Pascal Baudar - The Wildcrafting Brewer: Creating Unique Drinks and Boozy Concoctions from Natures Ingredients

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pascal Baudar is an author, wild food researcher, traditional food preservation instructor, and wild brewer living in Los Angeles. For the last 17 years, his passion has been to investigate the flavors and possible uses of local wild edibles through extensive research and experimentation in the fields of modern and traditional methods of food preservation, herbalism, and ethnobotany.

A sort of culinary alchemist, he has seen his locally found wild ingredients and unique preserves make their way into the kitchens of such star chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Josiah Citrin, Ari Taymor, Michael Voltaggio, Chris Jacobson, Niki Nakayama, and many others. Over the years, through his weekly classes and seminars, he has introduced thousands of home cooks, local chefs, and foodies to the flavors offered by their wild terroir.

Pascal has also served as a wild food consultant for several television shows including MasterChef and Top Chef Duels . He has been featured in numerous TV shows and publications including Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times , LA Weekly , the New York Times , and many more.

In 2014 he was named one of the 25 most influential tastemakers in LA and in 2017, one of the seven most creative cooking teachers by Los Angeles Magazine .

Pascal offers wildcrafting and traditional food preservation classes through his website: www.urbanoutdoorskills.com.

Also by Pascal Baudar

The New Wildcrafted Cuisine

Chelsea Green Publishing sees books as tools for effecting cultural change and seeks to empower citizens to participate in reclaiming our global commons and become its impassioned stewards. If you enjoyed The Wildcrafting Brewer , please consider these other great books related to food and drink.

THE NEW WILDCRAFTED CUISINE

Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir

PASCAL BAUDAR

9781603586061

Hardcover $40.00

MAKE MEAD LIKE A VIKING

Traditional Techniques for Brewing Natural, Wild-Fermented, Honey-Based Wines and Beers

JEREME ZIMMERMAN

9781603585989

Paperback $24.95

THE ART OF FERMENTATION

An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World

SANDOR ELLIX KATZ

9781603582865

Hardcover $39.95

WILD FERMENTATION

The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, Updated and Revised Edition

SANDOR ELLIX KATZ

9781603586283

Paperback $29.95

MIRACLE BREW

Hops, Barley, Water, Yeast and the Nature of Beer

PETE BROWN

9781603587693

Paperback $19.95

THE NEW CIDER MAKERS HANDBOOK

A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers

CLAUDE JOLICOEUR

9781603584739

Hardcover $44.95

AN UNLIKELY VINEYARD

The Education of a Farmer and Her Quest for Terroir

DEIRDRE HEEKIN

9781603586795

Paperback $25.00

THE ART OF NATURAL CHEESEMAKING

Using Traditional, Non-Industrial Methods and Raw Ingredients to Make the Worlds Best Cheeses

DAVID ASHER

9781603585781

Paperback $34.95

Primitive brewing in a clay potopen fermentation.

In my last book, The New Wildcrafted Cuisine , I started exploring the concept of creating alcoholic beverages using local plants, sugar sources, and even yeasts and bacteria to represent, through taste, the various environments or regions we live in.

For example, if you live in Vermont, Maine, or New Hampshire, you can create delicious fermented beverages or beers representing a specific forest, mountain, or territory by using whats available in that location: maple or birch syrup, wild sassafras roots, spruce, birch bark, white pine, yarrow, turkey tail or chaga mushrooms, local yeast from flowers, wild berries, or barks, and so on. You could call it hyperlocal brewing . Ive found from my own actual research and experience that the number of possible ingredients you can use is mind boggling.

Based on the amount of emails and feedback I received, the brewing section of that first book ended up being quite popular, and probably for good reason. Many people (myself included) find it thrilling to be able to explore a location and create drinks such as beers, wines, or sodas that are a true representation of the site.

From a sustainability perspective, once you find local ingredients that you can use, you can also replant them and thus contribute to their long-term viability. Some of the people who have attended my classes and workshops are now growing native plants in their gardens or on private properties for culinary uses. Its another way you can help the local environment and support its unique native flora and fauna.

In the last couple of years, Ive done much more experimentation with various types of brewing and wild yeast extractions, and have traveled to other areas of the country and Europe. Today Im still as excited as I was when I started years ago to create interesting fermented concoctions with what each specific region has to offer. While teaching food preservation and fermentation at an environmental college in Vermont, after a few days of education about the local flora from fellow plant experts, we were able to create a primitive beer using plants, bark, and berries from their own private forest, extract local wild yeast from flowers, and use their homemade maple syrup (from the same forest) for fermentation. It was so good, Im still dreaming about it.