Sean Brock- A Seed Journey Through Cooking

My Floret original zinnia seeds have started to germinate and I’m already planning where to plant for cuttings versus allowing them to go to seed for next season. Seed saving is such a wonderful research spiral to tumble into. There are some real pioneers that have been saving species unsung for years, some may be your grandparents. My grandfather taught me how to save marigold seeds for the next season. Such a great plant to learn from. Now I’m teaching my girls with the poppy varieties in our own garden. we have been watching the tulips begin to sprout to even embark on a three year experiment. Choose our favorite tulip and try to grown our own bulbs from it’s seeds.

It’s wonderful to see that seed saving is having a real resurgence. Through the article on Row 7 we saw how land grant universities are helping breed amazing new varieties that will stay open pollinated and free to seed save. The Low Country in the United States has been rediscovering it’s agricultural history and the community of seed savers. In season 2 of Mind of a Chef, Sean Brock highlighted that southern cuisine could not exist without its original ingredients. Companies like Anson Mills “chose early on to grow and mill Carolina Gold rice and a full complement of heirloom grains adopted by rice families in the 19th century, and to follow the sustainable rice-crop rotation. In some ways, we hope to restart the Carolina Rice Kitchen cuisine itself—a cuisine that depends on a complex agricultural system suited to local conditions and cultural needs. It is an effort that requires extraordinary research into planting practices, seedsmanship, and preparation. The soil must be made right and the interrelation of cultivars reestablished.” Like Row 7, they choose to continue to breed for flavor. Like Row 7 they look at the local growing conditions and local needs. In a way think of these breeders as curating their own personal seed libraries they are then sharing with the wider world. I cringe to think how many local varieties we have lost as seed saving suffered through community diasporas. Thank goodness someone like Sean Brock can reinvigorate this tradition.