Pea, Oat, Rutabaga Lacto-Ferment - Made May 4/26

- 2 1/2 cups of oat groats

- 1 1/4 cups of dried Oregon Giant peas

- 1 1/4 cups of dried Dwarf Grey Sugar peas

- 2 lbs. of frozen rutabaga chopped in the food processor

- 1 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes (yams) chopped in the food processor

- 1 1/2 cups of frozen chard leaves

- 1 cup of frozen sorrel leaves 

- 1 cup of frozen parsley leaves

- 1 small bunch of celery sliced

- 2 cups of frozen chopped rhubarb

- 1 1/2 liter jars of my last onion ferment 

- 1 small green cabbage (3 lb.) chopped in the food processor

- 2 Tbsp.  + 2 tsp. Himalayan pink salt Plus a little extra in each jar...

Again I soaked the peas and oats in hot water temperature water over night,,, then ran the peas through my food processor before adding both to my mix... NO COOKING required!!! The stainless steel bowls seemed to work fine for mixing last time so I've used them again... I've also used the onion ferment that I've had sitting waiting for me to eat them here in this mix... These included extra salt, so I thought I wouldn't need to add so much salt to this mix either... However, in the end, I got a little nervous that I'd miscalculated so before I put them in the fridge I sprinkled some salt on the top of each jar, mixing it in as best I could...  Having cut out one meal entirely I'm using fewer ferments and I've also discovered that I prefer to add onions raw to my meals... I prefer the taste and I don't need to use so much, so I'm hardly eating these onion ferments at all... I'll use them up this way as long as this works... With everything mixed together it filled 10 liter mason jars packed firmly to just below the shoulder...  This time I thought there wouldn't be enough water in the mix, but once they'd fermented they looked fine... Nonetheless, I will likely need to add a little more after they've rested there for about a month....

I left them covered on top of my hot water heater for just over a day... They were fermenting well, so I moved them to the fridge, to stabilize and be eaten... later...  

Bean, Pea, Oat & Vegetable Lacto-Ferment - Made Feb. 24/26

- 2 1/2 cups of oat groats

- 1 1/4 cups of dried speckled peas

- 1 1/4 cups of dried black turtle beans

- 3 cloves of garlic minced

- 1 cup of frozen beet leaves

- 2 med. sweet potatoes (yams) coarsely grated

- 1 1/4 lb. of sliced frozen chiogga beets chopped in the food processor

- 1 cup of frozen sorrel leaves 

- 1 cup of frozen parsley leaves

- 1 3/4 lbs. of frozen sliced cucumber diced

- 2 cups of frozen chopped rhubarb 

- 1 small green cabbage (3 lb.) chopped in the food processor

- 3 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt

I'm trying something a little different this time...  I was needing another large glass bowl... However, I was also finding them VERY heavy to work with... so I checked on the Internet and discovered that although ferments don't do well with metal, they said it was OK to do the initial mix in a stainless steel bowl... so I bought three 6 quart stainless steel bowls and I'm using these to do my initial mixing... I'll mix everything together and add the salt just before I put the mix in the jars, so it has very little contact with the metal... We'll see... Like the last few times, I tried to reduce my cooking time and therefore my use of electricity by soaking the  peas & beans overnight first and then chopping them in my food processor... I completely covered them with hot tap  temperature water which cooled as they soaked overnight... I  also soaked the oat groats over night using the same quantity and temperature of water as for the peas & beans... The oat mix was then soft enough to use without needing to be cooked or processed at all.  It seems  I can omit cooking entirely...  I then mixed everything together, filling 8 liter mason jars packed firmly to the shoulder...  This uses even a little less salt than my last mix, but it tastes salty enough... maybe I don't really need more than 1 tsp. of salt per liter... We'll see as I go along...  Like the last time there's enough water in the mix for the initial ferment. I thought like the last time, it might be too much once they started fermenting... but it wasn't, so if they need extra liquid later I'll just add a little water to top them up after they've fermented for about a month... If they need it...

I left them covered on top of my hot water heater for just over a day... They were fermenting well, so I moved them to the fridge, to stabilize and be eaten... later... 

Oat, Pea, Parsnip, Cucumber Lacto-Ferment - Made Jan 22/26

 

- 2 1/4  cups Oat Groats

- 1 cup of dried speckled peas

- 1 1/4 cups of dried oregon giant peas

- 1/2 a large zip lock bag of frozen chopped leeks

- 2 cups of frozen fennel leaves

- 2 lbs. of frozen parsnip chopped in the food processor

- 1 cup of frozen sorrel leaves 

- 1 cup of frozen parsley leaves

- 1 3/4 lbs. of frozen sliced cucumber diced

- 2 cups of frozen chopped rhubarb 

- 1 small green cabbage (2 lb.) chopped finely

- 3 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt

I like these legume and grain vegetable ferments so well, I've decided to make most of my ferments with this kind of base...

Like the last few times, I tried to reduce my cooking time and therefore my use of electricity by soaking the  peas overnight first and then chopping them in my food processor... I completely covered them with hot tap  temperature water which cooled as they soaked overnight... I  also soaked the oat groats over night using the same quantity and temperature of water as for the peas... The oat mix was then soft enough to use without needing to be cooked or processed at all.  It seems  I can omit cooking entirely...  I then mixed everything together, filling 7 liter mason jars packed firmly to the shoulder...  This uses a little less salt than my last mix, but it tastes salty enough... Like the last time there's enough water in the mix for the initial ferment, but I may need to add a little extra water after they've fermented for about a month... 

It seems I've found an ideal location for beginning the fermentation process... covered on top of my hot water heater... This batch was left there for only a day... at this point I drained off enough liquid to fill a 750 ml jar to the shoulder (I'll use this to top up the jars with liquid later if needed) and left them uncovered on the floor where it was a little cooler for the night... They were then clearly fermenting well... so I moved them to the fridge, to stabilize and be eaten... later...  In fact, I did need to add back all of the liquid I drained off about a month into the fermentation process...