Freezing, Canning, & Fermenting

[berryman]

With so much interest on the Picture thread with this kind of stuff and it looks like a lot of us are doing it or would like to, I thought I'd start this thread. This way we won't take away from the pic thread with questions, and I have some too. For Swen, how much brine do you use? I should say how strong. I use an old fashioned method when making a salt brine when smoking fish, I keep putting salt into water until a raw egg just starts to float, not very scientific but works.
I'll start this thread with a Pic.
The start of some Oktoberfest mustard using my homemade Oktoberfest Marzen. Was just bottled a week ago and was surprised to see the carb it had already, didn't care because it was boiled anyways after adding to the mustard seed and then sit for 2 hours before the next step.

[bpgreen]

Thanks for starting this thread. As an aside, and I know it has been asked before, but how difficult would it be to create a food/cooking subform?

I've been making my own yogurt ever since I read a post on Eric Shepard's (esheppy from the Mr Beer forums) blog http://blog.ericshepard.com/2015/01/mak ... ogurt.html


Not long after that, I started making kefir (similar to yogurt, but drinkable and ferments at room temperature).

More recently, I've made natto and tempeh (fermented soybean products). I haven't yet fermented any vegetables, but I want to give that a try, too.

I've bought (and read) Kindle versions of The Everyday Fermentation Handbook and Wild Fermentation, but I'm traveling regularly so I don't want to start something new at the moment.

I've got a similar question about the brine. What's the concentration (how much salt in hoe much water)?

Also, I'm trying to keep my sodium intake low. Can I use potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride (table salt)? Or can I at least use to for part of the salt? I've read conflicting opinions on this.

[bpgreen]

As an aside, if anybody wants kefir grains, let me know. I've got some dehydrated grains I can send along.

[FrozenInTime]

At the moment, I have a 5 gallon old ale pale full of cabbage. As I put the shredded cabbage in pound or so at a time I mixed by hand a couple tablespoons of canning salt to cover all the cabbage. Repeated til all cabbage is salted. Next day I covered by 2 inches with a salt brine. A dinner plate covered the top of the cabbage just right. Placed 2 quart jars full of water on top of plate. Been a week and it's bubbling along nicely. I will do a hot canning when done in pint jars. I will give it atleast a month. This is my first time making kraut, looking forward to it, if it works out good, I will do up several buckets next year. Had lots of peppers but pickled most of them, next year I will make my own salsa with them.

[RickBeer]

Awful year in Michigan for gardens. We do tomatoes, strawberries, jalapenos, lettuce, peas, green beans, corn (sometimes), peppers, eggplant, broccoli, squash...

This year strawberries were non-existent, tomatoes very, very small crop, no eggplant... Too cool and too wet.

My wife freezes the jalapenos for use all year. She cans salsa every other year, but this year can't. We tried pickles and found it too much work for the result. She does relish like every 5 years.

[swenocha]

For Swen, how much brine do you use? I should say how strong.

Just seeing this thread. Have now bookmarked it, as I'm thinking I will be visiting it quite often.

I generally use ~1/8c salt per 1c water for my brine.

As I started getting into funky beers, Brandon at Embrace the Funk (now the funky brewer at Yazoo) was very helpful, both in his posts and responses to my n00bish questions. In knowing him and working at the Yazoo Funk Fest, I discovered Sandor Katz, who IMHO is the best source of info on this kinda funky stuff. His blog (Wild Fermentation) is full of a wealth of knowledge, as are his other writings. You can even do a week long residency camp at his cabin which sounds very interesting. You camp on his grounds and learn about all kinds of different fermentations. I was fortunate enough to meet him at the Funk Fest and hear him speak on fermentation. I highly recommend reading his writings...

Oh, and here is a pic from his speech at the Funk Fest. Eagle eye viewers who have met me will note that I am working in the background, pouring beers in my Yazoo work shirt...

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EDIT:

Here's a mini documentary the NY Times did on Sandor in July that tells his story and shows the beginnings of his school...

[mashani]

Hmmm... Brett C Pickles? Brett C Hotsauce? Hmmmmmm.

[Brewbirds]

The guy in the maroon shirt and khaki shorts is crowding your space.

[mashani]

I'm making some idli batter.

They are basically rice and lentil (urad dal) steamed dumplings.

Just a mix of soaked and ground up dal, soaked and ground up rice, and some fenugreek seeds and salt.

You mix it all together into a batter, loosely cover, and let it spontaneously ferment over night. The rice, dal, and fenugreek seeds all carry wild yeasts and beasts that do the work, along with whatever you've got in your air. If it goes right your batter will increase in volume by a good bit and get really fluffy.

You then just put it in an idli mold (you get that from an Indian grocery store) and steam them.

Or you can take the same batter and make thin crepe like pancakes from it. Those are called Dosa.

[Brewbirds]

This is more of a pickle than a ferment style I guess.

I make my own version of Do Chua...

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It is pickled carrots and Daikon radish (the long white ones that look like a carrot) I spice it up a bit with red onion,hot sweet peppers (pepper dews), red jalapeno (Frisco) pepper, mustard, celery and cumin seed, bay leaf, garlic cloves and make it more to the sweet than salty side.

I make my own version of the Cha Lua (Vietnamese ham) for Banh Mi sandwiches that has less salt from the fish sauce that is traditionally used so it was a no brainer to make the pickles as well.

I keep that big container of them in the fridge and we eat them with all kinds of stuff; hot sweet, vinegary and crunchy. YUMMY

[mashani]

I just started up a small batch of sauerkraut, which I'm doing the authentic spontaneous fermentation way. It's just a mix of shredded cabbage and shredded Brussel sprouts (just to make it more interesting) and good sea salt (1/2 TBSP is in this sized batch, you could use more but it's enough). Put it in some vessel you can mostly fill with another vessel (in my case a plate). Keep a weight on it. Press it until brine forms over the top (should be by sometime tomorrow). Cover it with something to keep dust and flies out. (I loosly covered it with a kitchen towel). Keep it under the brine using the plate/weight. Skim off any crud that forms on the surface, which won't hurt what's under the brine (may or may not need to do this). It can sit on your kitchen counter, or in a cabinet or wherever. I'm just keeping it in my oven for now, as flies don't get in there and it's likely free of my house brett. Taste it once in a while. When it's at a sour level you like, stuff it in a jar and stick it in your fridge. Anywhere from a week to a month is the norm depending on how you like it.

I'll post follow up pics later.

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Once I get this into a jar, Kimchi is up next.

@swenocha, Sandorkraut is someone I respect very much. His books and blog are most excellent.

[mashani]

Moving right along, brine formed, and volume reduced to the point where I just switched it to a big mason jar with a small jar for the stopper/press. So now I can start up the Kimchi.

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[mashani]

I tried my Kraut. It is super yummy. The sprouts add something nice. It's youngish, so it's not mouth searing sour, just a pleasant tang. I made some tempeh reuben sandwiches with some of it. That's like 4 kinds of fermentation all in a single bite. I then washed down that bite with beer. 5 fermented food groups. You can't go wrong with that.

[duff]

That sounds like a good meal.

Is there a general estimation for how much it shrinks down during the process?

[mashani]

It depends on moisture content of the cabbage and/or whatever else you throw in there. But this went from 8 cups to 3 cups. I don't think I've ever had it go down less then 1/2.

EDIT: FYI: if you mix in some lower moisture veggies, IE say carrots or the like, then the brine that forms might not reach the top after a day or two. If that happens simply add some water so it's covered when you press it. The volume will end up be greater then too, IE more like that 1/2... the important thing is to keep it under the brine. Otherwise the floaties will get fuzzy. (that won't ruin the whole thing but you will want to throw out the floaties).