腦洞大開的堆肥堆的10個妙用(上)
Food waste is becoming an increasingly prominent and pressing issue. Solutions range from restaurants devising creative dishes from food scraps to delivery services bringing "ugly" fruit and veggies, largely unwanted by supermarkets, right to your door. Even so, we still produce some level of personal food waste and the compost heap is often the best place for it.
餐廚垃圾正成爲一個越來越突出和急迫的問題。針對這一問題，有的餐館推出了邊角料創意菜，有的外賣則爲超市嫌棄的“醜”果蔬提供送貨上門服務。儘管如此，家中的廚餘垃圾還是無法完全避免，而家庭堆肥堆常常是它們最好的歸宿。During the decomposition process, the compost heap produces a considerable amount of heat, reaching around 66–82 degrees Celsius (150–180 degrees Fahrenheit). From culinary feats to matters of green energy, people have come up with imaginative ways to make the most of the heat from their compost heaps.
在腐敗過程中，堆肥堆會產生大量的熱，達到約66-82攝氏度。從烹飪到綠色能源，人們想出了各種創意利用這些熱量。We know that compost enriches our soil, but here are some other ways it can enrich our lives. So kick back, brew yourself a cuppa compost tea (don't), and enjoy the ingenuity of some of our compost pioneers.
我們都知道堆肥能滋養土地，其實它還能豐富我們的生活。所以放鬆一下，倒一杯自釀堆肥茶（誤），來欣賞堆肥先鋒們的聰明才智吧。
10．Make Your Own Dairy Products
10．自制奶酪
In 1980, Jim McClarin had a breakthrough moment and compost cookery was born. Writing in Mother Earth News, McClarin described how he left his yogurt pail in his compost pile to keep it warm. The next morning, he discovered that the heat produced by the compost had been higher than expected and a cheese curd had formed instead.
1980年，吉姆·麥克拉林取得突破，於是堆肥烹飪誕生了。《大地母親新聞》一書中，麥克拉林說他把酸奶桶放在堆肥堆中保溫。翌日，他發現堆肥堆的熱量比預期的高，於是酸奶做成了乾酪凝塊。Cheese and compost find common ground in their aromatic qualities. Sadly, McClarin did not elaborate any further on the compost-driven cheese-making process. Instead, he experimented with temperatures at different depths in his compost mound. He dug around to find the perfect temperature zone for compost yogurt, which became a regular part of his diet from then on.
奶酪和堆肥的風味有共通之處。可惜麥克拉林沒有繼續開發堆肥奶酪，卻轉而研究堆肥堆不同深度的溫度。他到處挖洞，尋找製作堆肥酸奶的最佳區域，而產品從此就成了他日常菜單的一部分。9．Hard-Boiling Eggs
9．煮雞蛋
According to the "half-buried mental note" of compost cookery trailblazer Jim McClarin, cooking eggs in compost may be an ancient Chinese practice. At this stage, though, the technique is untested enough to merit safety warnings. So we don't recommend that you do it. But if you decide to try this at home anyway, wrap your food tightly and eat it with care. After all, this is cookery among a cocktail of decaying plants, food, and possibly manure.
堆肥烹飪鼻祖麥克拉林的“半掩心理導圖”說，用堆肥煮雞蛋可能是中國古代的一種做法。不過，這項技術目前未經足夠測試，所以安全方面不可掉以輕心。如果你無論如何都要回家試試，請把食物裹緊，吃的時候也千萬小心。畢竟這是腐爛植物、食物、也許還有肥料的大雜燴中的烹飪。Unlike in the kitchen, cooking an egg in compost is a slow, inaccurate procedure. Those who have tried it report cooking times ranging from 1 to 24 hours. McClarin suggests that you put your eggs in before bed so they'll be ready for your breakfast the next morning. Ultimately, the process depends on the heat of your heap, which can fluctuate massively depending on what has been put on it and when. Compost cooking may be efficient in terms of energy use, but time is another matter.
與在廚房不同，堆肥煮雞蛋又慢又不精確。試過的人少的用了1小時，多的用了一整天。麥克拉林建議睡前埋雞蛋，這樣第二天就可以當早點了。最終，用時多少取決於堆肥堆產生的熱量，會因爲何時堆了什麼波動很大。堆肥烹飪可以有效利用能源，但用時就是另一碼事了。Although McClarin wrapped his egg in a plastic bag, others have just put the egg straight in. Personal experience here suggests that an egg wrapped in one layer of foil and tied up in a sandwich bag is still not enough. My egg looked beautiful, even silky. The yolk was the finest golden yellow. But the smell was too much to bear. In the end, all that I produced was a nice photograph.
麥克拉林用塑料袋包裹雞蛋，但很多人直接把雞蛋放進堆肥堆。個人經驗在此表明，用箔和三明治袋一起包雞蛋都不夠。我的雞蛋很好看，甚至很柔滑，蛋黃也是完美的金黃色。但是味道太沖，不能忍。最後，我得到的就是一張朋友圈照片。8．Bake A Cake
8．烤蛋糕
A class of homeschooled children in Massachusetts successfully baked a lava cake in a mound of compost. It took roughly a day. As we consider the diverse potential of the emerging art of compost cookery, this brings us hope.
馬薩諸塞州一羣在家上課的孩子成功地用堆肥堆烤了一塊熔岩蛋糕，花了大概一天。當我們思考新興堆肥烹飪的多樣潛力時，這件事帶來了希望。Not to take anything away from the kids here, but we should bear in mind that they did have access to a 6-meter (20 ft) compost pile. The cake itself was buried 0.6 meters (2 ft) deep. Overall, a 6-meter (20 ft) mound of compost is bound to produce and retain significantly more heat than most of us are likely to get in our own personal heaps.
不是指摘這些孩子，但我們要記住，他們確實動用了一個6米高的堆肥堆。蛋糕埋了0.6米深。總的來說，6米堆肥堆產生和保留的熱量，必然比大多數家庭堆肥堆要多得多。7．Gourmet Cuisine
7．美食烹飪
For years, the staff at the Highfields Center for Composting had tentatively experimented with heating cans of soup in their compost piles. But it took professional chef Suzanne Podhaizer of the former restaurant Salt to take this to the next level.
海菲爾德堆肥中心的工作人員嘗試了很多年，用堆肥堆加熱罐頭湯。原餐館Salt的專業廚師蘇珊娜則把它帶到了一個新高度。Podhaizer successfully compost-cooked a branzino-and-scallop dish, served on a bed of well-cooked (though slightly squashed) rice. The resulting meal was described as "thoroughly cooked, earthy, and satisfying."
蘇珊娜用堆肥成功烹製了意大利鱸魚扇貝蓋澆飯（雖然有點壓扁了），這道菜被描述爲“熟透、質樸、令人滿意”。Podhaizer made use of the center's compost heap—or "worm parlor"—where the restaurant regularly sent their food scraps. They also used the compost to fertilize the plants in their kitchen garden. Here's the beauty of Podhaizer's dish: It was cooked with energy that was partially from Salt's own leftovers, and then leftovers from her scallop dish were fed back into the system.
蘇珊娜利用了中心的堆肥堆，又叫“蠕蟲客廳”，是餐館定期倒垃圾的地方。他們也用堆肥給廚房的花園施肥。這就是蘇珊娜扇貝菜的藝術：烹飪用的能量部分來自於餐館自己的廚餘，扇貝菜的邊角料又返回該能量系統。Again, McClarin's influence can be felt here. As his technique developed, he was able to cook full roast beef meals as well as duck with orange and apricot, served over a red wine and wild plum sauce. He never succeeded in cooking soft pinto beans, though.
這裏再次體現了麥克拉林的影響力。隨着技術的發展，他已經可以烹製完整的烤牛肉飯，以及放在紅酒和野梅汁上的橙子杏子鴨了。不過，他從沒做成過軟菜豆。6．A High-End Compost Restaurant
6．高端堆肥餐廳
New York has been exploring a range of food waste initiatives and is undergoing what has been termed a composting "revolution." The city's department of sanitation has introduced a number of composting sites near subway stations as well as looked into the logistics of asking all restaurants and businesses to compost their food waste.
紐約一直在探索餐廚垃圾的解決之道，現在正經歷所謂的堆肥“革命”。該市衛生部門在地鐵站附近設立了一些堆肥點，並研究了讓所有餐館和商店把餐廚垃圾用來堆肥的物流。According to Bon Appetit in 2013, a big New York restaurant took this one step further, planning to cook its dishes in the heat produced by composting. It remains unclear whether the restaurant succeeded. Due to legal reasons, presumably surrounding the sale of food cooked in compost, the restaurant was unable to be named.
根據2013年的美國美食雜誌Bon Appetit，紐約一家大餐廳更進一步，準備用堆肥產生的熱量做菜。餐廳成功與否還不得而知。由於法律限制，大概是關於銷售在堆肥中烹製的食物，無法透露餐廳的名字。While it appears that the high-end compost restaurant never got off the ground, Bon Appetit pointed out that the temperature at the heart of a compost heap can be higher than a sous vide bath. Although there are obvious differences between a countertop water bath and a compost heap, it clearly has intriguing potential for high-end sustainable cuisine.
這家高端堆肥餐廳的計劃似乎從未實施，不過Bon Appetit指出，堆肥堆中心的溫度可以超過真空低溫烹調法。雖然堆肥堆和工作臺的水浴鍋完全不同，但它顯然具有可持續高端烹飪的迷人潛力。
