How about a fermented veggies thread? - Page 3

[Annikate]

Originally Posted by Hibou
Here's what I do for ginger carrots: (they are easy)
Grate a bunch of carrots- enough to fill a quart-size jar. Add a few cloves of minced garlic (like 2 or 3), and about a Tbsp of chopped fresh ginger. Add a couple tsp's of salt, mix it all up, pack it into the jar tightly so the juice comes to the top. Let it sit on the counter, covered with a piece of cloth for a few days, but pack the veggies down daily under their liquid. When it suits your taste, put a lid on it and transfer to the fridge.

Gonna try this tomorrow!

I don't have the book you all are talking about but I think I need it!

Can somebody tell me how to make sauerkraut?

[squirrelletta]

I made the saurkrout 30 minutes ago!

Shread one med head cabbage, add 1 tb caroway seeds, 1 tb sea salt, 4 tb. whey mix around, pound with hammer for 10 min. put in wide mouth jar -cover tightly, on counter 3 days-then fridge.

HOWEVER, that was from NT and I dont have a lid for my crock! Im wondering what to cover it with besides the plastic wrap i have now! HELP!

[Hibou]

OMG Nick you made the ketchup! You rock! I can't wait to hear how it turns out after it ferments.

re. covering jars- I never put lids on mine while they are fermenting. I just cover with cheesecloth (or more often bits of old cut up t-shirts ) Yes, if liquid is over them, that is good enough. I put lids on them after they've fermented, when I move them to the fridge.

edited to add: actually, lids kind of creep me out. They seal in all the moisture and make it all green-house effect looking. That probably sounds wierd, but it's just how I feel.

[squirrelletta]

Hummm...maybe i should ditch the plastic wrap and use the cheesecloth tomarrow...Does WF tell you to cover it that way?

I ALSO made (yes, I went shopping today and had a fun fermenting evening):

saurkrout (or however you spell it!)
diakon radish kimchee
the ketchup
and ginger carrots

Plus I have the "bucket" of beet kvass i have to force myself to choke down now! LOL (I'll try that lemon trick) Its not HORRABLE, just made my stomache groan a little.

[homemademomma]

Originally Posted by lao80

I have a 5 gallon carboy and we made Ginger Beer. It was good. My husband liked it a lot.

mmm recipe please. that sounds great.

also, i am SO curious about the fermented ketchup. i have never read NT, and have never heard of fermented ketchup. i would love to hear more about it.

the reason i like WF so much is the focus on "wild"- so mnay of their recipes rely on airborne bugs. i really like that. i never heard of using whey as a starter until you all mentioned it. it makes sense, but to me it makes MORE sense to use the wild yeast.

[Annikate]

I have my ginger carrots fermenting away right now!

What's kimchee?

[squirrelletta]

Kimchee is Koren Sauerkrout.

Its (sometimes) spicy and made with Bok Choy usually

[Hibou]

Has anyone tried culturing veggies with sea vegetables? I wonder how it would be adding dulse or nori to kimchi. Hmmm...

[missi66]

Ok I made pickles following the wf book.I tried them after 4 days and they are way too salty.Will they mellow over time or do I need to adjust the recipe?

[squirrelletta]

This Is Bs!!!!!!!!!!

My carrots are moldy, my kimchee smells like death and garlic and my sauerkrout had little flys in it and is all dryed out!

I'm scared to eat the ketchup after those three failures!

I followed the recipe to a tee and Im a pretty good cook. Did they skip something like covering them in water or something? I'm REALLY irritated at the NT book right now. What a waste of time and money.

SOMEONE HELP!

[lao80]

Originally Posted by Hibou

Did you use the recipe in WF? Did you use sugar? Would it work with honey or rapadura?

You can use honey for taste, but it has antibacterial properties so yeast don't grow really well with it. You have to use sugar with the honey.

Rapadura would work.

I've made a ginger bug and I've used yeast

The fermentation eats off the sugar.

There is a recipe on the weston price web site.

[squirrelletta]

Anyone?

[missi66]

I know in the wild ferment book he has you keep 1 inch of brine over the top of the sourkraut.If the cabbage didn't produce enough liquid he said to add brine on top. That is probably the problem with the sourkraut. I haven't made kimchi yet but I would imagine it was the same problem, not enough brine to cover it. My sourkraut turned out really tasty with the wild fermentations recipe.

[Hibou]

lao80- thanks! I will look for that recipe!



To make the brine for veggies that don't have enough liquid, just mix a glass of really salty water and pour it into your fermenting veggies.

If there is mold over any of your veggies, you can just skim it off, and pour some brine over it. Katz addresses mold in WF, I think in the sauerkraut section??

Kimchi does smell pretty strong when it's fermenting. I've noticed that it's less strong when you don't use the radish, if it's an issue. My dh can't stand it. He starts gagging when he smells it and has to leave the room. But there's definately a difference between the smell of fermenting and rotting, so only you will know forsure.

I'm REALLY irritated at the NT book right now.

The intro and info in NT is great, but unfortunately many of the recipes just don't hold up.

Ok I made pickles following the wf book.I tried them after 4 days and they are way too salty.Will they mellow over time or do I need to adjust the recipe?

I've heard that some salty things will mellow a little over time in the fridge. You could also soak them to get some of the salt out before eating. In wf he says his pickle recipe is for "sour, fairly salty pickles", but he also talks about using varying amounts of salt...p.50-51. Low-salt brine is made by using 2 Tbsp in 1 Qt water.

My kimchi turned out great. We've eaten half of it already (I should've made more). My sauerkraut needs to mellow for a couple days in the fridge, but it's good and tangy. It got some mold on it because I neglected it for a day, but I skimmed it and poured salt-water over it and it was fine. The garlic is also in the fridge. I tried it a few days ago and it was still too *raw*...it needs to be permeated with the brine more before I can eat it out of the jar.

[CluckyInAZ]

when you make ginger beer do you have to have bottles to put it into to finish up the fermentation and make it bubbly? Or can you make it in something else?

[missi66]

Thanks Hibou! I normally like salty things so I went with the recipe. But boy oh boy was it salty. I just hadn't made them before and wasn't sure if they would mellow.I want to start another batch because I really do like pickles.I will make a less salty version.I had added habenero and garlic to the pickles and that was a great flavor.

[squirrelletta]

Thank you so much, I will wait for my WF book and make a brine. I fuigered that was the issue, since after pounding for 10 min there was barely any "Juice" to cover them!

I'm thinking the kimchee may have been ok, but I dumped it anyway. I'll try again when I get my book. I was scared of killing myself with Botchalism or something! LOL

Thanks for the help!

OH! I left my ketchup out 3 days rather than 2 (Because I was making the other veggies which were all 3 days and got mixed up) It still smells wonderful, so I put it in the fridge, it should be fine I'd say? What do you gals think? I wonder what I should eat it on first!

[missi66]

Oh do tell us how the ketchup tastes.I am a little scared to make it. Doesn't it have fish sauce in it? Let us know if it tastes fishy at all.

[steffanie3]

I bought fish sauce quite a while ago for ketchup haven't made it yet, you ladies are inspiring me.

[mystic~mama]

Originally Posted by Lou

Oh, and on the crocks... another fermenter I know uses the crocks from crockpots. Great thing to do with those, they're usually abundant in thrift shops.

this is what I use

awesome thread idea...I'm pretty new to fermenting, mostly I've made saurkraut...would to try making ginger beer.