Fermenting Fantastic Food

Real Water Kefir and Dom

I wrote a while ago about making water kefir using milk kefir grains.  When made that way it’s not suitable for strict vegans, and it risks the health of the grains, but in a pinch it will do the trick.  I recently broke down and bought some real water grains, because of a certain someone.  A man.  And I’m not talking about my (basically perfect) husband.

I’ve been holding out on you, dear reader.  I never told you about Dom.  If you are any kind of kefir veteran, you already know Dom.  If you’re new to fermenting, or kefir, maybe you aren’t familiar, but I think you are about to be as in love as I am.  I myself have never met Dom, but love is not too strong a word.   Why?  Because he has apparently devoted a significant portion of his life to some pretty rigorous experimentation surrounding my very favorite culture, kefir.   Furthermore, he shares the results of all of his efforts with the rest of us for free on his site.

It might not be love at first site for you.  Maybe you like your urls to be shorter than 23 words.  Okay.  Maybe you prefer the simple color schemes that websites have developed in the last decade to two decades to the wild and crazy color choices of the 90s internet.  I hear you.  But I love Dom just how he is (and I think if you have a problem with that stuff I just mentioned, you’ll get over it once you see what the man has to offer).

I have used Dom’s site (Dom’s kefir in-site, to be exact) as a resource for milk kefir for quite some time.  And it was Dom who finally convinced me to take the plunge and get some water kefir (or as he calls them, sugar kefir) grains.  It was seduction, pure and simple.  I was pouring over some of his milk kefir info for the 29th time when I decided to take a peek, just a tiny scroll, into water territory.  Just to see.  And what a slippery slope it was.  It’s too sweet, I thought.  I’m satisfied with what I have.  I have other cultures in my life.  They deserve my time and loyalty.  A glance become a look and then I was staring, and their translucent sugar-munching bodies suddenly held an appeal they’d never had before.  It was like I was seeing them for the first time.  Dom’s fantastic explanations of increasing growth rate, best flavoring practices and secondary fermentation strategy put my mind in a dither and before I knew what I was happening, I’d printed out my order form and mailed it off to the always wonderful GEM.

Now here I am a couple months later not enjoying exactly daily batches of the sweet stuff, but it definitely enters into our weekly repertoire.  The sugars you put in are converted not just to CO2 and alcohol, but also to fructose*, which is why water kefir retains such a sweet taste even after fermentation is complete.  From a health standpoint, this is still a decent dose of sugar.  But if you are, for instance, a person trying to kick a soda habit, water kefir might just be your perfect transition.

You can get more than enough amazing info from Dom’s site, and I highly suggest you do, but in the meantime, I’ll share my very simple process with you.  Just know that everything I do right is thanks to Dom and any errors are my own.

A note on grains: neither water kefir nor milk kefir grains are actually grains.  They are most likely called grains due to their granular appearance, but in reality they are cultures made up of bacteria and yeast (or SCOBYs, if you will) that contain no grain at all.

Some close up grains

Water Kefir

Makes 1 quart

Unlike milk kefir grains, water kefir grains sink to the bottom.  So although this is a process of anaerobic (airless) fermentation, you don’t really need a sealing container.  I like to use a container that seals because it makes the final product fizzier, like a pro-biotic pop, even if I don’t do secondary fermentation.  When you put your kefir in a sealed container, you definitely want to leave a few inches of space at the top.  In a long-neck bottle, don’t fill the neck.  Your grains are creating CO2 and that can cause explosions.  This is also why you don’t want to let your container ferment for much longer than two days, and why, even once it’s in the fridge, you need to open it up every so often to let that CO2 escape.  Although this has never happened to me, it is a real risk to be aware of.

  • 3 cups of filtered water
  • 1/4 cup sugar of your choice (processed sugars are okay, but honey is a no-no due to its antibacterial properties)
  • ~1/2 cup kefir grains
  • chunk of washed lemon (optional)
  • Slices of washed apples (optional)

The Process

  1. Add sugar to water and stir until dissolved
  2. Add kefir grains (and then optional flavorings above) to your container and seal it
  3. Let  it sit at room temperature for 48 hours
  4. Strain out your fruit and compost it
  5. Strain out your kefir grains with a non-metallic mesh strainer and put them into fresh sugar solution to repeat process.  Once in fresh sugar solution, you may choose to store them in the fridge for up to a week before making your next batch
  6. If you like your drinks extra fizzy, put your finished, strained water kefir into a container that seals, such as a swingtop bottle and let it sit at room temp for 1-2 days more.  You can also add all varieties of flavorings once your kefir grains are removed.  Apple and grape juice, coconut water and vanilla beans are all great choices that yield excellent results.
  7. Stick it in the fridge or cold storage to let it chill before serving.

Special thanks to Mari Jaye Blanchard for the lovely photos in this post.

*Learned that fact on culturesforhealth.com, where there are excellent videos for beginners.

March 5, 2013
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Viili – An even easier way to get thick “yogurt”

Fresh viili, spread around a bowl, waiting for milk to start doing it’s thing!

When I recently put in an order at the awesome GEM Cultures, I thought, hey, this ordering process is extremely onerous for the modern age.*  I should probably load up on anything I might ever want from them.  And so I scoured their site, in search of weird cultures I don’t already have but which I will be able to actually keep alive.  As I’ve mentioned many times before, I keep a lot of ferments kicking in my small, south Philly rowhouse, so deciding to start a new culture takes a bit of deliberation.  I need to be sure it doesn’t require any special equipment, it won’t take up too much space and it doesn’t require more loving care than I have to give.  You people who have many children are insane/impressive!  Keeping twelve cultures and a pit bull alive is more than enough responsibility for me! (I also have actual work, sometimes.)

Anyway, I found a culture that completely fit my specifications in the form of viili, a Finnish, way-easier-than-yogurt (if you can believe it!), jelly-textured, barely acidic treat.  I love viili because while less creamy and more gelatinous than “Greek” yogurt, it cultures at room temperature in 24-hours or less.  As I’ve stressed many times before, I really don’t love any degree of difficulty in my ferments, and even though yogurt is a super simple ferment, keeping the yogurt in the right temperature range can be irritating,** especially those delicious, thick, creamy strains that I tend to favor.  Unlike yogurt, viili is not very acidic which is great for those of you who like the sweet, mild taste of big commercial yogurt brands.

A few notes: viili completely loses its texture, becoming whipped and liquid when you use an immersion blender to add fruit.  This makes it great for smoothies, but if you want something spoonable, it’s best to gently mix in chopped fruit, jam or nuts, or stir in a touch of honey.

You can indeed use viili to culture soy or nut milks!  Doesn’t work for vegans, but it’s wonderful for people cutting down on dairy.  If you go this route, you will need to reserve some non-soy/nut viili and continue to culture it in dairy milk.  The culture will not survive long as a non-dairy ferment, and you’ll need the dairy version for future batches.

Get thee to a creamery

GEM recommends avoiding raw milk, since the bacteria can wage a civil war, resulting in the loss of your culture.  I have experienced this loss with kefir grains and it’s not pretty.  Just use quality, pasteurized (not super- or ultra- or mega- pasteurized) milk and you’ll be fine.

Ingredients:

Finished villi

Milk

The Process:

  1. Spread a couple spoonfuls of your viili all over the bottom and most of the way up the sides of single-person, kind of deep bowl.  You want it to stay where you put it, so a spoon or a small spatula work well
  2. Pour a cup or so of milk into your bowl, filling just about to the line of where you spread your finished villi
  3. Cover the bowl with a fine weave cloth and secure it with a rubber band
  4. Stick it in a room temperature spot away from direct sunlight and let it sit for up to 24 hours
  5. When it’s done, it will shake almost like a bowl full of jelly
  6. If you made a small batch and know you’ll want more tomorrow, remove a couple spoonfuls immediately and start a new batch
  7. If not, it can sit in the fridge for a week or more before you do a new culture.  Just don’t eat it all!  You need the finished product to culture the next batch.  For this reason, I generally pull a quarter cup or so out of a finished batch and leave it in a separate container in the fridge.  It helps me remember not to eat it and that I need to re-culture!

You can get your own viili from GEM or from me (free, even!), if you live in Philly.  Like sourdough, this readily propagates, so I will always have enough to share!

 

*I actually just paid them for another order by Paypal for the first time and it was WAY quicker but a buck more expensive.  Recommended!

**It’s really not irritating.  It’s actually easy.  In fact, I’ll be putting up a how-to for my particular favorite of the thick ‘n’ creamies very soon.  But the fact is, viili is easier!

February 27, 2013
Posted in Dairy, Easy fermenting, Ferment, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Fermentation Basics – Ghetto Jar Method

Place small jar in large jar. Push small jar down to bring juices to the surface. Make sure liquid is above the vegetables. Cover jars with a towel or cloth and secure cloth with rubber band.

If you read my post yesterday, you’ll know that I’m not big on buying equipment, but as any well-salted fermenter knows, keeping certain things, such as pickles, in an air-free environment is extremely important for promoting fermentation and impeding mold and other undesirable growth.  There are a few ways to do this.  One is to buy a thing, such as the Pickl-it or a crock with water seal capabilities.  Another, which I what I do most of the time, is to submerge veggies in their own juices or under brine via the ghetto jar method™.  I love this method because it is free, done with materials I already have in my home, justifies one of my hoarding habits (jars) and keeps my veggies mold-free and delicious every time. Here’s how it works with kimchi and sauerkraut:

  1. Pack your cabbagey goodness into jars as tightly as you can.  You want a thin layer of their juices on the surface, but you still want an inch or two of space at the top of your jar.
  2. Once they are packed as tightly as possible, fill a very clean, smaller jar with water.
  3. Place smaller jar inside larger jar so that it rests on top of the veggies.  Push down if the vegetables are in any way peeking over the surface of the liquid.  You want them submerged!
  4. Cover the whole thing with a cloth and secure the cloth to the top of the big (bottom, vegetable containing) jar with a rubber band to keep out flies.  This allows the gases created by fermentation to release while keeping the veggies in the anaerobic environment they need.

A slight variation for lactopickles:

  1. Place veggies in jar.
  2. Pour brine over veggies.
  3. Leave about 2 inches of space at the top of your jar, because your veggies will be releasing water in the brine and if you don’t your jar will runeth over.  Even so, I recommend keeping a small plate underneath your lactopickles to catch any overflow.
  4. Fill your small jar about 2/3 full with water and place inside larger jar, over veggies so they are submerged under the brine.
  5. Cover with a cloth and secure with a rubber band.

Some submersion alternatives:

  • You can partially fill a ziplock-type bag with brine and place it over your veggies.  It will serve the same purpose as a ghetto jar system: keeping those suckers submerged. If the bag leaks, it will just leak brine into your veggies which is no problem at all, and will maintain the salinity you like.  I am not a big fan of this method because I have a possibly unreasonable fear of plastic near my food, and the thought of it soaking with my food for weeks is a big ol’ skeever.
  • You can use a sterile (boiled) and appropriately-sized, heavy stone.
  • I have used lemons, meyer lemons and clementines slightly past their prime. I picked this tip up somewhere in The Art of Fermentation (BUY IT!  I AM IN NO WAY COMPENSATED TO SAY THIS!), but I cannot find the reference so I’m just giving generic credit here.
  • If you are fermenting in a bowl, use a plate with a can or a heavy, sterilized stone on it to keep everything under water/brine/juice.  Cover with a cloth and secure.

That’s it!  My method may not be perfect or pretty but it definitely gets the job done in my house!  How do you keep your veggies submerged or free of mold?  Let me know in the comments!

February 20, 2013
Posted in Basics, Equipment, Ferment | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (8)

My Fermentation Kitchen

My badass, state of the art, super-pricey arsenal

I absolutely love fermenting (shocked, aren’t you?).  I’ve made quite a few ferments and I make a few things all the time but until a couple months ago I only used things I already had in my kitchen to make a wide variety of ferments (with the exception of a $2 fine-mesh strainer that I purchased from my local kitchen supply store a couple years back).

To anyone who feels intimidated by fermentation and afraid to invest in expensive equipment, I say DON’T. Don’t feel intimidated.  Don’t invest in equipment.  You don’t need it to get started.  For many ferments, you don’t even need it to delve deep.

Here are many of the things that I use on my daily fermentation quests:

Glass Bowls –  Very handy for sourdough and brining.  For brining my kimchi veggies, I use several of my largest bowls.  I have one very large bowl into which a plate fits perfectly.  I use that for lactopickles and fruit chunk vinegars, among other things.  I must admit that I entertain a lot, so I already had a larger number of glass bowls than the average city-dweller probably does.

Wooden Spoons –  Since metal can damage some kinds of cultures (I’m looking at you kefir grains and scobys) I use wooden, plastic or silicone utensils on all of my ferments, just to maintain the habit.  I have a variety of wooden spoons that I use for different containers.  The long guy (or as my honorary second mother calls it, the “stupid spoon”)  is very useful for those giant pots full of stuff and for compressing things (like preserved lemons) into large, half-gallon  and gallon jars.

The Stupid Spoon doing one of its many important jobs, dissolving sugar

Chopsticks –  Although we mostly cook at home and eat a healthy , it is impossible to live in Philly and not sometimes enjoy a little Han Dynasty or Golden Empress. As a non-hoarding hoarder, I love that my beloved kefir grains give me an excuse to save chopsticks for years.  I use them to stir my kefir while it’s straining.  Speeds the process up quite a bit.

Jars of Many Sizes –  I have a lot of jars.  I’ve saved everything from hot sauce to olive and spice jars for a very long time, to my non-hoarding husband’s great dismay.  Having jars of different sizes around is a great boon for fermenters.  Although not always the ideal vessel for most ferments, they are great for submerging things like small batches of lactopickles or kimchi in larger jars when you want liquid covering your veggies.  Look for tomorrow’s post on my ghetto jar method for creating the right environment for lactic veggie fermentation.

Plastic lids –  The typical lids that come with Ball jars are metal and can definitely corrode during and after fermentation.  You aren’t heat-sealing your jars anyway, so switching to plastic lids for things like kefir and preserved citrus is a great idea.

Kitchen towels, Cloth Napkins, Coffee Filters – These guys all serve the same purpose but I use them for different things.  When you need to release the fermentation bubbles, but not let in flies or other beasties, merely cover your fermentation vessel with one of these guys.  I use them all for different things.  Obviously the coffee filters are the least versatile since they can only be used with jars and smaller containers and they are the least reusable of the bunch.  The one advantage they have is that they don’t cover any part of your jar below the thread, so you have full visibility.  Towels I use with large bowls, and to insulate bowls and jars that need a slightly higher temperature.   My cloth napkins are many-hued, so I can use them to color-code things (I’m a nerd).  The other advantage of towels and napkins is that they are absorbent, so when your cup inevitably runneth over, you don’t end up with salt lick of a table.

A kitchen towel protecting a small batch of cider vinegar from the hell of infestation

Glass Pitchers –  Good for ferments that like air to get where they’re going, such as vinegar.  In the case of kombucha, you’ll need something with no metal parts, and a lovely glass pitcher can totally fit the bill.

Leftover (scavenged) two liters –  Carbonation.  When making natural sodas or anything else you want carbonating but not exploding shards of glass into your precious, precious eyes it helps to have some old two-liters around.  Women carrying recycled coca-cola bottles filled with thick, foamy chica away from the local chicheria is a common site in the Sacred Valley of Peru.   And they know their stuff.  The great thing is that you know when they are fully pressurized because the bottles become hard. Then it’s time to stick them in the fridge.

Sealable glass bottles – I use recycled 360 Vodka bottles when I’m doing a very short fermentation and I need it super bubbly.   I cannot recommend that you do the same, since you are intentionally cultivating pressure which could lead to explosion.  I have never had this happen to me, but I have

Recycled sealing bottle. Beware of possibility of glass explosion.  I can’t explain why my hand looks like a ham in this picture.

Leftover produce rubber bands – Never throw these away again!  Rubber bands of all shapes and sizes are useful for securing coverings (see above) to your fermentation vessels.  I especially treasure the gigantic ones that are wrapped 4 times around my broccoli stalks, but the smaller, tighter ones are great for smaller containers as well.

Twine –  Sometimes your bowl is too big and your rubber bands are too small.

I have recently  added some actual equipment to fermenting library, but that is after years of fermenting with nothing more than the things in my house.  While I’m sure there are other household things that I regularly use to ferment, these are the first to jump to mind.  Crazy, right?  Insane, the amount of cash I had to spend to get this bubbling.*

If you’re a noob: see, you can do this! I promise!

If you’re an old pro: what household items do you use for your ferments?  Tell me in the comments!

*irony

February 19, 2013
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Upcoming Classes

 

Pickles and kimchi, sourdough and kombucha

Hello, friends!  As I mentioned a week ago, I’ll be teaching two classes in early March.  These will likely be the last nearly-free classes for a while, because I have a several very exciting classes and demos coming up in conjunction with some amazing organizations.  Details on those will be coming soon, but we can safely say you may be sick of seeing me by the end of April.

Just as an FYI, the last several classes have sold out well before the actual class so if you’re interested, don’t delay in signing up.  Both of these classes are intended for beginners. 

The deets on the two classes:

Payment: It is possible that I lose money on these classes, but it is a sure thing that I lose money if you don’t show up or if you cancel at the last minute.   Please don’t do that.

Fun: Come prepared to get your hands dirty (especially in the kimchi class).  I want you to leave ready to make this stuff on your own at home.

1.  Kimchi For The Urban Kitchen

We will taste a few varieties of kimchi and make a spicy and mild version for you to take home.  Both will be vegan and gluten-free.  We’ll talk about how to make other kinds of kimchi and even make an alternative variety if time permits.  You get to take a jar of the good stuff home with you to ferment.

  • March 2, 12-2pm
  • Indy Hall, 20 N. 3rd St
  • $10
  • email me to sign-up.  Space is limited. Amanda@phickle.com

2.  Some Fermentation Basic

We will cover some of the basic principles of fermentation, and you will learn how to make at least 3 of the following: lactopickles, sourdough, kombucha, kefir, a dairy ferment similar to yogurt, vinegar or ginger beer.  You will leave with at least one jar ready for home fermentation or one culture.

  • March 3rd, 12-2pm
  • Indy Hall, 20 N. 3rd St.
  • $10
  • Email me to sign-up.  Space is limited.  Amanda@phickle.com
If you want to keep abreast of future classes, demos and events, follow me on Twitter and on Facebook.  I hope to see you in a couple weeks!
February 16, 2013
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Chocolate is a Ferment

Eat me

Yup, that’s right people.  I said it.  Without fermentation there would be no Valentine’s Day.  There would be no fantastic kid memories of snowmen and freezing fingers warmed by a steaming, hot cup of tasty.  There would be no churros y chocolate and no aphrodisiac-chocolate tittering in your early teens.  I don’t think it’s going too far to say there would be no romance, no love, no desire, no pleasure.  Because chocolate is good.  If you are one of the aberrant people who don’t like chocolate, I just don’t know what to say to you except that you’re wrong or I’m sorry for whatever horrible thing happened in your childhood.

I was in New York this week for work, and I had the chance to force invite a colleague and friend to accompany me down to foodie mecca (aka Brooklyn) for a little super expensive chocolate beauty.  I’m not arguing with Mast Bros.  While much of the world’s chocolate is produced in way that is detrimental to the people responsible for harvest and cultivation, Mast Bros pay farmers a fair price, well above market rates.  They also make their beans into bars in Brooklyn (a super cheap spot, right?!) and get local artists to design their stunningly beautiful packaging.  So while you might not want to pay $12 for a bar of chocolate, you can kind of understand why their bars sometimes cost $12 a piece.  I picked up a bag of nibs for baking and a limited edition bar of black truffle chocolate.  The truffle chocolate took some getting used to, I won’t lie.  I ate 3 squares over the course of the day, and I definitely liked them better as the day wore on.  I could easily see using this bar for a savory dish, but more likely it will serve as a conversation starter the next time friends stop over and want a bite of something.

A little bit of the Mast Bros Warehouse store in Brooklyn. Pretty and pricey with a fermenty drawing on the board!

So chocolate fermenation: there are a variety of organisms involved in giving chocolate its delicious color and flavor.  When the large, fake-looking pods of the Theobroma cacao (which, incidentally means “food of the gods.”  Right you are, latin name!) tree are harvested, they are cracked open to reveal seeds covered in a pectiny pulp, which is the substance eventually liquified by fermentation.  The pulpy seeds are put into wooden boxes and covered with banana leaves, where they will be turned occasionally to release heat (any composters out there?) and otherwise left for several days to do their thing.  Fermentation kills the seeds and also contributes the complex flavors that we know and love in chocolate.  One super neat thing about the fermentation of the chocolate beans is that there are multiple types of fermenation occuring over the course of the process. I’ve discussed this type of situation in my fermentation classes quite a bit.  Alcoholic, acetic and lactic fermentation are all needed to get the end product that we know and love.  There are also assorted molds and fungi involved (hungry yet?) so it is important to manage those and fermentation time, since both can negatively impact the taste of the chocolate if they go awry.

Fermentation occurs, by necessity, near the source of the harvest, so there is no fermentation occurring at Mast Bros, or anywhere in the US as far as I know, but I did get to handle some awesome, prehistoric-looking, fresh pods while we were in the rainforest last year.  Unfortunately the area I was in was known for pickpocketing and torrential rains, so my camera was safely elsewhere and you’re stuck with finished bar photos from Brooklyn.

my nibs are black
my chocolate has a crack

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Enjoy your traditional Valentine’s ferment!

 

A note: I did a chocolate presentation for my job a LONG time ago and much of what you read above is knowledge I acquired putting together that presentation.  Nothing comes directly from it.  The only specific source I can remember (though there were many, many more) is a book I have on my bookshelf called Chocolate, Cooking With the World’s Best Ingredient by Christine McFadden and Christine France.

Additionally, I googled for a refresher and found this site which clearly explains the awesome microbial science of chocolate fermentation.

February 14, 2013
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Fermentation Basics Class and a Cocktail Recipe

 

It’s bloody good. I bet no one ever made that joke before.

Last weekend, I taught a class of awesome people some fermenty basics.  As per usual, I tried to cram the ocean into a paper cup but despite that, I had fun and I think the people taking the class did too!  To my delight, the class was sold out and there was a very long waiting list, which means I get to do this again soon, specifically March 2nd and 3rd, more details coming soon.

Vinegar, Kombucha, Kefir and Sourdough aren’t a lot for one class are they? (Answer: Yes! Yes, they are!)

We made kombucha, sourdough, lactopickles and milk kefir in one class, with a bonus segment on apple cider vinegar.  We did this in two hours.  Like I said, I have a little bit of a problem.  I gave away about 40 cultures to 15 people.  We tasted four kinds of kombucha, three kinds of milk kefir, a freshly baked loaf of sourdough and some burdock root pickles.  Everyone made their own jar of assorted veggie pickles to take home and ferment.

The first thing we tasted, to give our class a little bit of a brunchy feel, was a simplified version of a fermented cocktail of my own design.  I give you: the Bloody Carry.

Bloody is beautiful

The key ferment here is pickled fresh carrot juice which some call carrot kvass and others call tasty.  The rusted orange color will brighten up even the greyest winter day.  It tastes pickled and vinegary and somehow a little bit spicy.  Depending on how long and how you ferment it, it can also be a little effervescent. I adore that texture, but if you don’t just make sure you don’t seal your container.

You’ll need your ginger bug (or another starter such as whey or kefir grains) to get this guy going.

The Bloody Carry

Serves 2, easily scalable

Ingredients:

For the carrot juice:

  • Big bag of juicing carrots (you’ll need 1 1/4 cups of juice)
  • 3-5 T or more of your ginger bug

For the cocktail:

  • 1 1/4 c fermented carrot juice
  • 1/4 c vodka, freezer chilled
  • juice of 1/2 a blood orange
  • Large dash cranberry bitters (optional)
  • Small dash celery bitters (optional)

The process:

For the juice:

  1. Juice about 2 lbs of carrots*.  I used the 5 lb. bag of organics from Whole Foods
  2. You can stop once you get a cup and a quarter, or juice them all and drink the extra or have a little extra fermented juice for those who like a less strong cocktail
  3. Put your fresh juice and ginger bug into a bowl or jar and cover it.  Stir or shake when you think of it
  4. If you are going for an effervescent beverage, transfer your juice to a swingtop or plastic 2-liter bottle after a day or two
  5. Total fermentation time should not exceed 3 days.  If you want it sweeter, stick it in the fridge sooner.  It’s ready to use as soon as it tastes how you want it to

For the cocktail:

  1. Once the juice has reached the desired level of fermentation, you are ready to prepare your drink
  2. Combine fermented juice, and vodka over ice
  3. Squeeze in the orange juice
  4. Top with bitters
  5. Garnish with an orange slice and a carrot stick stirrer
  6. Enjoy with brunch!

*If you don’t have a juicer, you can thoroughly process and drain the carrots in a food processor or blender, this will have a lower yield and will be more time consuming.  If you can find unpasteurized carrot juice at the store, that is also a viable option.

 

I have a lot of bitters. The AMAZING homemade cranberry bitters come from The Cozy Herbivore, thanks to the Philly Food Swap!

February 6, 2013
Posted in Ferment, Fermentation Class, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)

Preserved Grapefruit, Lime or Orange

Taste the rainbow

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about an old favorite of mine, preserved lemons.  Turns out there were a lot of questions.  Okay, there was one question, asked many, many times across all social media.  It was, “Can I do it with x?” where x =  a citrus fruit that isn’t a lemon.  My resounding answer was yes!  You totally can!  The only issue I’ve found is that they aren’t as versatile as the lemons, which I will put on and in just about anything.  I put a bit more salt in with the sweeter fruit (oranges and grapefruits) and into each jar I add the juice of a lemon for greater acidity.  When you do your daily shake and smash, give it a sniff.  If it smells like some kind of citrus crack you can’t stop sniffing, all is well.  If after a few days, it starts smelling slightly alcoholic, like an ambrosial arancello (or whatever the lime and grapefruit versions are called), add another dash of salt and a little squeeze of lemon juice and check back the following day.

Salted grapefruit, nearly quartered

So what’s the point of the almost quartering thing?  Anyone who has ever made a quick pickle knows that salting helps the produce release its juices.  This juice-releasing is really helpful for this process because you need the maximum amount of juice out of your fruit if you’re going to end up with submerged fruit.  When you salt and reform the fruit, you get the surfaces all good and salted, which makes for maximum squashing ease.

Feel free to experiment with seasonings or leave them out all together.  Remember that anything you add before fermentation will limit the versatility of your final product.

Process after the jump.

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January 30, 2013
Posted in Ferment, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Fermentation Basics – Ginger Beer

I just stirred, so there aren’t a ton of bubbles. Once strained, this ginger bug will yield an intensely flavored and fizzy drink.

Foodwise, we mostly had communal meals of ridiculously expensive but wonderfully-prepared pasta (no one was gluten-free in those days), but a couple times we ventured to solid, cheap local spots on our own and tried some knockout dishes.  Fungi, which is not a mushroom but a kind of delicious mush made from cornmeal, sorrel and, of course, the “real” ginger beer were the stand-out menu items.  My immediate reaction was, “I have to learn how to make this stuff!”

Ginger beer I still make today, and let me just tell you, no store-bought ginger beer has anything on the stuff you make at home.  These days, I play around a little bit more (other ingredients, etc,), but the basic recipe is so simple that it’s hard to mess with.

One serious disclaimer: do not use a glass container for this.  We’re talking serious risks here.  You are intentionally cultivating the pressure in your bottle and your container really can explode.   With plastic, this could be messy.  With glass, it could be dangerous.  Even once you’ve reached your desired fermentation level, you will notice that it’s still fermenting in the fridge (albeit much more slowly).  So again, glass is probably a bad choice here.

As with all ferments, the timing of the fermentation process will vary according to the season and the temperature of your home.  Keep your eyes and fingers (to test pressure) on it.  They won’t lead you astray.

Process after the jump.

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January 27, 2013
Posted in Ferment, Travel | Comments (8)

7 Tips for Swapping Food and Building Community

Some delicious swap items

For the past year and a halfish I’ve had the pleasure of being one of four organizers of the Philly Food Swap.  We’ve traipsed around the city from Unitarian churches to horticultural libraries and urban farms.  We’ve met so many amazing home cooks, bakers, canners and makers.  I wanted the swap to exist because I wanted to feel more connected to a community that I knew must exist in this city.  This community certainly does exist, and I’m very proud to be a part of it!

If you want to join us for a future swap here are a few things I’ve learned over our brief and fruitful run:

1.  Do not be intimidated!  People are nice.  You are probably good at making something, or you wouldn’t be super interested in coming to a swap in the first place.  You should make something you would want to eat and not stress out a whole lot.  I’ve definitely made failed dishes for the swap before!  No big, I took them home and enjoyed them.  Which brings me to point number 2…

2.  Don’t take it personally!  Your item may be the belle of the ball, your swap sheet filled on both sides.  Or, you may make something awesome and have only one or two names on your list.  Either way, don’t take it personally!  I promise you most of us regular swappers have had the flubs and the fame and in the long run, it means nothing and it is certainly no reflection on your skills or creativity. I’ve taken home delicious things that I didn’t bid on or that I was the only one who bid on thinking only that my fellow swappers really missed out.  Don’t sweat it.  Come back and try again.  Next time, you might have the must-have item.  It’s not you!  It’s them.

Some pretty swap items

 

3.  Don’t kill yourself.  You are making food for your friends and neighbors, not Martha Stewart and Ruth Reichl.  If gorgeous packaging and elaborate staging are your bread and butter, go for it!  If you thrive on executing extremely complex recipes, then hey, you go.  But for the rest of us, making something that tastes awesome and looks good is a big win.  If you’re staying up until 4am the night before the swap, you might be doing it wrong (unless that’s your thing.  No judgment here).

Allyson always has brilliant packaging ideas. Sometimes simple and cute, sometimes elaborate and gorgeous. She’s an artist so I don’t hold it against her.

 

4.  Bring samples.  If you wonder why your items didn’t fly off the table (see #3), the first thing you should look at is samples.  They make a HUGE difference.  You can chop up tiny pieces and they don’t have to be pretty, but people are much more likely to swap you when they know what they’re getting.  Human nature, right?

5.  Be sociable!  By all means, come with a friend if you have one who’d be into it.  But don’t just hang out with them.  What’s the point of that?  We have a wonderful community of Philly food people and you, yes you, should know them.  I’m gonna say that 99.9% of the people who have been at every swap are open and friendly and there to meet like-minded people, see what’s cookin’ in Philly and share the goodness from their hearth.  There was that one douchebag that one time, but happily we never saw that person again :-) .

Lee of Feed Me Lee, Organizer Alexis of Teaspoons and Petals, Organizer Georgia of Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do?, lovely swappers and Allyson of Manifest Vegan

 

6.  Sign-up early (and don’t bail)!  We would love to let the whole world come, believe me. But we do this whole deal for free, in donated venues and therefore have space limitations.  So please, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, get on our mailing list and sign-up as soon as the event is posted.  It “sells” out quickly and we want you there!  Also please don’t be the dick who bails the morning of the swap, or worse yet the no-show.  There is usually a waiting list, but asking the waitlisted to prepare swap items with little notice is a bit much.

7.  Take photos!  I will eventually remember to do this one myself, but for now, you’re stuck with what photos I remembered to take (aka the first 15 minutes).  For instance, I have no photos of Organizer Marisa of Food In Jars or Sara of Cozy Herbivore or Kelly of Kelly Bakes or any of the other amazing swappers who write and made tasty (and often gorgeous) things to share.

 

My other swap items (assorted starters and kombucha)

 

Bosc pears poached in star anise, cinnamon, clove syrup and homemade mozzarella and oven-dried tomatoes marinated in herby olive oil. Courtesy of my amazing husband! (horrible photo quality courtesy of me)

 

Organizer Georgia and her lovely family. It’s Stella’s first swap!

I took home a great haul this time.  Bitters from Sara, chickpea miso from Dawn, pickled beets from Lee, chocolate stout marshmallows from Kelly, cardamom biscuits from Alexis, apricot butter from Marisa, red wine vinegar from Emily and so many more things from people whose names I can’t recall.  It was my husband’s first swap, and he definitely dug the vibe.  He’ll be at the next one and I hope you will too!!

If you attended the swap, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.  If you happen to know you swapped with me, let me know that too and I’ll link you into the post!

January 18, 2013
Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (6)