Grown It? Now Ferment It! (Fermentation Discussion Thread)

[Douglas.Curtis]

Fermentation is natures preservative, and an amazing flavor buffet along the way.
Lacto-Fermentation is great for all kinds of fruits and vegetables, so what are you fermenting?

Short List:

Spaghetti Squash and Garlic <--- crazy tasty!
LOTS of Carrot Sticks
Krautchi w/Habanero
and more carrot sticks!

I picked up some of the most beneficial pro-biotic lacto bacillus strains, then made 'yogurt' type cultures with them. You can use these as starters for all kinds of ferments, to ensure maximum beneficial (for animals) probiotic content.

 

[Creeperpark]

Fermentation is natures preservative, and an amazing flavor buffet along the way.
Lacto-Fermentation is great for all kinds of fruits and vegetables, so what are you fermenting?

Short List:

Spaghetti Squash and Garlic <--- crazy tasty!
LOTS of Carrot Sticks
Krautchi w/Habanero
and more carrot sticks!

I picked up some of the most beneficial pro-biotic lacto bacillus strains, then made 'yogurt' type cultures with them. You can use these as starters for all kinds of ferments, to ensure maximum beneficial (for animals) probiotic content.

Help me understand what you are talking about Curtis. Can you post some photos showing the process? I'm always interested in what you say and in all your posts.

 

[Asentrouw]

Always made my own cheeses, yoghurt, pickels, saucages and sauerkraut like this. Great hobby and great way for long term preservation.


I would say try making some Malawi-style cobs, also a nice fermentation process:

Malawi Style Cob Curing.

Okay, under the heading of "Pics or it didn't happen"... today's activity. This is the most amazing smelling, and vigorous growing, sativa I've ever grown - Columbian Gold x Mulanje x Dream Latcher (or is that "catcher"?), anyway, thanks to the brother who shared the goodness! :) I see many cobs...

www.icmag.com

 

[El Timbo]

I ferment cabbage, beetroot, radish, sweet tea and I keep a lactobacillus colony that I use for myself and my garden.

 

[Creeperpark]

I ferment cabbage, beetroot, radish, sweet tea and I keep a lactobacillus colony that I use for myself and my garden.

How do you do that Timbo? Soak then them in vinegar?

 

[El Timbo]

How do you do that Timbo? Soak then them in vinegar?

No vinegar needed - the fermentation process produces acetic acid but you don't need it to get started, just salt

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Help me understand what you are talking about Curtis. Can you post some photos showing the process? I'm always interested in what you say and in all your posts.

No photos, though I have plenty of rabbit photos to share.

The air is full of bacteria and yeasts, as is every surface in the world around you. The ones which are good for your digestion do not die in heavy salt environments. When you put vegetables in salt water (Usually at least 5% by weight but definitely do your research), the lacto bacillus bacteria break down the sugars over time and form lactic acid. The acid drops the pH of the solution below 4.6, which kills off any remaining 'bad' bacteria. (You can literally inoculate these ferments with botulism and salmonella bacteria and the end result is bad bacteria free)

These lacto bacillus bacteria are VERY healthy for your digestion. Vinegar, which is acetic acid, will do the same thing but without the majority of the health benefits. Live vinegar does have good bacteria, just not much in comparison to lacto ferments.

The fermented foods you're most familiar with are likely yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi (a hot and spicy cabbage ferment somewhat like sauerkraut).

While random bacteria/yeasts are very healthy, I took extra steps to ensure the optimal bacteria are in my ferments. I started with pro-biotic pills/capsules and made yogurt style cultures out of them. I use a bit of yogurt or whey when starting a new batch of fermenting veggies, and every week or so refresh the cultures in the fridge. Once I have new cultures I eat the old ones. lol Very tasty 'yogurt.'

WildFermentation.com has very good information on the subject. The owner has also authored 2 books which have lots of detail on how to do it yourself. "Wild Fermentation" and "The Art of Fermentation."

So tasty! So Healthy!!

Edit: The cultures I use are L. Reuteri, L. Gasseri, L. Rhamnosus GG, and I also have B. Coagulans and the bacteria in Fage yogurt for extra flavor.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Ok... photos

Carrots

Habanero KrautChi (Spicy, Kimchi type sauerkraut made with napa and bok choy cabbage)

Carrots with individual starters

Fun!

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I recommend starting with quart sized canning jars or something similar with a top you can almost seal tight.
Leave a good 2" of headspace above your carrots/carrot-sticks, because you'll want to fill that space with rolled up onion.

Fill with water, 3Tablespoons of Pink Himalayan salt per quart, till the water level is just above the carrots and a half inch into the onion. Screw the lid on tight (you should have a bit of pressure from the onion on the lid), then back it off just a bit.

As the bacteria works to produce lactic acid it will produce gas bubbles/pockets. This will raise the liquid level to nearly the top of the jar.

As gas production reaches peak and begins to slow, the probiotic efficacy is about optimal. Once the gas production has ceased, they're still definitely probiotic (though some of the bacteria has died off) and will store for long periods of time with cool temperatures.

Half my family is unable to eat yogurt due to the dairy. These carrots (you can use all kinds of root vegetables) are an amazingly delicious replacement for the probiotics from yogurt.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

And the wine.... Oh, the wine...

Forget bottling... wine is so much more healthy and delicious when it's live, fresh and unfiltered. Only takes 13'ish days for a bomb-ass batch of wine to finish. Tastes fantastic and still gets you buzzed at 6 days. lol

 

[mike-or-ozzy]

@DouglasCurtis how do you use the lacto in ferments may I ask?

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

@DouglasCurtis how do you use the lacto in ferments may I ask?

Ideally I use a bit of whey from the cultures/'yogurts,' mix them together with an equal amount of blue agave syrup, and then pour them over the veggies in the fermentation vessel. When there is no whey, a dab of the 'yogurt' can be mixed smooth and used the same way.

After that I add the salted water to top everything off.

 

[Betterhaff]

Pickles… as in garlic dills. no vinegar

 

[El Timbo]

Great stuff Douglas! I have to confess that my approach is a lot less controlled... I've been using the same jar for fermenting cabbage for 20 years - when it's about 2/3 empty I take out the remaining fermented cabbage, put some fresh cabbage and salt/water into the jar then put the already fermented cabbage back on top. I sometimes throw in some cumin seeds.

Ginger goes well with fermented carrots.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Sounds like some amazingly delicious cabbage there I LOVE ginger with the carrots, and I'll be using a zester to turn the ginger to mush. When other folks bite a piece of carrot which was up against ginger... many do not like the heat.

With cucumbers the secrets are low temps, a pinch of epsom salt and the use of pink himalayan salt. Heat and plain salt without enough magnesium leads to softer skins and less crunchy pickles.

 

[mike-or-ozzy]

Sounds like some amazingly delicious cabbage there I LOVE ginger with the carrots, and I'll be using a zester to turn the ginger to mush. When other folks bite a piece of carrot which was up against ginger... many do not like the heat.

With cucumbers the secrets are low temps, a pinch of epsom salt and the use of pink himalayan salt. Heat and plain salt without enough magnesium leads to softer skins and less crunchy pickles.

Thank you DouglasC for those little tips, they are huge.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

My pleasure, and most of them come from The Art of Fermentation. It's available on Amazon (Pm me if you want an affiliate link) in multiple formats. I strongly, strongly recommend it as it's an amazing reference.

Things I do/will-do differently:

- Grate ginger for carrots/root-veggies and especially krautchi or other cabbage/leafy ferments. Slices of ginger become difficult to tell apart from the veggies, and they're simply too hot for most folks to handle without heartburn.
- Slice garlic vs. cutting heads in half without peeling. I love to eat the garlic, but find slices so much more flavorful and enjoyable than half cloves with a troublesome skin on it. lol
- Sliced onion as the top layers, because it reduces the growth of molds and other unwanteds, is inexpensive (usually) and is easy to pull off the top. Yes, you'll see molds and scums and such forming in the top layer where oxygen is present. These things are just fine and simply needs to be pulled out and skimmed off.
- Rolled outer cabbage leaves as the top layer in krautchi's works awesome.

 

[Kimes]

I've been told by reputable sources that the 3 star Michelin chef Rene Rezdepi's "Noma Guide to Fermentation; Including koji, kombuchas, shoyus, misos, vinegars, garums, lacto-ferments, and black fruits and vegetables (Foundations of Flavor)" is supposedly one of the best books available atm.

Noma is a three-Michelin-star restaurant run by chef René Redzepi, and co-founded by Claus Meyer, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of the two Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food).[2] Opened in 2003, the restaurant is known for its focus on foraging, invention and interpretation of New Nordic Cuisine.[1][3] In 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014, it was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant magazine.[4][5][6][7] In 2021 it won the first spot in the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards.[8]

 

[Kimes]

Grab a free related field guide pdf legally from here

I've dabbled at home with simple veggies + salt (+ brine) in ziplock bags + fridge (inside it and on top of it )and results have been yummy.. In restaurants we used a vacuum machine, but similar results with ziplocks

similar to this description

many thanks to @Douglas.Curtis for reminding me of this healthy art..

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I'll second the Noma Guide for great info, I learned a lot from it.

So... northern bean tempeh and the Keto diet are awesome together. Provides plenty of fiber without throwing you out of ketosis. Loving it. Likely soy and other beans work as well, but my experience is only with northern bean, 'cause everyone can eat those without issues. (Unlike soy)