My culinary explorations in 2024
And what I'm planning for 2025
This newsletter and blog post is a review of everything that I discovered and explored, try-tested and experimented with when it comes to food in 2024. Some of these I shared here on my Substack, but many I haven’t so far.
When I started Mel’s Treats I wanted to share my culinary explorations from my extensive traveling in 2022 and 2023 most and foremost what I have learnt from and living with locals in the Americas and the UK.
And I wanted to write down all of my favorite recipes that I collected over the years using my go-to technique when it comes to cooking and baking, making the most of pantry and fridge staples, using ingredients and produce efficiently and wisely.
Mel’s Treats series
In Mel travels I’ve shared stories from people that I met while traveling or that I’ve stayed or lived with for a while. Some of them shared their recipes with me.
Among those recipes are Kelly’s Scones, taught by a wonderfully warm and kindred soul at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire, UK.
I’ve written about raw vegan chocolate treats that I learned to make from a young woman while spending time at Pachamama Eco Village in Costa Rica.
Staying with three lovely ladies in Northern Nicaragua had me dive deeper into the traditional and local way of making Tortillas that doesn’t need a Tortilla press.
Being back in Vermont this spring I explored wild foraging in the thick Vermont forests and turned my foraged treasures - fiddle heads, Japanese knot weed - into delicious meals.
While I’m not certain where my travels will lead me to in 2025 I’m pretty sure I’ll be meeting inspiring people along the way who will teach me about their culinary explorations.
Another culinary series that I dedicated my time to this spring and early summer was Mel’s Staples. In this series I’m sharing 12 of my favorite recipes with you that involve staples from your pantry and/or your fridge. For each of these recipes I’ve also shot food photos.
I’ve enjoyed writing and taking those photos a lot. And I’m pretty sure I’ll do more of this in the coming year. Even though it’s not always easy to take professional photos without a proper home studio, I still manage to adapt to the local conditions since I’m using mainly natural light for my food & beverage photos.
Seasonal explorations
Wherever I was spending time during the growing season in recent years I always made sure I had access to local and seasonal produce and ingredients. Especially over the summer months I benefited from the abundance of local fruits and vegetables, most often from my own garden or backyard.
All of my recipes and all the dishes that I made for myself or the people I was cooking and baking for had the signature of the current season. This summer wasn’t that much of an experimental one. I did manage to make some elderflower cordial in Vermont’s early summer in late June, though.
I had made elderflower syrup in the past and absolutely love the floral aroma and flavor. But this year’s batch didn’t turn out that great.
Looking for a fancy recipe that involves elderflower syrup? Check out this recipe for a Shakerato from my Coffee Blog.
The abundance of juicy and sun ripe tomatoes inspired me to make a tomato chutney based on a recipe for red currant chutney that I have shared on Mel’s Treats earlier this year. I basically just swapped red currants for tomatoes, left out ginger and lemon peel, and there I had a delicious seasonal, yet spicy chutney.
Back in Germany this September my family and I got gifted a giant puffball mushroom - a first for me, since I had never tasted them before - that my Dad and me turned into a puffball Schnitzel. We were slicing the mushroom into thick Schnitzel like pieces and then coating them with flour, egg and bread crumbs and enjoyed them with some oven roasted potatoes and steamed carrots.
Depending on where I’ll end up in 2025 more seasonal recipes and dishes will follow. Every new season inspires me to come up with something new and I’m already looking for the next growing season starting in the spring.
Foodie experiments
My Dad enjoys experimenting with food as much as I do. I assume I’ve inherited that curious gene from him. This February I joined my Dad in smoking cheese in a Weber grill. A somewhat easy process that turns ordinary cheeses - we tested Cheddar, Limburger and other sharper cheeses - into a smoky treat using cherry wood chips.
Being with my family over the holidays we will smoke more cheese over the next couple days. My Dad had already smoked geese breast and salmon in the past couple weeks of which the smoked salmon turned out absolutely delicious.
I’ve also got more into fermentation this year, especially fermenting beverages. But the easy way, meaning without using any aids such as yeasts or Kombucha SCOBY.
Every fruit, root or herb contains quite the good amount of natural and wild yeast bacteria already. Using the right ratio of ingredients and with some patience you can make some very refreshing and healthy beverages from just a few ingredients.
While attending a Masterclass with fermentation guru Sandor Katz this May I learned how to make Tepache, a Mexican fermented beverage made from pineapple peel, water and some spices.
In October I discovered another incredible natural beverage, wild fermented soda. Made from seasonal, fruits, herbs or roots, such as ginger or turmeric, you’re able to make an amazing sparkling beverage.
I’ve tried three different batches using different recipes and techniques, got more into the details of using the perfect ratio of water to sugar (or honey or maple syrup) to fruit/herb/root, but only the very first one using a local fruit - sea buckthorn - turned out as the bubbly soda that I was so much anticipating.
After the second and third failed batche I gave up, for now. I’m very certain, though, that the new year will bring more experimentation around fermented foods and beverages including one of my favorite fermented food, Kimchi.
2024 was a rich and abundant culinary year and I’m already looking forward to the new one. Stay tuned for more recipes, more experiments and more of my culinary explorations around the world in 2025.
Happy new year and make sure to treat yourself!
You deserve it!
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