lipbalms for angie and marcus

cultured veg class at wholefood organics

yeah!

the class was great fun, and super value ($15 for two hours including all ingredients). we brought home three jars of yummy kraut-to-be: on the left is red cabbage-apple-zucchini; in the middle is carrot-cabbage-beetroot-garlic; and on the right is red cabbage-kumera-apple-rosemary. we used grainfields liquid as a starter, but as yet i'm not convinced that it's any better than using kefir whey.

so my pretties are busy fermenting in the cupboard, and i have no idea how to accommodate them in the fridge... i guess i'll just have to eat them all pronto :)

UPDATE: 4/9/10 - i'm finding that i'm not super into the kraut cultures with the grainfields liquid; maybe i used too much? i'm finding the flavour of these krauts a bit OTT, and will definitely return to culturing exclusively with kefir whey.

update: sauerkraut

yum. this stuff is 2 weeks old now, and lives in the fridge. very nice as an accompaniment to any european or middle eastern food.

fermented: ginger beer 1

this is my first attempt at tibicos (water/sugar kefir) ginger beer. it turned out really nice, tasty and sweet, though the sweetness doesn't last- it just makes the drink pleasant :)

here are the tibicos and other ingredients (ginger, raisins, lemon) after straining. i'm a bit concerned that i didn't dissolve the sugar enough (i used unrefined palm sugar) and the very gentle agitation and undissolved sugar is going to hurt the tibi grains... will see how it all goes with future batches.

fermented: beetroot and cabbage sauerkraut

grating and mixing

oh so yummy (how did any make it in to the bowl at all?)

all the ingredients getting cosy.

they're stinking up the cupboard at the moment, and i found that the best way to keep the veg under the level of the juice (which i read somewhere is important to protect your veg from growing mould). it'll be a week on tuesday, and i'm looking forward to trying some! check out the recipe here :)

i'm also eagerly anticipating the cultured vegetables class at the wholefood organics store in a couple of weeks!