Kimchi And Fermented Vegetables How To And Why

I took the jar with beets and carrots off the shelf today, the one with the dill, basil and garlic. OMG, it is to die for! I can see why everyone was raving about it. I fermented it for 4 weeks in the cool room. Y'all have to try it!

 

I might try something like this with the golden beets I bought last week.

 

I’ve never seen golden beets, I had to look them up. And they have striped beets, I like the look of those.



I'm really loving the fermented beets and carrots. The first time I tried fermenting beets, I was disappointed in them. They didn't have the familiar earthy sweet taste to them. I thought it was the fermenting that completely altered the taste but this time they retained most of their attributes. This batch actually tastes like beets. I love beets so I'm a happy camper now. It must have been the beets themselves I started with that weren't optimum. Which brings me to dill cucumbers.

A few of you have mentioned disappointment in them because they turned out mushy. The same thing happened to me. Four times in a row. For some reason, I persisted, and the fifth time they turned out crispy! I had been reading about them and the consensus was that if the cukes were fresh they'd end up crisp, if not, they turned to mush, no matter how many grape, cherry or horseradish leaves you use to try keep them crisp. My last batch of cukes was from the farmers market so I guess they were fresher. The same thing must have happened with my asparagus. The first time try were so good and crunchy, the second batch a pathetic jar of mush. So it must have been less than desirable asparagus to begin with. I'll certainly try asparagus again.

Something else I want to mention about the cucumbers. That last batch, when I first tasted it, the cukes tasted bitter. I wasn't too happy, I was hit with bitter veggies (particularly lettuce and cucumbers) a few times this summer and wasn't pleased that my batch was ruined yet again. Finally they were crisp but now bitter! It was only my procrastination, not dumping them quick enough, that saved the batch. Luckily I tasted one before throwing them out once I got to them and lo and behold the bitterness was gone! The extra fermentation in the fridge eliminated the bitterness. I've read that vegetables mellow out when fermented a long time, even in the fridge, and there was my proof. So unless your batch of veggies smell bad (the cukes didn't, in fact they smelled good), don't throw them out!

Sorry for the diatribe… yack, yack, yack...

 

Keep on talkin'! That is great information.

I think I'm ready to try cucumbers again, with that advice. I'll probably wait until next year though, and grow my own this time.

I love beets too. I put some in a batch of kimchi.

 

That's another thing I have to make again, the traditional kimchi. I still have Korean chili flakes left. Beets and carrots are on special so I'll make a big jar of that with the dill, basil and garlic, now that I know I like it. So is the orange and green cauliflower. I'll pick up more of that. And another cabbage, I always like having that on hand and it can ferment a long time so I can make extra. I really liked kohlrabi too but it's not always available here and it's expensive. I still want to try something new. I have to think about it. I wonder how winter squashes would do. There's an abundance of different varieties on the shelves and at farmers markets now.

 

I found this on my ebook on fermenting:

 

Having that difficulty peeling the squash just put me right off of trying that one.

 

I'd have to look into buying an automatic squash peeling kit.

 

ha ha ha

 

Perhaps mushy cukes could be chopped up and used as a relish in recipes, instead of being completely thrown out?

 

That's what I'm saving mine for Matte. I don't use cubed pickles that often so these should last me a lifetime!

 

Not fermenting, but I might try this. I've never made roasted beets.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/OvenRoastedBeets.htm

That chipotle squash kraut looks good. A Mexican twist to kimchi!

 

There's some good-looking stuff on Pinterest.

 

I still ate mine. They smelled fine, and tasted okay, there was just no crisp to them until the last batch. The asparagus I chucked, it was a mess of mush.

 

I filled 4 more jars, the bigger 2L jars. I forgot that it takes 3 heads of cauliflower to fill two of the jars and I had only bought two heads. I remembered Expanse's comment about putting beets in with his cabbage, so I topped off the second half jar of broccoflower with beets. Saved! I didn't want to leave half a jar empty and I have plenty of beets. I bet the broccoflower will taste great with the flavour it picks up from the beets (here's hoping!). The remaining two jars I made with beets and carrots with that same recipe with the basil, dill and garlic.

I still have a head of cabbage but I was too tired to deal with it today. I'll hopefully get to it tomorrow. I want to make sauerkraut again. I opened up the first jar of sauerkraut I made weeks ago and it's fantastic. Tastes like real sauerkraut! The usual cabbage I've made previously, with the brine, was just a crunchy cabbage, but with shredding it instead of chopping it and using the salt massaging technique and jarring it in its own liquid, it gave it a very different flavour. I think I'll always make it that way now.

 

Thought I'd report on some of my observations with the fermenting. See how the jar at the far left is cloudy? It clouds up within a couple of days and clears up again at around 4 weeks and stays clear for the duration of the fermenting. The one at the far right I started on September 10th and it just cleared up at the beginning of this week. The far left I jarred on September 29th, so it's only been fermenting a week and a half. I first noticed it when I glanced at a jar I had fermenting for around 6 weeks that was as clear as when I first jarred it. I have a jar of chopped cabbage that's been there 8 weeks and is still clear.

 

My brine has gotten cloudy in the refrigerator but it still tastes great. I assumed it had something to do with the chill.

 

I finally got a chance to try to make kimchi with butternut squash.

Peeling the squash wasn't fun.
I had this squash peeled and I was cutting it into smaller pieces when I remembered to take pics.

You definitely need a sharp knife.


Shredding the squash wasn't too bad...for the first 15 hrs. Actually, after 20 minutes I decided that sliced squash tastes better than shredded - just a hunch.



When I got the Napa out, I noticed some bad spots. Even after peeling off several layers, it didn't get much better.




So I threw the Napa away, put the squash in the freezer (fingers crossed), and roasted some squash seeds with olive oil, salt, garlic, and black pepper.

 

(Weenie) :-D I hate peeling squash too. When I cook it I just halve it and put it on a pan with a bit of oil then scoop out the flesh once it's roasted. So much easier. There's no way around it if you want to ferment it I guess. I won't be doing it any time soon. Let us know how it turns out. I hope well after all that work! The seeds look yummy.

A shame about the Napa .I've had the same problem. It doesn't keep long, does it? It's why I haven't made the traditional kimchi yet again. It's even hard to find a nice head here to begin with.

 

Yeah, I bought the napa only a few days ago. Even if the frozen squash doesn't turn out, I might try again anyway.