Fermentation! Nukazuke and Doburoku

[Ochazuke]

Thought I'd post about two of my favorite summertime food projects: nukazuke and doburoku. Nukazuke is pickling using a mash of toasted rice bran, salt water, and veggie scraps. It uses naturally occurring lactic acid and yeast from the veg scraps to make a fermenting bed. The results are wonderfully earthy, tangy, and delightful. I just got my pickle bed going so it won't be ready to start pickling for another 10 days or so.

The other project I've got going is doburoku, which is Japanese farmhouse-style sake. It still uses the parallel double fermentation unique to nihonshu, but it does one giant ferment rather than multiple stages like in traditional brewing. Normally sake is done in the colder seasons, but the kome koji (molded rice for converting the starch of rice in to sugar for the yeast to convert to alcohol) needs a couple of days at temps closer to 30 C. For me it's easier to make kome koji in the Boston summer and then do my brewing in a wine fridge than it is to find a 30 C spot in my house during the winter.

For the nihonshu home brewers on the forum (if there are any others) that's my own little trick. Since the ideal brewing temp is 12 C, a wine refrigerator is perfect!

Any other fermenters on here?

 

[ethompson]

I do a decent amount of pickling, vinegar, and LAB ferments when I have the time. If you count naturally leavened bread I’m into that too.

Thanks for sharing! I love this stuff!

 

[deltaplex]

I have a regular lactic veg ferment going based on what we end up with vegetable wise, and I've got plans on expanding it into longer and more complex ferments once time and certain situations align correctly. I'm all for more content on this topic in here; in fact I've got a batch of kimchi to put together soon and I'll try to document it out.

 

[Naftoor]

Nukazukes always been way up there on the list of ferments I want to try, the idea of being able to ferment things at turbo speed is really cool. Unfortunately I know I couldn’t keep up with maintenance since I’ve read it needs daily or nearly daily care, and like my sourdough I know I’d forget about it for weeks at a time. Can’t wait to hear about how it goes =D

 

[deltaplex]

Nukazukes always been way up there on the list of ferments I want to try, the idea of being able to ferment things at turbo speed is really cool. Unfortunately I know I couldn’t keep up with maintenance since I’ve read it needs daily or nearly daily care, and like my sourdough I know I’d forget about it for weeks at a time. Can’t wait to hear about how it goes =D

This is why I stopped making kombucha and also haven't started on sourdoughs.

 

[Naftoor]

This is why I stopped making kombucha and also haven't started on sourdoughs.

Sourdough is actually very forgiving! (At least once your starter is established, the first week or two is a bit of work) Mine regularly goes 1-2 weeks between feedings, and I’ve pushed it to 3. A day or so of refeeding it and it’s ready to go after that time, so not quite as responsive as instant yeast but it probably would be if I didn’t abuse it. It also freezes pretty well if you know you won’t be doing bread for ages

 

[Ochazuke]

Nukazukes always been way up there on the list of ferments I want to try, the idea of being able to ferment things at turbo speed is really cool. Unfortunately I know I couldn’t keep up with maintenance since I’ve read it needs daily or nearly daily care, and like my sourdough I know I’d forget about it for weeks at a time. Can’t wait to hear about how it goes =D

Nukazuke is actually pretty easy to care for. Most of the time it's just stirring your pot once a day. Definitely not a great choice if you forget for weeks at a time or for people who like to travel though.

 

[deltaplex]

Sourdough is actually very forgiving! (At least once your starter is established, the first week or two is a bit of work) Mine regularly goes 1-2 weeks between feedings, and I’ve pushed it to 3. A day or so of refeeding it and it’s ready to go after that time, so not quite as responsive as instant yeast but it probably would be if I didn’t abuse it. It also freezes pretty well if you know you won’t be doing bread for ages

I should just take the plunge, honestly. I make at least a loaf a week, and the worst case for getting it restarted is the dogs get some wonky biscuits made for them.

 

[sumis]

really cool. keep it coming!

sourdough is low maintenance. i’ve left starters in the fridge for months. it just takes a few days (5 mins effort per day) to wake them up.

.

 

[4wa1l]

I'm a huge fan of nukazuke! I have a Japanese friend who knew that I liked to ferment veg (pickles, sauerkraut, hot sauces etc) and introduced me to nukazuke a few years ago. She helped at the time by taking a portion of her matured bed and adding it to some fresh bran so it was ready to get to work quickly.

I found in the Australian summer it was almost too hot and I would really need to turn it twice daily. I ended up keeping it in the fridge which slowed everything but made it easier to maintain. Carrots from nuka bed are just incredibly good and one of my favourite things to eat. Slightly tangy, salty and if you get the timing right they still have some sweetness to balance everything out. So tasty!

I ended up letting that one slide and it has been a few years since I've had one going. Recently though my friend gave me a commercial packet which was just ready to go. It has been great to have them again but I would like to start my own as I want to do it "properly" myself from scratch. I already have extra dry rice bran so will certainly post my results here when I do.

 

[MowgFace]

I’ve dabbled here and there. Mainly Kimchi: Daikon, Garlic Chive, Bok Choy, cabbage.

I’ve also made Filipino Atsara (Achara) a green Papaya ferment.

 

[deltaplex]

The start of Kimchi:

Since I often use Kimchi as a way to clean out the fridge, I've started blending up some of the dodgy stuff for these preps, in here is wrinkle-y sweet peppers and apples with the ginger, garlic, tamari, and gochujang (it ended much smoother than the second picture):

Then I add in the rest of what's needed, for this batch it's tiny salted shrimp, dried nettle, and some pimenton:

I set a baseline for 2% by weight of salt, so since this batch had ~3521g of vegetables, I added 70g of salt and then the blended up stuff will bump the salt by weight to somewhere between 2 and 3% for this batch.

Final shot ready to get packed into big jars with weight on the veg to keep is submerged during active fermentation:

It'll be in that wonderful "carbonated" phase in about two weeks and I'll decide when to put it in the ferment fridge sometime soon after that by tasting it.

 

[4wa1l]

@Ochazuke how is your nukazuke going? Also is toasting the bran a necessary step?