Thursday, May 26, 2011

canned


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Lots going on here, like I know with you all too-traveling down south for my cousins graduation, participating in the girls school activities-school will be out in about a week, can you believe it!
In between all these happenings I'm also taking a class. The class, which meets once a week for seven weeks, is a class about food preservation. I am really enjoying this class because its so hands on-perhaps too hands on seeing that I cut my pinky finger pretty good today while cutting carrots for a pickled carrot recipe.
So far in the class we have made and canned jams, jellies, soups, fruits, and today we pickled lots of things and even made our own custom herb vinegars. I kept my vinegar simple, a white wine vinegar with chives. We also are making sauerkraut and kimchi the old school way (using salt fermentation). Next week we are going to learn the proper way to process and can tomatoes, make salsa, as well how to make fresh cheese-queso fresco. I think I'll take some tortilla chips to class for some good ole' taste testing (:
Have a great holiday weekend!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

fermentation station

~brewing kombucha

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~injera starter

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~kefir grains



Someone has been busy in the kitchen and guess what it hasn't been me! My husband is currently experimenting with the process of fermentation. He is reviving some kefir grains that we have had for at least 2 years now (we thought they were not "alive", but after sitting out on the counter at room temperature for a week (and adding lots of sucanat) the grains are now bubbling up. Next is the injera. We are huge fans of Ethiopian food. Injera is like a sourdough pancake that is used to scoop up lentils, vegetables, and stewed meats-no utensils needed-and it is so so good. I think the starter has another week to go before its done. He also has a batch of kombucha going. Now I'm a little apprehensive about this one. My husband found a free scoby on craigslist and the person who gave it to him even included their favorite recipe. A couple of years ago (after reading Nourishing Traditions) I did think about making kombucha, but instead thought kefir would be easier and less daunting to make.
At first when I saw him doing all these things in the kitchen, I kinda felt like he was taking over my "territory"-not the kitchen per say (because he cooks a lot of the time too) but the territory of experimenting-doing "quirky things" but hey I'm learning to keep my mouth shut. Really I'm looking forward to the results of his fermentation station, especially the injera (: