I have a confession: As much as I enjoy gardening (and I really do!), the kitchen magic that ensues post-harvest – cooking meals straight from the garden, drying herbs for salt blends that become holiday gifts, making hot sauce, and of course, canning, pickling, and making preserves – well, that really lights me up! I feel such immense joy when gazing at a line of jars, still warm from the water bath, cooling atop a clean dish cloth. It brings me back to my childhood when my dad and grandmother … [Read more...] about Simple Small-Batch Vegetable Ferments
Search Results for: ferment
Fermenting for the Holidays: Basic Tools of the Trade & Easy DIY Holiday Gift Ideas
-Kylie Holloway- It’s the beginning of December, and the holiday season is fully upon us; however, with the warmth and joy of the season often comes stress and a feeling of being overwhelmed when it comes to holiday shopping and gift giving. Well, we’re here to help, with some great gift ideas for the foodies in your life! A great DIY holiday gift idea that is simple, fun, and unique is making fermented gifts for friends, family, and loved ones (and is a great gift to send in the mail!). … [Read more...] about Fermenting for the Holidays: Basic Tools of the Trade & Easy DIY Holiday Gift Ideas
The Lowdown on Food Fermentation
-Patrick Metz- Winter is tough time of year for anyone, but even more so for gardening and homesteading enthusiasts. It seems as if it is constantly cold, wet, or both, discouraging favorite outdoor activities. But don’t despair! I find this to be the perfect time to experiment in the kitchen. This year, I brushed up on food preservation techniques in preparation for our harvest, mainly food fermentation, and more specifically lactic acid fermentation (aka, lacto-fermentation). First, … [Read more...] about The Lowdown on Food Fermentation
Festive Fermentations
-Jennifer Hawthorne- With the holidays right around the corner, most of us will be spending some time with people we love dearly. We often have get togethers, such as parties, dinners, or just coffee or tea on a rainy day. These moments are special and make life worth living. Why not start the holiday season off by preparing a festive fermentation to share with the friends and loved ones who enrich our lives? Fermenting only takes 5 days to three weeks, depending on the level of … [Read more...] about Festive Fermentations
Kimchi: My Favorite Fermented Food
-Jenn Hawthorne- Last month in the Charlottesville store, we had a workshop on fermentation. As I was teaching the class, I talked to one of the participants, and she had an amazing view on kimchi. I started the class thinking of kimchi as a finite, this is how you make it and this is the only way to make it thing. After my conversation, however, my eyes were opened to all the massive possibilities with this amazing food. A little history about this dish makes you realize why it is a very … [Read more...] about Kimchi: My Favorite Fermented Food
Fermented Hot Sauce
-Luis Guerra- Looking to add another ferment to your recipe book? Here is a good project to try with all those tasty peppers once the crops start coming in. As much as I love peppers on everything, sometimes there are just too many in my garden to eat before they go bad. Fermenting some of them for use in hot sauce is a great way to preserve the harvest. I really enjoy making fermented hot sauces, exploring how versatile the flavors of peppers can be. First, start with the peppers of … [Read more...] about Fermented Hot Sauce
4 Simple Ferments Everyone Should Be Making at Home
-Kristin Weeks- Chances are, many of the foods you buy and consume today are fermented, whether you realize it or not. Coffee, chocolate, salami? All fermented. Although many people enjoy fermented foods like sauerkraut, cheese, and yogurt, they’ve lost the knowledge and desire to prepare it themselves. But DIY ferments are a great way to go because they take very little time, provide excellent health benefits, and can be made at a fraction of the cost of what you’d pay in the store. … [Read more...] about 4 Simple Ferments Everyone Should Be Making at Home
How to deal with a “stuck” fermentation
Do you have a stuck fermentation? A beer that stopped fermenting and you don't know why? Maybe it was active for a day or two and stopped all together for a week or more? In that case, you need to take a sample with your wine thief, and measure the gravity of the beer in a test jar with a hydrometer. If you do so and the hydrometer reads something that is very high in gravity, or brixx/balling, you may have a "stuck" fermentation. Something happened to halt fermentation in your beer, and … [Read more...] about How to deal with a “stuck” fermentation
Matt’s Hot Sauce
Hi everyone, this is Matt from Carrboro. One of my favorite hot sauce brands has been a little difficult to find at stores for the past year and bland table fare at my house just isn’t going to get the job done.. Lightbulb moment…I would take matters into my own hands! I had a bumper crop of peppers this year and wanted to take a shot at making a fermented hot sauce. As I was using what I had, this recipe isn’t intended as a clone for the hot sauce with a rooster on the bottle. But it … [Read more...] about Matt’s Hot Sauce
A Year in the Organic Garden – August
Welcome back to our “Year in the Organic Garden Series!” In July, we were watering, fertilizing, harvesting and even getting started on our Fall gardens. If you missed the post, or want to refresh your memory, please take a look at July in the Organic Garden. In August, our Summer garden’s harvest is at its peak and the transition to Fall gardening is imminent. Read on for our suggestions on how to make the most of the month. As always, we welcome your own comments, questions and … [Read more...] about A Year in the Organic Garden – August