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| Beautiful! Fermenting veggies in Pickl-It jars |
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| Earlier ferments - Bing Cherry Chutney on the left |
I'm having a blast learning to ferment foods. I can't take the time to tell you all the reasons why fermented foods are so important in our diet. If you google the subject you'll find tons of articles about it. I will post about the whys eventually. For now, I'm just excited to share pictures of my stuff. It's so pretty ... and tasty. All I'll say for now is that it's a very old traditional process in all cultures around the world. Our modern pickling with vinegar, as well as our modern preservation with canning, is not traditionally old-style - and not as healthy.
From left to right in the top photo is: beet kvass, spicy grated zucchini, dilly green beans, garlic sauerkraut using 1/2 red cabbage (on my second batch), the best fresh salsa (on my second batch), turnips and beets, kimchi (a second batch too and my favorite!). The first's of the above are in the cellar (excepting the salsa which we've consumed) along with a rhubarb chutney. These fruit chutneys are not sweet but savory.
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| Finished ferments vacuum sealed to go into cold storage |
The quart jars to the right in the last picture are cultured dairy I strained for it's whey, then squashed into balls and are covered with virgin olive oil. The balls did not stay intact, but it's preserved and tastes so good added to salads or spread on artisan bread.
Use of all these things is what I also want to post about. It's all fine and fun to dehydrate, freeze, and ferment stuff ... but you've got to use them!
Current Note (10/20/2015): It's 3 years later. What do I still like? Or moreso, what do we find ourselves actually still using and eating?! I find I can only eat so much, and so much variety is overwhelming! Sauerkraut is number 1, and easiest and most liked to eat. I do really like kimchi, but still, not in the habit of eating it. I have very few recipes using the preserved lemons, but they are SO good, and seem to last well, so I don't make much. The fruit ferments we don't really like, excepting the cranberry one I've done other posts on. It keeps really well too. I typically freeze green beans, but as a ferment, the dilly beans are good. And whenever I'm going to do a veggie tray for gatherings, I'll start them with brine and spices, a few days before - I've posted on this too. And last, but not least, I prefer brined cucumber pickles to typical vinegar processed pickles! They keep well too - a little foggy brine as they age hurts nothing and is the norm. A friend has told me I really need to be making my own Apple Cider Vinegar. "So easy," she says. I do use it all the time - especially in my homemade salad dressings, which we eat a lot! We'll see. Our little local natural grocery store we go to regularly is carrying more and more ferments, so I'll occasionally try variety that way. Like I really like a green chile pepper spread on sandwiches . . .
Shared this post at: Monday Mania, Homestead Barn Hop, Delicious Obsessions, Pickle Me Too, Cooking Traditional Foods,
5 comments:
I am new to fermented foods but not to canning. As I understand it the canning process will kill the beneficial enzymes. How does one keep the food that is fermented since refrigerator space is limited? I don't have a root cellar but I saw you mentioned vacuum sealing. What does this entail? I have a large crock of sauerkraut fermenting right now that I would love to not have to keep in the fridge due to space and shelf life.
All the books talk about storing in a cool place, but none give a temperature range. My garage, now insulated, is cold in the winter and doesn't freeze, so if no cellar or cool closet I'd refrigerate until temps cool off. I don't know how long vacuum sealing can store stuff. I've not found any info on it. It seems the only real talk to consider is no oxygen exposure of fermented food. So either under weights (I bought glass weights on eBay) or tucking a cabbage leaf over surface to hold down. I'm going to guess with brine covering and oxygen sucked out, they can store well. Tho all "real" foods will keep on fermenting (being alive). Coldness just helps slow the process. Plastic bags with water in them is another possible weight to keep stuff submerged.
Ah ... vacuum sealing. You need a sealer, like bag sealer that also has a tube attachment and a canning jar attachment. I got a FoodSaver and jar sealer from Amazon. If you look, all the reviews and paraphernalia tell alot. The cheapest BPA free reusable canning lids are at Lehman's - and they are still the Tattler brand that Amazon sells as well.
And yes, canning will kill everything fermenting benefits have to offer.
In days of old, crocks of soured vegetables like sauerkraut and pickles used to stay in the large crocks all winter, submerged by weights. My friend from Poland loved what she called the "half sours" which would be the earlier ferment, but people kept consuming their ferments from the crocks all winter.
Ferments are excellent for our gut health!
I've been wanting to try vacuum sealing ferments for a while to see if it would work. How long do you wait before you vacuum seal it? Many of my ferments stay active for a while in the fridge so I wasn't sure if the vacuum seal would work. I'd love to hear how it works for you.
All your ferments look so yummy!
Melanie, tho most books talk about keeping ferments out 3-7 days for most, I found a web site that said more healthful strains develop when left longer, like 3 weeks. So that's how long I've kept them out. They definitely slow down after 3-7 days and could be transferred to other jars like fido jars or even canning jars, to free up Pickl-It jars for the more active ferment starts.
I keep checking my cellar jars. That temp is staying at 60 degrees for now. They are staying sealed and I don't see anything negative happening.
I'm still figuring the aliveness of the ferments, like days of old in the crocks, if no oxygen and exposed food, they should be good.
It's all still new to me, but been reading a ton!
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