Hunt, Gather, Talk with Hank Shaw

In this episode, I geek out on basic cheesemaking -- the original way to preserve milk and dairy products -- with Claudia Lucero of Urban Cheesecraft in Portland, Oregon. It's a fun, super useful conversation about what equipment you need (hint: not much), where to get good milk, and how to actually make a few basic cheeses at home.

In this episode of Hunt Gather Talk, forager and chef Alan Bergo joins me to geek out on all the ways to preserve mushrooms, wild or cultivated. There's a whole lot more out there than just drying. We talk about which mushrooms are best preserved in other ways, like fermentation and pickling and just plain freezing.

I am excited to share with you my conversation with fermentation guru Sandor Katz, who is as knowledgeable as he is fun to talk with. We range all over the wild fermentation world in this episode, literally and figuratively since Sandor has traveled the globe in search of wild ferments. Strap yourself in for this one -- it's gonna be a ride!

Pressure canning scares people. Canning expert Cathy Barrow and I are here to dispel that fear. In this podcast, we explain all about pressure canning, dispelling myths and fears, and talking about our favorite projects. Cathy drops so much knowledge in this episode, it'll blow your mind!

From marinated mushrooms and peppers to pasta, pickles and sweets, the Italians are masters of preservation. I talk with cookbook author Rosetta Costantino about Southern Italian methods of preserving food; Rosetta is from Calabria and leads culinary tours there. If you want to learn how to do things the Calabrian way, this episode is for you.