What's fermenting?

Please share what is bubbling away on your window sill to give us some new ideas for ferments, or post what recipes have worked brilliantly or not so well in the past. Happy fermenting!

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  • Can anyone offer some advice about how to adapt pickle/chutney/relish recipes that are full of sugar? I'm making lots of fermented salsas and pickles and loving them but would so like to have a few jars of chutney etc. There's no shortage of great old recipes but they generally call for cups (or kilos!) of refined sugar. I've been playing around with stevia (not a success, although edible) ... leaving the sugar out entirely when I bottle fruit ... substituting much lesser amounts of rapadura sugar ... would be ever so glad to hear of proven ways to adapt recipes.

    I'm confused by some sources that claim sugar acts as a preservative and thus must be used and at the amount specified.

    I'm not sure if I should just give up on the conventional recipes and accept that if I don't want to eat sugar, I won't eat or make them.

    Here's what I have been making a lot of (finally! this season I have an abundance of heritage tomatoes I cannot keep up with). It's gorgeous. I've also made it raw -- same ingredients, skip the roasting and leave out the whey. Works just fine. Packs a punch, SO good with scrambled eggs. (PS One kilo of tomatoes fits well into a one litre Agee jar.)

    Lactoferment salsa.pdf

    • Hi Rachel : )

      I like preserving my tomatoes with oil. THat is always a good substitute. If you find, when you are cooking or adding it to your food that it needs a bit of sweet then I add a teaspoon of honey and that usually does the trick. Its funny how our taste buds have changed to want "Sweet" but once you start eating the fermented foods you find it much easier to eat the "sour".

      I found the book Preserving without canning or freezing quite good. I got a great tomato paste recipe our of there which was just tomatoes cooked right down, some herbs or spices and sealed in the jar with a layer of olive oil. Its sooooo good for pizzas and sauces, especially with the extra oil.  : )

    • Some updates in case someone stumbles across this. The LF salsa ferments fine without whey but doesn't keep well; so I retract my earlier comments. Of course, no need to add whey if you're planning on eating it all within a week or two. Curiously, when I noticed one jar was developing mould, I skimmed it off, added whey and stood it on the bench for two days before returning it to the fridge. No more mould, great taste. That's pretty cool.

      I got some clarification on the role of sugar in preserving here:
      http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09302.html

      -- thanking Matron of Husbandry for the tip, I find her blog an excellent reference:
      https://matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com/

      I have a ridiculously large fridge for a single person household and it is still jammed full of jars: I've been fermenting way faster than I can eat it. Bring on the new house and a root cellar ...

      I hope everyone is enjoying loads of tasty fermented goodies as we slide into (a beautiful) autumn

  • Hi doreen and peter :) any chance you might have some sourdough starter to spare? I killed mine throughout the moving process and would be grateful to get some more that is alive and kicking :)

    • Yes I have some starter I can spare. I have Rye starter I make with organic whole grain rye flour. I am happy to send you some for the cost of shipping. Let me know if you are interested. 

      Cheers

      Peter

  • I am a huge sourdough addict. I suffer from OBD (Obsessive Baking Disorder). Also make Kefir (Anyone needs culture?), yogurt, cheese (I run a small business for cheese making supplies, too). Used to make beer from grain and hops and yeast but have not enough time at the moment. Also fruit wines.

    Cheers

    Peter

    • Hullo Peter, do you have keffir grains spare at the moment? My tutor wants to start making it (lucky him, his wife milks goats) but my grains are not in good health or quantity. Message me if you are willing/able to post to the central North Island and we can figure out the details? Thanks! rachel

  • I always have Sauerkraut and Kimchi fermenting. I have made my own fermented tomato ketchup and chili sauce. Sourdough bread, yoghurt, sour cream, cheese and (coconut) water kefir are usually bubbling and I recently started to make s/d crackers and lacto ferment all our veggies to preserve them. We ferment our pancake mixture and have made some dosas, which were such a pleasant surprise! Also beetroot and parsnip are amazing! And in the beer fridge is usually an all grain beer  fermenting.

    Gosh, we do eat a lot of fermented food haha :)  Happy to share any of the above/ recipes! Auckland area (Red Beach)

    • Hi Doreen, I have been making kraut and am trying to make sour dough yeast with rye.  I would love to chat to you about fermenting.  Our son has some very severe allergies and I am hoping to improve his gut with some fermented food.  I am doing water kefir too and milk, but he can't have the milk or coconut. Shame!

    • Hi Doreen :

      Interesting ! Last year, we made cabbage & apple sauerkraut, 1 1/2 jars left in the fridge, no kimchee left.

      Must have bartered too much, as the year before, it lasted the whole 12 months. Putting more down soon.

      We make wine with surplus fruit, and ferment sugar for distillation.

      Cheers,

      Dian & Dennis

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