Fermenting...

Are you on the fermenting bandwagon yet?  I'm trying to hitch a ride myself, but still very much in the early learning stages.  I figure that it can't hurt, and within safe reason I love anytime I can present and prepare food for friends and family that has been minimally handled/processed.  So I am dipping my toe into the world of making my own fermented foods.  So far my two attempts have been kombucha and lacto fermented salsa.

A year or so ago I started buying those bottled kombucha drinks at the local natural food coop, and I was quickly hooked.  Those babies are expensive though and so I began researching how to make my own.  About that time I connected with a friend of a friend who had recently started experimenting with making her own kombucha and was willing to share some scoby and teach me the basics.  So after an afternoon spent sampling her variations and gleaning as much as I could from her experience I took home a couple scobys and set out to ferment my own kombucha.  I love this tutorial on brewing your own.  Once the tea was ready, I am finding that 7-10 days is a good amount of time for fermentation in our home (though with cooler temps settling in that may begin to stretch longer), it's time to flavor your tea.  Over the summer we used seasonal fruits, mostly berries, along with lemon and ginger to flavor our tea but now that fall is kicking in I'm thinking a pear/ginger combo sounds really great.  Have you tried making kombucha?  If so what are your favorite flavor add in's?

My second foray into the world of fermenting has been lacto fermented salsa.  We love salsa in this house and during the summer months when tomatoes are at their best we make and consume a lot of it.  That and my obsession with buying produce by the box led me to my first attempt at fermented salsa.  I had an abundance of tomatoes both from the garden and supplemental purchases and was looking for something new to try in the way of food preservation.  I stumbled on this blog post about fermented salsa and made quick work of transforming the remains of my tomatoes into several quarts of the best salsa I've ever tasted.  Not only is it super tasty, it is really fairly quick and easy to make.  A few rough chops, some blitzing in the food processor and a few days on the counter and you are good to go.  And no cooking folks!  No standing over a hot stove water bath canning salsa in 100 degree temps.  From what I've read you can hold fermented salsa in the fridge for fairly lengthy periods, likely longer than you will need because if you like salsa you will eat your way through your jars very fast.  The inner hoarder in me wants to make enough to last us well into and hopefully through winter so I dug a bit deeper and found that you can freeze this salsa with decent results.  I've got a tester quart in the freezer and another gallon plus working it's magic on my counter at this very moment.  Once we crack open the frozen jar I will report back but I do have high hopes.  I took a jar of this along on a weekend trip with friends and it got a raving thumbs up, even by my onion and pepper hating friend.  I was even able to successfully use it as a bribe for a teen friend of ours, its really that good.  I hope you try for yourself, I'd love to hear what you think.

Makin' Yogurt

About 2 1/2 years ago I lucked into a milking gig. That's right, a milking gig. A friend has goats and I was completely intrigued by the idea of learning to milk the goats and turn that whole, fresh, raw milk into something wonderful for my family. So I asked my urban farmer friend if they ever needed any help/relief with milking duties. To my joy she said yes, and the visions of fresh chèvre and mozzarella started dancing through my head immediately. Not really knowing what I or they were in for I asked for a weekly milking rotation and truth be told it has really become my favorite morning of the week. Yes I have to get up a bit earlier than I otherwise would, yes I schlep myself and milking pot through the hood rain or shine, and yes I love every single minute of it. Honestly, I find that each week I linger longer and longer feeling so fortunate to be spending time with these beauties and their chicken friends. When I first started milking Maple, I'd get a solid quart each time which turned out to be the perfect amount to make a week's supply of yogurt. So I researched and tried a few methods of yogurt making until I settled on what works best in my kitchen. The method I've settled on is reliable yet a bit hodge podge. I start by heating the raw milk on my stove top to 185 degrees then immediately cooling the milk to 110 degrees. At that point I add a cup or so of plain cultured yogurt and whisk all together thoroughly. Once I've gotten rid of most of the yogurt clumps I pour this into jars and put them in an insulated cooler with a heating pad set to medium. The goal is to keep your yogurt mix at as close to 110 degrees as possible for about 8 hours. This is the method that has worked best for me as I do not have a fancy fancy yogurt maker. So each week I am able to turn out about a quart of home made yogurt which is just enough for smoothies, or a few bowls of berries and yogurt, and still having just enough for the next week's starter culture. Well, as of last week there is now another goat in milk on the farm so I am excited by the prospect of doubling my haul each week and maybe even having enough to experiment with some cheese making. We are big chèvre fans around here so I am hoping to start there. We will see, it's going to be a while before I can start milking Basil as her 2 sweet little kids deserve all her goodness for now. Soon enough they will be old enough to wean off a bit and share some of their mother's bounty with us. Now I am off to start looking for a new milking pail, my little pot isn't going to be big enough for the milk of two goats. Lehman's here I come...