The Women's Heritage Sourcebook | Emma Rollin Moore
The Women’s Heritage Sourcebook: Bringing Homesteading to Everyday Life
By Ashley Moore, Lauren Malloy, and Emma Rollin Moore
Intro: Welcome to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors.
Emma Rollin Moore: Hello, everyone. My name is Emma Rollin Moore, and I am the author of The Women's Heritage Sourcebook and my two coauthors are Lauren Malloy and Ashley Moore.
Suzy Chase: For more Cookery by the Book and to see what recipes I made out of this cookbook, head on over to Cookery by the Book on Instagram. Now, for my quarantine question round, where are you living?
Emma Rollin Moore: I'm living in Santa Barbara, California.
Suzy Chase: What restaurant are you dreaming of going to after the quarantine?
Emma Rollin Moore: I hope this is okay, but I'm actually dreaming of a progressive where I go to get cocktails from this craft cocktail place called Shaker Mill, and then some yuca frites from a cuban restaurant, and then heading to Corazon Cocina in the projects for this like fresh farmer's market salad. See, I even know what I want. A farmer's market salad in an ahi tartare.
Suzy Chase: So at home, what dish is getting you through this?
Emma Rollin Moore: For us, what gets us through is we have a sourdough pizza night every Friday night, and that was a steady constant before the quarantine. So I really see how important that steady drumbeat of a rhythm is really helpful for our family, especially our kids. They look forward to diving in and helping me make sourdough and coming up with different topping ideas and things like that. So I'd really say that the sourdough pizza specifically is really getting us through.
Suzy Chase: Now, on with the show. So given what's going on in the world right now, I think on some level women are feeling inspired to be more self-sufficient. I'm thinking a lot about local ingredients and home-cooked meals. How did the idea of women's heritage come to life, and how did you and your partners meet?
Emma Rollin Moore: I absolutely agree with you. I think when entire food systems are shut down and we're asked to stay home, I think we naturally feel inspired to create, especially in the kitchen and in the garden. And for Lauren, Ashley, and myself, we came together creating Women's Heritage with the idea that we're just three momma friends and we actually took a trip with our families to the High Sierras in California a couple of winters back, and we actually caught ourselves in a snow storm. It's kind of funny. We were actually in lockdown then, and I had brought my sourdough bread for everyone to enjoy and Ashley was learning more and more about herbalism and brought some herbal tinctures and Lauren just has this deep knowledge of animal husbandry and so we just started chatting about how we wanted to learn from each other, how I wanted to learn more about the herbs that Ashley was growing and making tinctures from and Lauren wanted to learn more about how to make sourdough bread.
Even though I grew up on a dairy farm, I had never kept chickens before so I actually was really interested in learning from Lauren about chicken-keeping. Really the idea of Women's Heritage was born then when we had this idea that when we get back, why don't we just put it out there to our friends and family members? If anyone's interested, let's put a class together, and so our first class was on sourdough bread baking. And I remember we came up with the name, I think in the High Sierras and put an Instagram flash website really quickly together. We put it out there to our friends on Instagram and I want to say an hour or two hours later, the class was sold out.
Suzy Chase: Oh, wow.
Emma Rollin Moore: And then our next class, we had Ashley do a herbal medicine basket, and Lauren also taught how to milk a cow and then I taught everyone how to make cheese from the cow milk. But along the way, we just started to realize the importance of our community and ourselves, how we were really yearning to connect back to our roots and learn and make and do things altogether with each other and separately too. But really, really the idea of learning from each other.
Suzy Chase: Yeah, because what I took away from Women's Heritage is it's more about interdependence than independence.
Emma Rollin Moore: Yes, absolutely. I think that's the heart of how I function and it's the heart of how Ashley, Lauren and myself and at the heart of Women's Heritage. It's really about the idea in this fast paced world, I think that sometimes we're told that we can do it all, and I don't think it's about doing it all. It's thinking about, "What are you passionate about? What do you want to bring yourself, your family? How can you connect back to your roots in those ways?" And then also how liberating to know that you don't have to do it all? So maybe you learn how to can, but you say, "Oh God, I don't ever want to can." So then you find a friend who will can for you, or you decide you make it fun and do a canning together. Like you have an apricot tree that's going gangbusters and you decide that you're going to make apricot jam together.
I think the idea is learning and creating and making with each other. And then also if you don't have those tools nor do you want to, that you're more informed about making more sustainable choices for yourself and your family. So for example, if growing all your food which that seems daunting for even me, I can't possibly grow all my own food for our family. That would be something that would be overwhelming. So I have a nice little garden, but I also believe in supporting our farmer's market, joining a CSA and just knowing where food comes from.
Suzy Chase: What does the term homestead mean to you and to Women's Heritage?
Emma Rollin Moore: That's a really good question. I think that for someone who grew up on a dairy farm, which I did, but now lives in the city, I think that homesteading for myself, but also what is also at the heart of Women's Heritage means making things from scratch, growing what you can, finding it fresh from the farmer's market, or joining a CSA. And then also knowing where you can get what you need from others around you, who are also makers and doers. I think that is at the essence of who we are, but it's also at the essence of how I also function too.
Suzy Chase: So part of your approach to cooking includes fermentation.
Emma Rollin Moore: Yes.
Suzy Chase: What are your favorite foods to ferment, and what are the health benefits?
Emma Rollin Moore: So, I would say my favorite foods to ferment is definitely kimchi. I love the flavor punch and profile of it. I absolutely love to ferment sourdough bread. There's something so special about taking out a fresh loaf of bread from the oven and enjoying it. And then I've recently gotten into making my own tempeh, and that was something that I was really intimidated by, but there is nothing more enjoyable and taste worthy than making your own tempeh. So right now those are my favorite go-to's. Kefir, the sourdough bread, the Tempe and then I would also say just a really nice kombucha is also really nice when it's in the warmer months and you're wanting something effervescent.
And then when it comes to health benefits, I think that the benefits on our gut are so incredible. So we're actually pre-digesting the food. This is a great example for this is sourdough bread. It also can be a detoxifier. For example, oxalic acid and fatty acid can get broken down with fermentation. That's a definite reason why we might soak or sprout grains. There's a nutrient enhancement that happens. So fermentation can add nutrients. Almost all ferments have elevated B vitamins. And I think one of the most profound benefits of fermentation is really the live bacteria themselves. So not every ferment has living bacteria. For example, bread, beer and wine. This is filtered out, chocolate, coffee, canned sauerkraut. But when we eat fermented foods that haven't been heated or processed after fermentation, you're ingesting that healthy bacteria and people buy pills for this at the store.
Suzy Chase: You've made all these daunting recipes sound so easy like your homemade ricotta.
Emma Rollin Moore: Thank you. Yeah.
Suzy Chase: It's just four ingredients. Can you walk us through this recipe?
Emma Rollin Moore: Yeah. And I have to say, that's why I am so passionate about the book and the recipes is that I really think it's doable for everyone. And so, I think if you're interested in diving into homesteading make this homemade ricotta because it is so good. And all you're doing is adding three and a half cups of whole milk, a half a cup of heavy cream, and just a half a teaspoon of sea salt. You're just putting all of that in a little sauce pan, heating the milk to 165 degrees, and then you're removing it from the heat and then you add the lemon juice. You stir it once or twice, you let the pot sit undisturbed. Then you line a colander with a few layers of cheese cloth, and then you can eat that yummy cheese that forms because you're just catching those curds really and letting the whey release, and you can eat it right away or you can refrigerate it. It is easier obviously to just go buy that at the store, but it definitely is rewarding.
Suzy Chase: So, what's a shrub?
Emma Rollin Moore: Oh yeah. That's a really good question. It's a drinking ... Yeah. I get this all the time. People are like, "What is a shrub? Is it something you grow?" But a shrub is a drinking vinegar and it actually includes vinegar, fruits, and sugar. And once the drinking vinegar then is made, and then you can add Bali water, or you can add a bit of alcohol or some bitters to spice it up. It's really one of our first forms of soda. If you wanted to make a shrub, you would really have equal part that vinegar, fruit and sugar.
Suzy Chase: Something changes in my brain when I'm in nature whether it be swimming in the ocean, which I really miss right now or touching the bark of the tree in the woods. Talk a bit about slowing down and being present in nature.
Emma Rollin Moore: I just think it's good for the soul. It's good for the mind. It's good for the body. It's good for the spirit. Even if you live in the city where you just have a porch, but you're putting your hands in the soil and growing some tomatoes in pots this summer. But there is something even more so about getting outside in nature. And there's definite research and doctors are prescribing forest bathing now. And I really think that's also at the heart of the Women's Heritage Sourcebook, it's just that idea of how nature and getting out and experiencing nature in those ways I think can be really nourishing for our soul. And that we actually really do yearn for that when it's taken away. I think like anything it's about a balance. When we have a lot of technology, I think a really great counterbalance is this idea that we can get outside, even if we're not making and doing but we're just looking from a foraging standpoint to just go on a hike and be able to know what is growing and just breathe and breathe in the air.
Suzy Chase: Your hens give you plenty of eggs. I found we've been eating so many eggs during the quarantine. And the other day..
Emma Rollin Moore: Yes, we have too.
Suzy Chase: It's crazy.
Emma Rollin Moore: Yeah.
Suzy Chase: So the other day I made your recipe for Mini Herb And Cheese Frittatas on page 189. Can you describe this recipe?
Emma Rollin Moore: So, I love this recipe because it's one of those things where it's also something that kids can easily do this at any age. You could decide that you're going to not have the kids crack the eggs, or you can. Once you've whisked the eggs with the milk and the cheese and the herbs and any add on's, just eight to 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and you have a really lovely egg dish. I'm a really big advocate of eggs and breakfast for dinner. That's savory. It's great to have these on hand, even as snacks.
Suzy Chase: Now, for my segment called My Favorite Cookbook. What is your all time favorite cookbook and why?
Emma Rollin Moore: This probably gets said a lot, but for me, Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food. I remember getting that book early on and it's just so much about slow food and knowing where food comes from and cooking fresh seasonal honest ingredients. And it's just inspired me in my life and how I've chosen to cook and raise my family and inspire other people to also cook and to shop at farmer's markets and know where food come from.
Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media and your store?
Emma Rollin Moore: Find us at Women's Heritage on Instagram and it's @Womens_Heritage. And then you can also find our store at Heritage Goods And Supply on Instagram as well. And I would just say that our store really was a product of us teaching classes and having other people teach classes and there's definitely a desire for people that wanted to know where they could get their bread cooking baskets and their herbal supplies.
Suzy Chase: So this cookbook shows us how to achieve comfort through self-reliance. Thanks so much, Emma, for coming on Cookery By The Book podcast.
Emma Rollin Moore: Thank you so much for having me, Suzy.
Outro: Subscribe over on cookerybythebook.com. And thanks for listening to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery By The Book.
