Tag Archives: fermented

Fermentation Friday ::: party tricks

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kombucha equation

Tonight, in honor of Fermentation Friday and the Experimental College (a.k.a. exco), I will be at the launch party for South Side Free Skool, showing off some crazy fermentation skills and sharing some kombucha. What you see here are the preparations for my display, the kombucha equation {water + sugar + tea + scoby and time (not pictured) = kombucha. A more detailed kombucha recipe here}. Yes, I am prepared to share.

This event starts at 7 pm at Stone Soup House (3100 5th Ave S, Minneapolis) and there will be fire lighting, food roasting, d.i.y. skill shares, dancing and — most importantly — rad peeps waiting to make your acquaintance. Hope to see you there!
proccess not product

{how to make} Dandelion Wine

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The dandelions are out! This means spring and, what is becoming one of my favorite springtime rituals, dandelion wine.

I came across the recipe a few years ago in (the unfortunately defunct) Arthur magazine. Until this time I had thought dandelion wine merely poetic myth — so of course I had to try it. Turns out it’s a fun project and a great wine to share with friends over the winter solstice (after it ages).

As an added perk, dandelions offer a variety of health benefits, reports Nance Klehm of Arthur. “Consumed, they are a magnificent digestive, aiding the heath and cleansing of the kidneys and liver. Amongst vitamins A, B, C and D, they have a huge amount of potassium.”

So if you can hunt down a gallon’s worth of chemical-free dandelions around town, get pickin’.

What you need:

  • 1 gallon of freshly-opened dandelion flowers (rinsed)
  • 1 gallon boiling water
  • 4 oranges
  • 4 lemons
  • 4 lbs. of sugar. This is a lot of sugar. You can get away with using a little less if you’re not going for high alcohol content.
  • Yeast. A teaspoon or so will do the trick but if you want to use a whole packet of bread yeast, that works too. Note: don’t use brewer’s yeast. It doesn’t work and you’ll end up with a moldy batch of sugary tea.
  • 1 slice of stale bread
  • Optional: cloves, stick cinnamon or powdered ginger

What to do:

  • Make dandelion tea. Pour boiling water over your dandelion flowers and let steep until blossoms rise (a day or two). If you’re experimenting with added herbs (cinnamon, cloves or ginger), let them steep with the flowers.
  • Strain the liquid into a big glass or ceramic bowl, squeezing every last drop out of your flowers — that’s wine in there.
  • Add the juice and zest of your lemons and oranges
  • Add your sugar and make sure it’s dissolved and mixed in.
  • Sprinkle your yeast onto the stale bread and let it float on top of your wine-to-be.
  • Cover with a thin towel — it should be able to “breathe” but you want to keep critters and dust out.
  • Stir daily (at least). You can also taste it to keep tabs on how the fermentation is coming along.
  • When you’re pretty sure it’s finished fermenting (roughly a couple of weeks, but this varies depending on temperature and altitude), strain and pour your wine into some freshly washed wine bottles. Stick a cork in it and hide it away until midwinter!

{how to make} Yogurt

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Yogurt! So smooth and soothing, delicious sweet or savory. Use it like sour cream, but get the health benefits of probiotics. What an amazing food. And it’s easy to make yourself!

What you need:

  • milk
  • a little yogurt for a “starter” (1 T for every 2 cups of milk). Once you’ve made your first batch you can use your own yogurt to start future batches.
  • a bowl and a cover (lid, plastic wrap, cloth)

What to do:

  • gently heat the milk until it’s warm to the touch
  • pour into the bowl
  • whisk in starter yogurt
  • cover
  • let sit in a warm place for 12 hours or until the contents move as one
  • refrigerate
  • Enjoy! For best results, don’t stir!

{how to make} Kombucha

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kombucha equation

As promised and at long last: the post on making your own kombucha. Hurrah! You can save a lot of money this way, if you’re a kombucha addict. Also, it’s fun.

What you need:

  • 1 gallon of water (distilled is good but if your tap water is tested and safe, use that)
  • a big pot
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 8 bags of black or green tea. If using loose tea, 4 tablespoons (a quarter cup) will do the trick. Use simple green &or black tea. You don’t need fancy blends and definitely no herbal tea!
  • a big glass bowl: large enough to hold your gallon of tea. Other shapes can be used but a high surface-to-volume ratio is desirable for fermentation. Try to find something at least as wide as it is tall. Always use glass. Kombucha is acidic and toxins from ceramic, plastic and types of crystal will leech into your “healthy” drink.
  • A “mother,” also known as a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast).

scooby doo

No no, not a Scooby! Although, it does look a little like a monster and you might find your self singing, “Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?”

Here’s what I’m really talking about:

scoby, mother, whatever you want to call it

It can take awhile to track down a scoby if you want one for free, but it can be done. I paid for my first one. Now I know that anyone who makes kombucha has a new scoby every couple of weeks. I gave them away to friends, family members and strangers who posted scoby-wanted ads on Craigslist. You might also find one through the Kombucha Exchange Worldwide. If only I had known!

The nice part about building a kombucha community is that even when you lapse from making the stuff for awhile, you know someone who can give you a mother when you want it again. It’s kombucha karma, I suppose. You give it away and it comes back to you again.

Now I suppose you want to know what to do with all of this stuff.

What to do:

  • boil your water for 5 minutes
  • add the sugar, stir until dissolved, boil for a few more minutes
  • add tea, turn off heat
  • cover and bring to room temperature (an ice bath can help if you’re impatient)
  • put some fermented kombucha (comes with the scoby) in the glass container, swish around
  • pour the tea into the container (make sure it’s about room or body temp (slightly warm to the touch at the very highest)
  • place scoby on top
  • pour the remaining fermented kombucha on top
  • cover with cheesecloth, paper towel or other breathable fabric
  • let ferment! This will take about two weeks. Taste it!
  • At the end you’ll have a baby culture and some nice kombucha to drink
  • bottle
  • save a culture with a cup or so of kombucha for your next batch
  • start again!

 

{how to make} Kimchi

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kimchi kidIn case you couldn’t tell by the picture on the right, kimchi is amazing. If you’ve never had it, imagine spicy pickles made of all different kinds of vegetables … crazy ‘kraut.

Besides being fun to eat, it’s rich in vitamins, thanks to the veggies, and good bacteria, thanks to fermentation!

It’s also really expensive to buy in the store. So if you’re a little addicted you might as well make it yourself.

Recently, my sister made a batch based on the recipe in Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Ellix Katz. This is an excellent and empowering book. Katz encourages readers to experiment fearlessly.

In many cases, kimchi is the primary vegetable used. We used beets and other roots (in season during winter) but I fully intend on making a cabbage version soon.beet and root kimchi

Kimchi!

1. Mix a brine of about 4 cups water and 3 tablespoons salt.

2. Slice cabbage, carrots and other veggies. Roots should be cut as thinly as possible (unless you like your kimchi al dente).

3. Soak veggies in the brine. You can use a plate or other weight to keep the vegetables submerged until soft, a few hours or overnight.

3. Spice it up! Grate the ginger; chop the garlic and onion; remove seeds from the chilies and chop, crush or throw in whole. Mix spices into a paste, adding grated horseradish.

5. Mix spices with veggies and jam it into a crock pot (thanks, Mom!). Vegetables should be completely submerged in brine. Once a day, press vegetables back under the brine. Cover the jar to keep out spores and critters .

6. Ferment in your kitchen. You can taste it every day and it should be ready in about a week.

7. When ready, pack into jars and store in the refrigerator.

8. Great to bring to a last minute pot-luck or use in sushi!

Here are more reflections and another great recipe: “Ultimate Kimchi” from TreeLight.



{how to make} Hard Apple Cider

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This is the first installment Fermentation Friday, a semi-permanent feature I hope will provide weekend projects and, in some cases, future party fun. This will last at least a couple of months and will feature alcoholic beverages, kombucha, kimchi and yogurt to name a few. I hope you’re ready to have a blast! damask apple

I’m going to start off with the easiest trick in the book: hard cider.

All you need:

  • apple juice (unpasteurised is good, pasteurized is ok but no preservatives or it just won’t work)
  • cheesecloth, coffee filter or some thin cloth-like item.
  • twine or rubber band
  • yeast — only if you got pasteurized juice. Some swear by brewers yeast, but bread yeast does the trick in a pinch, thankyouverymuch.

    before drinking cider

    before drinking cider

  1. Buy or make some apple juice (and anything else you might need from above list). The juice might seem expensive, but that’s just because there’s no alcohol in it yet.
  2. If you got unpasteurized cider, skip to step 4.
  3. If you have pasteurized juice, hydrate the yeast by putting it in a little (1/3 cup or less) water that’s warm to the touch. Add a healthy pinch of sugar and your yeast will be very happy.  They will grow and reproduce and make little yeast families in little yeast cities. This is good for your cider. Add the yeast to the juice.

    cider to be

    cider to be

  4. Cover the mouth of the jug with your cheesecloth, secure with twine. This is to stop spores and critters from getting in.
  5. Wait. Depending on your process, fermentation should begin somewhere between a day and a week. If you used yeast, fermentation will happen very quickly. You’ll likely end up with a brown froth. Use a clean, sanitized spoon or knife to remove — it’s a sign that the fermentation process has taken off!
  6. Check and taste every day or two. This is a fun way to get to know the process. The drink will go from sweet to bubbly and then full blown cider (around day 5 if you started with yeast).

    after drinking cider

    after drinking cider

  7. Drink up! Alternatively, you can let it age.
  8. You’ll want to bottle what you can’t  drink so that your cider doesn’t turn to vinegar (still useful, but not quite as much of a prize). If you don’t have beer bottling equipment, you can just put the top back on your cider jug and store in a cupboard or the fridge. Bottling will also get your cider a little more carbonated. Feel free to check and taste from time to time.