Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Everything tastes better fermented!

It was an act of desperation. This family just isn't fond of turnips, or of large radishes. But throwing food away that was lovingly grown by our friendly farmers, right in our town? Not going to happen. Fermentation to the rescue!

I largely followed this blog post - except I used a mix of watermelon radish and a red-skinned salad turnip. It couldn't be much simpler. Prepare the brine (I was in a hurry and didn't let it cool down very much), scrub and slice the root vegetables, and pack alternating with brine, so as not to form air bubbles. All the radish and turnip have to stay submerged, which is key for a safe fermentation. For this, I really liked her way of weighing things down under the brine:


Very crafty! I covered this setup with a clean dish towel, folded into 2 layers, just to keep whatever flies around in my kitchen out of the jar. After 5 days of letting this contraption sit on the kitchen countertop, I went in for a taste test and - WIN! The radishes had turned mild, pleasantly salty and slightly sweet. Now they will definitely get eaten!

Manic Mother http://frugallysustainable.com/2013/11/frugal-days-sustainable-ways-97 The Self Sufficient HomeAcre

2 comments:

  1. I am just getting into fermenting too, for health. Come link up your article at From The Farm Blog Hop which is live every Friday!
    http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/from-the-farm-blog-hop-is-live-and-a-diy-pendant-tutorial/
    -Leona from www.myhealthygreenfamily.com
    From The Farm Co-Host

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  2. I have not yet tried pickling turnips, but we've fermented other thins. We had them pureed last night and really enjoyed them that way. Thanks for sharing this with us at the HomeAcre Hop. We'd love to have you back again tomorrow.

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