USA has actually helped bring part of that industry back.”

And while companies like Starbucks are reinventing the handmade concept for corporate commerce, smaller potteries and individual artist studios are also benefiting from and influencing this renewed interest in handmade ware. The artisan ceramics movement (like so many innovators and visionaries) continues to steer aesthetics and functionality for the marketplace with independent potters devoted to the life-long challenge of making the perfect clay pot. There is an art form to your favorite mug, and behind the mug an artist in love with the world of clay.

Standing in the kitchen of Naysan McIlhargey, owner of Miami Valley Pottery in Yellow Springs, Ohio, one can look up and find the ceiling covered in ceramic mugs collected from all over the world, hanging from little hooks. Naysan loves to have choice in the morning. “You can decide which mug you feel like from day to day,” he smiles, as he offers me a cup of coffee.

Naysan is from Yellow Springs and moved back after a circuitous route of studying ceramic studio arts at Earlham College, moving to the East Coast to apprentice with potters, meeting his wife, Jalana, and then returning to Ohio and establishing Miami Valley Pottery in 2004. He worked with Mike Theideman while at Earlham, a ceramist who trained with Warren MacKenzie, the man responsible for introducing the Leach tradition of pottery to America. Bernard Leach was one of the great artists of the 20th century—a world-renowned British potter and art teacher who had studied in Japan and believed in simple, functional forms for the everyday pot over more decorative, fine art clay pots.

The Leach tradition lives on in Naysan. “Functionality is very important to me, and because it’s so important it’s oftentimes difficult to put into words,” he laughs. “It’s important for a pot to be comfortable to hold, elegant, the proportions of the particular shape need to work together. Most importantly, it should feel comfortable.”

With comfort comes use. Naysan describes a recent dinner he prepared at home with Jalana for their friends in his newly erected ceramic pizza oven.

They used four handmade pots from Naysan’s studio, threw seasonal vegetables in the vessels and roasted them. “It’s so nice to pull something out of the oven and enjoy looking at it while you’re eating,” he explains.

Every single pot from Miami Valley Pottery is hand-thrown and hand-decorated by Naysan. Yet throwing is only half the battle for the potter. The soft, moist clay molded into the desired shape has to then be fired in a kiln, which is like an oven for the clay pots, heating up and hardening the once tender form to a true pot you can use. Most potters use gas kilns, but Naysan is unique. He fires in a hand-built 450-cubic-foot wood kiln that requires two weeks to fully load the kiln, five days to fire the pots and multiple loads of wood to keep the fire burning to achieve a temperature of 2,400°. To meet his firing goals, he invites friends and neighbors from the community in Yellow Springs to stoke the fire with him, engendering a kindred circle of fire-builders who return year after year to help him produce his next line of pottery. Naysan’s mentors, Cary and Elaine Hulin of Holmes County Pottery, even come down to help him fire.

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Naysan’s pottery embodies terroir, the taste of a place. Holding the mug I chose, I feel Naysan’s Yellow Springs spirit in its soft curves and muted colors. More specifically, I note the texture of the cup with its random patterning, a result of the wood-firing process. While Naysan loads multiple pots into his wood-fired kiln, each pot looks different in the end due to the wood ash deposited onto the vessels during the firing process. No two pots, truly, are the same.

People love the improvisatory nature of his work—his salt shakers are on every table at The Wind’s Café in Yellow Springs. Naysan collaborates with other restaurants in the region as well as in London, UK. Currently, he’s building a second, smaller gas kiln so he can fire more plates more consistently instead of just two times a year. He wants to work with other restaurants, close to home and as far as France, to marry his handmade pottery with the dining experience. It’s a trend taking shape across the country.

Naysan knows a handful potters that are making their living exclusively from catering their dinnerware and service items to chefs and restaurants.

“Typically, it’s a specific chef or restaurant that wants that, and once you have that relationship and they’ve sought out a potter that they like, then the relationship begins with trying to find the ideal surface to serve particular dishes, specific size plates for certain dishes and glaze colors,” says Naysan. “Ultimately, what the chef is looking for is a different kind of experience for their patrons. To come in and have a meal that is visually something different than what they’re used to and surprise them in a good way.

More and more I’m also seeing in food magazines a lot of pictures that are taken with handmade plates. Even the best chefs in the world are using some stoneware and unusually shaped plates.”

When Naysan goes out to eat and sees other potters’ work featured with the meal, he gets excited. “It’s not just about the food,” he says. “It’s also about the presentation. It’s modern art now, really.”

Lisa Belsky and Lance Thompson, founders of Simply Tangled Ceramics in Columbus, share a similar sentiment. As functional clay artists, they’re committed to making all of their dishware and kitchenware as user-friendly as possible. Yet they’re also artists and apply an imaginative eye to their pottery, hoping you will too when you use it.

“It has to function properly,” answers Lance when I ask him what makes a good functional pot. “But we also want it to look good and work well decoratively. We’re interested in making pots that people are going to use but that they can also leave out to function as a decorative object. One of the things I focus on a lot is the idea that any kind of form has a specific use or function as it relates to food.”

Lisa and Lance founded Simply Tangled in 2009 as a collaborative effort.

Lance throws and makes the pots; Lisa decorates them with her finely wrought hand-carved designs inspired by Korean forms and patterns in nature. In their home studio, they focus on functional objects that carry a certain aesthetic import, distinguishing them apart from your standard pot from Crate & Barrel. They source clay from a family-owned business just outside of Pittsburg and purchase clay locally when they can. They’ve also developed their own single glaze recipe, “meant to act like a celadon glaze (it is

not a true celadon) by pooling in the carved areas to create depth and accentuate the carved details.” Both graduates of The Ohio State University’s ceramics program, their spontaneous husband-wife collaboration is rooted in the place they call home, selling their wares at Wholly Craft in Clintonville, The Smithery in Grandview Heights and other seasonal local art fairs.

“We want to create a relationship with the people that use our objects,” says Lance. “In a subtle way, if someone choses our mug to drink coffee out of we’re creating this creator-user relationship, which is something we’re really interested in.”

Lance echoes this idea in a different way. “There’s something nice about anything handmade. It just has character. It has the maker’s stamp on it.

And in relation to food,” he says, “it makes it that much more enjoyable.”

“When you open up our cabinets at home there is nothing that matches.

There’s cups and bowls and plates that come from different clay artists,” says Lisa. “And there’s something really nice about that function and spending time with that piece that someone else has made.”

So an invitation, then, Columbus, to get to know your local potter. And fall in love with the world of clay one plate, mug and bowl at a time.

“I’m an every-morning-cannot-go-without-my-coffee kind of person,” says Lisa. “So we’re always searching for what the Simply Tangled perfect coffee mug is.”

Colleen Leonardi is a writer and editor of Edible Columbus. She can also be

Their commitment, like Naysan’s, to perfection and establishing a strong creator-user relationship with the people who use their pottery reaffirms the artistry in what they do. Lisa and Lance are also devoted to creating more collegial relationships in Central Ohio where their fellow potters can trade techniques, compare aesthetics and offer more opportunities to up-andcoming artists.

“The pottery community in general is a tight-knit community,” says Lance.

“The potters in Columbus have been taking steps to get together and get to know each other. There’s a new organization that just formed recently, Central Ohio Clay Arts (COCA). And through that organization, we’re able to meet more ceramic artists. The whole goal is to get people together and have higher-stature clay artists come to town and give lectures and workshops.”

found online at colleenleonardi.com.

Know Your Potter

Jessica Knapp at Ceramics Monthly and i teamed up to bring you some of our favorite local potters in Central Ohio and the surrounding regions.

Visit their websites, or reach out to them directly, and find the local potter that speaks to you and your home.—CL Baum Pottery: Karen and Mike Baum; lebanon, Ohio; baumpottery.com.

Relationship is key to the world of pottery.

Brush Creek Pottery: Mark Nafziger; archbold, Ohio; 419-445-3004.

“I think a lot of people who get interested in handmade pottery, they start to research the artists, and what develops is this personal connection between patrons and potters. Once collectors get involved they start to get more personally invested as well. As they learn more and their aesthetic preferences evolve and deepen, they also start [to] meet and know more about the people in the field,” Jessica reiterates. “For an individual artist, the whole process is completed when a customer uses his or her work in their daily life and thinks about the fact that someone made this by hand. Someone thought about the design, including the balance, the ergonomics, the way someone would hold and interact with the vessel. In addition to it being a joy to use, they have a connection to that individual artist.”

Chris Powell Pottery: Chris Powell; Westerville, Ohio; cpowellpottery.com.

Claire Prenton Ceramic Art: Claire Prenton; Cincinnati, Ohio; claireprenton.com.

Jason Wolff Pottery: Jason Wolff; Blacklick, Ohio; jasonwolffpottery.virb.com.

Justin Teilhet Porcelain: Justin Teilhet; yellow Springs, Ohio; justinteilhet.com.

Lindsay Scypta Studio Potter: lindsay Scypta; Toledo, Ohio; lindsayscypta.com.

“The people in Ohio in general have an appreciation for pottery because of the history of pottery in Ohio, and all the craft fairs we’ve had over the years,” says Naysan.

Miami Valley Pottery: Naysan Mcilhargey; yellow Springs, Ohio; mvpottery.com.

Paul Linhares Ceramics: Paul linhares; Fredericktown, Ohio;

As the appreciation leads to a growing demand for more handmade functional pottery, so does the realm of possibility.

paullinhares.com.

Peachblow Pottery: Gail Russell; Sunbury, Ohio; peachblowpottery.com.

“In addition to individuals using more handmade pots in their home kitchen, there’s a real opportunity especially here in Columbus with so many great, small restaurants opening up that have creative, dynamic menus or focus on local food specifically,” Jessica says. “Connecting those restaurateurs and chefs with potters and other artisans in the city who could create just the right tableware for serving would be pretty amazing.”

Simply Tangled Ceramics: lisa Belsky and lance Thompson; Columbus, Ohio; simplytangled.com.

Central Ohio Clay Artists: a local nonprofit devoted to bringing people together in Central Ohio “that share a passion for the clay arts.”

Centralohioclayarts.org.

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Togetherness

at Home Setting the table with found objects

Writing by Sarah lagrotteria Styling and Photography by Tricia Wheeler and emily Kaelin

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he urge returns with the season. When the weather cools, we retract along with the light of day. We pull loved ones into our fire circle, shut the door against the wind and surround ourselves with comforts. The Danes, masters of remaining joyful when the mercury drops and the landscape flattens, have a word for this inward turn. They call it hygge, a term which doesn’t exist in English, but combines the pleasures of “coziness,” “togetherness” and “wellbeing.” It’s a word I return to each fall, particularly when it comes time to set the table.

But how to create hygge? What we love is the idea of found objects: bits and pieces of your life that make you smile. They need not have anything to do with the table, but when brought there, they carry with them a sense of home and comfort, of coziness. What we’ve done here is design three seasonal tables using objects pulled from everyday life. For me, it was the feathers my daughter’s craft table. For our publisher, Tricia Wheeler, it’s the antlers she keeps as decorative objects year-round. Maybe the stone bird that stands sentry on the porch in good weather should winter at the end of the dining room table. Grab the wool blanket from your guest bed or collect magnolia leaves before the first snowfall.

Your found objects are just that: yours. If creating a sense of home appeals to you in general, you’re bound to have them. Kids, in particular, instinctively know what makes a room hygge. Let them lead the hunt. You’ll create a new holiday tradition.

One of the pleasures of building a table in this manner is the assemblage of objects. We pause to see what we’ve found: a textured silk, a blackened brass bird, an antique skeleton key, an aged pewter cup, clippings from what remains of the garden, etc. Curios like these mark the current moment and remind us of moments past. They spark conversation, inviting guests into the history of the home and the hearts that have lived it.

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Look One We kept this look simple, focusing on layering patterns and textures. We stayed with a fall palette of brown, cream and gold, using natural materials like rattan, linen and silk. Fresh sage and a pheasant feather become a beautiful nosegay when tied with ribbon and fanned across the plate. Rub the sage gently between your fingers before inviting friends to join you at the table. The scent will rise, anticipating (invoking?) the meal to come. Keep the rest of the table simple with a mixture of candlesticks and votives, or layer in the elements from “Look Two� for a more maximal effect.

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Look Two For table two, we created a garland of household objects and seasonal fruit. We started with a Pendleton wool blanket instead of a tablecloth. Embracing the woodland picnic feel, we lay real antlers (shed annually) down the length of the table and tucked dried wildflowers in and around the points. Our overall palette was faded and soft so we brought in green, capturing the cusp of the seasons with clusters of late-summer figs and September’s first green pears. Fresh hydrangea, in bloom until mid-November, adds a different texture in the same color and reminds us that, thankfully, we’re not yet in the dead of winter.

Cream-colored roses were clipped short at the last minute and nestled in the top of hollowed-out brown pears. Stone birds, recalling those that have flown south, anchor each end of the table. The space is one of comfort and abundance.

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Look Three For our third look, we added a traditional floral centerpiece to our garland of found and harvested objects. Wanting to celebrate the fiery hues of the season, we combined store-bought oranges, roses and Chinese lanterns from the garden, placing them in an antique English urn. To the fresh flowers we added dried magnolia leaves, a more muted shade of orange, from under the tree out back. We also repositioned the table against a wall, so that the plaster and antique frame add to the vintage European feel. This look, then, extends beyond the table. It pulls from the room around it to create an overall sense of warmth and tradition.

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Home Kitchen Redux Tips of the trade for designing and renovating a well-loved home kitchen

By Courtney Burnett

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ost homeowners today start imagining their dream kitchen by creating pin boards on Pinterest and saving photo upon photo from the website Houzz. While this is certainly a great way to get started, it is very easy to spend hours saving photos of everything you love without really focusing on what you have and why it doesn’t work for you and your family.

no space in your kitchen to properly store your recyclables, or you love to bake but your Kitchen Aid mixer is on a shelf in the basement and you have to lug it up the stairs every time you need it, which ultimately prevents you from engaging in your baking passion in the first place.

When considering a kitchen renovation, it is important to keep in mind that the existing conditions of the home will dictate much of what can or can’t be done. This is also the driving factor for the investment you will need to make to get everything that you want.

The next step after identifying all of the challenges you face in the kitchen is to get organized with your wish list. Start with the biggest items to tackle and slowly work towards the details. For example, familiarize yourself with the types of appliances on the market today and do some research on the prices that come with each brand and type of appliance. Do you need new cabinetry? Meet with a designer who can walk you through the pros and cons of different types of cabinets available. Often, I find that a particular look, finish or feature desired will lend itself towards a particular cabinet shop to build the kitchen most effectively. Keep in mind that cabinetry, counter tops and appliances are the three biggest expenses in a kitchen re-

#1 Environment is Central

PhOTOGRaPhy COuRTeSy OF © DaVe FOX DeSiGN/BuilD ReMODeleRS

Start by focusing on what causes you frustration in your environment. You have to identify the problems before you can fix them. Perhaps you drag your recycling to the garage every time you prepare a meal because there is

#2 Make a Wish List

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model, and often putting a little more cost into them now will pay you back exponentially in the long run in terms of warranty, durability and quality.

#3 Prepare for the Unexpected If this is your first time living through a renovation, remember that unexpected things will happen. This is guaranteed. Items break, concealed damage is uncovered and even new items can come in with damage or fit issues. Don’t panic. Whether you’ve hired a professional design/build team or are going this one solo, problems are bound happen and you will get through them.

So what can you do? Be prepared. Build flexibility into your project timeline just in case you need it. Some of the worst situations I’ve seen have been when a party or dinner is planned for the day after completion and inevitably everything was not complete. This only causes stress for the homeowner and installers, which could have been avoided. As much as the professionals work hard to minimize the unexpected, in remodeling you can never control 100% of the working parts that are a kitchen renovation.

#4 Organize & Gather The planning stage of a remodel is, of course, one of the most crucial times in preparing for a kitchen renovation. This is going to include budgeting and deciding on the scope of work, as well as selecting and finalizing all of the materials that will be installed in the space. Again, give yourself ample

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time to complete this step in the process. Having everything determined and ordered ahead of time will minimize the communication breakdowns during the project and help keep all of the trades in the loop on what to expect and plan for. For example, adding things midway through a project can have a domino effect on the installation sequence and timeline, not to mention that this can cause delays and mistakes because everyone is not on the same page with rushed changes.

Selecting the best materials and products for your home is also very important. If you are trying to keep within a certain budget (as we all are), identify a few key elements that are most important to you that you are willing to splurge on and then make modest choices that will complement those items. Think great statement necklace with a simple black dress (see sidebar).

#5 Kitchen Camp Now, how exactly are you going to actually live without your kitchen for a few weeks or even more than a few months?

Start by packing everything early and only holding onto the essentials. This is also the time to forgive yourself for purchasing lots of disposable and recyclable cups, plates and flatware. During a kitchen remodel washing dirty dishes in a bathroom sink or tub just isn’t worth it, and you will thank yourself later.

Next, plan where you will “set up camp� so to speak. This is an area of your home that is accessible to you and your family without traipsing through the kitchen construction zone. You will want to set up a table with a microwave, toaster oven and coffee pot. I also like to recommend getting a hot plate to allow for boiling water to prepare simple meals. Also, break out all of those seldom-used counter top appliances like the slow cooker, steamer, George Foreman grill and griddle. One always finds a new appreciation for these items after weeks of eating out and ordering takeout.

In the end, remember to keep your eye on the prize. The journey may be challenging at times, but the real reward is having a space in your home that you will cherish for many years to come.

Courtney Burnett is the interior Design Department Manager at Dave Fox Design/Build Remodelers in Columbus, Ohio. She is a Certified Kitchen Designer and has served as a board member in various roles for the Central Ohio Chapter of the National Kitchen & Bath association. She is a graduate of The Ohio State university and enjoys reaching out to students to open their minds to the world of residential design and remodeling.

Plan with Professionals There is no question that the kitchen is one of the most complex rooms in your home and there are an abundance of professionals out there to help bring your project to life. in the design field you have architects, certified kitchen designers and interior designers. On the installation end, you will find a wide variety of specialties from carpenters and plumbers (both key trades for completing a kitchen remodel) along with contractors and design/build firms, which specialize in full service design, construction and installation. Do your due diligence in finding out which professionals are the right fit for you and your project.

Budget Wisdom Consider the following cost-effective combinations to keep from going over budget with every decision: 1.

Cabinets: if you desire painted cabinetry, choose a simple door style rather than an ornate premium door. you will end up paying more for the paint and the complex door design combined. (Keep in mind that the more detail you have on a cabinet door, the more crevices there are to hold onto dirt and grease.)

2.

Countertops: if you have a small kitchen, stone fabricators often keep granite and marble slab remnants and sell them at a discounted price. This can be challenging in a kitchen, but if you are willing to mix materials on your counter tops, you will have better odds at finding discounted material for the whole project.

3.

Flooring: Considering your flooring options? Typically hardwood flooring will cost you less than tile, not to mention hardwood is warmer under foot and more resilient, so if you spend a lot of time standing in the kitchen it will be easier on your legs and back.

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edible AESTHETICS

Ever After A kitchen made with love from the classic series,

Little House on the Prairie

By Sarah lagrotteria illustration by Frances Cannon

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he date was August 25, 1865. The bride wore black cashmere, her dress wrong for both the occasion and the season. The ceremony was private, just the bride, the groom and Reverend Brown. Afterward, the bride’s family toasted the newlyweds over a simple supper and cake. (A day earlier, the bride had herself whipped the meringue buttercream by hand.) Then the bride bid her family farewell. She and her groom drove off in their buggy, a soft-eyed milk cow trailing behind, a gift from her Pa to remind his daughter of home.

and the greater wilderness of life beyond the protection of her loving family.

This, even after she blurts that she doesn’t care for him in that way.

Up until this moment, Laura’s family has shaped everything, even the structure of the Little House novels. With the exception of Farmer Boy, all the previous novels end the same way: Laura, at home, listening to her father’s fiddle and reflecting on how lucky they are to have one another. Book after book, Laura taught us to anticipate this ending. And it has always satisfied. We never wanted anything more.

But what assures us that their marriage actually is a continuation of Laura’s fairytale isn’t any of Almanzo’s heroic acts. It’s the kitchen he built for her.

Readers of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series realized from the start that Laura would marry. Thanks to Farmer Boy, her memoir of her husband’s childhood years, they knew her husband almost as intimately as they knew her.

And yet the moment when Almanzo drives Laura away from the Ingalls family, the story of the little girl who grew up “once upon a time...in the Big Woods” becomes a fairy tale interrupted. We follow Laura into the wilds of a new marriage

To be fair, we know Laura married a good guy.

She prepared us, weaving throughout the final books examples of Almanzo’s kindness and bravery. He risks his life to save the town from starvation during the long winter; he gives Charles the grain that saves the Ingalls family; and when Laura is miserable teaching away from home, he drives her 20 miles each way so that she can spend weekends with her family.

The five pages Laura spends describing her wedding night are the last five of the series. And she devotes two and a half to her new kitchen: One whole long wall was shelved from the ceiling halfway down. The upper shelves were empty, but

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on the lowest was a glass lamp, Almanzo’s bachelor dishes, and two pans of milk, with empty pans near.

At the end, where this shelf was above the window shelf in the corner, stood a row of cans of spices.

Beneath this shelf were many drawers of different sizes. Directly below the spices, and above the window shelf, were two rather narrow drawers.

Laura found that one was almost full of white sugar, the other of brown sugar. How handy! Next a deep drawer was full of flour, and smaller ones held

graham flour and cornmeal. You could stand at the window shelf and mix up anything, without stirring a step….Another deep drawer was filled with towels and tea towels. Another held two tablecloths and

worked, to put up all those shelves and make and fit those many drawers” and answers simply “yes.” We know, of course, that she means much more. They both do.

some napkins. A shallow one held knives and forks and spoons. (These Happy Golden Years, 286-7)

Laura discovers more in her kitchen than functionality. She finds a love letter. Almanzo gives the girl from an itinerant (and sometimes hungry) family a kitchen stocked with small luxuries: sugars, spices, flours and linens. And as he fills the shelves with these precious gifts, he never forgets the woman who would be using them. A man accustomed to hard labor, he lays out the kitchen to minimize what we now call foot traffic. The space suits her work and will be kind to her laboring body.

Laura returns his love in kind. When Almanzo asks her how she likes her pantry, she too thinks in terms of labor, of “the hours he must have

And there is another touch of romance in the kitchen’s design. Almanzo centers Laura’s little workspace on a window through which she can see “the great, blue sky and the leafy little trees.”

Theirs was a tree farm, and the narrow saplings their hopes for the future. From her kitchen station, Laura can watch them grow. And just below the window, Almanzo leaves “empty space for other things as they should come,” giving Laura room into which she herself can blossom.

It’s easy today to get lost in the language of kitchen renovations. Words like “investment” and “stainless steel appliances” and “granite countertops.” But these things can’t substitute for the true soul of a kitchen, which melds practicality and beauty. What joy can there be in a

gleaming, top-of-the-line refrigerator if it is too far from the sink, which is itself too far from the cooktop?

We inhabit a world far removed from Laura’s.

Not everyone now needs to cook to survive. But kitchens remain places of love for the people we love. And the best kitchen designs, like the best food, keep body and soul in mind.

Faithful Little House readers, take heart. When it came time for Laura to move into her final home, the Rocky Ridge Farm, Almanzo built the kitchen with low cabinets and counters, suited to Laura’s “half-pint” frame.

In fairytales, the love letters don’t stop with the wedding night. They continue ever after.

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