Gomasio is a condiment comprised of toasted sesame seeds and salt. Furikake means “to sprinkle” in Japanese and refers to condiments like gomasio, usually including seaweeds. Here, we’ve got variation on a classic theme. After a suggestion by Michael Tierra, I added some secret herbal liver-boosting magic: milk thistle seeds.

Milk thistle is well-known as a wonder herb for all ailments of the liver. It is safe for general use as a basic liver tonic, though it is specifically indicated in cases of hepatitis, jaundice, cirrhosis and liver congestion. It helps regenerate the liver and even reduces fat deposits on the organ. If you do anything that may be considered taxing to the liver–live in a polluted environment, eat processed, fried or fatty foods, drink alcohol, etc–then milk thistle is a good, safe herb to know.

On top of that, milk thistle grows practically everywhere. If you are a die-hard, you could probably don some heavy-duty gloves and go harvest some for yourself. Me? Nettle is one thing (read about my nettle noodles here), but milk thistle? Ouch.

This version of Furikake is an enjoyable way to boost liver function. My Ayurveda teacher, Dharmanidhi, used to say, “Your liver is you.” Which is funny, come to think of it, because my TCM teacher used to say, “Your spine is you.” I can see both perspectives and when I can connect to reverence for my liver and spine, it is easy to eat fresh and homecooked and then treat myself to the delicious but difficult discipline of a good yoga session or workout.

Do something nice for your liver on a daily basis. The liver likes bitter. Drop bitter watercress into your soup. Hide a pinch of turmeric in your meal or chai. Simply eat yummy bitter greens regularly. But, I like to make this Gomasio Furikake recipe because it is always around to liven up a less-than inspiring meal while reminding me to think about the wellbeing of my largest internal organ.

This liver-supporting version of Furikake has as many uses as you have imagination for it: a topping for rice, baked on fish with a layer or miso paste, or popcorn.

My favorite: top a batch of homemade fresh french fries. How’s that for taking care of the liver? Ha!

—

Milk Thistle & Sesame Gomasio Furikake

.5 oz wild nori (or seaweed of your choice)
1 1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup milk thistle seeds
1/4 cup salt

Preheat the oven to 300 and arrange nori flat on a cookie sheet. Cook until it looks toasty, about 10-15 minutes or when it looks done to you. Pulse in a spice grinder.

While nori cooks, dry-roast sesame seeds in a skillet over medium-high heat, turning frequently. They are ready when they are fragrant and slightly darkened. Allow to cool.

Pulse milk thistle seeds in grinder until very small. The outer portion of the seed is rather course must be broken down. The medicinal component of the herb is not usable by the body unless is is ground well, otherwise the body sees it as just roughage.

Combine toasted, ground seaweed, toasted sesame and ground milk thistle with salt in a medium bowl. Take care when filling spice jars that the salt is heaviest ingredient and tends to fall to the bottom while seaweed rises to the top.

Store in jars with tight-fitting lids and consume within a month or two for best results. Unless you are putting a shaker on the table that will be eaten quickly, store in a cool, dark place as all seeds and oils tend to become rancid in extended storage.

Pregnant mamas, please come to get ready!

Postpartum mamas, bring your babe and learn some tricks to make it a bit easier!

The postpartum period is so much easier with a few tips and tricks up your sleeve! Class will include herbs and food cures that are easy to have on hand to self-treat.

Natural approaches to common concerns will be given: managing baby blues, natural pain relief, balancing appetite, toning the abdominal muscles and pelvic floor, lactation issues, prevention and home treatment of mastitis, strategies to maximize rest and minimize stress.

For new moms and moms-to-be. Bring your partner.

$35, but partners attend for FREE.

When:  November 20, 2011 12:30-3:00pm

Where: Berkeley Yoga Center

call 415.938.7421 to register or click below to pay online.

True story.

It is 1983. Mom has us 3 kids plus a job and Dad is out of the house at work all day. She’s the one who puts breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table amidst chaos and deadlines and responsibilities. And she’s doing it on a budget.

Its a Tuesday in this story. In the morning, she pulls a whole chicken out of the freezer and sticks it in the sink. FDA and their recommendations about thawing food in the fridge be damned: Mom needs that bird defrosted and in the oven so it will be done when Dad gets home from work, the hungry teenagers roll in starved from track at school and definitely in time to give the preschooler (that’s me, by the way) a full belly and then off to bed.

Afternoon rolls around and Mom’s back from a few after-work errands. That bird’s thawed and has gotta get in the oven. But, a woman’s voice is hollering through the screen door. Suzanne, Mom’s pal, has stopped by just like that. Its 1983, remember? It was ok back then, we didn’t text in advance.

Suzanne wants Mom to come with her…”and c’mon, you have two hours until the other kids come home. Bring A.S. in the back.” (Nobody called me Sri then.)

Mom had a lot of responsibilities, but she wasn’t going to miss out on life because of them. But what about dinner?

True story, remember? With one hand, she picked up the defrosted chicken by the leg. With the other hand, she opened the pot. The bird went right in without spice or ceremony. She closed the lid and put the whole thing in the oven and set the heat and walked out the door.

“Done,” Mom said, grabbing her keys.

Suzanne said, “That looked like something Carol Burnett would do.”

In my herbal practice, I think of this story all the time. In every initial appointment comes the dreaded question: will you describe your typical breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Seriously. People would rather describe the color and texture of their poop than come clean about the crap they are eating. Don’t even get me started about the answers I get to the question of how often people eat out.

The bottom line is this: too many people are not eating real food, or they are paying someone else to make it. And 90% of the time they have an excuse. It’s either, “I don’t know how to cook!” or “I’m too busy.”

This is bunk. So I took myself to task and made Carol Burnett chicken to prove that cooking can be easy, fast and delicious. After all, mom told me this story over the phone when I was in my first apartment and trying to figure out how to feed myself. I think she added that you can tell a chicken is cooked by wiggling the leg and seeing if it is loose and looks like it wants to come off and get eaten up right then and there.

The final product was juicy, flavorful and tender. It was better than good and that mattered because when I started the process, I had forgotten there would be dinner guests. Though, I have to come clean about one thing. I added salt and pepper. I just couldn’t handle possibly wasting an entire chicken and subjecting my guests to what possibly may have come out a bland, unevenly cooked mess. Turned out, it would have been just fine without.

Since I had company, I spruced it up a bit for the table by opening a jar of my homemade (also ridiculously easy) preserved meyer lemons (the plain kind) to serve on top. I served a nice crusty, artisianal bread, a simple salad and some braised greens from the garden. A bottle of wine. Finger-lickin’ and I spent less than 20 minutes in the kitchen.

This proves it. I am no longer accepting the “I don’t have time” or the “I don’t know how” excuse. Clients be forewarned that you will be referred to this post.

Oh and leftovers? This chicken could have been cut up and dropped into broth with veggies as soup, or chopped up and mixed into a salad, or stir-fried with noodles and seasoned with garlic, ginger and lime and squirted with soy sauce. The carcass got simmered with a splash of wine and whatever scraps I had.

This cooking stuff CAN be easy. Take it from Carol Burnett.

Conjure an image of a caveman on the hunt, ok? Now picture him and his tribe nabbing it, the mammoth or whatever. What next? Do they carefully butcher the thing, discard the fat and squabble over who gets the USDA prime cuts? No! They consume the most nutrient-rich bits: the organ meat. Later, you’d probably find them crunching on the cartilage and sucking the marrow out of the bones.

Fast forward. There we are at the modern butcher counter asking for boneless, skinless chicken breast. Boneless? Skinless? I’m certain our forebears would have declared this profane. Why would we throw away the best parts? Is it healthier? A quick look at our culture who has been eating these “choice” cuts to the exclusion of organs, tendon, sinew and bone and the answer is clear: it can’t be.

When it comes to our health, lets consider what people have been eating for thousand upon thousands of years. This is why I love traditional medicine systems. Truly, there is no single diet plan to suit all kinds. Constitutional assessment is necessary to ascertain the particulars of the individual within context of the demands of their life. Sometimes that means taking up a vegetarian protocol for some time. That said, we have evolved with pointy little incisors in our mouths for a reason. Why deny them the joy of tearing flesh? Check out what Weston A. Price‘s research says about all of this.

It might be hard to fathom bringing organ meat and tendons and sinews back to the table. In the case of organ meat, maybe some modern data might motivate. Chicken livers are probably the most palatable “starter” organs for newbies. These iron-rich little nuggets nourish blood and contain all nine types amino acids, some in quite high levels. One serving of livers contains 100% RDA of vitamin A and an impressive dose of 4 of the much-needed B vitamins. That’s good news if you like your vision, your immune system, your brain, nervous system and muscles.

Below is a simple recipe to help you get your caveman on–with refined elegance. I call it Cavegirl Pate. It’s delicious and easy, a gateway recipe for would-be organ meat eaters. It is quick to prepare and costs about a fifth of what you would pay in the store. Besides, the storebought stuff is on the no-no list for pregnant caveladies, but the fresh and homemade stuff is safe.

Once you get the hang of pate, you might find yourself dicing up pork heart to mix into hamburger meat. You might start thinking about how to extract the collagen and minerals from bones into your soup stock. You might make friends with a hunter and slow-stew a bear paw. If you do that last one, please invite me over. I’m almost always hungry.

Cavegirl Chicken Liver Pate

1 stick butter
1 small onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
bay leaf
1/2-3/4 lb chicken livers
mustard
2 teaspoons brandy
salt and pepper
handful parsley, chopped
handful dill, chopped

Prep onion and garlic, wash livers. In a frying pan, melt half of the butter. On low heat, saute onion. Do not brown or caramelize. When onion becomes translucent, add garlic and bay leaf and cook for 1-2 more minutes.  Add chicken livers, cook 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned. Stir in mustard.

Measure brandy (or cooking sherry in a pinch) by the teaspoon. Holding spoon over pan, use a lighter to ignite the alcohol, pouring it into the pan. Let it flame for a few seconds to burn off the alcohol and then extinguish by blowing it out or covering the pan.* Repeat with second portion of brandy. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper as desired.

Pour everything in the blender with the rest of the butter, parsley and dill. Puree until smooth. Turn out into terrine or ramekin and refrigerate. Serve chilled on crusty bread or crackers. Or, my favorite, spread on toast in the morning and topped with a fried egg.

*When playing with fire in the kitchen, always keep a tightly-fitting lid handy to quickly extinguish the flames if necessary.

Here is an effective homemade herbal formulation to help rid the sinuses of gunky, stuck, infected congestion using herbs many people have present in the household already:

a few leaves of fresh basil, torn into smaller pieces
2-3 whole cloves
a pinch of dry ginger

Place these in a mortar and pestle and work it until you have something like a paste. First, the leaves will just bruise and you’ll wonder if it will come together at all. Then, they will start to come apart a bit and combine with the other herbs.

You may need to add a few drops of water. Drops, people. If you add too much liquid, it won’t stick to your face at all. In fact, no matter how diligently you work the herbs, it will be a pretty rough poultice anyway. Don’t worry, it still works.

Apply the compound directly to the skin over the offending sinuses, using the most usable pieces. Watch out! It can be a bit hot, especially for those with sensitive skin. When you feel some sting on your skin, it is best to remove it to prevent irritation. It doesn’t take long for the medicine of these plants to penetrate!

Bonus: it smells great. Who knows? After a brief treatment, you might be able to smell again, too!

Good luck with those late winter/early spring colds!

The “last dog days of summer” have their own steamy, sultry character. With the high temperatures we had over the weekend, it is hard to believe that fall is already knocking at the door.

Though the Qi Node has already switched over to fall energy, the hot weather just won’t quit. This means we need to continue to protect ourselves from the heat, but without getting our vata upset with a strong cold input.

Here is a simple tea we like to drink in the warm months to help cool and relax the Liver, harmonize digestion and decrease stress. It is great for students and workaholics or those who have a tendency to over-focus and may experience headaches, eye strain, tension or pain. It is especially helpful for insomnia and anxiety.

The herbs in this tea are sweet to neutral, safe and nourishing to Liver, Spleen and Heart. (Stomach and Lung, too, but I digress). My kid even likes it. He begs to eat the red dates right out of the jar. Truly, the sheer beauty of the ingredients as you watch them swirl and brew in the water will soothe your pitta before you even bring it to your lips!

Stay Cool Tea

Chrysanthemum Flowers (Ju Hua), a big handful
Longan Fruit (Long Yan Rou), a small handful
Red Dates (Da Zao), a small handful
Lycium Berries (Gou Qi Zi), a heaping spoonful
Fennel Seed, a spoonful

Soak or at least rinse herbs in fresh water. Longan, Red Dates and Lycium can be soaked for 4 hours or overnight. If organic, the flowers and fennel seeds do not need to be soaked. If not organic, at least soak the chrysanthemum for 10 minutes in fresh, cool water.

Place herbs in a large jar or other vessel. Pour hot water over them and allow to steep. Drink warm, even on a hot day.

Ingredients can be easily procured from your local Chinese herbalist’s shop or Asian food store. Use organic or responsibly grown sources when possible.

Last time, I discussed structuring mealtimes for optimal digestion and questioned our digestive capacity as humans to handle whole grains and beans. Today, we discuss soaking grains in the traditional manner to make our meals more digestible. This is so pertinent to Ayurveda in that our daily habits and daily dietary fare should always be nourishing and–in today’s world–as vata-reducing as possible.

Soaking and/or slightly fermenting grains and beans neutralizes the phytic acid, making whole grains and beans delicious and nutritious, without the gas and other health concerns associated with a vata-provoking diet. However, it has to be done right, especially if you have sensitive digestion or high vata. (See last week’s blog to learn more about phytic acid, or check out Amanda Rose’s free e-course on the subject.)

First, use warm water and something acidic. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon suggests the use of whey, yogurt, lime or lemon juice, or even vinegar. For one cup of beans, soak in water just below the simmering point to cover plus 1/4 cup of something acidic. For grains, 2 teaspoons of the acidic substance should be enough in the soaking water. The water should be hot, but you should be able to touch it. This ensures that the cultures in your yogurt will not be killed.

Next, give your beans and grains ample time. Let them sit out at least seven hours or overnight (longer for beans, if possible). I start my breakfast porridges soaking in the evening before I plan to eat them. I do the same with rices and other grains. However, I give my beans much more time. I start beans in the early morning the day before I cook them. For morning pancakes, muffins and breads, overnight should do. Make sure to use fresh flours as they are higher in the phytic acid-neutralizing enzyme phytase.

If the acidic addition gives an overly sour flavor to your food, it is acceptable to rinse them. However, there is no need to “rinse off” the grain. You are simply trying to neutralize the phytates, not extract them and wash them away. With beans, however, I recommend rinsing and discarding soaking liquid.

More on Beans

Since many people experience beans to be a major vata offender, a bit more information is applicable. Not only are we combatting phytic acid here, but also ogliosaccharides. What’s that? Let’s read from the Weston A. Price website:

“The harder beans, such as kidney beans, black beans or navy beans, require more careful treatment, as they contain certain oligosaccharides (large, complex sugars) that can completely confound digestion. Mammals do not produce the enzyme alpha-galactosidase in their digestive tracts, which is necessary to break down these sugars. When consumed, these oligosaccharides reach the lower intestine largely intact, and in the presence of anaerobic bacteria ferment and produce carbon dioxide and methane gases, as well as a good deal of discomfort, not to mention embarrassment in polite society. The solution has been to prepare the beans in a way to neutralize or otherwise get rid of these sugars in the resulting cooked beans, but as most of us know from experience, results can vary widely.”

Read the complete article here. Their website recommends much the same protocols as I’ve listed above, but here are some more pointers from my experience:

• First, many become concerned that their beans will cook up crunchy with the addition of something acidic to the soaking water. For those with very strong systems, a good, long soak with no added acid may suffice. Still, play around with the acid you use to find your flavor preference. Because I normally cook by beans with whole grains and these grains always have a slight crunch, I don’t worry about the crunch my beans might get. As I developed the recipe below, I tried vinegar, lime and also plain soaking water, noting the differences with each. (I never tried whey because I’ve met a few who don’t recommend it for beans.) So far, I’ve found that beans come out crunchy when a vinegar/water soak is used. Luckily, it doesn’t seem as crunchy with a lime juice/water soak. My guinea pigs are definitely happier with some kind of acid present in the soak than without. It tastes almost as good as without, but feels better in the belly.

• Second, even with a good long soak, cook your beans well. I usually cook beans for 2-3 hours on low heat in the pressure cooker.

• Lastly, use kombu. Throw a strip or two of kombu in for the soak. You can also cook with it and eat around it if it doesn’t match your flavorings. Alternatively, try cutting up soaked kombu and cooking it along with the beans to be served.

So, What’s for Dinner, Again?!

For me, the best inspiration for dinner is the beauty of a good soup. Our teacher, Dharmanidhi, has stressed the advantage that a light soup dinner gives the yogi for his practices, not to mention general health and happiness. This keeps the bulk of the animal protein at the midday meal. However, if it has been an especially active day (or if we have a vata deranged guest, or one who tends toward hypoglycemia, or a pitta-headed kind of guest with super-high agni), I bring in the bone broth to give the soup some oomph.

I must mention that we eat this soup for breakfast as often as for dinner. However, if you are a breakfast-food-only-kind-of-breakfast-eater, you might look at Kimi’s Nourishing Gourmet website for a great recipe for soaked oatmeal.

Below, find my basic whole grain soup and bean recipe. You’ll find that it is incredibly economical as many of the grains can be purchased in bulk and kept in glass jars in the pantry. (Try this! Place a bay leaf in the storage containers with your grains and beans to prevent worms or bugs from invading your pantry!) Tweak the grains for the season and the eater to shift the energetic to be more warming or cooling. As listed, the recipe is of neutral energy and nourishing.

Works nicely with homemade idli pancakes (soaked as described above) for breakfast or fresh, homemade tortillas at dinner, though we usually eat it alone and are satisfied.

Soaked Soup

2-4 Tablespoons split yellow beans,
2 Tablespoons of each: whole wheat berries, barley, Bhutanese red rice, brown rice (may also try rye berries, millet, brown rice, wild rice, etc.)
kombu
1/4 cup something acidic (I like lime)
soaking water

6 cups water
1 rib celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 yellow squash, diced
1 Tablespoon ginger, peeled and minced
.5 Teaspoon turmeric
2 Teaspoons ground coriander
2-3 fresh curry leaves (or 1 bay leaf)
salt
4 Tablespoons ghee
1 Tablespoon whole cumin seed
tomato, chopped
lime

Pick over and wash beans and grains well, discarding stones or other debris and place in large bowl. Bring soaking water just below simmering point and pour over beans, grains and kombu to cover. Add something adic, such as lime. Cover with a kitchen towel and let soak at least 12-18 hours. (If you go longer, use your common sense and never eat anything that seems “off” or smells bad.)

Drain, discarding soaking solution. Optionally, chop up kombu to inlcude. Place beans in pressure cooker with water, celery, carrot, squash, tomato, ginger, turmeric, coriander, curry leaf and salt. Bring to low pressure and cook 2-3 hours. Utilize the “natural release method” of releasing pressure by turning off heat and letting pressure dissipate gradually.

Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, heat ghee. When hot, add cumin seeds and cook until cumin seeds begin to brown. Stir into soup with chopped tomato. Bring soup to medium heat, uncovered. Cook for a few minutes to breakdown tomato and allow seasonings to blend. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a lime squeeze.

Notes: *This recipe invariably tastes better the next day. I don’t know, the flavors meld overnight in the fridge?
*That tomato in the recipe has an important job! The vitamin C present in the fruit boosts your ability to reap minerals from high-phytate foods..
*Take the principles of this dish and use your favorite seasons. Bear in mind that Ayurvedic cooking doesn’t mean Indian flavors, but cooking for your dosha and the season. For instance, in the cold season, try adding garlic to warm the energetic of the dish, boost flavor and give anti-microbial medicinal properties. Every tradition has its own unique digestive herbs. Play!

In Russia, they say “Eat your breakfast yourself, share your lunch with your friend and give your dinner to your enemy .” This saying points to the importance of eating light and not sleeping on a full stomach. Ayurveda also warns us against overeating, especially eating after sundown. To follow this traditional wisdom allows us to truly make breakfast a time to “break fast”. In our family, we choose to make our midday meal our heaviest, when the sun is high and our agni is strong in its ability to transform our food to reap the nutritional max.

Then, What About Dinner?

I’ve been experimenting with my approach to dinner for a long time and one of the main things I’ve noticed is that a meal with lots of animal protein at night doesn’t suit. Instead, I tend to offer the big chunks of meat–the pork butt, the chicken thighs, the venison, the meaty stew, whatever–with the main midday meal. After all, meat might best be regarded as a high-nutrient condiment. In fact, Michael Tierra at East West School teaches that traditional cultures who regularly eat meat consume “no more than a pound a month on average” (East West Herb Course, 1981, 1999 rev).

I was never quite a “meat and potatoes” kind of cook. Still, I have to admit that without a beautiful cut of meat as flavor inspiration, and without even a small, succulent meatball mixed with all my special secret seasonings on the side to get my culinary creativity on board, I’ve had to search to figure out what to do with dinner. With meat redirected to lunchtime, I’ve had to confront my fear of beans and whole grains.

Now, if you know me, you know that only a year ago, I would have stopped reading at the first appearance of the word ‘bean’ and my mind would automatically have switched radio stations to play “Beans, beans: good for your heart…!” At Berkeley Ayurveda, we’d rather see clients eating white rice than the dreaded, improperly prepared brown rice which cause gas and other vata difficulties by straining the digestive tract. Same with other whole grains.

But, traditional cultures knew how to make these whole grains–and even beans!–digestible. How?

Are Whole Grains and Beans Appropriate for the Human GI tract?

When I studied Ayurveda with Dharmanidhi, he taught us that our bodies are structured to utilize animal proteins and vegetables best. He showed us that we are ill-equipped to digest whole grains and beans as we normally cook them. After all, cows have four stomachs and produce the enzyme phytase to be able to handle grains in their diet. Dharmanidhi pointed to recipes using all manner of animals meats in the Ashtanga Hrdayam and other classic Ayurvedic texts to remind us that Ayurveda is not a vegetarian medicine and that meat may be necessary to treat certain patterns of illness. With this inspiration, many in the kula have tried what he dubs the “Hunter Gatherer” diet of meat and veg alone (with certain guidelines not to be discussed here) and have had wonderful results. However, such a diet is impractical for many–many who wish to eat consciously if not so extremely. The human system may in fact be equipped to digest whole grains and beans well, but only if they are prepared properly.

When prepared improperly, whole grains and beans can be vata-provoking (read: gas–but, if you’re a newbie to Ayurveda, tuck in the back of your mind that there’s much more to it than just that). Despite the promising vitamin, mineral and even protein content listed on the labels for whole grains and beans, our bodies are not able to reap these nutrients unless we cook whole grains and beans in a traditional manner. Phytic acid in whole grains and beans binds with phosphorous and inhibits the proper absorption of many necessary nutrients, including calcium, magnesium and especially zinc. (Note: Overdose of these minerals can be problematic for some, so always bear in mind the importance of being intimate with your own health as pertains to your personal dietary needs.)

The result of phytates is gunk in our system, an overworked GI tract, poor absorption, assimilation and, of course, many common accompanying diagnoses seen today that point to a run-down or inefficient system, including fatigue, depression, etc. Sure, the healthfood craze of the 1970′s and 80′s was a timely reaction against the overly processed, white flours and bleached grains that had dominated our modern diets–as it does to this day–but those healthfood “pioneers” neglected to look at the practices across cultures that has made these whole grains and beans safe and digestible: soaking and fermenting.

From African injera bread to Mesoamerican nixtamalized masa to Indian idli cakes, soaking and/or fermented grains and legumes has been practiced around the world for thousands of years. These ancient culinary techniques neutralize phytic acid and make food more digestible and delicious. This means less vata in our food, and if we ferment carefully, we can also guard against excess pitta, too.

Next time, we’ll look at how to do this at home. Recipes to follow.

Part of the Ayurvedic tradition is cooking so that all six tastes–sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent–are present in each meal. These tastes answer different needs in the body and mind. Therefore, the presence of all six in your bowl leads to a sense of satisfaction when eating and has a harmonizing effect to the body.

Recently in the Ayurveda clinic, I have had many requests for pickle recipes. In our tradition, the sour taste is considered to be a combination of Earth and Fire elements. It therefore generally lowers vata dosha while increasing digestion, absorption and assimilation of nutrients. Below is a simple pickle recipe for your use.

First, a few words about the sour taste. The Chinese traditions recommend having a small amount of a pickled something a bit before the main meal as a digestive aid. However, be sure not to overdo your pickle consumption! Though delicious, fermented foods such as pickles (as well as yogurt, miso, citrus fruits, rose hips, tamarind and vinegar, etc.)  have a tendency to increase pitta–heat!– in the body. It’s this heat that helps stoke the fire of digestion–or, agni–but, in excess can interrupt other functions in the body and disturb the mind. The sour taste stimulates salivation, promotes appetite and sharpens the mind. Sour foods are generally carminative and diaphoretic as well as rajasic in nature.

Pickles are quite easy to make at home. There are slow-cured pickles and fast ones, vinegar-based pickles and brine-based ones. No need to get out the canning gear to use homemade pickles! A handy tool for pickle preparation is a Japanese pickle press. Find them online or pick them up in Japantown in the city. However, no fancy equipment is necessary to get some delicious pickles going in your own kitchen. Any deep bowl with a plate that fits inside the opening on top will do.

Here is one of my favorite pickle recipes, inspired by our dear friend Valera, a macrobiotic enthusiast. I have tweaked it a bit to my taste.

Ume Vinegar Pickles

1 part ume plum vinegar
2-3 parts water (depending on personal preference)
Napa cabbage
Carrot
Fresh, young ginger

Let napa cabbage and carrot (or your favorite veggies) sit out on the counter 1-2 days, or until slightly limp. (Don’t let them start to rot!) Peel and thinly slice cabbage. Julienne carrot and ginger. Place vegetables in a non-reactive (not metal) pickle press or bowl. Cover with solution of ume plum vinegar and water. Place a plate or cover of some sort over vegetables to press them below the surface of the liquid. Use a weight of some kind to hold them down. Refrigerate.

Pickles will be ready for use in about a day and will keep for 2 weeks or more. If you are careful to keep veggies completely submerged, the life of your pickles will be greatly extended. If a white scum develops, that indicates that not enough vinegar was used or they are going off.

Note: Once submerged in the ume/water solution, the veggies will lose mass dramatically. If you had leftover cabbage or carrot during preparation that would not fit into the container, reserve it. In a day or two, it may easily fit into the jar!

One more thing! If you didn’t get the ratio quite right and your final result tastes a little too vinegary, simply rinse pickles before serving.

Enjoy!