Fermented food is really, really good for you. I won't go into it here, but there's plenty on the web - and in this book. Suffice it to say it provides your body with lots of healthy bacteria.
Below are some of the recipes I've tried.
Dill Pickles
These are the real McCoy, deli dills, the kind Jewish delis give you with your corned beef sandwich. Couldn't be easier. Made with my own pickling cucumbers and garlic, and organic dill from the market. And I used my own grape leaves for tanin to help keep them crunchy.
Some of my kids like them. Most of them don't. I think they're the best pickles I've ever tasted, so I'll make them every year - just not as many! (I ended up with 30 litre jars.)
Sauerkraut
Martha gave me 5 beautiful, large heads of cabbage from her garden this summer, so I tried my hand at sauerkraut. Disastrous. The whole thing moulded. I discovered why at the farmer's market a few weeks ago: summer cabbage doesn't make good sauerkraut. What you need are winter cabbages that have been hit by a good frost a couple of times.
Restarted a batch a couple of weeks ago, and it smells and tastes glorious!
Kimchi
This was a bit trickier. Although one of my daughters loves kimchi, I've never had it, so I have nothing to compare it to and no way to gauge whether it's good or not. Undaunted, I made both the fruit kimchi and the "regular" kimchi from this book, and they seemed to turn out fine. But again, no way to tell.
Then I walked into the convenience store a few days ago and took a good look at the owner.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Are you Korean?"
"Yes." He looked curious and puzzled.
"Excellent!" I smiled. "Guess what I did this afternoon? I made kimchi!"
"What?! You did?!" He was quite taken aback - and clearly delighted. I explained that, since I'm not sure what I'm doing, I'd appreciate being able to bring some in and get some pointers.
"Of course! Bring it in and I'll have my mother try it. She makes kimchi all the time!"
With a bit of luck, I'll get not only feedback but maybe some tutoring!
Kefir
Kefir is easy. Mix about 1 tablespoon of kefir grains in a cup or so of milk and leave it on the counter for 12-24 hours.
Strain the kefir through a strainer, and use the grains in the strainer to start the next batch.
My favourite breakfast is kefir blended with either fresh peach or pear, a bit of fresh grated ginger, and half a teaspoon of raw honey. Yummy!
If you leave the kefir in the fridge in a sealed container for a day or two after you've strained, you can make kefir cream cheese. Put a coffee filter inside a strainer inside a deep bowl, and pour the kefir in. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for 24 hours. Voila! I like it best with Hungarian paprika, finely chopped green onion, and a bit of salt on toast.
The clear liquid on the bottom is whey, and can be used to start other ferments. Just keep refrigerated in a sealed container.
The nice thing about kefir is that the grains multiply. So you can either start making larger batches or give some away to your friends.
Kombucha
Kombucha started off being quite simply, then suddenly got complicated. Michelle gave me my first SCOBY (symbotic colony of bacteria and yeast). This is the "mother" that ferments the tea. I've been using organic teas, but it may work with other teas as well.
First I did a black tea. Delicious! Then I did a Tazo chai. Even better! After a week, I had a refreshing fermented beverage. I know Michelle did a second ferment with hers: she removed the SCOBY and stores it in the fridge with a cup of kombucha, then added candied ginger to her jug of kombucha and left it on the counter. And it was quite delightful!
Then, when Michelle brought me some more SCOBY, I decided to try 3 at once: chai, organic cold-brewed coffee, and blueberry & ginseng herbal tea. I was on a roll!
One night about a week later, I was still awake at midnight, so I decided to go check on the kombucha and pour myself a glass. To my utter dismay, all three were covered in thick, powdery, green mould. I was up until after 1:00 researching what had gone wrong. Here's what I learned:
- Kombucha should be kept out of direct sunlight. Check. I had them in a cupboard.
- Kombucha should have plenty of airflow. Nope. I had them in a cupboard.
- Kombucha should be kept away from sources of humidity. Nope. I had them in the cupboard next to my stove during canning week!
- Different ferments should be kept away from each other to prevent cross-contamination. Nope. They were all nestled together in the same cupboard - albeit on different shelves.
- Kombucha should be kept warm. Hmm. Not sure about that one.
For my next batch, I steeped the tea, added the SCOBY and 1 cup of kombucha, covered it with a tea towel to allow air in and keep light out, and placed it on a heating mat in the pantry. Bad idea. Too warm. When I checked it after a week, it was so acidic that it was undrinkable.
So here's how I do it now: I steep 5 teabags and 1/2 cup of sugar in 6 cups of boiled water for a while. (The longer, the stronger.) When it's cooled, I pour it into a 2-litre wide jug, add 1.5 cups of kombucha and the SCOBY, cover with a tea towel, and put it in the pantry. Lots of ventilation, no cross-contamination, no light, and sufficient temperature. After a week, voila! Perfect kombucha!
(I tried coffee again, but found it too sweet and too strong. Didn't like it much, so I gave it to Michelle, who said it tastes like her mother's iced coffee.)
Ginger beer
I've loved ginger beer since I was a small child, that lovely hot, sweet, cold, bubbly drink! So I was looking forward to making my own.
The first batch was a bust. I started the ginger "bug" (1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger, and 1 tablespoon of sugar). By day 2, nothing had happened, so, as per the instructions, I added grated ginger and sugar. I did this again on day 3. By day 4, there was visible mould growing on top. Yuck.
So I dumped that out and started again with organic ginger. Worked like a charm! I had a nice bubbly ginger bug by day 2, and carried on with the rest of the recipe.
The first batch, I forgot to add the lemon, and thought, No big deal. And it wasn't. It was still good - very good. The second batch, I remembered the lemon, and what a difference! Within 2 weeks, it tasted very similar to how I remember ginger beer tasting.
Honey wine
And now for something completely different! I had several cups of raw honey that my son brought back from Russia. Very unusual taste, and it was already starting to ferment, so I thought this would be perfect for starting honey wine. Not sure what I did wrong, but it, too, went mouldy. I'll let you know if I try it again with any better success.
Preserved lemons
Not technically "fermented", but preserved with salt nonetheless. Cut the (washed) lemons - preferably organic - from top to bottom in an 'X', but not all the way through. Pack a teaspoon of coarse salt in the centre, and pack in a glass jar. You can push them in tight. Then, when you're done, press them down several times, seal, and enjoy them on your counter for two weeks. A bit of lemony sunshine! Very popular in Moroccan dishes.
Excited to read about the kefir cream cheese! I'll have to try that out! And thanks for posting the recipe for the ginger bug- I'm going to get that started tomorrow! :)
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