Christmas Kraut

I am very happy when something is fermenting in my kitchen. This past week I purchased two bags of cranberries on sale and decided it was time for another experiment in food fermentation. I chose this recipe as my base and altered it based on what I had available in my kitchen.

Into the food processor I put about 1/2 a head of green cabbage and sliced/shredded it with the attachments. This was salted with sea salt while I chopped up one bag of cranberries, three cups, in the processor by pulsing in the processor as well. I juiced and zested one orange and added it as well as the juice from 1/2 lime. Then a one inch piece of ginger was finely chopped and added to the mixture along with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Finally 1/2 cup of raw sugar was added to the mixture. 

Packed into my jar and covered with kombucha. I love the idea of using a real live substance like kombucha to serve as the fermentation assistant in my sauerkraut. You want all the solids to be immersed in liquid so that they are not exposed to air that might encourage bad bacteria/yeast/molds to grow. 

Ready for the fermentation cupboard, this receptacle will be out of the way, in a dark place for several days until nice and sour.  The final product's sour factor is determined by how long you allow it to ferment. Longer fermentation will result in more sour flavor or simply stop the fermentation by refrigerating it and eating!

- Posted using BlogPress by Amanda

Beautiful, Delicious, and Brutal

The blessings of this weekend were many. Saturday morning I arose to a gorgeous sunrise. Simply amazing to take in and so incredibly time sensitive. I caught a glimpse of the sky, ran around trying to find my camera taking apparatus, ran outside and it had already changed colors. I got this picture, went inside, put my camera away, and looked back out the window and it was completely different. God is so creative. 

I finally got some bubbly kombucha!

Breakfast delight: crusty bread, pesto, liverwurst,
farm fresh egg, & tomato!

I was having a fabulous morning drinking my bubbly kombucha, eating amazing breakfast sandwiches and doing some baking. Then I decided to make it outside to do the chores and realized that we have another issue with chickens being massacred. Except this time, it's not the whole flock all at once. This weekend both mornings I noticed just one dead chicken carcass in the pen. It appears that the deaths are happening in the early morning time, because when I get to them, the bodies are still pretty warm. This varmit is also leaving the carcass versus the massacres we've had in the past, they just take everything. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm thinking possibly a hawk? Just because the most of the carcass is still there and it's only getting one at a time. Any thoughts friends? 

Brewing Kombucha

I've been back at the brewing station with my kombucha science experiments at home. It is seriously so fun to try new things that involve real food and real health benefits. After returning from my month long traveling trip I was a little worried that my kombucha was dead. It was exhibiting some symptoms of death as I pulled it from the fridge. For one it had not fermented the tea at all. It was still sweet tea tasting and I noticed a few very minor specks of mold on the top of the tea. The SCOBY was also not floating but instead had sunk to the bottom. In my desperate plea to revive it I simply gave it a fresh feeding of new sweet tea and left it for a couple of weeks in our dark basement. I was so excited to come home this weekend and noticed a very healthy looking SCOBY floating on top and a nicely sour smelling kombucha. 

 I also managed to acquire two nice brewing bottles this weekend in KC and found three more in this farmstead house so that I could give a second fermentation to my kombucha. I hoping to finally create a nice sparkling carbonated kombucha beverage. I have fallen in love with a specific brand available in stores for almost $4 that is made from kombucha and ginger juice. I've got to figure out how to replicate that action for this frugal lifestyle. For this second ferment I used approximately 16 ounces of kombucha plus 2 ounces of juice. I made three using a cranberry juice and two with an apple cider. I capped them and put them in the basement for the second ferment. Here's to hoping for a science experiment success!