Fermented Vegetables: The Unsung Hero of Our Table

I have been waiting a few months to make some fermented vegetables. I know, it doesn’t sound all that exciting to be looking forward to sauerkraut and pickles of all kinds, but I’m seriously jazzed to have some homemade kraut on the table again.

You see, it’s just been too hot to ferment veggies here. So while everyone’s favorite water kefir and some yogurt and cheese have been happening, these fermented vegetables just had to wait… until now. So I busted out my gallon jar and some ceramic vegetable weights and got down to business with a bottle of water kefir by my side.

But let me tell you why this workhorse of a ferment – stinky as they may be – are a welcome addition to our table.

The Ultimate Convenience Food

When I make fermented vegetables I try to make enough to last us a week or two. For us, that is somewhere between two quarts and a gallon. It takes a bit of time to get it all chopped up but it’s really a drop in the bucket. Especially since I then use these fermented vegetables as the raw, enzymatic portion of our meal. I don’t have to make a salad or salsa because the fresh flavor comes from these pre-made convenience foods.

Completely Versatile

While some ferments are more specific to certain cuisines – think cortido for Latin American food – most ferments are basic enough to be used with any cuisine. This batch of of kraut contains green and purple cabbage, cilantro, and garlic. It tops tacos and salads and goes into a bowl with a chicken and veggie stir-fry.

Keeping Quality

With that type of versatility, we’re likely to scoop from this jar for at least one meal of the day. After about a week, when the jar is half-filled, I’m planning to start a big batch of fermented carrot sticks with garlic. This big jar will keep on our counter top, without refrigeration, for a few months. But I’m pretty sure it’ll be gone in a couple of weeks.

Fermented vegetables are delicious, tangy, and smelly – in the best of ways. So maybe they’re not as exciting as water kefir or yogurt, but they’re the underdog of the ferment world.

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Kefir Ranch Dip

Herbs and spices combine with milk kefir to make a cultured alternative to ranch dip that your family will love.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup strained kefir (consistency of sour cream)
• ½ cup mayonnaise (preferably lacto-fermented mayonnaise)
• 1 teaspoon dill
• 2 teaspoons parsley
• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
• ¼ teaspoon onion salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper, freshly ground

Instructions:

1. Mix together the strained kefir and mayonnaise.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Cover and refrigerate for several hours prior to serving to allow the flavors to meld.

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Vegan Sourdough Everything Cookies

Ordinarily I don’t care for the flavor of raw sourdough items. However, the first time I made these cookies it was difficult to make sure there was enough dough for others to enjoy! My friends, Vegan and non-Vegan alike, really seemed to enjoy these cookies.

These cookies whip up in a snap. They’re so versatile that I encourage you to experiment with what you have on hand. Since there is banana in these cookies and only ¼ cup raw or brown sugar in about 2 dozen cookies, these Vegan Sourdough Everything Cookies can even make a decadent, yet fibrous and wholesome, breakfast treat.
If using crystallized ginger as your dried fruit in a batch please keep in mind that those cookies are best consumed just after the cookies have cooled. Crystallized ginger can develop a strange flavor after it has been baked.

Vegan Sourdough Everything Cookies

Yields about 2 dozen cookies
Prep time: 5 minutes
Bake time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2 tablespoons flax seeds, preferably ground
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• ¼ cup raw or brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups rolled or quick cook oatmeal
• ½ cup chopped nuts
• ¼ cup coconut flakes (optional)
• ½ cup vegan chocolate chips (optional)
• ½ cup dried fruit (optional, see note above)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash banana and mix in flax seeds and sourdough starter. Allow mixture to rest for about 3 minutes.
2. Stir in oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nuts, and optional ingredients. Be careful not to over mix.
3. Spoon tablespoon amounts onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet, approximately 2 inches apart. Gently flatten each cookie with a spoon or wet hands. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden. Allow cookies to rest for 2 minutes at room temperature and then transfer to a baking rack to cool fully.

Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

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Hemp Oil SFIC Glycerin Melt and Pour Soap Base

If you enjoy olive oil soap, you’ll love this olive and hemp oil combination. Both hemp and olive oil are naturally moisturizing without leaving a greasy feeling on your skin. Try this melt and pour base for your homemade soap today!

About Hemp Oil Glycerin Melt and Pour Soap Base:

• 100% Pure Natural Glycerine Soap
• Hypo-Allergenic
• Non-Comedogenic
• Biodegradable
• No Animal Testing
• 1-lb block
• Made in Concord, CA

How to Use Hemp Oil Glycerin Melt and Pour Soap Base:

• Learn how to get started making basic soap with our step-by-step instructions: How to Make Basic Melt and Pour Soap.
• Choose from a wide variety of soap shaping molds!

Hemp Oil Glycerin Melt and Pour Soap Base Ingredients:

• Contains Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerine, Hemp Seed Oil, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Oat protein (conditioner)
• Glycerine ingredient is kosher and of vegetable origin
• Palm Oil purchased from companies that comply with RSPO
• Olive Oil is Grade A Extra Virgin
• Hemp Seed Oil is unrefined
• Oils are food grade (originating from plants) that are farmed by sustainable growers
• Raw materials are Non GMO

Hemp Oil Glycerin Melt and Pour Soap Base Allergen Information:

• Vegan
• Gluten-free
• Soy-free

To view the product on the Cultures for Health store click here.

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Weekly Recap – September 26th Edition

It’s time for the weekly recap.  Leave your favorite links or ideas in the comments below!

This Past Week on the Blog

In case you missed them, here are a few highlights from this past week:

A Closer Look: Greek Yogurt Starter

Soap With Pippa – Join Jerri as her friend helps her tackle soap making with lye.

Grapefruit Kombucha – This grapefruit-flavored kombucha is reminiscent of a grapefruit-flavored soda. Like all flavored kombucha, this beverage is made through a second fermentation. Be sure to use freshly brewed kombucha in this recipe and cap the lid tightly to create a refreshing carbonated finished product.

Adventures in Simple Goat Cheese Making – Join me as I share some of my new experiences making cheese with goat milk.

What’s New at CFH: Cloth Diaper-Friendly Diaper Cream

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What’s New at CFH: Cloth Diaper-Friendly Diaper Cream

With simple, natural ingredients this recipe works well for cloth and disposable diapers alike.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup shea butter
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ tablespoon beeswax
• ¼-½ cup arrowroot powder, or as needed
• 10 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions:

1. Add shea butter, olive oil, and beeswax to the bowl of a double boiler. Heat ingredients together gently until they have melted together, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove from heat and add arrowroot powder, starting with ¼ cup. Mix well and add additional arrowroot powder, one tablespoon at a time, until a thin paste forms. It will set up a bit more as it cools so only add enough arrowroot to bring it together.
3. Add essential oil and give it one last whisk.
4. Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the diaper changing station.

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Adventures in Simple Goat Cheese Making

Sometimes our culturing experiments fail, no matter how many successes we’ve tucked under our belt. When I started the viili yogurt culture it looked fine at first, but it was not churning out good yogurt. I think it had to do with the over 90 degree day we had the day I cultured that milk for the yogurt starter. So I fed it to the chickens and am waiting for cooler days to try again.

I wanted to share that because fermentation in general is so individual that you simply cannot expect 100% in-the-box results all of the time. I suppose if you wanted results such as those, you’d be working with more pasteurization and less wild fermentation.

Having shared that failure, I wanted to also share that I was ready to move on and up from there and try something different. We recently acquired a couple of milk goats for our little homestead and between that milk and some that we have gotten from generous neighbors, I have had a bit of extra milk to play around with.

A simple cheese from a simple goat cheese kit was exactly what I needed to get started.

First of all, I love this goat cheese kit for its simplicity. The culture, rennet, butter muslin, thermometer, recipes, and more were all right there waiting to be unpacked and used. For someone who has always been hesitant about cheesemaking, this was a real confidence booster.

Secondly, the recipes are for raw milk cheese and we love that. If you can obtain fresh milk and you want to maintain the enzymes from that milk, these types of recipes are exactly what you need.

Finally, the recipes are so simple I almost can’t believe it. This isn’t cheddar or even feta – though that recipe is in the book that comes with the kit and when I’ve got some spare time (snort) I’d like to give it a go. What it is is a simple cheese to slice and serve, crumble on a salad, or serve as “cottage cheese” at breakfast after a good crumbling.

The process is started simply by gently warming the milk to 75 degrees. After that we culture the milk by sprinkling over the mesophilic culture and incorporate the rennet. Put a lid on the pot and leave it undisturbed overnight.

The next morning you gather up the cheese into the butter muslin and let it drip for the rest of the day. I think it took me longer to hand wash the butter muslin than the hands-on time it took me to make this cheese. Can you tell I’m still shocked?

What I didn’t realize, however, was that I was not making what I thought of as chevre – one of our favorite store-bought cheeses. The only difference I can see is the addition of rennet, so I’ll be trying this creamy soft cheese next for my chevre-loving family.

I’m so grateful to have dipped my toes into cheesemaking with the help of this Goat Cheese Kit. It really took the fear out of the process and has me ready to try more.

I’d love to hear from you experienced cheesemakers – what cheeses are you working on?

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