Ginger Lacto-Ferment - 1 lb. batch... Made 1st on Nov 30/19 - repeated & refined again & again & again...

- .85 lbs ginger root peeled & finely chopped

- 1/2 tsp. (rounded) Himalayan pink salt  Note: - I'd like to increase this to 3/4 tsp.

- 1 leaf of green cabbage finely chopped

This is an approximately 1/2 size version of the one I made Apr 27/19.  As before, I chopped everything as finely as I could and then mixed it all together before packing it firmly into a 500 ml. mason jar, filled to the shoulder.  I left it in the cupboard over my stove for a week until I could see it was fermenting well... before I moved it to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten...   This is a slow ferment, but I expected this as my last batch of this recipe was also slow to ferment.  I suspect the slow speed is due to my cupboard not being so warm these days and because it is a very spicy mix.

Note: this was a PERFECT amount for the 1/2 size (500 ml.) jar.  I used one LARGE & one small piece of ginger.

May 1/20 - I repeated this mix fairly closely using just one LARGE piece of ginger and 3/4 tsp of salt... I must have used a little more ginger because the 500 ml jar is filled to about 3/8" from the top... a little high... but since this is usually a slow ferment I think it will be OK.  I chopped the ginger first fairly fine with a knife and then finished with my "mini-prep" in 2 batches... It is now beautifully fine... In the end this fermented quite rapidly for this mix.  It only lasted 4 days in my cupboard, before I moved it to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten...

Aug 23/20 - Again I'm repeating this mix... using 1/2 kg of ginger, 3/4 tsp. of salt and 1 leaf of green cabbage finely chopped....  This time I only chopped the ginger coarsely with a knife and processed this in 4 batches in my "mini-prep" food processor.  Maybe I could have used my large food processor and done it in 1 batch, but the mini-prep comes apart and cleans more easily than the large processor that I have, so I'll stick with the "mini-prep"...  This was also very slightly more ginger than I used before and as I was at the limit of what could be squeezed into a 500 ml. jar with my prior batches, this time I've used a 750 ml. jar and it is PERFECT!  I moved it to my fridge to stabilize and be eaten after 5 days in my cupboard... This ferment usually takes a little longer than the standard 3 days to start and the weather has suddenly turned cool, so my cupboard isn't so warm either...

Nov 20/20 - Another repetition...  I haven't finished the last batch yet, but this is the right time to get more ginger... so I'm making it in advance.  I'm guessing I have 1/2 lb. of ginger this time as I only needed to do 2 rather than 4 batches in my "mini-prep".  I've used  a  slightly rounded 1/2 tsp. of Himalayan pink salt and one finely chopped leaf of green cabbage and packed the mix into a 500 ml. mason jar, filled to about 3/4" from the rim and left  it in my "warmish" cupboard to ferment...  This  one is VERY slow to ferment... As of Dec. 9/20 it is still not fermenting strongly enough to require refrigeration.  There are bubbles and it is fermenting... just  VERY slowly.  Perhaps I used a little too much salt... However, I'm not concerned as long as it continues to ferment... Since I eat it, also VERY slowly, it will be FINE!

Cabbage, Cucumber & Pepper Lacto-Ferment - Made Nov 18/19

- 2 red & 1 orange bell peppers chopped

- a 5" diameter green cabbage chopped finely

- 7 med wild apples - approx. 3 cups chopped

- 1 med onion chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic minced

-  most of 1/2 a large zip-lock bag of frozen sliced cucumber chopped

- 2 Tbsp. Himalayan pink salt

I mixed everything together, then packed it into 3 liter mason jars and 1 500 ml jar, filled perfectly just to the shoulder...  I left them in the cupboard over my stove for 4 days, (it isn't so warm there these days, so they needed to spend a little more time there than usual).  I then moved them to the refrigerator to stabilize and be eaten...