Strawberry Electrolyte Gel

Greating my friends, I made these for my trinity alps trip. Due to getting stuck in a snow storm, I didn't get to push myself hard enough to properly evaluate the functionality of this snack. I enjoyed the taste, but think I can improve on the texture of these.


I start with 1/3 flat of fresh organic strawberries ( 0.5kg)


Strawberries are scored in parallel lines, 5-8 cuts per berry, and flavor
is extracted by covering with evaporated cane juice (200g)


After a short rest, and a quick stir, it should look like this gooey mess


There are lots of ways to get the juice from the mix, I use cheesecloth


drain, drain, drain, drain . . . rinse with OJ . . . I collected almost 100ml of juice.


Add the juice from some oranges to bring volume to 100ml.


Pastuerize the liquid, and add in some dissolved gelatin (21g), then pour into a container to set


Cube, and toss lightly with a small amount of sugar. I cut mine so that I could easily squeeze them out of my refillable squeeze tubes. This amount filled one tube completely.

I hope to get the write up done for my trinity alps trip soon.

It's backpacking season, be safe out there,
Cayenne

Good Bars

Hello Internets,

I needed a bar that I could stand to eat, so I made one. I set out to make something deceptively sweet, crunchy, and chewy. This is the basic bar, with more flavors to come as I do more trips. Simple sugars come from evaporate cane juice, agave nectar, and a local honey made from bees pollinating blackberry shrubs. Oats, rice, amaranth, and millet add complex carbohydrates, and some protein. Butter, seeds, and nuts add fat and texture.

FWIW, these bars are 4.8Cal/g.

The full recipe should appear in the list on the right soon, enjoy the picture show.

INGREDIENTS

• 170g Evaporated organic can juice (~1cup)
• 185g Peanut Butter (~2/3 cup) (12f:8p:5c)/32g (200Cal/32g)
• 120g agave nectar (1/4 cup) (360Cal)
• 115g butter (1/2 cup)
• 10g vanilla (2tsp)
• 270g rolled oats (3 cups) (140cal/39g)
• 71g oat flour (1/2 cup) )140cal/39g)
• 80g sunflower kernels (1/2 cup)
• 30g sesame seeds (1/4 cup)
• 15g amaranth, toasted/puffed (1/4 cup) 374cal/100g
• 35g millet (1/4cup) 119cal/100g
• 80g corn syrup (1/4 cup) (120cal/30g)
• 116g blackberry honey (honey from black berry plants, not fruit honey combo) (1/4cup) (60cal/20g)
• 50g crisped rice (120cal/30g) (four or five hand fulls)
• 30g hemp seeds ( 174cal/30g) (a couple of plam fulls)
• 88g peanuts (802cal/144g) ( about 1/5 lb)

Crunchy Peanut butter, agave nectar, honey, vanilla evaporated cane juice,

some butter

mix the butter, PB, and sugars

puff the amaranth and millet, separately, over fairly high dry heat

add the puffed millet and amaranth, oats, oat flour, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and peanuts. Mix it up

pack into baking sheet, 3/8" thick

bake 20 minutes @ 350F, and then dehydrate at 150-180F for 4-6 hours. Cut into 100g bars.

Thanks for reading, Electrolyte gels and Trinity Alps trip report coming soon.

Cheers,

Jerky and Lentils

In preparation for my trinity alps hike last weekend I made a ton of food, but didn't have time to sort through the pictures and post the recipes.

The first thing I made was some jerky, but rather than a jerky for snacking, I made it specifically to season the lentil dinner. I really enjoyed the flavor of the jerky, and the way it worked with the mashed potatoes and lentils. It did cause a bit of gas when eaten dried, but prepared it was mostly fine.

1. 10g salt
2. 15g black pepper corns
3. 5g coriander
4. 9g cumin
5. 4g all spice
6. 8g molasses
7. 2g agave nectar
8. 1.6# beef
9. pinch of cayenne
10. double pinch of cinnamon
    
11. 15mL tamari
12. 1/2 small onion fine dice
13. hand full of garlic cloves, minced
14. 5mL champagne wine vinegar
15. 200mL water
    

I start with a blend of spices consisting of black pepper,
coriander, cumin, allspice, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon.


Toast the seed like spices, and grind to a powder


combine spices with 10mL molasses, 200mL water, 5mL vinegar
15mL tamari, and blend well, add in 1/2 small onion diced fine,
and 6 minced cloves of garlic.


I am going to marinate this 1.64lbs of london broil over night in the refrigerator.


Because this is a small batch of big pieces, I will dry it flat
rather than hang it as I did with the mango-chipotle jerky
last season.


the jerky laid out for drying


130g of the dried jerky will be chopped into bites
and added to 75g of lentils and 45g dry mashed
potatoes per two person meal.


bite size pieces.


More coming soon , this is backpacking season !

A Masala Sauce (recipe)

Okay, so lets start with the masala sauce. This sauce forms the body and soul of the worlds most popular pseudo-indian dish. I'm working to bring it on the trail with me next weekend. Because heavy cream is not trail friendly, I've decided to substitute mori-nu tofu for the heavy cream. This dish, as prepared, is vegan and vegetarian.

I got distracted when cooks illustrated covered chicken tikka masala in their current issue. I made their recipe, and I didn't see what was so great about it. Honestly. I found it lacking in flavor, and color. It had great texture, but with heavy cream, texture isn't much to brag about.

I've tried to keep this recipe as trail friendly as possible. I didn't take pictures during the preparation because my battery was charging. I'll take pictures when I prepare it for this weekends adventure.

To make this dish backpacker friendly, I will prepare a simple spicy tomato sauce and dehydrate it at home. This will give me a fresh flavor tomato sauce without weight. It will also save me the need to carry an extensive spice rack with me.

On the trail, mori-nu tofu will be whipped into the sauce to add protein and thickness.

Masala Tomato Sauce
---------------------------

• 6-8 ripe tomatoes
• a slice of butter/veggie stuff (optional. I don't use fats in things I want to dry)
  
• 2tbls minced garlic
• one medium white onion, minced and optional
  
• 1-2 jalepeno or equivalent chillies
  
• 1-2 tsp Paprika
• 1-2 tbls fresh coriander
• "1/2 amount of coriander" cumin seed
• 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2tsp garam masala spice blend
• 1 inch minced ginger root

1. toast whole coriander and cumin seeds till fragrant and aromatic before grinding with mortar and pestle.
   
2. puree tomatoes with Jalepenos, seeds and ribs included
   
3. Cook onion in butter over medium -medium high heat 3-5 minutes
4. add spices (parika, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, garam masala blend ) and cook 45s-1:30, till fragrant
5. add tomato-jalepeno puree and minced ginger
6. cook 10 minutes
7. dehydrate on parchment paper till dry . I use my over on the lowest setting with the door propped open. I flip the sauce after 8 hours to dry the other side of the slap.

**NOTE: If you are making this at home, you could puree the tofu in with the tomatoes and jalepenos, or whip it in by hand during the cooking. **

On the trail, rehydrate the dried tomato sauce in boiling water, and add mori-nu silken soft tofu to cream up the sauce. I recommend mashing the tofu up right in the box with your knife or spoon before adding it to the sauce. This sauce is delicious with rice, noodles, dumplings, falafel balls, breads, and eaten plain with a spoon.

I'll be posting an update on my fake meat recipe soon . . . Thank you for reading my blog,
Cayenne


Tofu and Tomato sauce with masala spices (below)

Amaranth and Harvest Soup

(Text at top, Pictures follow, recipes linked in right side column)

No rice, no beans, no lentils, no problem !

First lets get out some bisquick, instant potatoes, and dry milk. I'm joking, put that stuff back on the shelf. I think you will like what I came up with better. At first I was struggling, I kept wanting to use the forbidden items. Rice noodles, tofu, textured soy protein etc. But then, inspired by ancient brewing practices in the Americas, I decided to use amaranth seeds.

Amaranth seed is an amazing pseudo-grain, providing nearly 100% of the required amino acids per 150 grams. The flavor is very enjoyable, nutty, sweetly similar to malted barely. The texture in my hands is a delicate crunchy shell, encasing a soft chewy interior. In Aztec culture, amaranth was believed to be a magical food that provided superior endurance and strength. Amaranth was food for royalty, and an important part of the native religions in the Americas. The Spanish forbid the cultivation of the plant because of its use in non-Christian religious ceremonies, and the food disappeared for hundred of years.

I'm pairing Amaranth seed with wheat to provide me with a complete protein diet, as high in food value as red meat, fish, or poultry. I've decided to make fake meat on the trail from vital wheat gluten. It's a simple, but hour long, process of mixing some seasonings and water with some gluten powder. I've specifically planned this trip to allow me cooking time.

Today's dish is a simple Amaranth soup with Seitan (wheat meat) and fresh harvest vegetables. I walked out of the store with onions, snap peas, red bell pepper, potatoes, and corn. Your market might have something else in season.

I've also prepared a chimichurri inspired vinaigrette to finish off the flavors of the dish. It's simply a bunch of parsley, garlic, EVOO, champagne vinegar (or lime juice // other acid) , and red wine. Notice that by bringing wine and acid, I will have a drink as well as a dressing.



I started by preparing some Seitan, or wheat meat

It's boiled for about an hour in chicken broth and 10% soy sauce

and then cooled in broth

before being sliced and used like meat

Dice potatoes take the longest to cook

so they go in first, cooked in broth from Seitan preparation

Amaranth is a tiny little seed from a flowering weed

I add it after the potato has had five minutes in the pot, and let it cook 8 minutes

before adding the veggies.

In preparation, it's very beautiful

The fixing for a little Argentinian inspired sauce

Finished sauce, let water separate and take seasoned
acidic oil on the trail.

The final dish as eaten for dinner last night

For the trail, I dehydrated some corn, onion, celery and pepper. Less than 1/4 ounce for great fresh flavors. A huge weight savings, and almost no noticeable change in flavor profile. Much easier to chop and use in the wilderness.