My Partner in Fermentation and I have embarked on yet another sauerkraut adventure. After trying it with too much salt, too little salt, not enough packing down of the shredded cabbage, and letting it ferment in a place that we now know was too warm, we may have gotten all the variables to line up in our favor.
It’s been three days, during which time Rosh Hashana came and went, and I just opened one of the two quart jars. It had been sitting in my bedroom, the one place in the apartment that’s consistently 70 to 72 degrees — the preferred temp for those lactobacilli that make it all happen. The cabbage looked well covered in liquid, thanks to the innovation of pounding it with the salt before packing it into jars. The opening of the metal cap was accompanied by a slight slurp and a few bubbles. Then more bubbles. Then more, percolating up to the surface so fast I speed walked it to the kitchen sink, visions of shaken up seltzer bottles sputtering before me.
This was a good sign. Continue reading
Weeds. They spring up in sidewalk cracks, between rows of your favorite garden veggie, and everywhere else they’re not wanted. But as more and more gardeners know and I’m realizing little by little, they’re not all bad. A recent epiphany came from a line on my CSA’s blackboard in the pick-your-own list:
Sitting in a wooden cabin with rain falling outside, we didn’t feel much like making sparks on the Fourth. On top of that, the closest our little group got to discussing patriotism this past weekend was when we noted our lack of it on our trips abroad. One of us found it hard to argue when Dominicans questioned our invasion of whatever countries came in handy after September 11th, and another reminisced about Brazilians offering to come monitor our frequently botched elections.
You Are Delicious 