Fennel, Yam & Rutabaga Lacto-Ferment - Made May 1/19

- 6 leaves of green cabbage chopped finely

- 2 med./large rutabaga coarsely grated
- 7 slices of frozen kiwi chopped
- 6 slices of cucumber chopped
- 1 good sized bunch of fennel with leaves chopped
- 3 med. sweet potato (my parents called them yams), coarsely grated
- 1 medium onion chopped

- 2 garlic cloves minced

- close to 2 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1 tsp fennel seeds ground

I mixed everything together, except for 2 leaves of the cabbage, then transferred the mix to  4 liter  mason jars, packed firmly to the shoulder.  I thought I was done, but got nervous about the cabbage being enough...  These are smaller inside leaves, so I chopped another 2 leaves and added and equal amount to the top layer of each of the four jars.  We'll see if I've added enough by how well they ferment... I  left them in my warmish cupboard above the stove for 3 days. After this I could see they were fermenting well, so I transferred them to the fridge...

Ginger Lacto-Ferment - 2 lb. batch. First Made Apr 27/19 & repeated... again & again & again...

- 1.8 lbs ginger root peeled & finely chopped

- 1 1/2 tsp. pink salt

- 2 smallish leaves of green cabbage finely chopped

I chopped everything as finely as I could and then mixed it all together before packing it firmly into a liter mason jar, filled to the shoulder.  I thought I might need to add water since this mix doesn't have much water, but it wasn't necessary; there's PLENTY of water. I've made it with my usual amount of salt, but I'll only be using it in very small quantities as it's VERY spicy, so I may add a little extra salt down the road if I feel it will keep better with more.  However, I'm not sure, so for now, I've left it as it is in the cupboard over my stove for 3 days...  This has fermented a little strangely.  After 2 days it seemed to be fermenting well and usually I would have just moved it to the fridge at this point, but this time for some reason I just repacked it so the ginger was well submerged in the liquid and left it in the cupboard... and it stalled out...  I'm not sure why... Maybe it takes longer to ferment such a spicy mix... In any case after 4 days in the cupboard I added about another 1 Tbsp of finely chopped green cabbage... We'll see... I've also tasted it and decided it didn't need more salt...  I'll move it to the fridge when I can see it's REALLY fermenting well...  Well I waited until May 4th... It wasn't any livelier, so rather than force it, I decided I want this one to last for a LONG time, so it's OK if it's SLOW to ferment... and I moved it to the fridge.

Made again Mar 29/21:  I used the same quantities of ingredients, but after chopping the ginger finely I ran it through my "mini-prep" food processor in 4 batches to chop it extra fine.  After mixing everything together I put it into a 750 ml and a 500 ml jar, firmly packed to about 1 1/4" from the rim, and left them covered in front of one of my rads to begin fermenting... After 4 days I could see they were fermenting well, so I moved them to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten...

Made again Sept 10/21:  This was made the same as my previous batch... except that I bought about 2.2 lbs of ginger so I've increased the amount of Himalayan pink salt to 2 tsp and added this along with the 2 leaves of finely chopped cabbage.  The mix was then packed  into a liter mason jar... It's filled a little higher than I usually like to fill my jars, only about 1/2" from the rim.  However, this is usually a slow, not very lively ferment, so I'm trusting this will be enough expansion room...  We'll see...  After 3 days it is fermenting well... I'll leave it for another day or two... but the water on top of the ginger paste was almost touching the lid, so I removed about 1 Tbsp. of this water and added it to the remains of my last batch of ginger (about 2/3 of the 250 ml. jar) which I'm still using... so there's now little danger of it contacting the metal lid.  It spent a total of 5 days in my cupboard before I moved it permanently to the fridge.

Made again... Sep 3/22...  I bought 1.93 lbs. of ginger, but one piece had quite a bit that had to be discarded... so I think I ended up with about 1.75 lbs.  This time I have a new Ninja processor... it doesn't shred or slice, but with its 4 or 6 super sharp blades it SURE does chop!   I only had to coarsely chop the ginger and it chopped it all in one go nice and fine. I added 1 1/2 rounded tsp. of Himalayan pink salt and 2 leaves of finely chopped cabbage.  I'm sure I could have added the cabbage to the ginger and chopped it all together in the Ninja, but since it was my first time I did them separately... Next time I'll try chopping them both together...  It fills a 1 liter mason jar perfectly to about 1" from the rim... I left it in my warm cupboard over my stove for a week... It's slow to ferment again, but I want it to last for about a year, so that's OK...  Nonetheless, it's clearly fermenting well so I've moved it to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten...

Yam, Beet, Radish & Cucumber Lacto-Ferment - Made Apr 18/19

- 12 slices of frozen cucumber chopped
- 6 slices of a large frozen zucchini chopped

- 1 med/large onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced

- 5 small chiogga beets coarsely grated
- 5 med. black radish coarsely grated
- 4 leaves of Green Cabbage finely chopped

- 3  med./large sweet potatoes (my parents called them yams), coarsely grated
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Himalayan pink sea salt

I mixed everything together in my large glass bowl, mashed it down best I could, then transferred it to 3 liter mason jars, firmly packed to the shoulder.  I left them in a cupboard for only 2 days as they fermented VERY well, before moving them into the fridge to stabilize...  

Beans & Lentils Lacto-Ferment Done Mar 27/19

- 1 1/2 cup dried adzuki beans cooked

- 1/4 cup french lentils cooked

- 1/4 cup black lentils cooked
- 3 small pieces of kombu seaweed crumbled

- 1 med. onion diced

- 1 clove of garlic minced

- 6 large slices of frozen cucumber diced

- 1 1/2 cups (approximately) of frozen ccrn
- 3 leaves of green cabbage finely chopped 
- 1/2 cup of frozen chopped rhubarb

- 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
- 1  Tbsp. Himalayan pink salt

I added the beans to boiling water with the kombu and then cooked them until there was only a little water left and they were tender about 1 1/2 hours.  I cooked the lentils separately in a small amount of water for 20 mins.  I mashed both together, then added the rest of the ingredients, mixed it all together and packed it into two 1 liter and one 750 ml. mason jars  filled to about 1 1/2" from the rim.  I left them in the cupboard over my stove for only 2 days before putting them in the fridge...  However, I got nervous after a day, when they didn't seem to be doing much.  I thought maybe I'd added the lentils to the other ingredients when they were too hot and killed the bacteria on the cabbage... so after a day I also added 1 tsp of the liquid from my red cabbage/zucchini mix to each jar.  I think this probably wasn't necessary, but if I make a mixture which includes hot things and cabbage in the future I'll add the cabbage last after I've mixed the hot and cold things together and the whole mixture is an even temperature...

Peas, Zucchini, Carrot & Rutabaga Lacto-Ferment - Done Feb 1/19

- 3/4 cup dried green peas

- 3/4 cup dried speckled peas
- 3 small pieces of kombu seaweed crumbled

- 3 Tbsp of green split peas

- 3 Tbsp of yellow split peas

- 1 med.  onion diced

- 2 cloves of garlic minced

- 1 med. carrot coarsely grated
- 1 med. rutabaga coarsely grated

- 7 slices of frozen zucchini diced

- 1 1/2 cups (approximately) of frozen chopped rhubarb

- 1  1/2 Tbsp. Himalayan pink salt

- 3 Tbsp. of my cabbage, celery root (celeriac), corn & rhubarb mix as a starter

I cooked the dried peas with the kombu for 3 1/2 hours, adding the split peas for the last 1 hour of cooking time.  I've added the kombu as it's supposed to reduce the cooking time of peas and beans and also make them more digestible....  We'll see.... I mashed them together after they'd been cooked and there was only a little water left and they were tender.  I mixed the rest of the ingredients together except the starter and added the still warm pea mixture.  I added the starter once the mixture reached room temperature. I packed it into 3 liter mason jars, 2,filled to the shoulder and 1 a little lower. This batch too only needed to spend 1 day in the cupboard, even though it isn't so warm there these days, as they fermented VERY rapidly....  I've  now moved them to the fridge to stabilize and for me to eat.  My sense is that pea mixtures like this don't have such a long shelf life, so I begin eating them almost immediately.  

Peas & Corn Lacto-Ferment - Done Dec 28/18

- 3/4 cup dried green peas

- 3/4 cup dried dwarf grey sugar peas

- 1 Tbsp  of green lentils

- 2 Tbsp of green split peas

- 3 Tbsp of yellow split peas

- 1 med.  onion diced

- 2 cloves of garlic minced

- 1 3/4 cups of frozen corn

- 7 slices of frozen cucumber diced

- 12 frozen large yellow cherry tomatoes chopped

- 1 Tbsp. Himalayan pink salt

- 3 Tbsp. of my cabbage, celery root (celeriac), corn & rhubarb mix as a starter

I cooked the dried peas for 4 hours, adding the lentils and split peas for the last 1 hour of cooking time.  I mashed them together after they'd been cooked and there was only a little water left and they were tender.  I mixed the rest of the ingredients together except the starter and added the still warm pea mixture.  I added the starter once the mixture reached room temperature. I packed it into 2 liter & one 500 ml mason jars,filled to the shoulder.   They only needed to spend 1 day in the cupboard, even though it isn't so warm there these days, as they fermented VERY rapidly....  I've moved them to the fridge to stabilize and for me to eat.  My sense is that pea mixtures like this don't have such a long shelf life, so I begin eating them almost immediately.  I liked my taste of this mix already, so I'm looking forward to incorporating these 3 jars into my menus over the next month or two...

Cabbage, Pineapple, Fennel & Rutabaga Lacto-Ferment - Made Dec 1/18

- 1 med, head of cabbage (about 6" in diameter) chopped finely

- 3 med./small rutabaga coarsely grated
- 1 bunch of fennel chopped 
- 2/3 of a med/small pineapple finely chopped

- 1 medium onion chopped

- 2 garlic cloves minced

- 2 1/2 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

I mixed everything except the cabbage together. When I saw how much it made I knew my large glass bowl wasn't going to be large enough, so I transferred 1/2 of the mix to my 2nd large glass bowl and added 1/2 of the cabbage to each one.  After mixing both bowls as thoroughly as possible, I let it sit for a few minutes, before transferring it to  4 liter  and one 750 ml.mason jars, which I packed firmly to about 1 1/2" from the rim of the jars.  I'm experimenting with the pink salt.  As it is quite different, I may have used a little much this time, I'm not sure...  I'll know when I start eating this in a month or two... I've  left them in my warmish cupboard above the stove for 3 days, then transferred them to the fridge when I could see they were fermenting well...

An Update:  I started eating this at the end of December 2018, and like it.  It's also just FINE for saltiness...