Liberation par Fermentation

I’ve found myself fermenting, a LOT, recently. I’ve been keeping quite a few ferments as well as trying new things.

Currently active, ongoing ferments:
– Sally – my sourdough starter; so far I have made pancakes, bread, and pasta with her and ALL of them turned out great. Next up? Bagels!!
– Milk kefir – this one is basically for the dogs. I’ll throw in a spoonful to some things I cook, or use it as a milk/heavy cream addition. I’ve also made MK with heavy cream, then strained it through cheesecloth to make MK cheese which is DIVINE and perfect for spreading on ALL THE THINGS

New ferments:
– Raspberry black tea kombucha – instead of doing the traditional F1 black tea ferment followed by the F2 raspberry fruit addition, I’m using raspberry loose-leaf black tea – should be ready in a few days
– Purple okra* – the farmer said if I cooked them, that they’d turn green. They’re too pretty to lose that gorgeous purple color, so I’m trying a pickle style ferment, recipe is below. Will be ready in a few weeks.
– White wine vinegar – this one is actually just an ongoing ferment, because it takes forever, but I took a bunch of GROSS white cooking wine and added some sugar and raw ACV as a starter, letting it sit for at least 6 months before tasting

L to R: Sally, okra ferment, kombucha

Pickled Okra Ferment:
– 32 oz quart jar
– about 1lb of okra (mine took less, I just shoved as many as I could in the damn jar)
– 2 to 3 (small) cloves garlic – peeled
– 1.5T coarse, kosher salt
– 1/2t each: dill weed, black peppercorns
– 1/8 to 1/4t red pepper flakes
– 1 cap-full raw ACV

Wash jar in VERY hot water to sterilize. Put salt, garlic, spices in bottom of jar. Pack okra tightly into jar, be careful not to break the okra. Cover with water (non-chlorinated). Add weight to keep okra & garlic submerged. Add ACV. Put lid on, do not tighten ring the whole way. This is an aerobic ferment so keep everything submerged, invert once daily for about 5 min (tighten the lid completely before you do). Ready in about 2-3 weeks depending on temperature & desired taste.

*Unfortunately, the purple is fading to green, will have to experiment with more ways to keep the color! I grilled some last night though and it tasted GREAT!*

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