In so many of our episodes over the last four years, we have explored how no food we eat is intrinsically ‘bad’. Instead, it’s what we as humans living in a rapidly globalising and industrialising world, have done to that food that causes problems. The topic of today’s episode, cacao, epitomises this. Originally, in its home, central america, cacao beans were revered and used unsweetened as a drink. Our world has taken and transformed them into an unrecognisable sugary commodity that fills the shelves of shops globally. A commodity that can, as Alison personally knows, through at 20, being addicted to the stuff and obese, ruin health.

But as ancestral cooks, we need not be scared. And our guest today knows that better than anyone we’ve ever come across. Marcos Patchett is a self-confessed cacao geek and has written two books on this bean’s wonders, the first of which, The Secret Life of Chocolate is 700 pages of incredible research, of which Alison has devoured every page!

Cacao is an incredibly nutrient-dense food and one that can give us both pleasure and health. Let’s talk about why, and, how, you should be eating chocolate.

Supporters of the podcast, check your private feed for a fascinating discussion on addiction that we just couldn’t squeeze into the main episode.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

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Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

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Our podcast is supported by a community

Ancestral food is not just all livers and bone broth! You not only can find amazing treats and desserts in the ancestral food world, but this is where delicious, comforting goodness was invented. The modern and industrial versions of sweet treats are like looking through a glass Pyrex pan darkly, and when you are introduced to the ancestral food world and the amazing ingredients we have available to us here you can in fact meet the richness and goodness of delicious treats face to face.

In this episode we share some of our favorite treats including a range of baked, custardy, dairy-free, gluten-free, or egg-free treats to keep you going all winter and into the spring. And the question I know which is burning in all of our hearts, is chocolate part of an ancestral lifestyle, can it be part of an ancestral life? Find out in this episode.

We also included a few of our favorite hot beverages - on a cold rainy day there is nothing better than wrapping your fingers around a hot steaming mug of something delicious and nestling in with a good book for a long afternoon … and then of course you gotta get up and put on your overalls and your hat and go back out into the rain and do the evening chores but that's ok, you've got something delicious to come back inside to!

For supporters of the podcast there is an additional download with a couple extra recipes for you (thank you for keeping us on the air!), and for everybody listening be sure to check the show notes, we linked the heck outta this one. Let us know if there are other sweet treats we should have mentioned or that you love!

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

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Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks:

As you know, if you’ve been cooking ancestrally for any length of time, the ancestral mindset does not stay in the kitchen! Some of us come to this as part of a health journey, already thinking about our life as a whole…others of us start with food and find the wisdom of our ancestors seeping into the rest of our lives. There are things we just can’t not see any more, things we feel are wrong; things we know are right.

We have, together, been living this lifestyle for over 25 years. And we were both on health journeys long before then. Our lives, not just our kitchens, have transformed.

In this episode you’ll hear 26 nuggets of wisdom. They are things we’ve learned, often the hard way, and things we have to remind ourselves of again and again as we step forward. Join us, and our community of listeners, as we share some truth.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

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The Fermentation Summit 2025 is a free, online gathering of top fermentation experts sharing their wisdom, recipes, and techniques—from sauerkraut and kimchi to miso, kefir, kombucha, and beyond. Whether you’re a curious beginner or a seasoned fermenter, this 3-day virtual summit offers practical, science-backed guidance and hands-on inspiration to help you master the microbial magic at home.

Name: Fermentation Summit 2025

Dates: October 21-23, 2025

Location: Online (Free Virtual Event)

Host: Holly Howe of MakeSauerkraut

https://ancestralkitchenpodcast.com/hollysummit

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Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks:

Leftovers again? Oh good, I can’t wait! I love it when half the work is already done. In this episode we talked about leftovers as well as scraps and items that are often discarded in home kitchens. Let’s maximize those precious food dollars and make the meal stretch as far as possible! We went a little bit crazy sharing about all the ways we love using the trash items in our kitchen - including some of the actual trash. We asked our supporters in Discord for their ideas on using commonly wasted food items and oh boy they delivered! I could barely cram it all into this episode. Supporters of the podcast, check the downloads section of the podcast website. I dumped all my notes into a PDF and shared it there so you can hang it up inside your kitchen cupboard as reminders of how to frugally, efficiently and deliciously wring every penny out of that purchase! This episode got me hoping for some dry bread, a gallon of scrap whey, and a jar of bland egg whites! What could be more delicious!?

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Fermentation Summit 2025 is a free, online gathering of top fermentation experts sharing their wisdom, recipes, and techniques—from sauerkraut and kimchi to miso, kefir, kombucha, and beyond. Whether you're a curious beginner or a seasoned fermenter, this 3-day virtual summit offers practical, science-backed guidance and hands-on inspiration to help you master the microbial magic at home.

Name: Fermentation Summit 2025

Dates: October 21-23, 2025

Location: Online (Free Virtual Event)

Host: Holly Howe of MakeSauerkraut

http://ancestralkitchenpodcast.com/hollysummit

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Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

When life is overwhelming or busy, or I don’t know what to cook - What are a few simple meals I can have in my back pocket? As a person new to ancestral cooking, how do I know if my easy meal is ancestral or not? Can I still use my old cookbooks? In this episode, we will share four favorite easy, go-to meals that our families love. You will see how each of these meals evolve with the seasons for us, and we will share some of our best tips for making your favorite dishes ancestral. As a thank you for bringing these episodes to the public, we also have a special document for our paid podcast supporters at the 2nd tier on up with these four recipes written down. You’ll find this document by logging in to www.ancestralkitchenpodcast.com and going to the downloads section. If you want to support the podcast and grab this download as well as many others, visit our website or check the show notes. And now, on with the show.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

Every month we record an entire extra podcast episode which goes up on our private podcast feed, Kitchen Table Chats, for our supporters to enjoy as a benefit of their financial support. In these episodes we chat about what is happening in our kitchens, big revelations or things we are studying or writing about, as well as answer questions sent in by our supporters.

Today we are sharing with you an episode that launched on the private podcast feed in March, and we answered a number of interesting questions from listeners including a very sticky one we frequently have been asked, and had to deal with in very personal ways before - what to do when people are critical or downright rude to you about the ways you choose to eat, or make snide remarks about ancestral or non-industrial foods. We also talked about the idea of finishing everything on your plate, and whether either of us subscribes to that idea. In addition we talked about the Nourishing Traditions read-along, which is open to everyone and can be found in the show notes!

To become a paid supporter of our podcast and enjoy more of these kinds of informal chats as well as many other lovely benefits, visit ancestralkitchenpodcast.com or just peek at the show notes.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our...

Today, we're bringing you an episode of the podcast that originally went out in 2022. It's about fermenting, but fermenting with a twist – fermenting your kitchen waste to make microbe-rich compost that, as we know from personal experience, will transform the plants you grow.

This fermentation process, called bokashi, can be done in the house, it has no smell and neither does it attract flies. You'll get both compost and compost tea to use inside and outside the home.

In this episode, we'll detail how bokashi works, talk about the bacterial inoculant that is used to ferment the food waste so efficiently, and then we will actually interview the US and Canada supplier that makes the two-bucket system that we both use.

In the US & Canada, check out the bokashi system here and use code AKP for 10% off.

In the UK, Wiggly Wigglers have a 10% discount for our listeners. Click here and when you checkout the discount will be automatically applied.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or...

What plant was allegedly first discovered in Ethiopia by a goat, boasts an almost 270billion USD market worldwide, has almost 10,000 shops dedicated to it in the UK and over 35,000 in the US, and you very likely may have partaken of some time already today? That’s right, the elixir of which Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman, author and inventor wrote, “Among the numerous luxuries of the table…coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions…is never followed by sadness, languor or debility.” In this episode, return guest Rob, Alison’s husband, shares with us some of the history and processing of coffee. Types of coffee plants even before the roasting process, sourcing and of course, favorite brewing methods. Top up your cup of bean juice and maybe add a little raw cream, and let’s get rolling.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

For US listeners, we recommend Grand Teton Ancient Grains. They sell regenerative, organic flours and berries that can satisfy all your baking needs. Stock up and get free shipping at AncientGrains.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here.

For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.