Welcome

The Northeast Larder Project is an ongoing exploration into the rich potential of ingredients cultivated within the Northeastern United States. Our core aim is to develop and document a self-contained culinary ecosystem, deeply rooted in the unique bounty and seasonality of this region.

This project is driven by a desire to connect more intimately with our local food landscape. We focus intensely on sourcing ingredients directly from farms, foragers, and producers within the Northeast, striving to minimize reliance on products from outside this geographical area. This constraint isn’t just a limitation; it’s a creative catalyst that encourages innovation and a deeper understanding of what the region truly offers throughout the year.

Our work involves several key areas:

• Embracing Seasonality: Working directly with the natural cycles of the land, adapting our cooking and preservation methods to the ingredients available each season.
• Mastering Preservation: Utilizing traditional and modern techniques, with a particular emphasis on fermentation, to extend the life and transform the flavors of seasonal produce, building a true “larder” for year-round use.
• Developing a Regional Cuisine: Through experimentation and documentation, we are working towards defining a culinary identity that is authentic to the Northeast, showcasing its specific ingredients, flavors, and history.

This site serves as a living record of our journey – documenting experiments, sharing recipes, exploring techniques, and highlighting the ingredients and sources that make this project possible. It’s an invitation to explore the possibilities of a cuisine built from the ground up, right here in the Northeast.

Our work is informed by ongoing research and reading. You can find a list of influential and relevant books here: Bookshelf

For more detailed documentation on the project structure, content types, and site navigation, please see the Documentation page.

Currently Working On

Here’s a glimpse into what we’re currently exploring and documenting:

• New Blog - A recent write-up on a specific topic.
• Experiment on Lacto-Fermented Radishes - Documenting a recent preservation trial.
• Developing a Recipe for Foraged Greens - Working on integrating seasonal wild ingredients.
• Researching Historic Northeast Preservation Methods - Diving into the history of the region’s foodways.

Content Overview

The content is organized into nine main types of pages:

• Recipes: More complete dishes designed to stand on their own, showcasing the integration of local ingredients and techniques.
• Experiments: Documentation of trials with specific ingredients or techniques, sometimes with a clear culinary goal and sometimes exploring possibilities.
• Blogs: More public-facing polished write-ups about experiments, thoughts, theories, and other project-related topics.
• Ideas: Concepts or potential projects that are being considered but have not yet been documented as experiments.
• Ingredients: Pages dedicated to individual ingredients or derived products (e.g., a specific vegetable, a lactofermented item).
• Techniques: Explanations and explorations of culinary and fermentative methods relevant to the project.
• Sources: Information about the farms, producers, or locations where ingredients are sourced.
• Larder: Items that are used as ingredients (e.g., home-made vinegar, amazake) but that need to be made.
• Project: An overarching project, like ‘amazakes’ or ‘grain vinegars’, within which can be many experiments.

Navigating the Site

• Left Sidebar (Explorer): Use this panel to browse the entire site structure, organized by folders and files.
• Right Sidebar (Table of Contents): This panel provides an outline of the current page, allowing you to quickly jump to different sections.
• Graph View: The interactive graph on the right visualizes the connections between different pages, helping you discover related content and explore the network of ideas within the project.

New content is added regularly as research and experiments progress.