Tag: Vegan

Count Down

Action 56: Autumn brings in new fruits and vegetables that are much to be enjoyed – different varieties of squash, apples and quinces and pears, cobnuts, sweet corn …. Why not have a vegan fortnight and see how many different dishes you can make?

Pumpkin Risotto

Dice one small onion and a couple of garlic cloves. Fry gently in a little rape seed oil.

Add 250g arborio rice and stir well. Allow the rice to gently brown before adding  a little hot water and stir well. 

Once the water has been absorbed, add a little more and stir. Add ground pepper and  some yeast flakes for extra flavour. You might also like to add a little rosemary or thyme.

Dice half a small pumpkin, or squash, and add to the rice. Continue to stir and add water until the rice is nice and plump.

Finally add a knob of vegan butter and some chopped walnuts and serve. 

Count Down

 Action 49: This is the season for apples. If you – or your neighbour – has a surplus, use some to make mincemeat. It will have matured nicely by Christmas.

Chop 500g of apples into small pieces – leave the skin on but discard the core – and place in a large bowl. Add the  juice of 2 lemons. Add a teaspoon each of nutmeg, mace and cinnamon – or use ready mixed spice. Add 800g of dried fruit: use a mixture of raisins, figs and apricots. Chop the figs and apricots into small chunks: this is easily done using a pair of scissors. Add 250g of sugar. 

Traditionally mincemeat includes suet – vegetarian or otherwise but I choose to omit this as there is usually plenty ty of fat in the pastry and the brandy butter. 

You can also add a couple of tablespoons of brandy but this is optional. Mix  all together. Leave the mixture in the bowl for 3 or 4 days stirring each day – cover with a tea-towel. Put into jars and it will keep for several months. We keep some back to make  for triangle mince pies for Trinity Sunday. 

If …

Soil Plant Hands Growth Environment Nature Dirt

If we are called us to beat swords into plough shares,  

we are also called to turn military jobs into green ones.

If we seek to establish peace,

we must generously offer both love and practical gifts. 

If we shift from passive to active travel, from cars to cycles,

we shall need cycle paths and secure shelters.

If we replace petrol engines with electric motors, 

we must also turn petrol stations into recharging points.

If we swop meats for a vegan diet, 

we must also turn beef farms into arable farms,

sheep fells into woodlands,

dairies into nut fromageries.

If we switch to green electricity,

our pension funds must invest in renewable energy.

If we green our pensions, 

surely we will green our banks too.

Creator God, help us to see the changes we must make,

Give us the wisdom to support them, 

the energy to achieve them 

and the joy to celebrate them.

Amen.

Count Down

Missing from yesterday! Action 35: Set aside part of your garden for wildlife. Climate  change places extra pressures on wildlife so give them a helping hand by encouraging wild plants (weeds) to colonise part of your garden. Nettles are very good for ladybirds and butterflies, dandelions flowers are good for bees and dandelion seeds are tasty food for goldfinches.


 Action 36: Make next week a vegan week. Stock up on beans and pulses, tofu and nuts, assorted types of rice and pasta. Make a shopping list with plenty of seasonal fruit and vegetables.  Add miso pastes, chutneys, yeast flakes and herbs for extra flavours. Plan some easy meals combinations.  Be inspired by new recipes – try these from Hodmedod : https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/recipes/tagged/vegan  

Eco Tips

Preserving fruit and vegetables

Jam

To make jam you need equal quantities of fruit (plums are good at the moment) and sugar plus pectin powder. The latter is not essential but it does ensure that your jam sets well. 

Place these in a large saucepan and heat to a gentle boil, stirring regularly (wooden spoon) to prevent the sugar from burning. Soft fruits like raspberries and strawberries do not need extra liquid but plums and damsons can benefit from a cup of water for every kg of fruit. 

Boil gently until the mixture reaches the setting point – 105C. This may take half an hour or longer. A sugar thermometer is useful! But if you haven’t got one, dip your spoon in and lift it with the curved surface uppermost. Count to 20 then tip the spoon. If the mixture clings to the bottom edge you have probably reached setting point. 

Meanwhile wash and sterilise some jars – 1kg of fruit produces about 5 jars of jam. To sterilise the jars, half fill with water and place in a microwave (without their lids) and heat until the water boils.

Pout the jam into jars and screw on the lids straight away. As the jars cool, the metal lids will contract creating an air tight seal. 

The WI has long been associated with jam making: https://www.thewi.org.uk/life-at-the-wi/food-and-cookery/recipes/recipes/jams,-preserves-and-pickles/easy-strawberry-jam

Bottled fruit 

Cook the fruit until it is soft. (I do this in a plastic covered box in the microwave). Add water if the fruit is not obviously juicy – eg if preparing plums, apples, quinces etc. Once the fruit is soft (doesn’t need to be cooked to a mush) put into sterilised jars. Press the fruit down so that they are all covered by the liquid that has been released by the cooking. Secure the jar lids. Place the jars in a saucepan and fill with water till it reaches at least half or two thirds up the jars. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Boil/ simmer for 15 minutes. This ensures the contents of the jar are all brought to a high temperature to kill of bacteria. Cool the jars and store. As the jars cool the lids will contract creating an air tight seal. As well as jam jars you can use kilner jars.

Chutney

Chutneys use a mixture of fruit and vegetables. I use 3kg of chopped fruit and vegetables -eg plums, apples, marrow – including at least one chopped onion and about 200g of dried fruit such as dates, raisins or figs. To this I add 400g of sugar and 400ml of vinegar and a selection of spices – cloves, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, chilli powder etc – the equivalent of approximately 2 teaspoons. 

Put everything into a pan and bring to the boil, stirring regularly. The chutney is cooked when  if you scrape your wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan you can see a clear expanse of pan before the mixture flows back. 

Pour into sterilised jars with screw on lids. It is best to allow chutney to mature 6 to 8 weeks before eating.

Chutneys are a good use of green tomatoes: https://www.thewi.org.uk/life-at-the-wi/food-and-cookery/recipes/recipes/jams,-preserves-and-pickles/green-tomato-chutney

Sauerkraut  

Sauerkraut is traditionally made with white cabbage but you can add other vegetables and even fruit too. (We add pineapple when we get it in our OddBox delivery).

Take you selection of vegetables – eg firm red or white cabbage, root vegetables such  as carrot and beetroot, celery or fennel, garlic, onions, pumpkin – and slice them all thinly. For very 500g add 2 teaspoons of salt. In addition you can add spices such as caraway seeds, fennel seeds, allspice, peppercorns etc. Mix everything together in a large bowl and squeeze and scrunch the vegetables until they produce a liquid. Pack the whole mixture into a large jar with a lid (kilner jars are great) and press well down. The liquid should reach the top. Use a large cabbage leave to cover the top pressing down to keep everything submerged. You can add a weight (wrap in tinfoil first) or even a clean stone. 

Over the next few days the mixture will begin to ferment. You will see bubbles forming. You may need to release the lid to allow excess gas to leave.

Classic sauerkraut recipe: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jan/06/how-to-make-sauerkraut-recipe-felicity-cloake 

Pickled ‘capers’

Nasturtium seeds can be used instead of caper – don’t use the seeds you buy for sowing but pick ones from plants that you have already grown. Fill a small jar with clean green seeds. Cover with vinegar and add a few spices such as coriander seeds, peppercorns and a bay leaf. Secure with a lid. Leave to mature – they will turn pale brown.

Preserved lemon skins

As you are cooking save lemon skins. Place them in a clean jar with a layer of salt to cover them. As you add more lemon skins, add more salt. Pack the skins in well so as not to leave air pockets. The skins will turn brown and will absorb some of the salt. You can use them as and when you wish, slicing and adding them to salads and casseroles. 

Count Down

 Action 31: Avoiding out of season fruit is one way of keeping our carbon footprint in check. But you can preserve fruits while they are in season to eat later. Bottle peaches to eat at Christmas. Make blackberry and apple jelly to go on crumpets. Preserve apricots in Marsala – great with ice cream. Transform plums into a spicy chutney. 

Count Down

Action 25. Try out a new vegan recipe or have a go at this recipe for vegan pesto.

Vegan Pesto

In a food processor grind 50g of almonds till coarsely chopped.

Add to the processor 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, the juice of 2 lemons and 100ml of olive oil.  

Add 500ml of green leaves such as rocket, nasturtium leaves or basil – or a mix of such peppery tasting leaves. (If the leaves are torn into smaller pieces it will enable the mixture to process more easily).

Blitz everything until it is a thick paste. 

You can add more oil and lemon juice if you want a slacker paste. 

If you are not using the pesto immediately, store in a covered jar in the fridge.

Green Tau: reducing our carbon footprint – food

14 August 2021

Governments and businesses do certainly exert control over various aspects of what can and cannot do, yet we may be surprised how much we can do to reduce our individual  – and therefore to our national – carbon footprint. 

The WWF estimates that the production and consumption of food accounts for 20% of the UK’s green house gas emissions which currently equates to 82 million tonnes a year – say roughly 1.5 tonnes per year person. By changing how we eat and shop, we can substantially reduce these emissions.

  1. Reduce the amount of meat and dairy products you consume. Globally 58% of GHG emissions  for food arise from the production of meat and dairy items. Agricultural animals have to be fed, and to ensure good productivity, their food is nutrient rich including items such as soya beans. Large amounts of land and water are used in providing food and grazing, all of  which comes with its own carbon footprint.  Farm animals are also GHG emitters in their own right. Each cow emits 70 – 129kg of methane per year. Removing meat and dairy products from your diet can reduce you GHG emissions by 0.6 tonnes per year (Carbon Independent Calculator).
  1. The alternatives to meat and dairy are to be found in eating beans, pulses and nuts as sources of protein and numerous minerals. Soya beans which are particularly rich in protein have traditionally been fermented to produce foods such as tofu. Soya beans – as well as almonds, hemp, coconut, oats etc – are also used to create dairy replacement items: milks, butter, yogurts, cream,  ice cream etc as well cheeses. Ideally one wants to buy products that are locally produced. Hodmedod specialises in selling beans and pulses, seeds (chia etc) and grains (including quinoa) that are grown here in the UK. There is a growing number of UK based producers of plant based milks. Milk and More, a reinvention of the traditional milk delivery service, sells freshly bottled oat milk that comes from Lancashire.
  1. Choose organic foods. Organic food production because it avoids mineral fertilisers, ensures improved soil conditions such that the soil retains a higher proportion of carbon than do other soils. This carbon sequestration reduces the carbon footprint of organic foods vis a vis non organic ones. Choosing organic foods can reduce your GHG emissions by 0.7 tonnes a year. It can be difficult deciding between organic vegetables from Europe versus local non organic  items, 
  1. Buy locally grown food – or eat home grown food. Locally grown food has a lower carbon footprint because the distance the food is moved is less and therefore transport inputs are less. This is especially true when food stuffs are imported by air and often includes the import of out of season foods from the Southern Hemisphere such as asparagus and blue berries. Eating locally produced food can reduce your GHG emissions by 0.4 tonnes per year. There is a growing number of veg box schemes where farms make a weekly delivery of vegetables straight from the farm to your front door, which reduces transport emissions and food waste. OddBox specialises in fruit and veg boxes that collect together fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste either at the farm or in the wholesale market. 
  1. Avoid food processing and packaging. Ready meals packed in plastics can have a disproportionately higher carbon footprint than meals freshly made from raw, unpackaged ingredients. Reducing the amount of packaged and processed food you consume can reduce your GHG emissions by 0.5 tonnes.
  1. Minimising food waste. Throwing away food rather than eating it is obviously wasteful and a misuse of GHG emissions. Planning daily or weekly menus, using a shopping list, only buying and cooking the portions you will eat, careful storage of food etc are all ways fo reducing food waste. (For more details see the Eco Tips post of 9th August). Cutting food waste can reduce you GHG emissions by 0.5 tonnes per year. If you compost food waste such as the outer leaves of cabbages, banana skins and tea bags you can reduce your GHG emissions by a further 0.2 tonnes. 
  1. How you cook your food will also impact on your carbon footprint. Putting on the oven to bake one potato is more carbon intensive than boiling or pan frying the same potato in a pan. This aspect of your carbon footprint will be considered in a later post looking at household energy consumption.

We often say we are what we eat. If we eat with a conscience for what is good for the planet, and what is good for human and animal welfare, we will be part of the growing movement creating a better world for all. 

In many religious and cultural traditions there is a practice of saying thank you before or after a meal. This recognises our dependence upon others for what we eat, whether that is the cook, the farmer, the retailer or above all, God as creator. Saying Grace at meals is one way of being more aware of the providence of the food we eat.  

As we sit to eat this meal, we give thanks for all have been involved in its preparation.

For the farmers and the worms, bees and pollinating insects, for shelf stackers and retailers, for those who cook and those who wash up,

and for the bountiful diversity of our God-given world.
Amen. 

NB I have swopped between the terms carbon footprint and green house gas GHG emissions as if they are the same thing which they aren’t. Strictly speaking our carbon footprint measures our carbon emissions whereas GHG emissions includes all gas emissions but of which carbon dioxide is the largest.