PEP Badge: Food Prep and Preservation

food prep and preservation
instruction, regulation, insurance, safety, etc

This aspect blends traditional food prep and preservation with modern permaculture tools - covered in a sauce made from gardening, homesteading, foraging and an optional bowl of veganism on the side.

These badges grew to something freakishly massive with a lot of minimum requirements.  Eventually the minimum requirements grew to the point that there was no room left for optional stuff. This is why many amazing food prep and preservation techniques do not appear here. The following are strictly forbidden:

 - Aluminum cookware
 - Teflon and similar materials
 - Microwave ovens
 - Plastic touching the food, including cooking utensils and zip lock bags

This aspect is not about proving that you are a master chef, but that you can reliably convert a seasonal homestead harvest into a thousand good meals throughout the year.


sand badge
Required:
cast iron skillet (select one)
   - fry an egg so that it slides around
   - vegan option (do both)
        - a stack of ten pancakes
        - hash browns that fully cover the skillet
cook at least two cups grain (or pseudograin) in four different ways
   - stovetop
   - rice cooker, crock pot or instapot
   - solar oven
   - haybox cooker
       - heat with rocket stove and move to haybox cooker
dry food in a solar food dehydrator
vinegar brine pickle something
salt brine ferment/pickle something
canning (select one)
     - water bath canning
     - steam canning
cook stir fry
make soup / stew / chowder
make pizza
Bake 2 loaves of bread


straw badge
Required:
Restarting a cast iron skillet

Food Preparation
Make 6 quarts of stock from veggie scraps
Cook and serve a pound of sunchokes
Soup - make 4 types of soup
   - ½ gallon minimum of each
       - Soup
       - Stew
       - Chowder
       - Chili
   - Minimum of 4 raw ingredients per soup
   - At least 1 is cooked on a rocket stove or Dakota stove
   - At least 2 are finished in a haybox cooker
      - You can combine the rocket stove and haybox cooker activities
Bake six things
   - At least two things are baked in a rocket oven
   - At least two things baked in cast iron
   - Bake one of each
       - Cake
       - Sweet bread
       - Casserole/lasagna
       - Pie
   - Bake two of the following (no duplication - ie. not two fritatas):
       - Frittata
       - Buns
       - Dinner rolls
       - Cinnamon rolls
       - Crumble
       - Brownies
       - Cookies
       - Cornbread
       - Fish
       - Calzone
       - Cinnamon bread or other fancy bread
       - Pizza (must be very different from your sand badge pizza)
       - Bread (must be very different from your sand badge bread)
Roast 4 pans of food
   - At least one is done in a rocket oven
   - At least one is in cast iron
   - At least 1 with a lot of potatoes
   - At least 1 with a lot of sunchokes
   - Meat is optional
Fry 12 different things
   - Could include things in a skillet or deep fat frying
   - At least 3 things are fried on a rocket stove or Dakota stove
   - At least 6 is in cast iron
   - Possibilities could include:
   - Stir fry
   - Eggs
   - Bacon
   - Frybread
   - Pancakes
   - Turkey (turkey fryer)
   - Chicken
   - Fried rice
   - Hashbrowns
Open fire - cook 4 different things
   - Wood fire on the ground - not in a grill
   - At least 1 item buried in coals
   - At least 1 item is cooked on a spit
   - Not a skewer on a grill
Dairy - do two of the following (no duplication - ie. not two butters):
   - Vegan cheese
   - Nut milk
   - Hard cheese (counts as two)
   - Butter
   - Powdered milk
   - Yogurt
   - Cream
   - Cottage cheese
   - Ice cream
   - Soft cheeses
  - Kefir
Condiments or salad dressings - Make two of the following (no duplication - ie. not two mustards):
   - Acid-base dressing (ex.)
   - Lemon juice
   - Apple Cider Vinegar
   - Oil-based dressing
   - Sugar-based dressing
   - Dairy-based dressing (or dairy alternative)
   - Mustard
   - Chutney
   - Sauces (including catsups)
Make two kinds of gravy
Grind two different grains into flour
   - Minimum of 2 cups per type of grain
Oils and Fats - press or render a quart of oil or fat - do one. Possibilities include:
   - Flax (linseed) oil
   - Sunflower oil
   - Walnut oil
   - Hazelnut oil
   - Lard
   - Tallow
   - Can be small quantities over time

Food Preservation
Pressure can two different things - At least one gallon per thing - Possibilities include:
   - Soup/stew/chili
   - Meat
   - Vegetables
   - Other low acid foods
   - Broths
Water bath can three different types of food - At least one gallon per type of food - Types of food:
   - Salsa
   - Pickles (not limited to cucumbers)
   - Sauces (tomato, apple, etc)
   - Whole fruits (no sugar, water and/or fruit juice is ok)
   - Relish
   - Syrup (elderberry, etc)
   - Juice
   - Juice concentrate
   - Jams/jellies
       - Boiled down a lot more than normal so as to avoid the need for quite so much added sugar
Storing food in a living state (possibly in a root cellar) - At least 20 pounds of each food - Six different species - Possibilities include:
   - Tree fruit
   - Root crops
   - Onions
   - Garlic
   - Cabbage
   - Tubers
   - Winter squash
   - Nuts
Dry 6 different types of things - each type only once
   - Herbs - ½ lbs fresh weight
   - Veggies - 5 lbs fresh weight  
       - For soups and stews and such
       - As “chips”
   - Mushrooms - 5 lbs fresh weight
   - Meat (aka jerky) fresh weight - 10 lbs
       - Cold smoking allowed
   - Sauces - 1 qt
   - Cookies and crackers and such - 2 lbs dry weight
   - Energy bars (grains, dried fruit, sweetener, oil, nut butter) - 5 lbs dry weight
   - For flour (ex. Squash or acorn flour) - 2 lbs dry weight
   - Fruits - 10 lbs fresh weight
Ferment four different types of things - At least one gallon per type of fermented food - possible examples are listed for each type:
   - Vegetable (minimum of 1 required)
       - Sauerkraut
       - Kimchi
   - Fruit (minimum of 1 required)
       - Apples
       - Pickles
       - Ketchup
   - Vinegar (do exactly 1)
       - Apple cider vinegar
       - Wine vinegar
   - Sourdough
   - Dairy
       - Yoghurt
       - Cheese
       - Sour cream
       - Buttermilk
       - Kefir
   - Drinks
       - Cider
       - Wine
       - Beer
       - Water kefir
       - Kombucha
Grain - Do one of these things (Includes hulling/threshing and winnowing)
   - Harvest and store 2 gallons of oats, wheat, barley or rye
   - Harvest and store 5 gallons of dry corn


wood badge
98% of the food for this badge is “organic or better”
75% of the food comes from homesteading, preferably from your own homestead
   - Nearby homestead or wild harvest (forage/hunting/fishing) is ok
       - Their food values need to be “organic or better”
       - Acquired with muscle power (bike/horse/foot/dogsled)
       - Trade, purchase or gifted is fine

Preserve 1 million calories
   - No more than 10% can be one type of thing (i.e. 500 qts of canned peaches)
       - 10% bacon, 10% ham, 10% canned pork, is ok
   - Must be at least 24 different types of food
   - No more than 10% can be frozen
   - Food preservation log (your thread at Permies) with the details
   - Summarizes source of the ingredients (store or homestead)
   - Maintains total tally of calories preserved

Prepare 800 plates of food
   - “Plate” means a meal averaging 500 calories
   - Food prep log (your thread at Permies) showing each meal with description of where the food came from
       - Each post covers at least 3 meals
       - Summarizes source of the ingredients (store or homestead)
       - Maintains total count of plates produced


iron badge
99% of the food for this badge is “organic or better”
90% of the food comes from homesteading, preferably from your own homestead
   - Nearby homestead or wild harvest (forage/hunting/fishing) is ok
       - Their food values need to be “organic or better”
       - Acquired with muscle power (bike/horse/foot)
       - Trade, purchase or gifted is fine

Preserve 4 million calories
   - No more than 10% can be one type of thing (i.e. 500 qts of canned peaches)
       - 10% bacon, 10% ham, 10% canned pork, is ok
   - Must be at least 48 different types of food
   - No more than 10% can be frozen
   - Food preservation log (your thread at Permies) with the details
       - Start a new log for Iron
       - Summarizes source of the ingredients (store or homestead)
       - Maintains total tally of calories preserved

Prepare 3200 plates of food
   - “Plate” means a meal averaging 500 calories
   - At least 400 plates need to be 100% from your homestead
       - Salt from off-site is allowed
   - Food prep log (your thread at Permies) showing each meal with description of where the food came from
       - Start a new log for Iron
       - Each post covers at least 3 meals
       - Summarizes source of the ingredients (store or homestead)
       - Maintains total count of plates produced
       - Maintains total count of plates produced from 100% homestead food