"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Fermentation Bandwagon



I have been canning and putting up my garden bounty of late; I'm getting burned out.  But, I am beginning to learn about fermentation, and want to try it out.  I was going to begin with kimchi, but these cayenne peppers fell off the plant early and I decided to go with pepper sauce.  

What is fermentation?  Think probiotics.  Good for your gut health.  Supposedly, there are numerous health benefits from fermented foods, which is basically food left in a slurry of live bio-cultures and a lactobacterial-salt slurry of microorganisms. For thousands of years, humankind has preserved food thusly; think wine, milk, bread, soy sauce, kimchi...  Food wasn't pasteurized or refrigerated like today's food.  I do draw the line at rotting fish and/or birds buried underground to ferment. 

Did you know cocoa beans must first be fermented in the production of chocolate?  I have to let these peppers ferment for two weeks, then place them in a blender, and voila, pepper sauce.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  Fermentation - it's the new/old thing in food.

8 comments:

Kirsten Steen said...

Fabulous! And hoping you'll post some of your recipes on fermenting. Hope you're having a magnificent summer!
Xoxo, Kirsten

donna baker said...

Kirsten, this one could not be easier. I added salt and vinegar to water to cover and some garlic. I have seen other recipes online, but I thought I'd try the easiest one first.

rochefleuriegarden said...

I just read Cooked by Michael Polan and I also plan to try to make kimchi. Just now though, I am too busy making black currant jam. We are having a bumper crop of currants. Apparently you can "kimchi" stems of Swiss Chard. I thought that would be interesting given the bright red color.

donna baker said...

Alain, I have never tried a black currant but would love to. And in jam... It must taste of heaven. I will look at the Polan book next time I go to Barnes and Noble. I was reading an article about kimchi, and it said you could substitute many different vegetable combinations which would be fun to try. I love Swiss Chard.

rochefleuriegarden said...

If you know anyone who has black currant bushes, get a few cuttings. They root very easily (just stick them in the ground and make sure they stay wet until they have rooted). Mine were actually started with cuttings my mother put in an envelope and mailed to me!! They are easy to grow and you are right - the taste if of heaven.

Willow said...

Donna your always learning something ... I should be doing this too.
Love that chicken painting behind the jar in your post by the way :)

donna baker said...

Willow, type in chicken painting or cubist painting in upper left corner to see more of it.

donna baker said...

Just type in chicken art or antique oil painting.