It’s week #2 of the Keep the Harvest Challenge at Nourished Kitchen and we’re working our way through August by ditching our canners, and brushing up on old-world, traditional techniques for food preservation. Our first week was all about fermentation – the magical transformation of fresh food into pickled through the function of beneficial microorganisms. If you missed the first week of the challenge, check out the newsletter and make sure you’re signed up.
In our home, we’ve put up garlic scapes, sauerkraut, and real sour pickles. Ginger, beets, turnips, kimchi and daikon radish are all on my list just waiting for that salty brine that will transform them into vibrant, long-lasting, traditional foods preserved through the action of beneficial bacteria. (Oh, yes, I grow bacteria on purpose in my kitchen.) And I’m not the only one putting up pounds of sauerkraut and gallons of sour pickles. There’s been some wonderful additions from Keep the Harvest participants: like Deeba who fermented her way through a crock of limes and tangerines, or Dr. Winnie who put up some lovely jars of cortido and even David and Melissa who put up a cheerful batch of heirloom carrots.
We also answered a lot of questions about food preservation through fermentation on the Nourished Kitchen Forums, including how long do ferments typically last (A: years and years, properly done) and whether or not ferments really need whey (A: they don’t, but sometimes whey or another starter is useful), and what to use if you can’t find horseradish leaf for your sour pickles. So if you have a question about fermentation, natural food preservation or just want to introduce yourself to other like-minded real food enthusiasts, go check out the challenge’s thread here.
If you missed the sign up period for this month’s challenge to preserve the bounty without canning, go see the original post and sign up for the email updates. There’s over 500 people participating!
In the mean time, if you took up the call and put up a batch of good food last week through the traditional method of fermentation, link up via Simply Linked below, or post your successes in the comments section on this post:
I was able to put up almost a gallon of lacto fermented cherry tomato salsa!! my fridge is full, but I am loving the flavor and the fact that it’ll last a long time!!!
Wondered if you had seen the best way to ferment? It’s the Pickl-it, you can see more about it at
http://www.pickl-it.com.
I didn’t know about this challenge until today but as luck would have it I made some fermented tomato ketchup last week. I didn’t make a lot just 3 pint jars full. But it was so tasty I will definitely be making more!!
That sounds so yummy! I want the recipe! How did you do it?
http://sidheherbal.blogspot.com/2010/08/lacto-fermented-ketchup.html I blogged about it and put up the recipe. (Well the word recipe is used really loosely.)
I fermented sliced jalapenos and 15 pounds of sauerkraut. I think I need a bigger fridge, or a pantry that is actually cool. Storing the stuff is my only obstacle.
I had fun doing some ferments this week. I did purple cabbage kraut for the first time. I’ve made regular kraut quite a bit but never the purple. The purple has such a sweet taste to it. I also did a quart of beets and two quarts of cortido. I’m wondering what I will find at tomorrow night’s market to ferment this week
I made a half gallon of sauerkraut and a quart of elephant garlic cloves! The barm on the garlic is impressive, lol,
For my first ever fermenting project, I put about 5lbs of white and red cabbage to ferment
. I chronicled about it on my blog http://herbmagik.blogspot.com/2010/08/kraut-is-making-kraut.html 
. It is smelling wonderfully sour….we check it every day….
Made some fermented ketchup. It was oh so delicious. It was our first time for ketchup so we didn’t make much just 3 pints. But I am sure I will make some more before the summer is over!
I finished up two gallons of sauerkraut that were started a month ago and started some delightful bread and butter pickles. I’m also getting around to some preserved lemons tomorrow that have been waiting for my attention for the last week.
Made beet kvass and fermented ketchup….while I have made them both before, I was out of ketchup and felt compelled to make the beet kvass with the new moon upon us…..(and it is about to be my own moontime so I NEED some!)…. wanted to share the benefits of it for menstruating women …..will be blogging about it soon complete with pictures!
I just made my first batch of dill pickles. I made 5 half gallons and will probably make quite a few more before the summer is over.
Hey Jen Jenny! I just tuned in to this awesome challenge! I am all about the fermenting! I have some cabbage and some daikon to make some kimchee this weekend, but I posted a link to making whey and pink/white sauerkraut. I also made some fermented mustard greens, carrots and turnips shredded. it is potent stuff but VERY tasty! I love this challenge because it pushes people to move out of their range of motion in life. A lot of folks will try real food, but when it comes to the whole gut and probiotic thing, i think there is some resistance to doing it yourself. I dont know if it has to do with the fact that most folks are scared to death of bacteria, or that it is something that takes time to make. I think fermenting foods is one of the BEST things you can do for your health, in fact if you ONLY did this one thing, you would see tremendous improvement! Gonna go back to the original page and sign up and also put this in my thoughts on friday! Its SO awesome!
Alex@amoderatelife
Hello All,
I decided to try Jenny’s beet root relish recipe.
I tracked my progress on my blog here: http://ow.ly/2nBRy
I’ll post again to let you know how it turned out after 3-4 days of fermenting.
Happy progress everybody!
cat
But you can’t ferment everything so I was hoping to learn some other ways of preserving besides fermenting and canning. Like are you only suppose to freeze tomato sauce or can you can that?
Gretchen –
You can actually ferment anything, I can’t think of a single fruit or vegetable that doesn’t lend itself to fermentation in one way or another. BUT, this class focuses on a different method each week. Last week we focused on fermentation, this week on oil- and fat-curing. Next week, sun-drying. Are you signed up and receiving the emails? For any specific questions, I’d recommend you check out the forums: http://nourishedkitchen.com/forums/
I’ve made about7 or 8 pints of pickles so far this summer–different spices, various ‘keep crisp” leaves (grape or oak). I’m on the second jar as far as eating them!