Cabbage, Cucumber & Rhubarb Lacto-Ferment - Made May 30/20

- 1 large zip-lock bag of chopped frozen rhubarb

- 1 green cabbage (about 4 1/2" in diameter) finely chopped

- 2 small onions - one red & one white - diced
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 large zip-lock bag of frozen cucumber diced
- 3 pieces of frozen Red Kiri Squash - flesh chopped finely & skin grated finely

- 1 1/2 Tbsp of Himalayan pink salt... plus approx. 1 tsp. added later...

I mixed everything together... It makes a very liquid mix which  filled 4 liter mason jars firmly packed to the shoulder.  II left them in my "warm" cupboard over my stove for almost a week until I could see they were fermenting well and then transferred them to the fridge...  It took a little longer than normal to ferment as the mix started off very cold and the weather has been mainly cool, so my cupboard wasn't so warm.   I was also a little nervous that I hadn't added quite enough salt, so I added an additional approx. 1/4 tsp. to each jar.

Beans & Beet Lacto-Ferment Made May 9/20

- 1 1/3 cups dried black turtle beans cooked

- 1 cup dried adzuki beans cooked

- 3 med./small pieces of kombu seaweed crumbled

- 1 med. onion diced

- 2 cloves of garlic minced

- 3 med. celery stalks chopped
- 2 med. red beets coarsely grated
- 1 small rutabaga coarsely grated
- 5 small leaves of green cabbage finely chopped 

- 3 cups (approx.) of frozen chopped rhubarb

- 1 3/4 Tbsp. Himalayan pink salt

I added the beans to boiling water with the kombu and then cooked them until they were tender (3 hours).   After mashing them, I added them to the rest of the ingredients, adding the cabbage last, after I'd mixed the other things together and the whole mixture was an even warm temperature (NOT hot)... I then packed it into three 1 liter & one 500 ml.  mason jars  filled to about 1 inch from the rim.  I left them in my "warmish" cupboard over my stove for 4 days.  At this time I could see they were fermenting well so I moved them to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten... 

Cabbage, Yam, Turnip & Rhubarb Lacto-Ferment - Made Apr 15/20

- approx. 3 cups of chopped frozen rhubarb

- 2 med. sweet potato (my parents called them yams), coarsely grated

- 1/2 a green cabbage (about 6" in diameter) finely chopped

- 2 small/medium onions diced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 small red beet coarsely grated

- 5 med. purple top turnips coarsely grated

- 1 1/2 Tbsp of Himalayan pink salt

I mixed everything together... It makes a very liquid, pretty, dark salmon colored mix which  filled 3 liter mason jars firmly packed to the shoulder.  I've left them in my "warm" cupboard (which isn't so warm these days) over my stove for a week, before I transferred them to the fridge...  Color is SO important to me... I love just looking at the colors of these mixes as much as I love eating them...  What a treat to be able to eat such beautiful colors!

Pea, Carrot & Celeriac Lacto-Ferment Made Apr 13/20

- 3/4 cup dried Speckled peas
- 3/4 cup dried Green peas
- 1/3 cup dried yellow split peas

- 1/3 cup  a mix of large green & french lentils
- 3 small pieces of kombu seaweed broken up

- 1 med. onion diced

- 1 clove of garlic minced

- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

- 3 leaves of green cabbage chopped finely
- 2 1/2 med. carrots coarsely grated

- 1/2  celery root (celeriac) coarsely grated

- 8 slices of frozen cucumber

I  cooked the peas with the kombu for about 2 1/2 hours, until there was only a little water left and they were tender.  I added the lentils for the last 1/2 hour of cooking time, then mashed both together.  I then added  this pea mixture to the rest of the ingredients, adding the cabbage last when the mixture was just warm (NOT hot).  After mixing it well, I packed it into 3 liter mason jars filled to the shoulder .  I'll left them in my "warm" cupboard over my stove for only 2 days when I could see they were fermenting well, then moved them to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten...

Beans & Beet Lacto-Ferment Made Jan 16/20

- 1 1/3 cups dried black turtle beans cooked

- 1 cup dried adzuki beans cooked

- 3 med./small pieces of kombu seaweed crumbled

- 1 med. onion diced

- 2 cloves of garlic minced

- 7 large slices of frozen cucumber diced
- 2 med. red beets coarsely grated
- 1 med. carrot coarsely grated
- 1 small rutabaga coarsely grated

- 4 small leaves of green cabbage finely chopped 
- 1 cup of frozen chopped rhubarb

- 1 1/2 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 2 hours).   After mashing them, I added them to the rest of the ingredients, adding the cabbage last, after I'd mixed the other things together and the whole mixture was an even warm temperature (NOT hot)... I then packed it into two 1 liter & one 750 ml.  mason jars  filled to a little more than 1 inch from the rim.  I left them covered in front of a rad for a day and then moved them to my "warmish" cupboard over my stove for one more day before moving them to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten... 

Pea, Carrot Rhubarb & Cucumber Lacto-Ferment Made Jan 10/20

- 3/4 cup dried Oregon Giant peas
- 3/4 cup dried Green peas

- 1/3 cup green & french lentils
- 2 small pieces of kombu seaweed broken up

- 1 med. onion diced

- 1 clove of garlic minced

- 1 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt

- 3 leaves of green cabbage chopped finely
- 2 1/2 med. carrots coarsely grated

- 1 generous cup of chopped frozen rhubarb

- 6 slices of frozen cucumber

I  cooked the peas with the kombu for about 2 1/2 hours, until there was only a little water left and they were tender.  I added the lentils for the last 1/2 hour of cooking time, then mashed both together.  I then added  this pea mixture to the rest of the ingredients, adding the cabbage last when the mixture was just warm (NOT hot).  After mixing it well, I packed it into 2 liter mason jars filled to the shoulder & one partially filled 500 ml. mason jar.  I left them in my "warm" cupboard for 3 days before putting them in the fridge to stabilize and be eaten...

Apple/Pineapple/Cranberry Lacto-Ferment: made Dec. 2/19

- 5 med. "wild" apples cored and chopped

- 1 1/2 - 2 cups frozen minced pineapple

- 3 cups dried cranberries chopped coarsely
- 1 med. onion diced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 med./small carrots coarsely grated
- 10 slices of frozen cucumber chopped

- 1 rounded Tbsp Himalayan pink salt

- 4 small leaves of green cabbage chopped finely

I mixed this all together.  It made enough to fill 2 liter mason jars firmly packed to just above the shoulder. I planned to leave them in the warm cupboard for 3 days or until I could see they were fermenting well, before moving them to the fridge to stabilize and be eaten.... However, I explain how this REALLY happened below...

I've made use of some leftovers for this one...  The cranberries I bought, not noticing that they were infused with sugar and they are TOO sweet for me.  The pineapple I minced and froze into ice-cubes thinking I'd add a little at a time to my meals, but I'm no longer feeling like I want to do this.  So, I've used both of these in this mix.  I'm hoping the sugar will get used by the fermenting bacteria so the final ferment will still have the cranberry flavor I like but be less sweet and it seemed appropriate to add the pineapple I wasn't using here too...  I tasted it fresh mixed and it does taste good... but still quite sweet which I expected.  We'll see what the final result is like down the road...

This is VERY slow to ferment.  Perhaps because my "warm" cupboard isn't so warm now, or maybe something preventing fermentation was added to the cranberries.  I don't think this is the case though, because I checked the current stock from the place where I bought them and nothing but cranberries and sugar are listed as ingredients... In any case after 3 days with NO sign of activity, I've added about 1 Tbsp. of the liquid from my corn/carrot/apple ferment which is quite lively to each jar and hope this will make a difference...  I also placed them under a box in front of one of my rads and then added 1/2 of a finely chopped cabbage leaf to each jar...  They still taste fine... They just aren't fermenting...  Well this is the SLOWEST ferment I've EVER done!  However, with the addition of the cabbage and starter and spending almost 3 weeks in a warmish place they are finally fermenting...  I haven't bothered moving them to the fridge to stabilize though because they certainly don't need to be slowed down!  Well it took 5 weeks before these were finally fermenting well enough to be moved to the fridge... I think it was the extra quantity of sugar in the cranberries that the lacto-fermenting bacteria had trouble digesting...  When I make this again I'll choose something other than the pineapple and apple to add as both of these are quite sweet too...