The Great Fermentation

Sauerkraut and Pickled Hot Green Beans

 Today, I headed out to the garden and got a great harvest, including onions, beans, squash, and tomatoes. I cooked the green beans in the crock pot, chopped the onions for a mushroom and rice dish, used the tomatoes and zucchini in a meatball recipe, and also worked on starting some fermented foods in mason jars. The first jar is purple cabbage, green cabbage, and carrots, with dill weed, garlic, and fennel. In the second jar are green beans, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Each jar also has 2 tbs of pickling salt added to it. This is important to use pickling salt, because it does not have iodine, which interacts poorly with the fermenting process. In order to ferment the vegetables, they need to be in a sealed, airtight container for 4-6 weeks, so the natural bacteria can multiply and produce the natural sour acids that preserve the product. I am fermenting mine in the mason jars, but you can use fermenting pails from homebrew stores, or order specialty crocks.

Today's Harvest Aug 4, 2014