Ancestral Kitchen

Years ago on Instagram I came across an amazing creator, generously sharing delicious and nourishing recipes. I fell in love with her recipes and they became staples in our kitchen to this day, and over time a friendship developed as we began to chat and then text back and forth. One day i got up the courage to ask her to be on the podcast and she said yes, and you've heard her first episode; it’s way back on Episode 55 where Anita and I discuss her process of creation and her incredible recipes, all shared for free on her website, now nosetotailrecipes.com.
Anita and her family visited our family farm in Washington State and we sat down together to record what turned out to be this hilarious episode where we shared with each other our favorite and least favorite kitchen tools. Things got hysterical, or we did anyway, as we could not always agree on whether a tool was primarily useful or useless, and we surprised each other with some unexpected tools that neither of us would have ever thought of and we both wanted to purchase by the end of the episode!
I have shared as many resource links as possible in the show notes as well as a rough list of the subjects we covered. You can also view this episode on our Ancestral Kitchen Podcast YouTube channel, with the video that took us several hours to figure out how to make. For supporters of the podcast, there is a bonus Aftershow where we talked about travel food and more.
If you have wondered about our real thoughts on ice cream makers or juicers, or whether cast iron waffle makers really work or not, this will be an episode you are going to enjoy. Do you think we put the right ones on the dud tool list, or did we get it wrong? Let us know your favorite tools and which ones we missed!
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Sign up to the pod's newsletter here.
Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains
Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour
Get all three of the podcast cookbooks
Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here.
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Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here!
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What We Talked About:
Getting off social media
What we last ate
The Pork Cookbook
Discord and the AKP community
Pasta and Dumpling Makers - Pelmeni Maker, Phillips Pasta Maker
Food Processor Favorites - Andrea's Food Processor
Blenders and Mills - Mockmill (US and UK links)
Instant Pot and Slow Cooker - who wins?
Surprise Gadget: THE STAR!!! Travel Egg Cooker
Ice Cream and Juicing - Anita's Mini Cold Press Juicer, Andrea's old fashioned ice cream churn (4 qt and 6 qt available), our favorite modern ice cream maker with frozen churn, and listener-recommended top compressor brand, Whynter (various sizes and models available)
Rice Cooker Praise - Tatung Electric Steamers: Anita uses this for rice and steaming!!! HUGE Favorite!!
Vitamix and Blending - Andrea's favorite model of Vitamix and her blog post in praise of 70 Ways to Use the Vitamix
Food Mill Favorites - Andrea's mill for tomato sauce, apple sauce (also available from Azure Standard)
Knives, Meat Slicer, and a Liver Hack - Anita's meat slicer used for liver, bread and more!
Vacuum Sealing Meat - Weston Vacuum Sealer (not a compartment sealer, since we do so many large items like turkey and whole ham - one day we would like to add a compartment sealer to our library of tools, though!), WeVac bag rolls, maintenance kit for sealer, sealer bar tape,
Sauerkraut and Tiny Fermentation Tools - kombucha lid
Mason Jar Attachments - pouring handle/spout for wide mouth jars, honey dipper for regular mouth pint
Kefir Whey Lemonade: Anita is Shook
Little Gadgets: Cherry Pitter and Milk Frother - Tabletop Cherry Pitter and Handheld Cherry Pitter , Anita's milk frother which they use daily - after 1 to 2 years of heavy use started to act up
Vintage Tool: Potato Ricer - a modern stainless steel model
Thermometers - ChefAlarm thermometer
Cheese Slicers - Copenhagen
Let's Discuss Weird Kitchen Gadgets! (WILL SHE WON'T SHE?!!!)
Kitchen Nightmares: Dud Tools and Juicers
Are they really necessary? Spiralizers and Mandolines
Epic Fail: Orange Juice Press - AFTER we recorded the episode, Anita found a juicer she LOVES!
Controversial Throwdown: Microwaves and Reheating Coffee
Waffle Iron Terror: Brittney's Great Flames and Crying Children
Listener recommendation: Copper-Plated Waffle Iron
Last Minute Additions We Couldn't Forget: Immersion Blender and Turkey Roaster
Top of the line Vitamix Immersion Blender
Little workhorse KitchenAid Immersion Blender
Turkey Roaster - both of Andrea's are old models no longer available online but there are many to choose from

The personal views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect our own personal views or...

The more time we spend around ancestral food, the more other ancestral practices begin to filter into our lives as well - our clothing may change, our lighting and screen time may evolve, and our skin, hair and general body care may change as well. Many ancestral methods of caring for the body involved simple food products that could be applied to skin or hair or even injuries. Of course, apothecaries existed for more expensive and sometimes even toxic compounds, just like we suffer from today, but many beauty routines, even for the upper classes, just involved simple food products.
Today we will share some of the edible and accessible routines we use to care for our skin, as well as our historical hair routines, and we will discuss the benefits of our food as well as our topical care. We are always curious to hear from our listeners about their routines as well, and we have learned much from our supporter community on Discord as well! If you have methods you enjoy we would love to hear about them, and if you try and like any of ours, do let us know!
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Sign up to the pod's newsletter here.
Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains
Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour
Get all three of the podcast cookbooks
Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here!
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What We Talked About:
What we last ate
A review from JillyBean
Teemill Bags and Swag!
What is beauty and what is it for?
Alison's Face Routine
Rob's Face Wash
Andrea's Sugar Scrub
Whipped Tallow (is it really so easy? Yes it is)
Alison's Historical Hair Routine
What do Rob and Gabriel do?
Andrea's Historical Hair Routine
What's it like to start washing with clay?
Preventing sunburn
Kombucha and scoby uses
Honey for wounds
Oatmeal: Why it's good for skin
More episodes you might like!

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If you love the show, leave us a 5* reviews on Apple Podcasts:
Open the Apple Podcast app and find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews', click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

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Resources:
Episode 76: Essential Oils in an Ancestral Kitchen
Katherine Hair Care
Episode 64: Better Broths and Healing Tonics
Hunter & Gather Mayonnaise
Elly's Every Day Soapmaking (Two AMAZING YouTube channels!)
Episode 127: How to Render Fat at Home (With Q&A!)
Rhassoul Clay that Andrea uses
Wooden Scalp Brush
Purchase Holly's Summit
Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay

Imagine if you could put yourself inside ancestral kitchens all over the world and watch a week’s worth of food. Real people cooking for their real families using real ingredients.
That’s what we’re talking about today. Because, thanks to our supporter community, we’ve made that possible for you. Answering a callout for weekly menus, our supporters sent them in and we’re sharing it all in a new expanded book called A Treasury of Ancestral Menus: 50 pages of a week’s worth of food from all over the world.
When I sat down to read this book, it blew me away. I was reminded that this way of cooking doesn’t have to be perfect. I saw some ingenious ideas for cooking once, eating multiple times, some simple options I’d never even thought of, some nutritious flavour combinations that were brilliant and some breakfasts, lunches, and dinners I just wanted to copy! These people get it, I thought, and wanted to jump into the kitchen straight away and start cooking!
Today we’ll share 20 meal ideas that come directly from these menus. Thank you to all the supporters that wrote down what they ate for a week and sent it to us. You’ve already got the treasury in your inbox. But more than that we wanted to make it available to everyone listening - because we know it will encourage and support more real food in more kitchens around the world. If you’re not a supporter, head to ancestralkitchenpodcast.com/menus and give us what your pocket can afford to download your copy.
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Sign up to the pod's newsletter here.
Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains
Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour
Get all three of the podcast cookbooks
Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here!
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If you love the show, leave us a 5* reviews on Apple Podcasts:
Open the Apple Podcast app and find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews', click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

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Resources:
Get Your Copy of A Treasury of Ancestral Meals here
Episode 132: A Week of Ancestral Meals: what we really ate
Episode 56: Preparing Nutrient-Dense Meals From Scratch Every Day
Spelt Sourdough Every Day
The Best Way to Soak Oats
Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oat Cakes
Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay

What does ethical and sustainable seafood look like, and how in the world do we even begin to find such a thing? In this episode Andrea sat down with Sam Pflaum, owner and operator of Ketchikan Sam’s up in Ketchikan, Alaska, USA. Sam’s family has been living and fishing in Ketchikan, Alaska for several generations, and he understands the nature of the fish and the nature of the fishing industry. We asked him about farmed vs wild-caught salmon, different varieties of salmon, salmon hatcheries, ethics of salmon and eating fish when you live away from the ocean. We talked about alternatives to salmon and other types of fish that are good to eat, and we discussed seasonality and storing of fresh fish. This was a fascinating and eye-opening episode - seafood is a topic we are often asked about but we are not deeply educated on ourselves, and it was a relief to have someone to ask these questions who really understands the industry from all angles.
After we finished recording the main feed episode, Sam took us on a walking tour of his fish plant, which you can see on our Ancestral Kitchen Podcast YouTube channel; supporters of the podcast can also listen in to the audio of this on the private podcast feed. Nothing beats seeing the visuals and walking outside to see the salmon running down the creek right outside the fish plant!
Sam is educating us on how to find ethical suppliers wherever we may be, and the quality of fish to look for; we have also shared links to his online store for frozen fish shipping everywhere in the USA, in the show notes. There are plenty of other great resources in the show notes today too, so check them out for additional video content from Ketchikan Sam’s!
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Sign up to the pod's newsletter here.
Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains
Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour
Get all three of the podcast cookbooks
Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here!
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What We Talked About:
What was the last thing you ate today?
Let's do a deep dive on salmon - current sustainability issues, fishing ethics, regulations, as well as farmed vs wild-caught
Should someone who lives away from the sea be eating ocean seafood?
What are some reasonable alternatives to salmon?
The rising cost of seafood - prices double as tariffs block global imports of cheap, net-caught seafood
Fish seasonality - when to look for certain fish? How long can we store them in the freezer?
Jakob wanted to know: What sea animals can you smoke?

Visit Ancestral Kitchen Podcast on YouTube to see a walking tour of the fish plant and smokehouse, as well as hear Sam's favorite ways to cook and serve fish!
The personal views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect our own personal views or opinions. We recognize that our guests are whole persons and this may include views we or our audience actively disagree with; our guests are invited to the show because we feel they have something valuable to share with us all, and we do not ask them to censor their personal views on air. Our sharing of their work is not necessarily an endorsement of their personal views.
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If you love the show, leave us a 5* reviews on Apple Podcasts:
Open the Apple Podcast app and find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews', click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

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Resources:
Sam's online freezer shop and use code ANCESTRAL26 for $10 off your order!
Alaska Vibes interview and tour with Sam
Ketchikan Sam's on Instagram
Ketchikan Sam's on Facebook
Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay

Fermenting vegetables is a topic we all have questions on, whether we’re just starting with fermentation or we’ve been doing it for years. Today I welcome Holly Howe of makesauerkraut.com and we answer your real-life fermenting veg questions. Holly is amazing. I personally learned so much from the hour and a half I spent with her, and I know that wherever you are in your fermentation practise, you will too.
Supporters can also access an after show - I persuaded Holly to stay on a bit longer and talk to me about how to know if a ferment has gone bad and what steps you can take to combat mould.
Holly is super busy right now organising her upcoming event, the fermentation summit which will run from September the 15th to 17th this year, 2026. If you would like to get access to a whole load of free video presentations by fermentation experts that will move your practise forward no matter where you are at, sign up at ancestralkitchenpodcast.com/hollysummit.
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Sign up to the pod's newsletter here.
Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains
Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour
Get all three of the podcast cookbooks
Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here!
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What we cover:
Equipment for fermentation
The use of inoculants
What the best cabbage is for sauerkraut
What to do if your sauerkraut is dry
The importance of salt in fermentation and which salt is the best
What will make the difference between succeeding and failing
How long to ferment your sauerkraut for
How to make a year’s worth of sauerkraut
Cucumber pickles, talking about how to avoid them going soft

The personal views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect our own personal views or opinions. We recognize that our guests are whole persons and this may include views we or our audience actively disagree with; our guests are invited to the show because we feel they have something valuable to share with us all, and we do not ask them to censor their personal views on air. Our sharing of their work is not necessarily an endorsement of their personal views.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If you love the show, leave us a 5* reviews on Apple Podcasts:
Open the Apple Podcast app and find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews', click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

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Resources:
To sign up for The Fermentation Summit go here
Holly’s website
Holly’s book Mouthwatering Sauerkraut Fermentation Made Easy
Kitchen Table Chat #36 (about 'snotty' ferments)
Hollys post, How to Make Sauerkraut In a Crock in 7 Simple Steps [Healthy, Flavorful, Easy]
Holly's cranberry and orange relish is within this post: Fermented Cranberries

Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay