In our Triangle Food Issue, published Wednesday, May 29, we asked five local chefs, farmers, and small business purveyors to let us peek inside their fridges. You can read the rest of the interviews here.

Erin Torgerson | Founder of Seeds & Salt and farmer at Red’s Quality Acre

INDY: Can you list some things that are in your refrigerator right now?

Torgerson: I always keep quite a few anchovies on me, either salt-packed or in a tube. 

Three equally used-up tubes of tomato paste.

A tube of Hungarian red pepper paste that I got from Mariakakis in Chapel Hill. I love tubes.

A big thing of salsa macha that I made. 

Brown Cow yogurt, plain.

Chicken stock.

Salted cod that my brother got for me on a trip to Iceland.

Miso.

Tahini.

I recently discovered Colman’s Mustard. It’s really spicy but it’s really good.

A variety of pickles that I’ve made: classic cucumber pickles, pickled cauliflower, pickled piquillo peppers, pickled onions.

Pears preserved in sweet wine syrup with some spices.

Buttermilk. When I have expired milk, I just add it to my buttermilk container.

Chicken fat and pork fat that I’ve rendered down. The chicken fat is really good on roasted vegetables. 

I have a few jars of peach-pit vinegar. My friend taught me this trick: after you eat a peach, drop the pit in a jar of white wine vinegar, and it makes a really tasty vinegar that you can use for salad dressings.

  • The fridge of Erin Torgerson, a farmer at Red’s Quality Acre and the founder of Seeds & Salt’s Pasta Night, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Cedar Grove.
  • The fridge of Erin Torgerson, a farmer at Red’s Quality Acre and the founder of Seeds & Salt’s Pasta Night, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Cedar Grove.

Do you have mayo?

Oh yeah, Duke’s forever.

Out of all the times you open your fridge, what do you reach for most often and what do you do with it?

I eat a Brown Cow yogurt every day. I use buttermilk quite a bit, for pancakes and things. And I use anchovies a lot. 

What do you usually do with anchovies?

I just chop them up and add them to different things like salad dressing or pasta sauce.

I’m gonna run through a list of foods that some people refrigerate and some people don’t, and you tell me your stance. Bread?

I really don’t like refrigerating bread, but it keeps it better for longer. I prefer to freeze it; it stays much fresher.

Eggs?

I do refrigerate eggs. What I’ve been told as a farmer is that they’re only shelf-stable if they’re fresh out of the chicken. Once they’ve been washed, they lose a protective microbiome. 

Ketchup?

I don’t like ketchup.

Peanut butter?

Not in the fridge.

“I do refrigerate eggs. What I’ve been told as a farmer is that they’re only shelf-stable if they’re fresh out of the chicken. Once they’ve been washed, they lose a protective microbiome.” Photo by Angelica Edwards.

Tomatoes?

No, definitely not. Technically, from a farmer’s perspective, we refrigerate tomatoes when we harvest them, but they can’t be any colder than 55 degrees. 

Is there anything you eat cold out of the fridge without heating up?

No, not really. Unless it’s desperate measures. I did eat some cold chicken the other day.

Is there anything in your fridge that’s expired right now?

I got a Costco membership and I bought this crab dip, and I think I just got overwhelmed by it. The first three bites, I was like, “This is good,” and then I was like, “OK, I don’t need this.” So that’s gone bad.

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Lena Geller is a reporter for INDY, covering food, housing, and politics. She joined the staff in 2018 and previously ran a custom cake business.