Salt brine ferment/pickle something - PEP BB food.sand.salt

Feb 28, 2019 01:04:48

This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of PEP Curiculum. Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Food Prep and Preservation

For this badge bit you will ferment/pickle something in salt brine.
- could be: kraut, kimchi, carrots, jalapenos, curtido, etc.
- at least one quart

Some general guidelines are (adapted form The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Elix Katz):

1. Chop or grate vegetables
2. Lightly salt the chopped veggies and pound or squeeze until moist. You can also soak the vegetables in a brine for a few hours, or just add a brine solution to the vegetables.
3. Pack the vegetables into a jar tightly, so they are forced below liquid. If necessary, add brine.
4. Wait, taste frequently, and enjoy!

Recipes and methods may vary from little salt to very salty, chopped vegetables or whole, one vegetable or combination of, using whey or another starter or just the salt brine, using open vessels, or with lids, or air-locks. The limit is one's imagination.

Here are a few links to recipes, and other useful information about lacto-ferments:

How to make sour pickles: https://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sour-pickles-2/

Weston A. Price blog article on using whey: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/food-features/lacto-fermentation/

Troubleshooting ferments: http://ferment.works/troubleshooting-fermented-vegetables/

Cultures for Health what is lacto-fermentation and recipes: https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/natural-fermentation/what-is-lacto-fermentation/

Some interesting permies.com threads, packed full of info and experiences:

https://permies.com/t/37682/kitchen/discussion-lacto-fermentation-methods-recipes

https://permies.com/t/97704/kitchen/Dave-Burton-Fermentation-Journey

Video on how to make lacto-fermented vegetabes at home:

To complete this BB the minimum requirements are:
- make at least one quart jar of salt brine fermented something

To show you've completed this badge you must:
- Post a description/link to the recipe you used
- post a picture of the ingredients chopped or ready to be packed in jar
- post a picture of the filled jar.

Clarifications:
- All food prep and preservation BBs strictly prohibit plastic, teflon or aluminum touching the food at any point

Shawn Klassen-Koop · Mar 19, 2019 15:41:20

Sauerkraut:

Pack sliced cabbage in crock at a rate of 3/4 cup salt per 25 pounds of cabbage. Add brine(1-1/2 tablespoons per quart of water). Let sit 3 to 6 weeks per taste. Keep airlock functioning through that time.

This batch is 6 heads. 4 from my garden, then 2 more from store to fill crock. You don't want too much headspace in the crock. FILL IT!

I water bathed it after ferment as this is a year supply.

Nicole Alderman · Apr 01, 2019 00:26:27

This recipe is from the book "The Hands-On Home" By Erica Strouss. If you wanted to infect some brains to the people out there with a "clean" home coated in chemicals, this may be the gift to make the shift.
Recipe
2 lbs carrots trimmed, peeled, and shredded
1 bunch cilantro, trimmed and chopped
1 (4-inch) knob fresh ginger, peeled and shredded
1 tsp minced garlic (I used 2 cloves)
Zest and juice from 1 lime
1 TBL plus 1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground curry
1/2 tsp ground cumin
about 1/2 C water

Used brown mustard seeds, cut out 1 tsp of salt as well as the coriander seeds. Hardly needed any water to add at the end, the salt drew most of the liquid out of the veggies while it was set aside.

Nicole Alderman · Apr 01, 2019 19:13:33

Sauerkraut, my first time ever!

Two ways - cabbage only, and carrots + beets + cabbage

Save a few big outer cabbage leaves to top the mix... see details below.

Slice cabbage thinly. (Mandolin or V-slicer rocks for this, just quarter the head first, leaving part of the core in each quarter to hold it together.)

Julienne the carrots and beets, ie 1/8" square by up to 3" long.

For a 1/2 gallon canning jar (as in photos below), done with cabbage only, put 3.5 lbs of cabbage in a large bowl with 2 Tbs salt. (Metric is better for this, because you want salt to be 2-3% of the weight of the vegetables... so 3.5 lbs = 1589 g, so you want 32 - 48 g of salt. I went with about 36g.)

Mix the cabbage / salt together well.

Allow it to sit for 30 - 60 minutes and the cabbage will start to sweat and brine will appear in the bottom of the bowl. You can skip the wait if you're willing to massage it together vigorously to accelerate the process. Why fight nature... just wait.

Pack the cabbage into the canning jar. A canning funnel is very helpful for this. When the jar is full, use whatever you have on hand to squish it tightly down to the bottom. I used the back end of a large soup ladle. A big wooden kraut pounder like the one in Robbie's 3rd photo above would be very nice for this. After squishing vigorously, add more cabbage and repeat. The quantities above should fit in a 1/2 gallon canning jar with a couple inches headspace.

Be sure to pour all the brine from the bowl into the jar. Ideally it will completely cover the vegetables. If it doesn't, see brine directions below.

Take one of the cabbage leaves you saved at the beginning, tear it to size, then use it to cover the top of the solution in the jar so nothing floats up. (I went a little big and pushed the edges down so it's like an umbrella. This wasn't a brilliant idea as you'll hear later.)

I you have something to help hold the vegetables under the surface, put it in now. Options include canning weights, clean washed rocks, or a 4oz canning jar sitting right on top.

If you don't have enough brine to completely cover the vegetables then make some and add it (1C water + 1/2 Tbs salt). Leave some headspace though.

If you have an airlock top, put that on. Otherwise just make sure the vegetables stay under the surface.

For the second canning jar I mixed julienned carrots and beets with about 2lbs of sliced cabbage, to bring the weight up to 3.5 lbs. All the rest of the directions are the same. However, the cabbage only jar released enough brine that additional wasn't essential. The jar that had some carrots and beets didn't release enough brine to cover things well, so I mixed some up as directed above, and brought both jars up to roughly even levels.

Two late notes...
1. I got a surprise after about 36 hours... the gas bubbles coming from the ferment in one jar got trapped under the cabbage leaf I put on top and started to push it up. After the gas bubble got reallly big I opened the jar up, pushed the cabbage leaf down to "burp" it, and tore the edge a little so hopefully the gas will escape on it's own next time.
2. I think that being picky to keep everything under the top of the brine (with the cabbage leaf, weights, etc) is not essential if you're using airlocks like I did here. I think that things reaching the surface is only a problem if there's oxygen there... and it should be pushed out through the airlocks by the gasses coming from the ferment. But that's what I think from reading recipes, and I'm no expert.

Nicole Alderman · May 29, 2019 21:32:21

I’m at my folks’ place, and there is this incredible wild garlic that just dominates the shores of the creek near the garden. It is the most delicious garlic at that, and beautiful, with flecks of red ascending from the bulb.

I picked a bunch today to use for several recipes, and thought I’d try fermenting them as well.

Here’s the recipe I consulted:
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/lacto-fermentation-recipes/lacto-fermented-garlic-cloves/

paul wheaton · Jun 10, 2019 16:58:15

- Post a description/link to the recipe you used
Cauliflower
Celery
Carrot
Dill
Garlic
Red bell pepper
onion
Salt brine
"Starter" Sauerkraut Brine

- post a picture of the ingredients chopped or ready to be packed in jar

- post a picture of the filled jar.

Nicole Alderman · Sep 07, 2019 22:12:01

I made Latin American Sauerkraut (Curtido), following this recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon:

These are my ingredients before chopping!

These are my ingredients after mixing and pounding. They are now ready to be packed into jars.

And these are my filled jars of Latin American Sauerkraut! I'm going to let the first jar on the left go 1 month, the middle go 3 months, and the right jar go 6 months.

Dave Burton · Sep 27, 2019 16:07:27

I'm very grateful for my time spent with Jocelyn and Coco today. They where my guides for the process.

The recipe was pretty simple. I was trying to make the most of the peppers that Coco sourced from a friend. I used the brine recipe from Jocelyn's recipe for Giardiniera.

Salt Brine: 2T salt per cup of water. Salt was mixed with hot water and then left to cool to around room temp.
Veggies: Peppers sliced into rings with a layer of garlic and black pepper.
2 Tablespoons of a Brine starter where added to each jar so there was not the same ratio of starter for each jar because of the differences in volume. Will be fun to see the difference.
Filled the jars with veggies and then added enough brine to cover them.

Mike Haasl · Nov 24, 2019 10:50:28

I think I can get this BB

On October 21, 2019 I did this:
Cut onion, white cabbage and carrots in small slices.

Cut onion

Cut white cabbage
Sorry, there's no photo where I cut the carrots.
I mixed all together. Added salt and 'kneaded'.

'Kneading' vegetables with salt.
I added about a teaspoon of mixed spices too (no photo).
I kneaded and kneaded, until moisture came out of the vegetables.
I filled two glass jars with it.

Two glass jars filled
With a large piece of wood I pushed it down, again and again.

Pushing with a piece of wood
But the moisture did not come above the vegetables. So I added a little water.
I put a cabbage leaf on top of each jar.

Cabbage leaf on top
I put the lids on the jar, but did not turn them. So air can come in and go out. I wrote the date on the lids.

Lids loosely on the jars
I put the jars on the fridge, a quiet, warm and somewhat dark place.

Jars put away

Then on November 18, 2019, I ate the first meal with this 'Sauerkraut'. (Yes, somewhere inbetween I tasted it and found out it was OK. And the cabbage leaf on top I threw away).

Sauerkraut

Meal of sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, a green salad and a glass of water.

Nicole Alderman · Feb 17, 2020 17:38:04

Hello,

For this BB I made Chili Kraut. The recipe is as follows:

CHILI KRAUT

Ingredients

9.707kg cabbage

923g chilies

10.5 tbsp salt

390g brown onion

4 tsp oregano

4 tsp caraway seeds

1 tbsp chili flakes

Method

- Sanitise everything thoroughly
- Shred cabbage, slice chilies and onions
- Pack cabbage, chilies, onions, oregano, caraway seeds and chili flakes into 10kg fermenter in batches, layering with salt - pounding between each addition until plenty of liquid is created
- Once everything is packed in, continue pounding until there is enough liquid to cover all the ingredients
- Place weights on top of cabbage mix to keep the ingredients submerged under the brine
- Put lid on fermenter and add water to the moat/reservoir
- Ferment for approximately 3 weeks, tasting occasionally until you are happy with the taste and texture
- I started this ferment on 2.2.20 and finished it on 16.2.20. So a bit over 2 weeks

This actually turned out to be my best kraut yet! I'd like to start selling them but I need to get a food licence first.

Their achilles heel is the noogie! Give them noogies tiny ad!

Our PIE page has been updated, anybody wanna test?

https://permies.com/t/369340/PIE-page-updated-wanna-test

Sepp Holzer 3 in 1 Documentaries Farming terracing aquaculture