Kimchi And Fermented Vegetables How To And Why

Wonder where its from














Saw some fermented stuff at whole foods. dunno what it was though

 

I've got the itch again too. I have 4 lids free so with the 2 litre jars I can make 8 litres of goodies! I have no idea what to make though. I still have enough of the veggies I like already fermenting. I'll probably make another jar of cauliflower since it's my favorite and it can ferment longer. But not sure what else. Anything interesting in your book, Expanse?

 

An update on the chayote: it is garbage. Whatever happened I there it certainly didn't ferment properly. The liquid turned cloudy and gross looking and it started to stink. I'm not sure what went wrong there.

 

I looked into trying Indian pickling. It involves using oils like mustard oil and sesame oil. I haven't read into it much yet, but it seems that you have to heat mustard oil until it smokes - to burn off erucic acid.

It seems to go like this: cram hot peppers, sliced into rounds, into mason jars, salting and adding seasoning as you go. Then heat about 2 tablespoons of oil, then pour it over the peppers and place lids on. After that you leave the jars on a sunny ledge for a day or two, shaking the jars several times per day, more if the liquid doesn't cover the peppers all the way. After a couple of days the peppers should shrink some. It then calls for adding 2 tablespoons of lime juice, and leaving in the sunny place for a week, or two, or more. They are supposed to be sour.

Once they are sour enough for your taste, you put them in the refrigerator to slow fermentation.

I'm also going to try to make some ginger beer.

I have today off, but I'm going to go for a walk and take it easy, as I have night shift coming up for the next 3 days. I think I'll start on the Indian pepper project when I recover from night shift.

 

I'm also going to ferment some cauliflower, hopefully.

 

Chayote sounds like a challenge to ferment. After my cucumber fiasco, I'm going to stick with things that have less risk of mushiness. Had had one jar of cucumbers that were not too bad, the rest were mushy and smelly.

I don't have the skills for the difficult stuff.

 

That's a shame. Sometimes it's hard to tell why it went wrong. I completely forgot to mention my asparagus which I took off the shelf last week. Same thing. It was total mush and smelled bad. What a disappointment, I was so looking forward to it. :bigcry: I'm thinking either I didn't put in enough salt or there was some bad bacteria already on the asparagus when I bought it. Or maybe the jar didn't seal well and air got in. Who knows for sure. So don't get discouraged! It happens. I'm determined to try asparagus again. The first time that I put it into the mixed veggies it was in about the same time as the second time, around two weeks.

 

I figure I'll try something at least twice, maybe three times just to make sure it wasn't certain circumstances that ruined it. After that, forget it.

 

Interesting. Sounds like it's more for flavour than health benefits. Sun kills the probiotics and shaking the jar disturbs it and mucks up the process. Bet it will taste fantastic though!

I love natural ginger ale, but the fermented one will probably just taste like soap to me. :-(

Looking forward to hearing how both do for you. You're being modest, that's quite the endeavour. Sounds like skills for difficult stuff to me!

 

I have to say that so far, cabbage with turnips, ginger, and garlic is my favorite.

The carrots and ginger are good too and the granddaughters love them as well.

If I never make anything else I'll be happy with those.

 

I'm going to try and find some nice fresh green beans to ferment next. Has anyone fermented beans before? I want to add some hot peppers for spicy pickled green beans. Then I will add them to Caesars!

 

I have green beans done with garlic. They are okay but I add some salt when I eat them.

 

Cabbage, ginger and garlic are my favorite too. I can't get enough kimchi.

 

You are probably right about the health benefits. I wish I could find information about how much vitamin c the peppers might hold onto during the process. Probably not much.

 

A while back, I read that Kimchi was full of Vitamin C.

 

Yes, just like sauerkraut. Fermented cabbage is a good source of vitamin c in climates where you don't have year round fresh vegetables or fruits.

 

Good bacteria didn't get a foothold soon enough and some other weird shit took over. It happens.

Always trust your nose!

 

Lucy sez

http://www.hipforums.com/forum/topic/470300-kimchi-and-fermented-vegetables-how-to-and-why/page-5
(post #128)

 

I made a batch and found that the green beans soaked up the brine and seasonings too much, I guess because they're more porous than other vegetables. I would ferment them for less time, and put in less seasonings you might use (salt, garlic, herbs and spices). A hot pepper sounds good, I thought I'd add one next time. But a milder one. Def not the dreaded Scotch Bonnet!

 

lol I typed it from memory! Too hard to look up on mobile.