What are you Fermenting?
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I probably was thrown off by the location @mengwong is showing, that probably is Singapore California ;-)
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Michi, please keep us up to date as to how these all turn out.. Very imaginative combos. wak
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
Will do. It'll be at least a month.
Coincidently, I just made my first batch of red cabbage sauerkraut this weekend and then I see this thread. Not another rabbit hole!!!
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
Naw, it's just veggies in salt water
sumis
Senior Member
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.
View attachment 298057
I added a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and about a tablespoon of bourbon, to make things a bit more interesting
no salt here?
.
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
No, none needed. Garlic and honey are the only ingredients, unless you want to tinker and add aromatics and/or booze, as I did
garlic stems
maxxpup
Active Member
Those are some fine looking habaneros.Habanero hot sauce in the making. Made with the latest batch from the garden. That mash is going to ferment for about a month.
View attachment 298056
Recipe, by weight:
Add the same weight of water as there are vegetables. Salt concentration is 3.5% of the total weight (veggies plus water).
- 40% Habanero
- 15% Garlic
- 45% Onion
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.
View attachment 298057
I added a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and about a tablespoon of bourbon, to make things a bit more interesting
Habanero hot sauce in the making. Made with the latest batch from the garden. That mash is going to ferment for about a month.
View attachment 298056
Recipe, by weight:
Add the same weight of water as there are vegetables. Salt concentration is 3.5% of the total weight (veggies plus water).
- 40% Habanero
- 15% Garlic
- 45% Onion
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.
View attachment 298057
I added a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and about a tablespoon of bourbon, to make things a bit more interesting
With any luck, you might get the highly prized and much-sought-after blue garlic!
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
Highly prized? I was under the impression that everyone was trying to avoid the discolouring. Not that it affects taste or smell, but people generally don't like the weird look.
Avoiding it is not that hard. Use a salt that is as free of minerals as possible (pickling or cheese making salt). And use demineralised water when making the brine. Depending on what else is in with the garlic, and where the garlic was grown, it may still discolour. But usually the discolouration will be mild and it won't turn a dark green/blue this way.
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Many like the blue coloring. Maybe for the novelty? I think light blue garlic are kind of cool…
Mmm this thread speaks to my soul. In the past year ...
12-15 kg chilis (mostly Madame Jeanettes, some habs, pablanos, padrons, ...) → various hot sauces to eat and share
classic sauerkraut
kimchi (first batch is bubbling for a few days)
radishes, carrots, cucumbers
My sourdough starters are sitting still for the last year, but can be livened up if the mood strikes.
The Madame, Pablano & Padron mix below is my best mix yet. The color ... well, unattractive. But the flavor is out of this world.
Also for clarity -- the thing in the blender isn't the pablano mix. I had 2 batches at same time, one with the green chilis and one without, but blended the green batch later. The blender is more my classic MJ mix.
12-15 kg chilis (mostly Madame Jeanettes, some habs, pablanos, padrons, ...) → various hot sauces to eat and share classic sauerkraut kimchi (first batch is bubbling for a few days) radishes, carrots, cucumbers My sourdough starters are sitting still for the last year, but can be livened up if the mood strikes.The Madame, Pablano & Padron mix below is my best mix yet. The color ... well, unattractive. But the flavor is out of this world.
Also for clarity -- the thing in the blender isn't the pablano mix. I had 2 batches at same time, one with the green chilis and one without, but blended the green batch later. The blender is more my classic MJ mix.
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Wet brine, wet vinegar, salt dry, ...?
I've tried a few wet brines, and the carrots always seem in a race toward kahm mold, and even regular skim/scrapes aren't always enough to get the full ferment I'd like.
If you've got a trick, I'm all ears -- fermented chili carrots are one of my all time favs.
Frankly I think I got lucky. It was a wet brine, 2.5-3% (it’s been 3-4 years so memory is fuzzy), with them cut into sticks for about a week. My main things were 1) use some of weight to make sure they stay submerged 2) after adding the weight, remove the few floaters who make it around the weight (more will over time but I’m mostly worried about the beginning 3) appropriate container size to minimize head space and therefor O2 the kahm can access 4) don’t open it until you’re close to the end or can see kahm you need to remove 5) airlock
If you can vacuum seal, even better. Kahm needs oxygen, and I personally didn’t find carrots very active compared to pepper or kimchi which doesn’t help for getting the ph and O2 down. I read someone recommend freezing the carrots and thawing them first, I would assume this would rupture cell walls and make their sugars more accessible to the microbes which soils probably speed up the ferment at the loss of some texture.
I really need to ferment more. A friend got these a couple years ago, unfortunately don't know from where. Self burp, glass plate sized to the jar, and the spring to compress over the initial ferment work well. Anyone else have similar, know where to get them?
1+2) I was super active in both, but still got full onslaught, so I ate them early. Still yummy, but wanted more.
3) Yes.
4) Agree - realized more recently I should try aggressively not opening
5) didn't have it then, recently bought a nanostopper, so I will try that after I've got my sauerkraut/kimchi containers free.
As mentioned above I will try nanostopper which is a pseudo vacuum seal (think vacuvin or other similar air-suckers).
Frozen, curious ... but sounds like work. My fermentation approach is max-lazy
But if nanostopper fails, gotta try the next thing!
And btw, the dry ferment question came from this, which I saw recently but haven't yet tried:
https://ediblealchemy.co/try-dry-fermenting-carrots/
https://ediblealchemy.co/try-dry-fermenting-carrots/
HolyDiverScallop
Not too smart, but at least I’m ugly.
I've done kraut several times, and have not yet gotten a batch that is better than store bought. I'm currently on another quart of kraut, and a quart of hot peppers (habanero, serrano, sweet bell, onion, garlic, carrot) to turn into hot sauce.
Wow these are awesome
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
0.5 g of sorbic acid per kg of ferment helps to prevent mould.
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Everything: cauli, fennel, beans, watermelon radishes, giardiniera, okra, hot peppers, sweet peppers. That's just what's left at winter's end. Learning to can/pickle the farmer's market produce in high season was my greatest kitchen revelation of 2023. Making my own hot sauce varietals was another. Fermented tons of peppers for that project.
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my pic above shows something similar, the pickle press. The only thing i dislike is that if mold does get in, removal means stirring a lot of it in while removing the pressure plate. I do love it for early stage ferment and then transfer to jars for later.
https://www.yoghurt.nl/product/pickle-pers-premium-17l/
Ironically found yours at that site by accident: kefirko veggie fermenter
https://www.yoghurt.nl/product/kefirko-veggie-fermenter-14l/
Hmmm - the product looks fantastic, but be careful with metal in acid, even if it is some kind of stainless. Though the pooch is making sure everything’s okay.
I’ve been making wine since 2004 (every 2-3 years); and hard cider, annually, since ‘07. The cider is from apples grown locally, but they are not traditional cider apples. So I supplement it with small amounts of fruit that are naturally more acidic and more tannic. Or I add tannin, or use a little oak.
The pink stuff here is for my daughter, who collected elderberries.
I then naturally re-ferment it in the bottle, for a sparkling end product finished at two to four atmospheres of pressure. Shown here is about 45 bottles worth, two-thirds of this year’s production.
The pink stuff here is for my daughter, who collected elderberries.
I then naturally re-ferment it in the bottle, for a sparkling end product finished at two to four atmospheres of pressure. Shown here is about 45 bottles worth, two-thirds of this year’s production.
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
These are done fermenting. When finishing the sauces, besides vinegar, I added some more garlic and some bourbon to the habanero-garlic sauce, and maple syrup and dark rum to the habanero, blackberry and blueberry sauce.
The garlic hot sauce turned out pretty much as one would expect. Typical habanero flavour, with strong garlic smell, and a hint of the woodiness from the bourbon.
The blackberry and blueberry version is interesting. The fruit aroma from the berries is very strong. None of the fruit flavour was lost during fermentation. I like the smell and taste, but because the fruit aroma is so strong, it also limits what the sauce can be used for. I'm still trying to figure out ways what to best pair it with. Would appreciate any suggestions!
Both sauces are quite hot, as you would expect, but not stupidly so. They are still perfectly usable without people going into spasms of agony…
After straining the ferment, I kept the pulp and dehydrated it.
I used the pulp to make chili salt:
Either salt works well with bacon and eggs.
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I'm still trying to figure out ways what to best pair it with. Would appreciate any suggestions!
The salt is a phenomenal idea. I'm stealing that.
As for fruity hot sauce applications, I struggled with that a bit with my mango habanero hot sauce. It was great right out of the bottle on corn chips, but I eventually also found it worked best in marinades and as a boost to Caribbean/SE Asian sauces and marinades. I would lean towards Southern US/Midwestern recipes where berries are often featured. Waffles and cornbread jump to mind immediately. It should also work in chicken/pork marinades and when you want to add a bite to fruity cocktails like whiskey smashes. You might even want to look at Scandinavian recipes, where berries are often foundational ingredients.
Here's a link to Mike's Hot Honey recipe list: https://mikeshothoney.com/blogs/recipes Anything hot honey can do, berry hot sauce might do better.
Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
That's a nice suggestion, I wouldn't have thought of that, thank you!
I thought of chicken and pork as well, because those are a fairly blank canvas and there are lots of recipes that are on the fruity and/or sweet side.
Now that's an idea, thanks!
I had a look at the page you linked. It just so happens that I still have some habanero honey kicking around. I'll be having fun with this for a while!
