This is a sweetheart for me. Nothing new now (fermentation proccess) to show u – apart from introduce u Mr. Mallow.

MALVA SYLVESTRIS. Growing every corner.

It has great medicinal effects: used for irritation of the mouth and throat, dry cough, and bronchitis – also used for stomach and bladder complaints.Used in cases of inflammation, either for the urinary, digestive or respiratory systems.

Nutritional value: vitamins A,B,C,E; inulin; mucilage; phenols; flavonoids; essential fatty acids; fibre; calcium; magnesium; zinc; iron; selenium; potassium!!!

Since i forage and cycle a bit out from the town i just see this beauty everywhere. And its actually taste alright – not less apetizing than a leaf of spinach if u asking me. And the leaves growing huge! So im planning to do some wrapping after this fermentation period. Wait. So let me show u.

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I foraged a big bag of these beautiful leaves – its from the nature so it s not ‘cleaned’ (treated) with any industrial sh@t – so i just wash it properly. I picked from a riverside – so i wash it mainly to get rid of little bugs and some bigger friends i would keep if i can – instead i save them in a jar to let them free later: SNAILS.

After cleaning the leaves u add your salt and stuff. Like:

Salt. Shichimi Togarashi. Ginger.

Soy sauce. Rye starter. (if u use raw leaves – im being more than sure they have lactobacillus in their surfaces. But i just love to use my starter anyway)

U have to work carefully as we want to keep the leaves whole so we can use them later for wrapping or dehydrate for crisp. Massage the marinade carefully into the mallow – first it will feel tough but give some rest and do it again and one more time. It should be ready to jump into a sterilized jar.

Shake it couple of times a day. Wont have too much natural brine innit – but will ferment nicely. (of course u can flavour it in plenty different ways – with curry, onion, garlick powder, smoked paprika, jerk or pesto marinade – freedom is limitless). And wait. wait around 10 days. And lets move on from there. Exciting.

After 10 days the jar still sizzling a bit but i just have to open. Leaves stayed whole – and became spicy with tangy sourness. Made a great lunch –

The rest of the leaves i dehydrated between 2 sheets of baking paper for 40 minutes around 100 degrees.

After nibbling on some of these crisps (very delicate and also absorb the moist in the air very quick) decided to turn it into my new salt. Perfect umami salt.

Your options are limitless. Use as a seasoning or as a dried ‘seaweed’ to make your dashi or other stock u can use later. Beautiful. Thank u Mallow.