Lacto fermentation galore

Last 6 months have been a crazy whirlwind in my life. I got juried into me first ever and a very prestigious art show- the Phippen Museum Western Art Show in Prescott, AZ at the beginning of this year and as a result the next 5 months were spent getting ready for the show and making more and more art locked up in my studio. Getting all the other necessities like business cards, tent, text banners, making prints, and did I mention... mostly making paintings...I was also taking part in the QuickDraw event at the show where all artists have to, each, finish a painting in an hour which will then be auctioned off in front of thousands of spectators. Yikes, no pressure there at all... I had anxious nights and crazy dreams of not being able to finish my painting in time!!!

It all got done. I did my art show, sold some paintings, did the QuickDraw (painted my husband from life)!

BUT...

I didn't take care much of my health, exercise and food in the months before. As a result of not getting any sun (serious lack of Vitamin D) and the above I lost a lot of weight (which I didn't have much to lost to begin with), my teeth started hurting, getting cavities and soon as the show was over I actually had to get a wisdom tooth pulled out.
But that was not all after getting it yanked... I got a fever and pain. It has been 5 days now going through that and the fever has finally gone but the pain and lack of energy still remains.
So, the most important thing I need to do for myself now is great lots of sun, way lots of good food and pickles...
So I have gone lacto-fermentation-wild.
Here I have sauerkraut, carrots, beets, cauliflower, dikon, cucumbers, asparagus, phew. All in a day's feverish frenzy!!!

Pretty much the same procedure and recipe as my asparagus pickles with variations of spices and flavorings.

For example, Here is the making of the dikon pickles... 

Dikon slivers, slit fresh chilis, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 Tsp ground mustard seeds 1 Tsp coriander seeds and a couple Tablesppons or so or a previous pickled vegetable packed in a half gallon mason jar and then filled with brine. Used the same glass weights and lids from the asparagus pickle recipe.

ALTHOUGH I FOUND THESE LIDS THAT I LIKE BETTER... they have an easy grip  that lets me open the lids easier and the vent sits higher then the last ones so that the liquids have less of a chance of oozing out when I suction the oxygen out of the jars with the provided pump.

Here is the cucumber pickles in the making... Try to find fresh dill. oh so good but you can get by without it :)

Asparagus

Here again in the lineup are....

CUCUMBER

DIKON

ASPARAGUS

CAULIFLOWER

SAUERKRAUT with cabbage, beet tops, ginger and kelp

CARROTS AND BEETS

Here's to good health, pickles and sunshine...

No non-sense Lacto-fermented Asparagus Pickles

In the last few months I have made and consumed, certainly, a few gallons of Asparagus Pickles. Asparagus is a pre-biotic food to begin with, meaning that it feeds the good bacteria in your guts and so making pickles with it seems to be doubly beneficial. I certainly notice a difference when I eat asparagus pickles compared to any other pickles.
Since I am on an pickle kick, it's a good time to add the recipe to the long forgotten blog!







I add the juice of an old batch of pickles to the next pickle to ensure the establishment of the good bacteria and hopefully preventing your pickle jar from getting attacked my molds. if you do not have juice from your previous pickle/sauerkraut, then you use the whey from yogurt. Strain your yogurt and use the whey (the water that runs out) instead of the old pickle juice. In the absence of either, just use more salt, as indicated in the recipe, to prevent bad bacteria and molds from growing.

I have  noticed that 2 average bundles of asparagus, as found in the US markets sufficiently fills my 1/2  gallon mason jars. these have a wide mouth and for these jars I use these glass weight to put on top of the vegetables so they  don't come floating to the top of the brine. you want your vegetables to be submerged in the brine so that they don't attract mold s and are happily underwater in the sea of brine.


Amazon.com link for the Fermentation Weights


I close the lid with these special fermentation lids that only allow the air from inside (the CO2 produced during fermentation) to escape out but do not let the fresh oxygen to reach inside which may lead to molds growing. Though I have also made the pickles with a cloth cover tied around the mouth of the jar. Go figure and experiment!


Amazon.com link for the Fermentation Lids

No non-sense Lacto-Fermented Aaparagus Pickles

2 bundles of fresh Asparagus

Brine (2 Tbsp. salt dissolved in 1 quart / 1litre of water. 3 Tbsp. salt if not using old pickle juice/whey)

pickling spiced of your choice (fresh garlic, jalapeños, coriander seeds, whole black pepper, bay leaves, fresh dill) whatever is accessible and available, or none if you want them just plain

one half gallon mason jar washed in hot soapy water (or any other odd jar you might have.

a weight that would keep your vegetables submerged

a lid or just a cloth to tie around the mouth of the jar

around 1 cup old pickle juice or whey

You can scale your recipe depending on how much you want to make, of course.







Add, if using, your choice of picking spices at the bottom of your jar.
















Trim off the bottom hard woody parts of your asparagus shoots, and pack them as tightly as you can in your jar. making sure to leave a couple inches of space above in the jar. break of the tall asparagus stems if you need to and stuff these on the sides to ensure enough space on top.













Now add about a cup of your old left over pickle juice, if you have it, or whey to the jar. If not make your brine with a higher percentage of salt as described above.
Put your fermentation weight above the asparagus and just fill your jar with brine. Make sure that the brine goes above your weight and all the vegetables are submerged and below the brine. You may have to mix some more brine if you don't have enough.

Put the lid on the jar and leave them on your kitchen to ferment for 3 days or so, depending on the weather. Taste and see if they have started to sour in 3 days. Put them in the fried if done. They will continue to sour outside the fridge as long as you want.








When the pickles are done the brine will be milkier and they will smell sour-ish. if they smell rotten then certainly something went wrong, but if your vegetables are under the brine the whole time and the brine is salty enough it should all go well. Sometimes it takes time to get used to the characteristic smell of the lacto-fermented pickles. You may see while specks of mold floating on top. Usually you can just fish them out and it will be all ok.

These lacto-fermented pickles (called so because of the lactic acid bacteria, like lactobacillus) are packed with  "good-guys" good for, ah, so much.  Good for detoxing, digestion, repairing your guts, absorbing and assimilating food. The list goes on and on.... There is a huge imbalance of good and bad bacteria in our guts today and so all the more important to add fermented foods to your diet. And what a fummy way to do it! Enjoy!