Consume: Our favorite food stuff this week

Read

▪ Fermented Vegetables

From traditional (New York-style dill pickles) to esoteric (saltwort?), this new how-to book by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey is destined to be a classic for those fixated on fermenting. Covering all aspects from equipment to technique, it’s an easy-to-follow guide that may actually persuade you to try those pickled cranberries on your morning cream cheese bagel. The married authors run a 40-acre family farm in Southern Oregon, as well as a blog called – what else? – Fermentista (www.fermentista.us).

Eat

▪ 

Sahale Crunchers Fruit & Almond Snack

Bored with the usual lineup of granola mixes, we sought something … well, different. And we found it when we recently plucked the last bag of Sahale Crunchers Fruit & Almond Snack off the supermarket shelf. We had the cherries-apples-maple version. Sahale suggests adding the mix to salads, yogurt, oatmeal and ice cream. A fine notion, if you can actually get it home and into the kitchen.

Go

▪ UC Davis’ Vintage Wine Tasting

Local aficionados of fine aged wines, take note. The next installment of UC Davis’ Vintage Wine Tasting series is Nov. 13 with a flight that focuses on the 1960s. This ongoing series, with discussion led by Darrell Corti, has previously included tastings of decades-old bottles from Burgundy and California, but is now going back to Bordeaux, including a taste of 1962 Château Lafite-Rothschild. Ticket proceeds benefit UC Davis’ viticulture and enology department. (392 Old Davis Road, Davis).

Snack

▪ Hardbite Eat Your Parsnips Chips

Parsnips – those white, carrot-looking veggies that rarely if ever make it into your supermarket cart – are underrated. Canadian artisanal chip-maker (and farmer) Pete Schouten gives the root a little love with these dense, slightly sweet and crunchy snacks that are a surprisingly tasty alternative to potatoes.

Try

▪ Reed’s Crystallized Ginger Candy

Fans of Reed’s super-pungent ginger ale will love this simple candy made in the South Pacific for the L.A.-based company – it’s just bite-sized chunks of baby ginger stewed in raw cane syrup, creating gummy interior coated in a crisp layer of sugar.

Bee staff

This story was originally published November 1, 2014 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Consume: Our favorite food stuff this week."