Thursday’s Recipe …. Live, cultured, Fermented Foods!!!!
I am so excited!! I am sort of a geek about healthy food, and fermented food is my latest health food. It seems like I am not alone. I have been seeing and hearing so much about fermented foods lately, I couldn’t wait to try to make some of my own. Fermenting foods makes them more nutritious. These cultured foods grow bacteria, probiotics that are so good for your gut. I found this book at our library–WILD FERMENTATION THE FLAVOR, NUTRITION, AND CRAFT OF LIVE CULTURES by Sandor Ellix Katz. He also has a very informative website called Wild Fermentation. There is so much more to say about how good these foods are for you, Sandor covers it well in both his book and website.
And I also read a yummy blog post by my friend Sheri. But sometimes I have trouble getting started with something new. I can research things to death. Very un-unschooley of me!! So I have been looking on-line and at blogs gathering info. Today I decided to just try it–and really it was easy.
I started with Ginger Carrots.
I grated 4 cups of organic carrots (not peeled as there is lots of good stuff especially minerals you don’t want to wash or peel off) Put into a bowl and add 1 T grated ginger and 2 T salt. Immediately the juices started to release from the carrots. This is just what you want to happen. Then I filled my wide mouthed mason jar and added just a tiny bit of water to make sure they were totally covered in liquid.
Look closely—can you see the bubbles–it’s alive!! Really-that’s what makes it so healthy!
I left plenty of head space and capped loosely to let some of the gas escape.
I used good salt. Look it says ALIVE!
I read that you don’t want to used iodized salt. You need to use large, wide mouthed jars which I have not invested in yet nor have I found any at the thrift store-so I used mason jars and an old pickle jar.
Next I made sauerkraut. I used both green and purple cabbage. I grated it up in the food processor and put it in a large bowl.
To that I added 2 T of salt and 1 t of dill seed and 1 t celery seed ground up in a coffee grinder.
After thoroughly mixing it all up with my hands I packed it down into a jar and topped off with a bit of water. Again leaving head space and not sealing too tight.
I put these into a bowl to catch any overflow that might escape. And set them in a dark spot on my counter.
I can not wait to taste these. I will do a taste test in 3 days to see how they are coming along. I read to test at days 3, 6 and 9. When it suits my taste refrigerate. I am so excited at the possible combinations and to try other fruits-yes fruits and veggies and spices Mmmmm.
Tags: blog, blogs, CULTURES, dill, Fermentation, Fermented, Fermenting, FLAVOR, Food, food processor, friend sheri, Ginger Carrots, grated ginger, health food, healthy food, Homemade, latest health, mason jar, mason jars, nutrition, organic carrots, pickle, pickle jar, probiotics, process, purple cabbage, recipe, salt, Sandor, Sandor Ellix, sandor ellix katz, sauerkraut, Thursday, unschool, vegan, wild fermentation
We are heavily into fermented goodies over here — kinda got swept away by it all
Kombuchas, water kefirs and kefir sodas, coconut milk yogurt, fermented veggies, krauts, and spicy kim-chi…so yummy, so good for you!
Do you like spicy? My hubby does, and he’s been loving a combination of sliced leeks, shredded cabbage, grated carrots, minced garlic and minced fresh ginger, onions, plus seasonings and chili pepper flakes…ferment a few days and then you’ve got a zippy, spicy little batch of fermented goodness
have fun, there’s so many great combinations and concoctions you can make…you might get a little carried away with it all