My fermentation station is starting to take shape. At present, I have going: kombucha, garlic-honey, Sriracha mimic hot sauce, and Tepache. I bought some raw soy beans today to start a miso for the next year and to see what “fresh” tamari really tastes like. Then I remembered all of my fermentation jars are taken and my mason jars are running on short supply. Next weekend, the start of miso as I figure out where to find some more non-reactive jars/pottery. The fun part for me is that this are all experiments and I don’t know how they will turn out. Even better, the investment is in waiting time and not money or active time. For example, we bought a pineapple for dessert the other day. I took the peels with some ginger that needed to get used and mixed it with a cup of sugar and enough water to fill the vessel. If it turns black and nasty, I wasted a cup of sugar. The mock Sriracha is just a bag of Fresno chilies with a few cloves of garlic small bit of sugar and salt. Again, if it is nasty, I am out about $5 worth of chilies. Kombucha is the only thing that I am really excited about and have talked about it previously. I really like kombucha in the morning and think it sets me up for the day. I am growing to like mine more than the commercial varieties, though I have only made one batch and a second on the way. Happy fermenting all. If anyone has some suggestions about what I should try next, please send them along.
As a side note, my successful cured salmon has led me to try to make duck prosciutto over the next few weeks. A bit bigger investment than other experiments but $15 for a duck and $2 for salt, have cheese clothe and twine lying around. So at worst I am out $20 for an experiment. If it works, I had a ton of fun and didn’t get sucked into spending $35 for one breast at the farmers’ market.
As a second side note, I am pretty proud of the back splash in my kitchen that I put in when we moved in.
Working Dad Cooks 