Well, it’s done for now!
My second attempt at making a probiotic fermented vegetable type of sauerkraut.
Click here to read about the first attempt, and step-by-step.
And here, so see how it failed, and my thoughts on why. :-(
With that as a learning experience, I made a few changes this time.
Continue readingThe cider vinegar I made using our crabapples was due to be ready somewhere between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7, or to taste.
I checked the flavour somewhere in between then, before moving it to the fridge. Here is what it looks like.
Continue readingI’m a bit behind on this, as the last surviving jar of sauerkraut was ready almost 2 weeks ago.
This sauerkraut is from a very basic, small batch recipe. You can check out the making of it in this step-by-step post. (link will open in a new tab)
Continue readingI’ve posted about our first time tries at making several fermented products.
There was the mead, small batches of plain sauerkraut and a probiotic sauerkraut/fermented vegetables version. Plus, there was the crabapple cider vinegar I posted progress on recently. (all of these links will open in new tabs)
The jars of sauerkraut and cider are in locations that I can easily check on them. With the lack of fermentation in the mead, I’ve found myself eyeballing the jars harder.
I was feeling suspicious.
So this evening, I took down a jar of plain sauerkraut and took the filter off. It seemed okay, but I went to check the other two, anyhow.
Oh, dear.
Continue readingOne last catch-up post!
In the middle of when our internet went wonky and I couldn’t upload photos, I was able to move on to the next step in making cider vinegar with our crab apples.
You can read the first part here. (link will open in a new tab)
Continue readingOkay, here we go!
Yesterday, we were finally able to pick up some bottles and bottle our first attempt at making mead.
Here are the previous posts of the process. Each link will open in a new tab.
The mead was left in its second fermentation for longer than 4 weeks, but it seemed to have stopped fermenting much earlier. It’s really hard to see the airlock where we kept it – we basically had to shine a light at it – but there didn’t seem to be any bubbles in the water.
This being our first attempt, we didn’t want to mess with it and just let it be.
Before going in to town to pick up 3 cases of bottles, however, we did take the carboy out to check it.
Continue readingThe following is based on the recipe for sauerkraut that I got from my friend who, in turn, modified it from a recipe she found through Dr. Mercola.
As with the sauerkraut I wrote about yesterday, this is something I’ve never made before, so it’s a total experiment.
Here are the ingredients.
Continue readingIt’s been cold, wet and raining for the past while (with snow, in some areas!!), which meant it was the perfect time to stay indoors and finally make sauerkraut.
While I remember my mother making sauerkraut when I was a child, and I know I helped at least a little, I have never made it myself before. In fact, it was my mother’s sauerkraut that had me believing I didn’t like the stuff at all. She made incredibly strong kraut, and it was many, many years before I tasted any other and found it… okay. LOL Then one evening, while we were hosting a home schooling historical pot luck set in a pioneer theme, one of the families brought a fresh jar of sauerkraut. Fresh as in, just made that day and no fermentation. I was surprised by how good it tasted.
Cabbage, however, was one of those things I just didn’t tend to buy. In fact, it wasn’t until we moved here that we started to pick it up regularly.
I have an old friend from high school that has shared on social media about the sauerkraut she has been making, and with all the food preservation stuff I’ve been getting more and more into, I found myself wanting to try my hand at it. I did some research and found that it is incredibly basic – but it didn’t sound like what she was making. So I messaged her and got her recipe. It’s more like fermented vegetables, with added probiotics, than sauerkraut.
I decided to do both.
This post will be on the basic sauerkraut I made first.
Here are the ingredients.
Continue readingWe’re back to making Meeeeeead, Baby!
We are actually a bit late on this. After 10 days in the fermentation bucket, when we should have started sanitizing things and transferring the must to the carboy, we were instead dealing with hot water tank problems.
Pretty sure it’ll be fine. ;-)
Continue readingThis is what the must looked like this morning, before I did the first stir of the day.
Bubbly bubbly!
I love me some CO2 action!
At the time of this writing, we’ve done the second stir of the day. The instructions we are using as a guide said to stir it twice a day in the first 48 hours, so this was the last one. We now leave it, loosely covered and untouched, for the remainder of 10 days. After that, we siphon it off into the carboy, leaving behind any sediment, set up the airlock, then tuck it away into the basement for a minimum of 4 weeks. After this second fermentation, it should be ready to bottle.
We will, of course, have to taste it first, and see if we’ve got mead. :-)
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 