What are you Fermenting?

Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

maxxpup

Active Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2023
Messages
41
Reaction score
33
Location
Sacramento, CA
I'm low key-key obsessed with fermentation.
I have had great success with most veggies especially cauliflower & chili peppers.
My sauerkraut game is kind weak for unknown reasons (seems easy enough) and... sadly, I've never made Kimchi better than the 4 dollar jar you can get at Trader Joe's :(

At the moment I'm playing with fermented mustard seeds, because mustard.

Is this a hobby/passion for anyone else?
 
maxxpup said:
Successfully baking a loaf of sourdough rye, remains on my bucket list (for now).
Click to expand...
First time trying.. been feeding it for a week now... we shall see how it goes.

Re. Kimchi.. the secret is actually good cabbage... which is hard to come by. My mom and I basically make completely different ingredient kimchi, but we won't even attempt unless we see some plump bitchin cabbage...

Edit: thick salt... need that **** to sweat cabbage.
 
Current inventory: Japanese umeboshi plums in liquor and dried (separate projects)

IMG_9775.jpeg


IMG_9781.jpeg


I also found some black walnut projects from 2014. Walnut liquor (nocino) walnut wine, etc.
 
Poolish aside, I have not benefited from my few fermentation experiments as much as I expected to. I need a renewed effort at some point. Any suggestions for things with a good payoff? I spent a lot of time making some Italian pickled cabbage in order to put it into a particular Marcella Hazan soup, and it was just OK. Sauerkraut is out. My wife says she can smell it on me for 24 hours after eating, and it is not a compliment. I don't think kimchi would be any better in that regard, and in any case, I don't much like it, even though I've tried to like it.

What I really should do is Japanese pickles, because I adore them every time I order them at Japanese restaurants. Hmmm, bet I have a book around here that tells how to do those...
 
Don't see why you couldn't drink it. There are certainly no bacteria in there, with all that alcohol.

It might have degenerated to the point where there is almost no taste or aroma left, similar to how wine falls apart once it gets too old. But, if it doesn't smell or taste bad, go for it!
 
I do kimchi and salted/fermented pickles on a regular basis. As well as maintaining sourdough rye and wheat starters.

In the past I was making/brewing kombucha and vinegar, but I had to close the “operation” due to smell complaints from family members.

Oh, I also used to make fermented butter and sour cream, but unfortunately had to stop due to lack of free time.
 
Rangen said:
Poolish aside, I have not benefited from my few fermentation experiments as much as I expected to. I need a renewed effort at some point. Any suggestions for things with a good payoff? I spent a lot of time making some Italian pickled cabbage in order to put it into a particular Marcella Hazan soup, and it was just OK. Sauerkraut is out. My wife says she can smell it on me for 24 hours after eating, and it is not a compliment. I don't think kimchi would be any better in that regard, and in any case, I don't much like it, even though I've tried to like it.

What I really should do is Japanese pickles, because I adore them every time I order them at Japanese restaurants. Hmmm, bet I have a book around here that tells how to do those...
Click to expand...
Do you like hot sauce? Ferment chili's and make a hot sauce.
 
Sourdough is on constant rotation. Been making it a personal project to replace freeze dried yeast in everything with it, and add it to stuff that doesn’t traditionally use it. Sourdough cookies, are actually the best cookies I’ve ever had and thanks to the tremendous amount of starter have fantastic staying power before they stale.

Kimchi I do a gallon or two per year. Not particularly fancy, but for someone who didn’t have kimchi until 4-5 years ago it’s pretty well suited to me and my partners taste. She actually eats more of it then I do, which I’ve found surprising since her tastes tend to be a bit more vanilla then mine. Protip, dehydrate some kimchi and use it as seasoning for chicken wings.

I have a batch of super smoky hot sauce from 5-6 years ago. Not actually super hot by design. Been meaning to start a second batch to keep improving the recipe. Planning on picking up a bad motivator barrel to barrel age it in this time around.

Done fermented carrots, as someone who can’t eat raw carrots to see if it improved them or let me eat them. They were awful, but that’s my opinion on most raw vegetables anyways.

Done pseudo crème fraiche previously, pseudo because it used sour cream as the culture instead of actual crème fraiche culture. Same texture, so it wasn’t bad.

Cultured butter is a fun one.

Done hundreds of pounds of cheese at least at this point. Been a year or two since my last batch since it’s mostly something I do with my parents, but it’s a fun fermenting activity with very tasty results.

Dabbled in yogurt making. Used to experiment more with L.reuteri strains to make yogurt for the health benefits and to not have to spend hundreds a month on the probiotic. Never did quite get that to work out, but it does have slightly different metabolic pathways to traditional lactobacteria from what I saw in literature.
 
I have something or other fermenting pretty much all the time. There is a sourdough starter that is a permanent fixture in my fridge. I make my own sriracha, dill pickles, and spiced gherkins, mostly to do something with the excess chilies and cucumbers from the garden. I have some salami or other going much of the time, too. For that, I use various starter cultures, depending on what I'm making. There are Thai sausages (Sai Ua and Sai Krok Isan) and German Teewurst, all of which ferment for a few days. And there is the odd bit of cultured butter, creme fraiche, and yoghurt, plus lacto-fermented tomatoes and mushrooms.

If you believe all the health claims, fermented stuff is really good for you (well, maybe salami not so much…) But, really, I make these things because I've always liked fermented and sour/savoury foods.
 
I have a few fermentation projects on the go. Fermenting chillies for hot sauce, kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented daikons, radishes, kohlrabi, miso, green tomatoes stuffed with herbs and chilli, watermelon rind, kombucha, water kefir, cultured butter, and a lot of bread at work… on a daily basis.. also some great drinks like fermented rhubarb with sugar and mint. And so on.
IMG_7883.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7850.jpeg
    IMG_7850.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_7843.jpeg
    IMG_7843.jpeg
    2.6 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_7701.jpeg
    IMG_7701.jpeg
    2 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_7637.jpeg
    IMG_7637.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_7602.jpeg
    IMG_7602.jpeg
    4.5 MB · Views: 0
Habanero hot sauce in the making. Made with the latest batch from the garden. That mash is going to ferment for about a month.

IMG_6383.JPG


Recipe, by weight:
  • 40% Habanero
  • 15% Garlic
  • 45% Onion
Add the same weight of water as there are vegetables. Salt concentration is 3.5% of the total weight (veggies plus water).

The red specks in the mash are from one lone red Italian chili that I had left over. I'm not sure exactly what variety, but it's about the same heat as a cayenne pepper. I didn't know what to do with that one, so in it went, too :)

While I was at it, I also threw a bunch of garlic cloves into some honey. They'll ferment for at least a month, but there really isn't an upper limit. Leaving them for a year in the jar is fine.

IMG_6384.JPG


I added a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and about a tablespoon of bourbon, to make things a bit more interesting :)
 
And some more. This one is habanero, blueberry, and blackberry. I added a stick of cinnamon to the mash in the jar.

1707038555333.jpeg


Recipe, by weight:
  • 30% Habanero
  • 35% Blueberry
  • 35% Blackberry
I added a small splash of water, maybe ¼ cup to thin it out just a little. Salt concentration is 4% of the total weight (fruit + water).

1707038585141.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top