2023 Holiday Preserve Basket for Abortion Funds

Giant cascade raspberries, picked from my canes in early summer were fermented with soy sauce. The result is a chunky sauce that tastes like neither ingredient, but is instead a super bright slap of umami on top of almost anything. My favorite uses are on top of roasted cauliflower, or atop any grilled meat, fish or poultry. We tried it on ice cream- it worked.

There is a reason sambal is having a moment- while sriacha is all heat, sambal a looser, more flavorful cousin. I wait all summer for the chilies in my hot pepper bed to turn color and once red, add them to garlic and homemade white wine vinegar from grapes grown nearby, and allow the entire thing to ferment. As it ferments, the flavors marry, allowing the spice to mellow and develop umami.
Garlic chili sauce has a chunky texture by design, and my favorite applications are adding it to rice wine vinegar as the perfect dipping sauce for summer rolls, or adding it to tuna poke for the right kind of spice. So far, my favorite use is adding it to blended fresh summer strawberries for the most spectacular fresh salsa you've ever tasted. Keep it in the fridge, it'll be a jar you reach for often.
This garlic came from my 2023 kitchen garden and I picked the red jalapenos in Arizona this fall. Each jar is 5 ounces.

These elderberries are from my 2023 kitchen garden from my two elderberry bushes. Half are allowed to ferment in raw honey and the other half are steeped in bourbon, and then they're combined to create a shelf stable tincture.
Elderberries pack a wallop of vitamin C and are commonly the base of fire cider. This tincture could certainly serve as the base of yours, but even on its own, its a cold syrup that can double as a cocktail. The honey gives it a silky smooth sweet finish, and it is infinitely drinkable. The berries give it the ruby color. Each bottle is 5 ounces.

I am fascinated by the idea, but not the taste of, bright red, sticky sweet and sour sauce. So I made a balanced version of cherries, that I picked here in Oregon, steeped with chai and then fermented until the sweet and sour balanced. This thick maroon sauce is the right dipping sauce for any fried food, from chicken nuggies to deep fried oysters. A great glaze for meats or fish, and awesome as a sauce for sturdier vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, brussel sprouts or kale.

In early summer, my yard fills with giant puffs of elderflower which if left, will become berries. Plucked now and steeped, elderflower is a gentle herby flavor that I paired here with cucumber I'd grown. This sweet syrup was tempered by fermentation and salt, to a perfect balance of sweet and savory. It does not require alcohol- add it to your favorite sparkling water, ginger ale or Sprite. But it'll make a gin and tonic that will knock your socks off, or a perfect foil for vodka. Add honey for a margarita that'll keep people guessing.