Kimchi And Fermented Vegetables How To And Why

I was inspired. I'm waiting on the water to cool and I've got 4 two quart jars stuffed with cabbage. I'll add garlic and ginger to this. Adding apple to the brine again.

 

I'm glad I jarred all that cauliflower, it's back to $4 a (small) head. It was around a dollar a large head before. Summer is over. :-(

 

This Autumn fermenting process is going to take a while.

My ferments loved the Summer.

 

It will take longer, but the veggies will still ferment. The plus is that with the slow ferments, you get more strains of beneficial bacteria. I'm going to have to adjust my time too since it will be colder in the cool room. Or bring the jars into the kitchen, I'll have to figure it out.

I just checked my stash of fermented veggies in the fridge and I'm almost out! I found a jar of bell peppers that I thought was salsa. I hadn't opened it in a while and it fizzed right up when I opened it. Proof that the fermenting continues in the fridge, and it's a cold fridge. They're nice and tangy, and spicy from a few hot peppers I had in the jar too.

I've only got a few jars of veggies fermenting on the shelf, I need to get to more. I haven't had the opportunity to get any done. The last day of the farmer's stand, they didn't bring any squash, so there went that plan. I did buy turnips and garlic scapes and still have beets and some stray root veggies. I have to try get them into jars. I need an assistant!

 

Since mine are taking longer to ferment I need to get busy too! I've go some left in the fridge but they aren't my favorites like the cabbage is.

I have to get ahead with that because I can eat it faster than it ferments now.

 

You definitely need to ferment some squash when you get the chance. Mine tastes even better after being in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

The recipe that I used is actually a sauerkraut with squash recipe. I'm calling it sqashchi because it sounds better than sauersquash or squashkraut. Kimchi and sauerkraut are similar enough that I think I can legally do that.

Fermentation is definitely slowing down. It took a couple of weeks for me to start my ginger bug. It should have only taken a week.

I'm running low on fermented veggies too. I need a free day to get some more started.

 

Squaschi!

I like that, lol

 

I'm an expert in the deadly art of Squashchi!

 

just popping in to say I LOVE kimchi

 

If you have any recipes, pics, etc, feel free to share!

 

Honestly i just buy it from a local chinese restaurant lol..

 

Ha, I can see us all, standing on a hill, calmly going through the maneuvers of Tai Chi... while chomping down on kimchi! The loud crunching of veggies not the optimum accompaniment to the serenity of the exercises. lol

 

Yep, I'm about to chow on some mixed fermies for a midnight snackeral.

 

I finally got to more fermenting today. I gathered up the stray veggies I had. Cauliflower, turnips, garlic scapes, carrots, zucchini, golden beets, Chioggia beets and kohlrabi.




I used my mandoline slicer to slice the veggies. I used the julienne blade for the turnips. I always find turnips too hard, so cutting them up smaller should solve that problem. Same with the beets and kohlrabi. The mandoline slices them up a lot thinner (and faster!). I ended up with three 2L jars, two of mixed veggies and one of turnips. I put garlic scapes in each instead of the usual garlic bulbs. I'm interested to see how strong a flavour they impart.




So here's what's on the shelf now. I have the broccoflower, two of the beets with carrots with the dill and basil, a sauerkraut, a smaller jar of hot peppers, 2 jars of the mixed veggies from today and the turnips from today.




I took one 2L jar of the broccoflower and orange cauliflower mix off the shelf and put the contents into 2 one-litre jars and put them in the fridge. I have a jar each of carrots, sauerkraut and bell peppers in the fridge too. Oh and the dill cukes. That should keep me for a bit anyway. I still want to try squash as soon as I have time to pick up a few.

By the way, the cukes aren't going soft, they're still crunchy. I think the trick is to get as fresh a batch of cukes as you can. Not always possible I know, but if you grow them, that would make some awesome fermented dill cukes.

 

I bought two squashes today. I wanted to try more of a variety but they didn't have much of one. I'm going to try fermenting acorn squash and buttercup (not butternut) squash. I'll be swearing while peeling the squash tomorrow. Not sure whether to cut it into chunks or julienne it with the mandoline slicer. Expanse, did your fermented squash soften up or was it hard the way turnip tends to be?

I'm also going to make another 2L jar of sauerkraut. I was so tempted to try traditional kimchi again, the Napa cabbages looked so nice, green and leafy for a change. But I don't have enough jars at the moment. Or the space!

 

I over-salted these last 3 jars of cabbage.

I got confused between using a little starter brine and the new brine and I think I salted twice. My daughter got here to pick up her son and dog during the whole thing and I lost track.

It's still edible just a little saltier than I like.

 

The shredded part is really soft - almost mushy. The sliced part is a little soft but still is mostly firm, not crunchy though.

I've had it in the refrigerator for about a month now. The flavor that the squash added is not noticeable to me now. Of course it all does get more sour over time. It's still good, but nothing special.

If I make more, someday, I'll use more squash and less cabbage to see if it holds the squash flavor longer. I'm not sure if the effort will be worth the results for me though. If I had leftover squash, it would definitely be worth the effort to not waste it.

 

Thanks. So it sounds like it's best to eat it really quick. lol I ended up making both with and without cabbage.

Since I had enough lids and 1-litre jars, what I did was make one jar of sauerkraut and one jar of squash and in the third I combined the cabbage (I used shredded) and squash (sliced thin with the mandoline). I put only brine in the first two, and added fresh hot peppers to the combo jar.



I tried cutting the squash into thick slices first before peeling. It was easier, but it's still a bit difficult because buttercup squash is round and when you scoop out the seeds, it leaves a curved strip rather than a slice. And you get the wedge piece from the ends which is still hard to peel. It also made it hard to put the pieces into my safety holder on the mandoline slicer and difficult to slice the pieces in that shape. You really need bigger, whole pieces for the mandoline to work properly. I'll either have to peel it the hard way next time, or use a knife instead the mandoline. I took a picture so you could see what I'm talking about.




This is the simple recipe I used for the squash. I've heard a few people say it's best made simply with a salt brine.

http://phickle.com/lacto-fermented-butternut-squash/


More squash fermenting info here.

http://www.culturesforhealth.com/lacto-fermented-pumpkin-winter-squash-pickles-recipe


I added a few chunks with the rind:

Because the outer rind contains organisms naturally containing friendly bacteria, you may want to include a peel. hunk of the peeled rind in your fermenting vessel.

I'll ferment it for about 10 days or so only:

Squash is high in sugar, so plan on 5-14 days for fermentation. Longer ferments may begin to develop a slight alcoholic flavor.

Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

 

I think I'm going to have to try squash like that.

 

I took my hot peppers off the fermenting shelf today. I forgot about them! They were on the shelf for 9 weeks. But I guess that's the optimum duration for them in the cold room, they turned out fantastic! Not too soft or tangy, just right. And the perfect amount of heat, not searing your mouth but a nice slow burn. I'm going to have to get more started, I don't think these will last long.