Fermenting Fun: Kimchi Part 2

Enjoy the spicy and dramatic conclusion of the Kimchi Saga. Health never tasted so good… although kimchi and kraut can be a bit stinky.

Fermenting Fun Kimchi Part 1

This batch of kimchi is a faded memory… except for the smell it leaves behind on the jar lids. Anyway, here’s part 1 of the “how to” video for making a jumbo jar of kimchi.

Kimchi for You and Me

This jar will take 5 cabbages

Tis the season for fermenting vegetables… the weather is cooling off in Florida and the cold weather veggies are coming into season. I’m in the process of editing a kimchi making video and I just wanted to share the recipe while I had a chance. This recipe should safely fit into a 1 gallon jar when mashed down.

2 heads of cabbage – save several large outer leaves to cover the finished product
2 large carrots
shred and salt, shred it good and massage salt in so cabbage sweats, you want it juicy.

Puree these ingredients and mix in with cabbage and carrots

Everything you need

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
3 hot peppers, dry or fresh
3 T fresh ginger

Optional: 1 T  probiotic (Body Ecology)

1. Shred cabbage and carrots, salt and massage.
2. Puree above ingredients and mix in with shredded cabbage.
3. Stuff cabbage mixture into jar and mash down removing all the air pockets and bring up the juice level.
4. Place saved cabbage leaves on top of kimchi. Press down completely covering kimchi. Use a ceramic bowl, mug, small plate… anything to weigh down the leaves. You want enough pressure to bring the juice above the level of the kimchi mixture. Get creative, make it work. If all else fails add a mixture of 1 T salt to 1/2 C water. Add enough to bring level up.
5. Cover with a towel to prevent bugs from getting into it and place in a cool dark place. Check on it regularly. It should be read to refrigerate in a week.

Kimchi and ferments like sauerkraut and miso are great immune boosters and they also help to repopulate your healthy internal flora. Fermented veggies are a daily staple in countries like Korea, China and Japan where cancer rates are much lower. These foods must be unpasteurized. Don’t think you’re getting the benefits from eating a kraut covered hot dog, it ain’t the same. Check out The Body Ecology website for great information about friendly ferments and how they can change your life.

I’ll be posting a video shortly. Keep it Live!

Goji Beer-y in da House!

nice brew

This weeks installment is a festive fermented beverage I lovingly refer to as Goji Beer-y. This is the second time I’ve made this drink since returning to Florida. The fermentation is done with vegan kefir grains called Kefir d’ Acqua. I came accross this treat while working out at the Tree of Life in Patagonia, Arizona. Props to Joshua who scored us the first batch of water kefir goodness. Goji Beer-y was almost a reality while out in Arizona but unfortunately Joshua placed his experimental goji berry batch in the oven to ferment assuming that would be a safe enough place in a house full of raw foodists. Unfortunately he didn’t take into account that using the stove top to heat water would raise the temp in oven thus increasing the pressure inside the goji berry brew. Long story short… there was an explosion, goji ferment juice all over the floor and inside the oven. The upside of this story is the RAWthrock house got their oven cleaned to a level beyond all expectations.  Once again, thanks to Joshua.

This friendly ferment is great because the process is relatively simple and can be completed with in 72 hours. I made the batch in the video using filtered water, kefir crystals, 1/2 C of raisins and a 3 oz of home made grape preserves. I figured I wasn’t going to use the jelly, I might as well feed it to the kefir. Goji Beer-y is bubbly, slightly bitter with a little goji sweetness.  These days it’s my non-alcoholic beer of choice. Details and direction for creating your own kefir ferments can be found at the link above.