Fermenting Your Garden Bounty! Learn with us...or on your own!

[Kathleen]

On the mead, mine will be at 14 days tomorrow. Should I try to strain off the debris at the bottom of the jar? It's still cloudy.

 

[blissful]

On the mead, mine will be at 14 days tomorrow. Should I try to strain off the debris at the bottom of the jar? It's still cloudy.

Yes. Probably. Taste it. The plain mead smells like wine and isn't too sweet, the apple mead is sweeter. I strained them off and put them in the fridge. If it tastes too sweet to you, then let it ferment some more.
They wrote that the white settling stuff on the bottom probably doesn't taste good.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with mine. What I want to do, is share it with Zach. (see mr bliss doesn't like wine or anything like wine) Zach has BIG plans to make mead but he never seems to have time. He's our friend that does bee keeping with us. He's around 35 and couldn't be nicer. I always enjoy time with him but that only happens in the summer when they are working the hives. In 5 months the mead might taste even better! So that's what I'm going to do.

 

[blissful]

Mr bliss and I did share a half a glass of mead. He must have forgotten how much he dislikes wine or things like wine.
He thought it was okay!
@Kathleen, I wanted to tell you that today I was going to stir (with my hands) through the sauerkraut in the bucket under the plate. The plate had liquid in it and the kahm yeast was growing like crazy and I wanted that out of there. There were 3 little bits of mold starting on the edge of the plate where the kraut was above the brine. I scooped off the mold and wiped down the sides of the bucket. I removed the plate and kahm yeast, washing the plate. I added some water with salt, tossed it all around, then packed it tightly down again, and pushed the plate onto it until it was covered with brine again.

 

[Kathleen]

I finished the class readings, quizzes, and videos.

Have some cucumbers fermenting. There was green mold floating on top, but it easily cleaned off. The liquid is tasting a bit briny.

I poured the mead into a clean jar leaving the sludge in the bottom of the original jar and placed it in the fridge.

I used to ferment water kefir. Because of the class, I bought some water kefir grains that I hope to start again soon.

Due to an upcoming visit to my sister in IL, I am holding off on the sourdough. I should have started the sauerkraut, but am also behind there too. I'll get there.

My other class is a bit more work....

 

[Kathleen]

If I were not taking the sustainable Horticulture class, I would consider taking one of these two freebie classes.

HarvardX: Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (physics) | edX

Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how traditional and modernist cooking techniques can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about elasticity, viscosity, mayonnaise, baking, and more!

www.edx.org

HarvardX: Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (chemistry) | edX

Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how everyday cooking and haute cuisine can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about food molecules and how chemical reactions can affect food texture and flavor.

www.edx.org

 

[blissful]

You finished already! I hope that other class stays super interesting.

I plan to make koji rice, then miso, but after february 8th. And black vinegar.
I'll probably follow on Larry's miso thread...when I make the miso.

Then I'm thinking about taking this course.

The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life​

 

[Kathleen]

Honestly, this class is better than the one for which I paid. *shrugs* I learned a lot in this one. In the other, I do not feel I am getting much from it. I don't know anything about sustainable horticulture.

On a better note, I've secured some water kefir grains and got them started today. I hope they love their new home and happily do their thing! I've put a loose lid over to keep out impurities. After dechlorinating the water, I added 3 T. sugar and 1 T of unsulfurated molasses. Kefir grains and letting it set. If it does as it did in the past, the water will clear after a few rounds.

 

[blissful]

@Kathleen, That looks interesting. One of my friend's would make water kefir with tea and some juice in water pretty often. She invested in pop bottles with wire bails and caps.
She really enjoyed it. I found it to be a little too sweet for my taste, I usually drink tea or coffee w/o sugar or honey. I could probably find a way to ferment all the sugar out of it but I haven't tried.

I haven't canned the sauerkraut yet. I filled a quart jar with it yesterday and we've been eating it over potato/carrot/sweet potato/onion/beet hash. It's crunchy and tangy and salty, delicious. Mr bliss finished off the last of the hash tonight, I'll have to make another batch. It's one of my favorite food combinations.

 

[Kathleen]

@blissful It's very easy to get rid of most of the sugar in it. I also like it in place of soda at times. I know how to make it very low sugar.

 

[blissful]

This is the instructions for the black vinegar. https://eathealthy365.com/your-ultimate-guide-to-making-authentic-black-vinegar-at-home/
I have the Qu and black glutenous rice. I don't know if I'll start it this spring or wait until summer yet. I have a week away planned for seeing my son but mr bliss may stay here. I'm not sure yet.

The black vinegar is interesting. First it uses the Qu (pronounced chew) for the following:
Here’s what it does:

1. Molds (like *Aspergillus oryzae*): These are the first-responders. They produce enzymes that break down the complex starches in the steamed rice into simple sugars. This process is called saccharification.
2. Yeasts (like *Saccharomyces cerevisiae*): Once sugars are available, the yeast kicks in, converting the sugar into alcohol. This is the same process used to make beer or wine.
3. Bacteria (like *Acetobacter*): This is the final step. These bacteria “breathe” air and convert the alcohol into acetic acid, which is what makes vinegar sour.

The first step is to innoculate the rice with the mold. Then cover it and reduce oxygen to ferment the alcohol, then add air back in to make the vinegar. Then age it.

I found the Qu and black glutenous rice on amazon.

 

[blissful]

@Kathleen, how did your water kefir turn out?

I still have 0.75 qt of mead left, to sip.

I started up 2 quarts of diced carrots to ferment. We really liked them that way, then cooked and put in hash or soup. We're still eating sauerkraut and I imagine it will last until spring!

 

[Kathleen]

My water kefir is delicious!

My cucumbers turned out mushy....again. Please tell me how you do your carrots!

 

[blissful]

(2 quarts) I put 2 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of non-iodized salt in quart jars, mix. Diced about a lb of carrot for each and filled the jars to slightly over flowing in the sink. Then put a boil rock on top and a airlock on each. I let them ferment a week to 10 days. I take off the airlock and rock and put them in the fridge until I use them.

Maybe you'll find an optimal was to make cucumbers. Like, only from 10 days to 20 days of fermentation, lasting a maximum of 10 more days. Only using certain types of cucumbers. Only using them off the vine from June to July 15th all others have too thick of a skin. Have you ever tasted Bubbies fermented cucumber pickles available in stores?

 

[Kathleen]

I've not tasted them. Are they mushy?

And thank you for your method!!!

 

[blissful]

Bubbies pickles come in a jar, and they make a sauerkraut I think, and they have individual refrigerated pickles for sale in a plastic wrapper with liquid with it. No they aren't mushy, they are crisp and the skins are not thick. The flavor is that ideal fermented flavor like home fermented pickles. So good.

 

[Kathleen]

I will look for it! Thanks!

 

[blissful]

I will look for it! Thanks!

My gal friends rave about them! Of course, they haven't tasted mine! lol

 

[blissful]

I started 2 of the 1/2 gallon jars with air locks on them of mead-wine. I didn't realize we had 1/2 gallon jars with wide mouths and I only have wide mouth lids that work with my air locks.
I used half sugar and half honey. Dried cherries, black tea, chamomile tea bag, and champagne yeast, boiled cooled well water. It'll be 2 weeks before I pour it off to take out the sediment, cherries, tea bag. Then they'll continue to ferment for longer, maybe a couple months.

edit: There are cherries that are moving slowly about the jars, like little creatures. The first time I saw that I thought something foreign was in the jar. Now there are crowds of them moving about in there, having parties and whatnot. The color of the water/mead was gold but it is getting darker. The cherries might give up some color for the mead/wine.

 

[blissful]

Back in 2017 on a lark, I started a youtube channel for my hubs and I. I started it because I had a premonition that someday I'd have a friend named Kathleen that I hadn't met yet, that wanted to share some fermentation ideas. Then it happened.
Today, I posted the first video on the channel, 2 of the 1/2 gallon jugs with cherry chamomile mead bubbling.

 

[Kathleen]

That is just cool, Blissful!