It's Fermenting Season!

Some of my favorite fermenting options are in season right now, and that means it's time to ferment!

We were in upstate NY this weekend for my father's celebration of life service, and I popped into a little unmanned farmstand to see what was available.

Cukes were 4/$1 and blueberries were $3/pint. I also snagged a bag of dragon beans for $3 and a bunch of large patty pan squash for 2/$1. I did not buy any summer squash because I didn't know if it was GMO (it's a common GMO item).

Using a combination of items from my CSA, from a little farmstand in upstate NY, our garden, and a couple of items from the store, I came up with this:

Store items:

Organic carrots: $.65

Organic dill: $2.99 (I used all of it, but I went a bit overboard!)

CSA items:

2 heads garlic

Garden items:

2 red peppers

Farmstand:

Cucumbers: $2

Beans: $3 (didn't use them all)

Miscellaneous items:

Sea salt

Peppercorns

Not too bad for under $10! 

We didn't try to grow much in our garden this season, but I'll be doing a jar of pickles from our garden as well soon! That's if Chuckie the pilferer doesn't get them first! He seems more interested in tomatoes. 

Have you been fermenting this season?

The Cost of Homemade vs Store-bought Sauerkraut

I have been without a food processor since our move here to Virginia.  Ours was acting up in Boston in that it would turn on all by itself (dangerous!), so we left it behind.

Since we lived for over a month in a hotel with limited food and kitchen options, I decided it was imperative that we eat quality, raw, fermented vegetables to keep our gut flora active and healthy.

This meant I needed to buy them from the store.

Thankfully, the Wegmans here has an amazing natural food section, including whole food gluten-free options and raw fermented foods.

We absolutely fell in love with this Wild Brine Madras Curry Cauliflower Sauerkraut Salad. It is amazing! We also had already had Bubbies Sauerkraut several time, and knew it was quality.

Cost? $6.99 for each, both jars less than a quart.

Yikes.

For Christmas, I received a new food processor (yes!), and decided to do a cost comparison of the money saved by making my own sauerkraut, as I made a batch recently.

Supplies I purchased for this batch of sauerkraut:

2 pounds of red cabbage

7 pounds of green cabbage

4 carrots

1/2 onion

4 cloves garlic

Stuff I had on hand:

Sea Salt

Yellow curry

Dill

Caraway seeds

JJ thinks fermenting is fun!

Here is the per cup cost of the store-bought kraut:

$2.54/cup for Organic Curry Cauliflower Sauerkraut (2 3/4 cups @ $6.99)

$2.09/cup for Bubbies Sauerkraut (3 1/3 cups @ $6.99)

Here is what I purchased to make my kraut:
Red Cabbage: $1.50 (all @ $.79/pound)
Green Cabbage: $5.60 (1 1/3 heads @ $.79/pound)
Organic Carrots: $.46 (4 carrots out of a package of 20 @ $2.29)
Onion: $.15 (1/2 onion, 10 onions in 3 lb bag @ $2.99)
Garlic: $.13 (about 4 cloves)
Spices: $1.50 (4 T curry: $.50, 10 T sea salt: $.50, 2 t dill $.25, 1 T caraway seeds: $.25)

Total cost: $9.34

Wow. This made 5 1/2 quarts.

"Take my picture again!"

Per cup cost for the homemade kraut? 42 cents.

A couple of things to factor in:
Spices: The cost of spices is approximate. If you had to buy the individual spices, the cost would be more (Wegmans has small containers of spices in the natural foods section for $1.99/spice). You could also just make plain kraut with sea salt which would cut down the cost of spices and ingredients.

Organic Vs. Conventional: I wanted to do this experiment with organic cabbage, cauliflower, etc., but I do not have a Whole Foods close enough to get them.  The cabbage used in the curry kraut by Wild Brine was organic, but all the other ingredients were conventional. I did buy organic carrots (a preference of mine), but given that cabbage is on the Clean 15 list (conventional produce that is the "cleanest" after washing in terms of pesticide residue), I'm not too concerned about it.

Tools: My new food processor is fairly typical and cost about $100. Our last one cost about $50 and lasted 10 years. If you don't have a food processor, a typical cheese grater would work fine. That would cost you about $10 at Amazon.com or Walmart. The jars cost about $1.50 a piece this time of year, but you can get them for less than $1 during canning season.

Time: Some people might factor in time. If you're super busy or don't enjoy projects like this, you may ask, is it worthwhile for me to spend the time making this myself?  This might take about an hour to make, up to an hour and a half. It depends on how many varieties you are making (I made 4 different types of kraut).

Still, is it worth it to make your own sauerkraut, if you have the time and the resources? Absolutely. Even if you have to purchase tools to make it happen, you can easily make up the difference within a couple of years, if that.

Wheat-free Acorn Squash Sourdough Pancakes

It's a beautiful morning, 52 degrees, and fall is in the air.

This week, I received an acorn squash with my CSA, so I decided to roast it for dinner last night - not realized it would take an hour and a half to cook! I also had a sourdough starter discard (or whatever you call it) that I needed to use. So I decided to make these pancakes. The starter was originally just dark rye flour and water. It was given to me by a friend. After a week in the fridge, I split the starter into 2 containers, continuing to add dark rye flour to one and buckwheat to the other.

Wheat-free Acorn Squash Sourdough Pancakes
1/2 an acorn squash, roasted and peeled
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup water
2 eggs or egg replacer
1/2 tablespoon oil (I used coconut) plus oil for frying)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Liquid for thinning (water or milk)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

The night before you want to make these, mix 1/2 cup sourdough starter with 1/2 cup buckwheat flour and 1/2 cup water. Cover with a towel (my mom always did this, so I did too) and leave on the counter overnight.

Also, cut an acorn squash in half, scooping out the seeds, and put it in a roasting pan. Roast it at 400 degrees for an hour to hour & a half; then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, peel half a squash. Mix the peeled squash & the sourdough starter, mashing the squash as you mix. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 tablespoon oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus any liquid for thinning, depending on the consistency of your sourdough and how thick or thin you like your pancakes. My sourdough was pretty thick, so I added a tiny bit of water. Mix lightly, and spoon onto on oiled frying pan. I covered them while they cooked for more thorough cooking. Flip to cook over side, and voila! Sourdough pancakes. Serve with maple syrup.

I had absolutely no idea how these would come out, but they were good! The fermented flavor was not strong, and the spice was light. I am not a fan of winter squash, but the flavor was not strong, which for me is good :)

How to Make Simple Sauerkraut

Finally - the post so many have asked about and have been waiting for.

Homemade Raw Sauerkraut!

Sauerkraut is super easy, and I'm so glad I took the time to try it.

Sauerkraut
1-2 medium heads of green or purple cabbage
1 tablespoon sea salt per head of cabbage (don't use table salt!)
Whatever else you want to add: carrots, beets (golden are great), ginger, dill, horseradish, whatever!
Quart-sized Ball/canning jars or
A food grade bucket with a ceramic plate that fits inside perfectly and a heavy weight (a jug of water, boiled rock, etc.)

Start with cabbage, the fresher, the better. If you have a food processor, grate it on the slice setting, not the shred setting. My processor has 2 settings. The first time I tried to grate it on the shred/fine setting, and it was too...well, fine. So use the slice setting. Put the cabbage in a bowl, add the salt, and let it weep for a few minutes. If using fresh cabbage, you will notice a difference; freshly picked cabbage lets off a ton of water! If you are going to add other items (carrots are a great and easy addition), shred those up, too, and mix in with the weeping cabbage.

The easiest way to start is to stuff it into jars. I have done this 2 ways. First way: Don't screw the lid on all the way because liquid will leak out of the jar for a few days - basically, leave it loose by like one quarter of an unscrew. Make sure you put the jars in a bowl or a big tupperware to catch the liquid. This is done so they don't expand and explode. Second way: Tighten the lid all the way. This is what I did last time. They still leaked liquid, and they didn't explode. So who knows :) Add extra water if the liquid doesn't cover the kraut, and then add a little more salt. With fresh cabbage, I had so much extra liquid I saved it in a jar in the fridge and added it to the jars when they looked a little low.

If you'd rather use a bucket (I did the first time), just shove the cabbage in there (you will need to use at least 3 heads), again making sure there is enough liquid. Cover with a plate (the edges of which must touch the sides of the bucket), and weigh down the plate. Then cover this with a towel to keep out bugs and dust.

Then put it in a closet or dark place. I check it after 4-5 days and screw the lid on the jars the rest of the way if there's enough liquid in there. Leave for 4 weeks, or a little less if hot.

That's it! When it's done fermenting, store it in the fridge. It is a living food, after all! Right now, I have some new flavors fermenting, including a Mexican-themed jar with jalapeno and cilantro, a jar with beets, and I don't remember what else!

Find out more information here at Wild Fermentation.

And I'll leave you with some pictures:
Below, you see 2 jars of Colorful Caraway Kraut with carrots and caraway seeds, and 1 jar of Hot Pink Horsey Kraut with green & purple cabbage & some fresh horseradish. This is the before shot :)


Colorful Caraway Kraut after fermenting (and after me eating half the jar before I stopped to take a picture!)


Hot Pink Horsey Kraut


And a bucket shot before putting the plate and weight in it:


Next up: fermented pickles! I'll let you know how they come out.

Hot Pink Horsey Kraut

It's Hot Pink Horsey Kraut, and I helped :)



I can't believe I haven't had time to blog about my sauerkraut making because it's so, so easy! For now, I'll just tempt you with pretty pictures :)