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What I’ve been having good luck with doing lactofermentation is finding a good salt to water ratio from a recipe appropriate to what I’m making then making more than I need. Then making sure I have a good follower and weights, then really submerging everything inch or two above the top of the follower and weights. “Fermented Vegetables” was a really good book that helped me get started. I’ve also had better luck using a starter often the whey from yogurt and a bit of brine from a previously fermented good batch.
Bar Ran Dun fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Jan 28, 2020 |
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Jan 28, 2020 05:19
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My fermented pepper sauce finished. I ran the peppers through the blender after pulling them out of the crock with some brine. I was shooting for near Tabasco. Ended up tasting like a good giardiniera. I’ll take it. 
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Jan 28, 2020 06:11
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Bar Ran Dun posted:My fermented pepper sauce finished. I ran the peppers through the blender after pulling them out of the crock with some brine. I was shooting for near Tabasco. Ended up tasting like a good giardiniera. I just finished a 3.5+ month ferment. I posted it in the hot sauce thread but they mostly talk about buying hot sauce. I feel like we need a fermentation thread. 
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Jan 29, 2020 20:11
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These pictures are making me sad. My (very small) hot pepper crop failed last summer. Really disappointing since one of the plants was one I stumbled upon in a garden shop labeled as a sriracha pepper. I was really curious about what it might turn out to be. Ah well, I'll try again this spring and this time (Gaia willing) there will be flaming butthole fermentation happening. Also managed to screw up my fall daikon radishes. Fortunately the kimchi was still delicious even after some substitution. Not sure how you can fail at growing daikons. They're really dead-nuts simple.
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Jan 30, 2020 05:00
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I really want to do kimchi next year. The CSA cabbage I get is so good. I’m sad that I’m down to my last half gallon jar of kraut. Edit: also 3.5 months wow I’m going to have to let mine go a lot longer next time. Bar Ran Dun fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Jan 30, 2020 |
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Jan 30, 2020 05:06
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MockingQuantum posted:Namely, the recipes seem very "loose", as in, some just tell you to "submerge in brine" while others specify an amount of water and an amount of salt, some others specify salt but then just say "cover with water" but depending on whether or not she has to split the recipe between multiple jars, the amount of water required would change, which would change the proportions all around. So, how much does it matter? Is there a good rule of thumb for ratio of water/salt/ingredients, or does it vary by the ingredient? Usually you prepare the brine of the concentration according to the recipe, but in quantity enough to submerge all the vegetables, you don't want them contacting with air because that' where it'll spoil instead of pickling. But lab-like precision doesn't matter as much, salt and vinegar concentration can vary a lot according to taste. Rule of thumb for brine I use is 1 tablespoon/liter of water, so, around 1.5-2% salt solution. Lactofermentation just means you don't have vinegar in there, just salt, and the acidity comes from bacteria breaking down the sugars in the vegetable(or added sugar, some people actually add sugar to their brine)
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Jan 30, 2020 14:25
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MockingQuantum posted:I got my partner some fermentation lids for Christmas, the kind that just fit standard wide-mouth mason jars. She likes them a lot, and has been going pickle crazy, but she's kind of getting frustrated with the recipes she's finding and I'm wondering if someone in here could help with a few questions. No idea if this is the "correct" way to lacto-ferment, but I usually pack my veg in the jar, zero the scale and add filtered water to cover. Strain the weighed water into a mixing bowl and add 2-3% by weight of salt (so if water = 250g, 250*.02, add 5g salt and stir to dissolve). Then pour salty water back into the jar and add spices/herbs if desired. Weigh down the veg, and wait patiently for bubbles, takes two-five days in my 62°F kitchen. This method lets you customize to fit any container and any amount of water, you just need a kitchen scale. Fermentation lids mean you don't have to "burp" the jars, and they don't let oxygen in the fermentation environment, but this method works without the fancy lids if the veg are completely submerged (anaerobic environment). The recc for Noma Guide to Fermentation is a very good one, as well as Sandor Katz's Art of Fermentation. The Noma book is more precise and a bit more high-end, while Sandor's book is more of a "rough guide" which might be what you're looking for.
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Feb 1, 2020 17:34
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Your kitchen is 62 F?
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Feb 1, 2020 17:38
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I didn’t have luck with jars and lids like 50% success rate. Crocks seen to work every time for me.
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Feb 1, 2020 17:47
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Do yall use the same amount of spices for lactofermenting that you do for vinegar fermenting? I made some quick pickle jalapenos and carrots that called for some cumin seeds and decided to make a second lactofermented batch. For no particular reason I felt I should use less with the lacto?? I've only ever used spices when fermenting Sichuan pickles so I'm not sure what's up with spice amounts in other recipes.
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Feb 1, 2020 23:45
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Hexigrammus posted:These pictures are making me sad. My (very small) hot pepper crop failed last summer. Really disappointing since one of the plants was one I stumbled upon in a garden shop labeled as a sriracha pepper. I was really curious about what it might turn out to be. Ah well, I'll try again this spring and this time (Gaia willing) there will be flaming butthole fermentation happening. We grew Thai chilies from seeds and they performed like gangbusters. I bought some habanero plants from Lowes and they did nothing but stay alive. I fertilized and watered them but the plants stayed the same size all summer and no pepper. So this year we are doing all seeds. The hot sauce I made is not quite as good as last years batch but it is very, very, good. Might all be in my head but I think it tastes better than anything I've bought in a market.
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Feb 4, 2020 05:36
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 Went out to eat and got a dish topped with some kind of tender-but-crisp, seasoned, green vegetable that I couldn't identify (it had been cut into thin strips and the menu's description just said "pickled vegetables"). The closest flavor I could think of was green beans, and it put the idea in my head: what happens if you thinly slice green beans on the bias and quick-pickle them? Turns out it works just fine, and the results are really good as a topping for noodle dishes and stirfries. I completely winged the pickling liquid, and ended up with this uncomfortably irreducible ratio: 2 parts vinegar, 7 parts shaoxing wine, 7 parts salt water (1/2t to 1C water salinity, which was enogh to taste salty but nowhere near a brine). It needs to be a bit saltier next time, but I like that the beans still taste recognizably like green beans. Thin-sliced ginger and garlic are in there to add flavor.
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Feb 5, 2020 20:22
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If you're reaching for the Shaoxing wine, I'm guessing this dish was from a Chinese restaurant? Because if you're looking for Sichuan pickled green beans, you're going to need some baiju. I think Fuschia Dunlop has a recipe in Food of Sichuan, I'll have to check once I get home. But in the meantime, this looks legit enough.
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Feb 5, 2020 21:43
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Jan posted:If you're reaching for the Shaoxing wine, I'm guessing this dish was from a Chinese restaurant? Because if you're looking for Sichuan pickled green beans, you're going to need some baiju. It was a pan-Asian kinda place. I decided to try shaoxing wine because I've relatively recently discovered it, and am in love with how much better it makes stir fries of all sorts -- I was curious what would happen if I pickled something with it. I am totally going to look into those green beans though. Thanks!
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Feb 6, 2020 00:32
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This friday I am going to try my hand at making my own pickles because I buy a jar of them at least once a week and store bought ones seem pretty bland and like I could do better. I have a few questions and I hope I don't seem like an idiot. First one, everything I've read seems to say that as long as you use a 2/3 mixture of vinegar to water pickles should be shelf-safe, this is important as I have limited fridge space, and also, when it comes to spices, is there really anything I should absolutely avoid? Can too much of a spice make a batch unusable? I plan on using a bit more than what the recipe's I have found say to use as, like I said, I want as much flavor as possible, because store bought ones seem so bland.
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Feb 12, 2020 03:30
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Not sure of any herbs/spices you should absolutely avoid but I may be able to help with your store bought problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U059Y5PZGRI Not necessarily the brand recommendation but they explain why the store ones are usually bland I get claussen ones because I can't find boars head but they're an order of magnitude better than the shelf stable ones. I've never had much luck making my own shelf stable pickles that are comparable in taste to refrigerated ones. PokeJoe fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Feb 12, 2020 |
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Feb 12, 2020 03:38
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Just to be absolutely clear since you didn't say it explicitly: shelf-stable if processed correctly in a hot water bath. I assume you meant it and it went without saying, but yeah, better to be safe. So far as I know, spices aren't going to affect the safety of the food. It's mostly about making a sufficiently acidic environment to keep stuff from growing, and then the boiling to kill off whatever's already living inside the jars. My recipe for pickles is something like:
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Feb 12, 2020 05:36
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I know certain infusion methods shouldn't be used with garlic but pickling ain't infusion and, like, I don't think C. botulinum likes hot acid. 
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Feb 12, 2020 06:11
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wormil posted:I just finished a 3.5+ month ferment. I posted it in the hot sauce thread but they mostly talk about buying hot sauce. I feel like we need a fermentation thread. I would be very into this. My boyfriend and I are about to go get some SCOBYs so we can begin making our own kombucha and I'm going to be making my own everything fermented and pickled to try to reduce waste and $$$ this summer.
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Feb 23, 2020 19:43
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You’ll never look back once you start. I’m going to do a big batch of fermented garlic paste next.
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Feb 23, 2020 19:48
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luscious posted:I would be very into this. My boyfriend and I are about to go get some SCOBYs so we can begin making our own kombucha and I'm going to be making my own everything fermented and pickled to try to reduce waste and $$$ this summer. Where are you getting your scoby? There is a sharing group on Facebook for various cultures and lots of discussion. I just sent out some milk kefir grains to folks who requested them. Requesting cultures is free, but as a courtesy, it's cool if you offer to cover shipping. https://www.facebook.com/groups/181445115312844/
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Mar 20, 2020 12:30
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I made a bunch of kimchi the other day because I suspect it may be difficult to get to the store and procure fresh vegetables over the next couple of weeks. That and I just really wanted to make kimchi. I did one head of napa cabbage, a bunch of cukes, and some asian chives. I also have some perilla leaves that I might throw in with the chives because there isn't enough to make a separate dish and I have no idea what else to use them for right now.  Anyone else pickling or canning stuff for the coronapocalypse?
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Mar 21, 2020 08:09
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I've been into fermenting things for awhile but quarantine boredom got me to finally try vinegar pickling and suddenly I have a million jars of pickles and picked jalapenos
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Mar 21, 2020 14:21
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Finally got three pounds of garlic cloves into a crock. Now the whole house smells like garlic while we are trapped inside for weeks.
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Mar 21, 2020 16:29
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Tom Smykowski posted:I've been into fermenting things for awhile but quarantine boredom got me to finally try vinegar pickling and suddenly I have a million jars of pickles and picked jalapenos Awwwwww yeah. SANDWICH PARTY AT TOM'S!!!!!
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Mar 21, 2020 16:57
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With some extra time I have now, was going to try making some beef stock, and pressure canning it. I have about 10lbs of thick beef bones (bought a 1/4 cow in fall). Anyone have a recipe they like and have made? I have made chicken stock and canned it before, and I know leaner is better. Bones are the sort used for marrow. Rough plan was slow roasting then boiling, but not sure about spicing. I regularly make chicken broth, but rarely any other types.
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Mar 21, 2020 19:41
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Tom Smykowski posted:I've been into fermenting things for awhile but quarantine boredom got me to finally try vinegar pickling and suddenly I have a million jars of pickles and picked jalapenos Nice! I've been into pickling and canning for a while, but my teeny tiny kitchen makes doing so rather difficult. Right now I'm looking into things that can be stored a while without canning, because there's no goddamn way my little hot plate can heat a sufficient enough quantity of water to get the job done. 
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Mar 21, 2020 20:48
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I do my canning on a hot plate since my glass top stove is a delicate baby. It helps if you can heat the water very hot in the microwave and use hot jars and hot fillings. And it takes a long time. I canned a bunch of ground beef the other day, took about 4 hours total.
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Mar 21, 2020 22:15
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Arkhamina posted:With some extra time I have now, was going to try making some beef stock, and pressure canning it. I have about 10lbs of thick beef bones (bought a 1/4 cow in fall). Anyone have a recipe they like and have made? I have made chicken stock and canned it before, and I know leaner is better. Bones are the sort used for marrow. Rough plan was slow roasting then boiling, but not sure about spicing. I regularly make chicken broth, but rarely any other types. I make stock all the time. I keep a large gallon bag in the freezer where I drop stuff like onion skins, garlic skins, bits of carrot, celery, ginger trimmings, even stems from herbs like parsley and cilantro. When I have bones to cook I dump them into a stockpot with the veggie trimmings from the freezer. Add a couple of bay leaves, whole peppercorns and a few more cloves of garlic. Bring it to a boil, turn the heat down low enough that it's simmering, but very slowly. Depending on the kind of bones I will let it simmer for 12 - 36+ hours. Keep an eye on it and when you think it's simmered enough take it off the stove and put in the fridge to let the fat solidify at the top. Skim that off and put the stock in jars. I pressure cook stock at 10lbs pressure for 20 minutes.
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Mar 21, 2020 23:12
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I save chicken carcasses that I roasted after they are eaten in the freezer for that. Slow cooker or a big instant pot, with the veggie trimming bag.
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Mar 21, 2020 23:30
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Bar Ran Dun posted:I save chicken carcasses that I roasted after they are eaten in the freezer for that. Slow cooker or a big instant pot, with the veggie trimming bag. I'm old school, I still use a stockpot on the stove. A slow cooker would do nicely. I can't help with instant pot because I don't have one.
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Mar 21, 2020 23:53
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Cool, thanks! I wasn't sure if beef was treated differently. It's been fun to slowly work through the cuts - the farmer asked us if we would want bones, also liver - we got some extra as most people were looking for the restaurant/grocery store cuts.
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Mar 22, 2020 00:27
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Any suggestions for cucumber pickle recipes? I got a pretty good dill going on and tried a one jar with mustard seed, one with cumin and jalapenos, and one with caraway seeds (had like 1 extra cucumber so why not). Mustard seed pickles were good but I only used 1 tsp of seeds and some garlic - needs a bit more mustard and kick. Literally A Person posted:Awwwwww yeah. SANDWICH PARTY AT TOM'S!!!!! 
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Mar 22, 2020 03:30
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This is what I do for sweet hot pickled cucumbers: Makes...8 pints? Something like that. I usually have some leftovers that I don't can. Reduce the amount of cucumbers if that bothers you. 4 cups white vinegar 2 cups water 1/2 cup Penzey's pickling spice 1 head of garlic, coarsely chopped. 1 dozen dried Thai chilis or a half-dozen habanero chilis, stemmed and coarsely chopped (but leave the seeds in). I don't like jalapenos personally for this recipe. 5 pounds of cucumbers depending on how much sugar to taste (something like 1-3 cups sounds plausible) Slice the cucumbers, put them in a saturated brine solution (salt + water until you can't dissolve any more salt into the water), let sit in the fridge for 3-24 hours. As I understand it, brining the cucumbers sucks water out of them in addition to making them salty; the low moisture content then encourages them to suck in the pickling juice so they pick up the flavor better. Remove the cukes from the fridge, and rinse to get excess salt off (but don't rinse too much, or they'll suck up water). Heat the other ingredients to a boil. Sieve off the solids from the pickling juice (you can leave 'em in when you can the jars, but they get in the way when it comes time to eat). Pack sliced cukes into jars; pour juice in. Tap/shake the jars to get any bubbles out and refill to 1/2" from the top of the jar. Put lids and bands on and put in water bath canner.
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Mar 22, 2020 03:57
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 That sounds awesome. Using the brine sounds interesting, too. I've done it for fermenting but never with the vinegar pickling - same with using sugar.
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Mar 22, 2020 15:34
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Do seed the cukes, or use any particular type, like English or small 'pickling' variety?
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Mar 22, 2020 16:25
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My first go at vinegar pickling was using English cucumbers because an old lady at the store swore up and down that they were just as good. End result was not so good bordering on bad. Edit: I also fermented some of them and they fell apart after about a week. Regular cucumbers hold up better when fermenting in my experience Tom Smykowski fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Mar 22, 2020 |
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Mar 22, 2020 16:28
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Arkhamina posted:Do seed the cukes, or use any particular type, like English or small 'pickling' variety? I usually do my cucumbers in the summer and get the smallest ones I can find from the local farmer's market. But I've occasionally had to make do with store-bought hothouse cucumbers and they do OK. Not as good, but if you want to make pickles right now you'll have to make do with what you can find.
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Mar 22, 2020 16:35
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The pickling cukes are the best way to go but usually one can only get them seasonally.
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Mar 22, 2020 16:35
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Marketmore cucumbers are a good choice for canning and they get sold in a lot of retail settings so they can be pretty easy to come by. But for cucumber pickles the real trick for texture is just buckling and using some pickle crisp. Brining first helps too but the pickle crisp is freakin' amazing.
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Mar 22, 2020 16:38
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