Sauerkraut!

When I visited Wormfarm I asked for a head of cabbage so I could make some delicious, simple fermented cabbage-sauerkraut, which translates to sour cabbage.

It's really simple. I cut up the 5 lb cabbage to my liking, mixed it with 3 TBS of salt, packed it tightly into the handmade Crock (made by David Smith), put the weight on, filled the top where the lid sits with water to keep bugs out, then place the top on. The kraut will ferment for 2-3 weeks. I'll check it every few days, pressing the weight down to bring out the water from the cabbage. When it's at the right crunchy, salty consistency I'll jar it, enjoy it and share it! Fermentation is a beautiful thing!  So nutritious and simple!

Kombucha

The kombucha 1 week and 5 days later. A new scobi (the white stuff on top) grew and fermented the tea. The old scobi floats in the middle of the jar.  Now I have 2 scobis so I can ferment two jars at the same time or share my 2nd scobi with someone else!

A week and 5 days ago it looked like this.

I poured the kombucha into air tight bottles.  I threw fresh ginger in all of them and some grapes in one to experiment with a new flavor.  The kombucha will continue to ferment in the jars but without any air it will start to carbonate.  I'll have delicious, flavorful, carbonated kombucha in about 3-5 days. Yum!

Brewing Beer with Matt

Last Friday I learned to brew beer for the first time with my friend, Matt Shotick.  He is knowledgable and passionate about beer, so it was fun learning how to brew from him.  It is a long process (a lot waiting for water to boil) but the wait is full of incredible smells and the always satisfying feeling of knowing you took the time and effort to create something delicious.  Sure, you could purchase a beer rather than make your own, but drinking one you brewed yourself will always be so much more special.

I am always excited to learn how to make foods and beverages from scratch.  I do not want to be detached from the process of making food.  I'd rather bake a fresh loaf of bread than purchase a loaf full of strange ingredients, baked 3-7 days ago, wrapped in plastic.  Being self-reliant is incredibly empowering and it is always fun to learn how food and beverages are created.

Matt made a Saison beer with lavender and pepper.  

There were 3 different types of hops added to the brew.  They each have different scents and flavors.

He started by boiling water then pouring the boiled water over crushed grain and filtering the grain from the liquid.  The grain is in the orange tub and Shotick is pouring the boiling water over it.  There was a mesh bottom in the tub so the grain didn't go into the pot on the ground.  This was how the malt extract was made.  You can purchase the malt extract and skip this process but it is more expensive.

He then brought the malt extract to a boil for an hour.  You add the types of hops and spices in at different times depending on how much of the flavor you want to have in the beer.  So we started with a specific bag of hops (I can not remember which one).  About 20 minutes later he added another type of hops and the pepper and 5 minutes before the hour of boiling was up he added the last bag of hops and the lavender.  The lavender was added at the end so the beer wouldn't taste much of lavender but the scent of lavender would be there. 

After the brew boiled for an hour we needed to chill it down quickly and add the yeast.  Matt placed the immersion chiller (the copper spiral) into the brew which quickly cooled the brew down. If the temperature was too high it would kill the yeast.  But if we let the brew cool down without the immersion chiller it would take many hours to cool and bacteria would most likely find its way into the brew.  The brew was chilled down in 20 minutes with the immersion chiller.

After the yeast was added we filtered the brew of any chunky remnants.  The brew was then sealed up and left to ferment, I believe for about two weeks.  At some point Matt will add more hops (this is called dry hopping) to the brew and let that sit.  Then the beer will be bottled which I hope to be a part of.

And this is Theo, the scruffy pup of Matt and Kimber.  Theo is amazing and a crucial member of the brewing process.

Cabbage and Sauerkraut!

The purple cabbage is such a beautiful plant.  I love harvesting it.  I search for the stem beneath the leaves and cut the head of cabbage off with "crunch" and feel the 3 pounds of weight in my hands.

I made Sauerkraut for the first time.  I needed 5 pounds of cabbage, 3 TBS of salt and a crock (you can make your own with glass jars and a plate).  Fermented Sauerkraut (verses cooked sauerkraut) stays crunchy and because of the fermented process the good bacteria called Lactobacilli grows which aids in digestion.  A little bit of fermented food a day is very good for you.

I chopped up the cabbage and sprinkled the salt on each small layer of cabbage.  The salt helps the cabbage ferment rather than rot.  I also pounded each layer tight in the crock to help force the water out of the cabbage.

Then I placed the weight on top and pressed on the weight throughout the day to help force out the water.

This is what it looks like 2 days later.  The salt has drawn the moisture from the cabbage.  And the fermenting begins!  It can take up to 2 weeks more or less depending on how you like it to taste.

Smells so good!

Kombucha 2 Weeks Later

So after 17 days of fermenting my kombuca tea, this is what it looks like.  The picture below is what it looked like when I started it 17 days ago.  As you can see a new scoby grew on the top.  You can drink it like this with no flavor added.  I will save the scobies for two new batches of kombucha along with 2 cups of fermented kombucha to start two new batches.  It is not carbonated like the one you'd get at the grocery store.  In order for it to be carbonated you flavor it (without the scoby).  I made two bottles of flavored kombucha.  A citrus one where I added about a 1/4 cup of orange juice and 3 cups of kombucha.  For the other bottle, I chopped up some ginger and threw it in with the kombucha.  After 2-3 days it will be carbonated and flavored.  It tastes best when cold.  

I followed this video to learn how to flavor my kombucha.

Kombucha!

I finally made my very first batch of Kombucha!  Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage.  It tastes a bit like apple cider vinegar.  The longer you let it ferment, the stronger the vinegar flavor gets.  After it ferments you can add fruit juice to flavor it.  It contains probiotics and antioxidants.  It costs about $4 for a small bottle at the grocery store.  But when it is made at home it only costs about $1 a gallon.  The scoby (the big goober floating in the liquid) eats the sugar I have added to the tea and grows another scoby.  Then when the batch is through, both scobies can be used again.  That's why people end up with more scobies than they know what to do with!  

I am very excited to have something fermenting in my home!

Check out this video here to learn how to make Kombucha.