Culture+Notebook

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Kombucha Tea
1 gallon 1 cup white cane sugar 22 grams black tea (Lipton yellow box). I left the tea in until it had cooled down. Notes: I am cutting the tea back to 18 grams, as my kids are now drinking it.
 * April 4**

2nd Ferment Harvested at April 12 (8 days) 1.5 Liters: added 6 inches of smashed lemon grass and 3 cm of grated ginger, left it on the counter overnight--tasted great 4 x 500mL: left in fridge overnight and then added 6 inches of smashed lemon grass and 3 cm of grated ginger divided equally between the jars, left in fridge, tasted equally great as the one on the counter.



2 x 1 gallon glass jars of kombucha 2 cups white cane sugar 44 grams black tea (Lipton yellow box). I left the tea in until it had cooled down. Harvest Date: April 22 (10 days) Made lemon grass & ginger again, but this time I am leaving them on the counter for at minimum 24 hours. When I poured the kombucha out of the big 1 gallon containers into the smaller containers it fizzed and foamed a lot. I am thinking I have to pour it out more carefully as to not lose as much carbonation.
 * April 12**

**Kombucha Flavours**

 * 1/2 orange and some real vanilla powder: Matthew like it when it was less than a 24 hour 2nd ferment but after that he didn't like it. Jericho and I didn't like it and we felt that it had too much vanilla powder. (500 ml bottle)
 * 1 piece of lemon grass and about 1/2 tsp of grated ginger: all of us like this one.
 * dried/fresh pineapple and ginger is awesome.
 * apple cinnamon (part of a stick)
 * spirulina = bad
 * matcha = bad
 * coconut leaves a oily residue, but nice with a lime kefir leaf and cayenne
 * ground hibiscus is good
 * husband likes 40 grams of fresh pineapple and 30 grams of fresh ginger
 * i juice loads of ginger then put it in the freezer to use, much easier
 * juiced ginger and a pinch of cayenne is good

4 x 1 gallon glass jars of kombucha 4 cups white cane sugar 88 grams black tea (Lipton yellow box). I left the tea in the pot until it had cooled down and squeezed the cotton bags to get more tea out. Harvest Date: Thursday May 2
 * April 22 (morning)**

**Sauerkraut**
April 6 22 kg of cabbage, 26 g of sea salt per kg 1/3 package of wakame Yield: 5 x 5 liters



**Uncle John's Sauerkraut**
April 13 26 kg of cabbage, 24 g of sea salt per kg Celery juice: tops and knobby ends of 5 celery flat onion juice: 2 big bunches 50 grams wakame Yield: 5 x 5 liters, 2 x 3 liters (did not put celery and onion in the two small jars)

Notes: I made some sauerkraut in temperatures that were too hot and they came out soft, but still tasty. So, I dehydrated the sauerkraut and use it to sprinkle on foods. I LOVE it. Remember to make more dried sauerkraut. Dry at high temperatures for 2 hours and then drop the tem

**Kimchi**
March 30 Sea salt: I used a 15% brine. For each 1 liter of water I use 150 grams of salt. 7 x 150 = 1050 grams of salt. 7 liters of water 14 kg nappa cabbage 1.25 kg green onions 2" pieces (use the flat onions next time) 4.5 kg julienne carrots 7 kg diakon radish (2" long rectangular prisms) 100 grams wakame 5 x 6 inch sticks of kombu, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, blend, add to the mix.

Puree in food processor 700 grams garlic 340 grams ginger 520 grams Korean red pepper

Yield: 8 x 3 liters + 3 x 2 liters, after a week I filled up the jars a bit so it became 8 x 3 liters + 1 x 2 liters

Notes: Over the summer (2013), I made the same recipe but 1/2 the garlic, ginger, and Korean red pepper (which is the normal amounts). It was still spicy, but I think it was more acceptable to others (I like the heat of the other 2x the spice). Next time, I will make the 'normal' amount of spice (1/2 the garlic, ginger, and Korean red pepper in the recipe above).



**Apple Cider Vinegar**
March 30 Put lots of apples through my juicer with the blank plate (apple sauce), covered it with a cloth. I did not stir it daily and so I had to scrap a layer of mold off of the top. Update: April 13th (day 14), very hard apple cider smelling Update: I strained out the pulp on April 17th (day 18). It smells very vinegary.

Apple cider Vinegar Notes: So, this method didn't work. Attempt 2 worked like a charm. I sourced a bottle of apple cider vinegar that formed a SCOBY (cellulose structure) on the top when I left the bottle open (exposure to oxygen). I juiced loads of apples (different kinds) and inoculated the fresh apple juice with it. In 40 days, it was super potent apple cider vinegar. I've made it twice now and it's great.







Curry Cauliflower
I used a slightly modified version of Jessica’s version of [|this]recipe and this [|recipe for homemade curry powder]. 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces 1.5 TB curry powder blend (from the recipe above) 1 tsp turmeric 1/2 TB chili powder blend 1/2 tsp cayenne 1/2 tsp coriander 1/2 tsp cumin 5 cloves garlic or more, sliced lots of fresh curry leaves 1.5 liters of 2% brine (20 grams of salt per 1 liter of water)

Keep it out in the counter until the bubbles stop. This usually takes anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks.

Italian Green Beans
I didn't like the fermented beans until they were fermented for over two months. I preferred the Italian green beans over the dill pickle green beans, but my girls like the dill pickle ones better.

Purple Sauerkraut
=**Projects I want to Make**=

** Fermented Mackeral **
(Recipe and photo by Anna Dounaevskaia in the Facebook group Wild Fermentation) salt & sugar salt usually should be 1:1 with sugar but I do a little bit more of salt and for these 2 fish it a tablespoon whey (the whey is from a mesophilic yogurt villi or Caspian Sea yogurt) bay leaves black pepper dill seeds Leave it for at least 2-3 days before it is ready

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