Apricot chutney
FOODS YOU CAN EASILY MAKE AT HOME |
14 |
PEOPLE HAVE LOST THE ART OF preparing, cooking and value-adding to the fruits and vegetables they produce at home. It all seems too complicated as people prefer not to cook their produce and would rather eat takeaways or just open a packet and microwave it.
Furthermore, when we are stressed (physically or emotionally) we tend to eat “comfort” foods; those typically high in sugar to provide immediate energy. Comfort foods include pastries, pies, cakes, pasta and so on. You can eat these in moderation.
Besides, processing removes fiber and many vitamins and minerals, so raw and minimally-cooked foods are best. No wonder people have real trouble about food — they don’t know how to grow it, how to use it, how to store it and how to change it. How do we encourage people to reassess their food habits?
The criteria for the following recipes are that they are easy to follow and the products scrumptious to eat. Not all of the ingredients you will use are homegrown, but certainly some can be.
» NOTE: CONVENTION USED IN THIS BOOK
Teaspoon = tsp
Tablespoon = tbsp
Tasmanian cookbook author Sally Wise was instrumental in helping me put this list together, and the following are small variations of her tried and tested recipes. So here are Sally’s top ten (not in the usual cookbook order you might expect, but simply listed alphabetically).
This is much fruitier than traditional chutneys, which often contain a higher proportion of lemon juice, vinegar and spices that make the garnish a little tart.
3 lb apricots (or peaches or mangoes)
1 lb chopped onions
2 cups vinegar
1.5 lb raw sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp curry powder
1. Chop fruit up. Combine all ingredients in large pot, stirring until sugar dissolves. Gently boil for 1 hour until chutney is thick.
2. Bottle and seal immediately. Store in cool dark cupboard.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Chutneys are made when the ingredients are finer and cooked for a long time (several hours), while relishes are chunkier and cooked for a shorter time. Sauces are finer still (put relish or chutney through a food processor and strain). Most of the sauces and chutneys can be changed to suit your needs, and you can make your own “signature” products. Pickles are produced when foods are preserved in brine (salt solution) or vinegar.
Apricot chutney
Apricots are low in fat and cholesterol, high in fiber, a good source of vitamins A and C, but are also high in sugars and have a relatively low amount of most vitamins and minerals (<5% of daily allowances).
1 egg
¾ cup raw sugar
1½ cups flour
2¼ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
½ cup milk
1 lemon
2 oz butter
1.5 lb apricot halves (or use peaches or pears)
Topping: 1 oz butter, 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 3 tsp castor sugar
Apricot tea cake
1. Preheat oven to 320°F (convection oven), grease a 8 in cake tin and line base with parchment paper.
2. Whisk egg with sugar until creamy. Add flour, baking powder, salt, milk, zest and juice of the lemon, and melted butter, and blend together until smooth. Pour into cake tin.
3. Arrange apricot halves on top of mixture. Place in oven and bake for 30–40 minutes.
4. Test with skewer to ensure cooked. Leave in tin for further 10 minutes before turning out onto rack. Brush top with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and caster sugar.
Eat cake within a day or two — it doesn’t keep well.
» DID YOU KNOW?
This recipe uses natural butter. Many brands of margarine contain trans fats, which contribute to cardiovascular disease, excessive “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and plaque build-up on artery walls. Better to use butter, which contains a good balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats, fatty acids, and vitamins and minerals for good health. Note: not all cholesterol is “bad”. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) causes fat build-up on artery walls but high density lipoprotein (HDL) reduces this plaque and is important for good cell and body function.
Suitable for most berry fruit, such as raspberry, blueberry and boysenberry (even frozen). Can be made in less than 30 minutes, and frozen to make icy popsicles.
6 lb berry fruit (blackcurrants, raspberries, boysenberries, redcurrants, mulberries)
10 cups water
8 cups raw sugar (see method point 2)
1 heaped tsp tartaric acid (double for strawberries, blackberries, boysen-berries, redcurrants)
1. Place fruit and water in large pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain to remove pulp. (The pulp can be used for sweets.)
2. Add approximately 1 cup of sugar for every 1 cup of resulting juice in a clean pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 2 minutes. If you have less sugar the cordial will perish and not keep well.
3. Add tartaric acid and blend well. Pour into sterilized bottles and seal immediately.
As a cordial, usually use 1 part cordial to 5 parts water. As a syrup, use undiluted over ice cream or other sweets. Refrigerate after opening.
» DID YOU KNOW?
We should try to avoid concentrated fruit juices, such as orange, apple and pineapple. These tend to have no fiber and lots of sugars, which are easily converted to fats in our body. Excessive sugars contribute to diabetes and other diseases. While we do need to use fair amounts of sugar to make cordial and jam, drink and eat these in moderation.
Berry cordial
Made from good quality (premium) ground beef. Don’t buy the very low fat type as you need some fat to keep the meat moist. Add breadcrumbs and an egg to bind the meat.
You can make hamburgers, meat loaf, spaghetti and meatballs, pasties, and if you add some ground sausage then sausage rolls.
The general mix is 1 egg and 1 medium onion for every pound of meat. You can also add 1 tsp celery (or other) salt and 1 crushed garlic clove. Add ½ cup breadcrumbs and hand mix thoroughly. Break into palm-sized (tablespoon) portions. Roll flat to make hamburgers or into balls to make meatballs.
Meat patties
From start to finish it’s about 20 minutes. Raspberries are very high in fiber and vitamin C and good source of vitamin K and manganese, but also high in sugars (calorie-dense). Overall, reasonably nutritious and filling.
Jams tend to have an even consistency, while “conserves” typically have evidence of some chunky fruit pieces. Other jams are discussed in the next section.
3 lb raspberries
¼ cup water
Juice of 1 lemon
3 lb raw sugar
1. Place raspberries, water and lemon juice in a large pot. Heat and gently boil for 10 minutes.
2. Add sugar, stirring continuously and boil for another 10 minutes.
3. Stand for 10 minutes and pour into sterilized jars.
Note: to sterilize your jars, wash thoroughly, dry and place into oven at 225°F for 20 minutes. Turn oven off and allow to cool enough for handling. Place any jams, chutneys and relishes into the warm jars. Screw the lids on. You will find that as the mixture cools it creates a small vacuum to seal properly, although current recommendations suggest processing in a boiling-water canner.
Raspberry jam
» DID YOU KNOW?
Some fruits, such as citrus, quince and cranberries, have high levels of pectin and set easily. Adding lemon juice in jams helps extract the pectin in fruit, whilst also making it a bit tangy.
Raspberries only have medium pectin levels, so if your jam doesn’t set too well, you can boil down to make thicker or add a commercial product.
You can use all spelt flour in this recipe if you prefer — it will result in slightly coarser textured bread. The bread is delicious fresh as well as toasted, and spread with butter and honey. While this is a fermented food, it is discussed in this section as one of Sally’s top ten.
2 cups organic spelt flour
2 cups organic plain flour
4 tsp dried yeast
3 tsp raw sugar (or 2 tsp honey)
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp light olive oil (or similar vegetable oil)
1–2 cups warm water
Spelt bread
1. In a large bowl, mix the spelt, plain flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil and almost all the water and mix to a soft dough. (You may only need about ¾ cup of water.)
2. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for about 1 hour or until approximately doubled in size. At this stage you can take the dough to the following step, or just turn it over with a spoon and let it rise again.
3. When ready, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Shape into 2 equal sized balls and place side by side in the tin. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise almost to the top of the tin.
4. Bake at 400°F for 40–45 minutes until well-risen and golden, and when the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with the knuckles. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Spelt flour is made from the spelt grain Triticum spelta, a relative to common wheat Triticum sativum. It does have less gluten and more protein than wheat, but is a lower-yielding crop with tough husks around the seed that makes it more difficult to harvest. Some people classify spelt as a subspecies of wheat because in many ways they are so similar.
So easy to make and a great addition of flavor to lots of dishes.
0.5 lb large red chilies
3½ cups sugar
3 cups vinegar (white or cider)
1 tbsp grated green ginger
10 garlic cloves (crushed and mashed)
1 tsp salt
Sweet chili sauce
1. Place all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Allow to stand for 30 minutes and pour into sterilized jars.
This is a more savory dish.
2 lb tomatoes
2 onions
1 red chili
1 red pepper
1 tbsp salt
1½ cups raw sugar
1½ cups cider vinegar
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp tapioca starch
Tomato relish
1. Chop tomatoes, chili, onions and pepper into ½ in square pieces, and place in large bowl. Mix salt in and allow to stand for 2 hours.
2. Drain all liquid off. Put mixture into saucepan, add sugar, vinegar, mustard and turmeric and bring to boil. Cook for 30 minutes.
3. Mix the tapioca starch with a little bit of (extra) vinegar to make a paste. Add to the mixture and stir thoroughly. Boil for another 3 minutes (no more or mixture will stick to the pan). Spoon into sterilized jars.
Pickles are preserved foods, typically in brine (salt) solution or vinegar. Spices can be added. Normally soak vegetables for a few days in solution, cover with a cloth. Pour off and then refill, and leave for a few days more. Pour off solution and refill one more time and cap.
2 lb zucchini
1 red pepper
2 onions
½ cup salt
2 cups raw sugar
2 tsp mustard seeds (powder will do)
3 cups vinegar (white or cider)
Options: 1 tsp dried chili flakes, curry powder or 1 bay leaf
1. Cut zucchini, pepper and onions into thick slices (½ in), and place these in a large bowl. Add salt and enough water to cover. Mix to dissolve salt. Leave to stand for the day or overnight and then drain.
2. Combine sugar, vinegar, mustard (and optional chili, curry or bay leaf) in a saucepan and continuously stir as you bring to the boil. Add drained vegetables, bring back to the boil and then remove from heat.
3. Spoon into sterilized jars and seal. Store for at least one week to enable vinegar and flavors to penetrate vegetables before you taste. Will store well if kept in a cool, dark place.
Pickled zucchini slices
Zucchini is underrated and does contain high level of vitamin C as well as a fair range of vitamins and minerals (up to 10% of daily allowances). While zucchini has very little fat and cholesterol, it still does have reasonably high carbohydrate content from sugars.
5 eggs
14 oz grated zucchini
1 onion, chopped
6 oz bacon
½ cup chopped semi-dried tomatoes (option: grated carrot or pumpkin)
1 cup grated cheese
⅓ cup diced basil leaves
1 tbsp chopped parsley
¾ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup light olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a baking tray.
2. Whisk eggs in a large bowl and add all other ingredients. Pour into tray and bake for 30 minutes (or until slice is firm).
3. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting into squares.
Zucchini slice
I will admit it. These are my favorites, but, in my defense, they are both easy to make (because I can!) and are nutritious.
While this specifies figs, almost all other fruits utilize the same recipe. You could experiment with less sugar and add lime juice, or add two different fruits together.
2 lb figs
2 lb sugar
Water
Juice of 1 lemon
Fig jam
1. Chop figs into slices. Place in pot and just cover with water. Add sugar, heat and stir to dissolve.
2. You will need to stir every now and again to prevent burning of the mixture on the bottom of the pan.
A simple change to make ordinary salt extraordinary. You can add 1 tsp of garlic powder (or any other herb powders) to every 10 tsp salt to flavor it.
Garlic salt
Great sweet filler for tarts, lemon meringue pies, with ice cream, spread on toast and the list goes on. This recipe makes about 1½ cups of curd, which is also known as lemon butter.
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
¼ cup lemon juice (one large lemon)
1 tbsp grated lemon zest (from same lemon)
½ cup butter in finely chopped pieces
1. Place eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a saucepan.
2. Heat gently and whisk continuously.
3. Whisk until curd becomes thick. Do not boil curd. Remove from heat and leave to cool. It should thicken further.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Sugar is used in almost every jam recipe. It is not so much that sugar makes the jam sweeter (it does) but it acts as a preservative and prevents microorganisms from growing (they can’t survive in high sugar as their bodies lose water and die).
Sugar, along with a little acid, also provides the right medium to enable pectin (a polysaccharide like starch and cellulose) to change into a gel form. If you make a jam with little or no sugar, it will be runny and you need to keep it in the refrigerator and use it within a few weeks.
A good-producing lemon tree will yield far too many lemons for a family to use or give away. Some lemons can be stored in a couple of practical ways.
Firstly, you can freeze them. But this does damage the tissue and when they are thawed out they don’t look that great. They often expand and split during the freezing process, enabling juice to be lost.
Secondly, you can cut the lemons in slices and then dry in a dehydrator. Once dried, the slices can be stored in dark jars or paper bags until needed. They seem to keep the flavor well and when added to dishes the lemon flavor is evident.
Finally, the next step is to put the dried slices into a blender and grind into powder. Make sure you remove the seeds first! The lemon powder keeps well, as long as it is kept dry.
2 lb quince (4–5 large)
2 lb sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
6 cups water
1. Peel quinces or rub to remove hairy skin off fruit. Slice and place in a saucepan. Add lemon juice, water and about half the sugar.
2. Bring to boil and simmer for up to 1 hour. Strain through colander but collect juice. The pulp should have pink tinge, and is eaten as a sweet. The liquid can then be used to make jelly.
3. Put the liquid in a pot back on stove, add remaining sugar and stir while bringing to boil.
Gently boil down until setting point is reached. This is determined by placing a drop or two on a cold plate and seeing if it sets like jelly. When this occurs it is ready.
4. Pour into a shallow plastic tray or ice cube tray, so you can easily cut or remove pieces when required.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Quince trees are unusual. They belong to the apple and pear family of plants, but the fruit are too woody to eat raw. They do need cooking to soften the flesh and make palatable.
This section is not a substitute for a good cookbook, and while I have tried to provide recipes for healthy food, there are ingredients that some would argue aren’t that healthy.
Generally, high amounts of sugar (carbohydrates) are not good for our health, and most people know that low-carb fruit and vegetables are much better for human health.
Furthermore, overcooking destroys lots of the goodness and nutrition, so raw foods are better for this. A lot of the ingredients are gluten-free but many are not. You can easily source gluten-free flour and other gluten-free ingredients if you need them.
I remember reading somewhere that “you can’t exercise your way out of poor nutrition,” so clearly eating better quality food is important, but it may not solve your health problems.
It is all about balance and moderation, and that applies to all aspects of life.
Fermented foods are becoming more popular as more and more people grow some of their food and people want to make more connections (and reconnections) to their food. The next obvious step is to preserve some of their excess produce, and fermenting foods is just one way this can happen. However, many people are cautious at the thought of eating or drinking fermented foods. Concerns about botulism, poisoning, fungi and molds, and pathogenic bacteria are largely unwarranted. If you make a fermented product and it doesn’t look right or smell right, you instinctively know to throw it away.
Almost everyone eats fermented foods every day or so as they include cheese, beer (and ciders, sparkling fruit drinks, ginger beer), black tea, soy sauce, yogurt and vinegar.
Then there are the more obscure or less common products, such as sauerkraut (and many other fermented vegetables), sourdough, miso, kefir grains, tempeh and kombucha.
Fermentation is basically anaerobic digestion by primarily bacteria and fungi (including yeasts), so excluding air is essential for the process to occur. When microorganisms feed on the sugars in the foods they digest, alcohol, acetic acid (vinegar) and lactic acid (think sour milk) are produced and all of these substances inhibit the growth and action of other (harmful) microorganisms. The fermented food becomes preserved food.
However, fermented food doesn’t last forever, and most products are usually stable for a week or two, and occasionally longer, depending on the pH, salinity and temperature of the fermented food. You need to look, smell and taste as you go along this path, and keep in mind that fermented foods should be seen as just one part of our dietary mix.
Some cultures can work at room temperature, but many require temperatures around or slightly higher than that of our own body temperature (so many cultures thrive between 98 and 113°F), so it is crucial that somehow you maintain a reasonably constant temperature during the fermentation process. You can do this by using a water bath, large thermostat-controlled pot or urn, a haybox cooker, thermos flask or something to keep your culture warm.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Probiotics is a term that describes the useful live microorganisms that we ingest to provide us with some health benefit.
Our gut contains millions of living microorganisms already — many essential to help us digest foods so that these can be assimilated into our bodies — but sometimes the microbial activity in our digestive system is out of balance. By eating what is essentially a live culture, microbial feed supplement, some benefits to particular health problems such as diarrhea, gingivitis and gastritis seem to occur.
The scientific research into specific strains of microorganisms and their effect on our health is ongoing.
You also need to obtain a milk or beverage thermometer (not mercury or alcohol types), preferably digital but analog types tend to be cheaper.
A selection of different sizes, with seals, will make your job a lot easier. Mason and Kilner jars (wide mouth, with screw lids), storage jars (clip top with rubber seal) and swing-top bottles (with rubber Grolsch seal) are all required to preserve your products.
Obtain a selection of bottles and jars.
Every fermented product requires a specific microorganism culture. You have a choice with cultures: either obtain a known (mostly bought) culture or let nature take its course (a “wild ferment”) where a variety of bacteria and yeasts in the air inoculate the mix.
Cheesecloth, muslin, balance or scales. Bucket chemistry is alright some of the time, but proper ratios of ingredients ensure better results. Muslin and cheesecloth are both fine cotton cloths (but do come in various mesh sizes), but any fine woven cotton material will work — even a tea towel.
The three rules for success of any fermented food are: 1. cleanliness, 2. cleanliness and 3. cleanliness. I think you get the point.
Here are some common, well-tried, easy-to-make fermented foods, listed alphabetically.
Cheese is usually made from milk and you can use any animal milk, such as that from cows, goats and sheep. Soft cheeses are easy to make; hard cheeses are a little more complicated.
4 cups milk
2 tbsp vinegar (or lemon juice or 1 tbsp rennet will do)
Option: pinch of salt
1. Heat milk to about 100°F (or 175°F if you are using raw or unpasteurized milk) in a saucepan, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon so the milk doesn’t scald.
2. Add the vinegar and mix thoroughly. This will turn the milk into curds (solid part) and whey (liquid part).
3. Allow to cool to room temperature and then pour the mixture through a muslin cloth. Squeeze the cloth to remove all whey. I sometimes add another tbsp of vinegar to the whey because you usually get another small amount of curds that you can filter out.
4. Scrape all curds into a bowl. Add salt and gently blend in.
5. Place in a refrigerator. Eat within 3 days, after which it tastes tangy and is better suited for recipes that require cheese in cooking.
6. To make into a block of cheese, wrap the cheese in a piece of muslin or cheesecloth, place in a shallow dish and then add a weight on top to flatten (another dish, a block of wood). You need a shallow dish to contain the small amounts of whey that continue to be squeezed out. Leave in refrigerator for a day, unwrap and cut into cubes.
7. Don’t expect a large amount of cheese from 4 cups of milk. About 2.5–3 gal of milk are required to make about 2 lb of cheese, so 4 cups makes less than 4 oz.
Hanging cheese in a refrigerator
2 lb plain yogurt (must contain live cultures)
½ tsp salt
Flavoring: ½ tsp of either finely-chopped rosemary or basil leaves or lemon zest or ground black pepper
1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Spoon mix into a double layer of muslin or cheesecloth. Tie into a ball with string and suspend in a large bowl in the refrigerator or a very cool place for 2 days. The whey should drip out into the bowl and can be used elsewhere or discarded.
3. Remove the solids and roll to small balls, so these can be eaten as required, although in many cases the cheese is similar in consistency to cream cheese.
4. If kept in a refrigerator, the cheese balls should last a couple of weeks.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Milk is made up of a protein part, which separates into “curds,” and a watery part, which is the “whey.” The whey contains water-soluble minerals, lactose, proteins and many beneficial microorganisms that can be used to “seed” other cultures when fermenting vegetables and beverages.
Most of the proteins in milk are known as casein proteins. Curds form when lactic acid causes the casein proteins to coagulate (curdle) together.
The difference between making a soft cheese compared to a hard cheese is that you add a proper culture to make the flavor you want and you need a cheese press to really compress the curds. Because hard cheeses are left to “mature” for some time, it is also important to ensure all containers and implements are sterilized — usually by boiling in water for 5 to 10 minutes.
4 cups milk
½ tsp salt
Cheese culture (mesophilic — room temperature variety)
Rennet or vinegar
1. Gently heat milk in a pot (or water bath) to 85°F.
2. Add the bacteria culture, stir in and try to maintain the warm temperature for about 30 minutes. Monitor your thermometer as overheating will kill the culture.
3. Turn off the heat and allow the curds to coagulate (clump together). Cut the curds into small chunks.
4. Now reheat the curds and maintain a temperature of about 75–100°F for another 30 minutes. Reheating the curds forces more whey out.
5. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Strain the curds through muslin, sprinkle the salt on and gently blend together.
6. Scrape the curds into a container that has a small hole or two on the bottom (this allows whey to drain away). Place the container into your press, add weights and leave for an hour or so.
7. Remove weights, open up press, gently flip cheese over and re-install press and weights. Keep pressed overnight.
8. Next day, unwrap cheese and keep in a cupboard or pantry to keep dust off and so on. You could turn every second day. As it matures the taste changes. Different types of cheese require different maturation times. After a few weeks try a piece to see if that’s the taste you like. Some cheese surfaces are sealed by melted wax, so molds don’t grow on them.
Rennet is a mixture of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant animals such as cows, sheep and goats. These enzymes act on the proteins (casein) in milk and cause it to curdle (to become the curds).
Normally you need to use the specific rennet from an animal to work on their milk, so calf rennet works best on cow’s milk.
There are also vegetable rennets, and these are derived from particular molds and extracts from plants such as figs, capers and thistles. Acids such as citric acid (lemon juice) and acetic acid (vinegar) will also curdle milk if you cannot obtain a suitable rennet.
Apple juice can be fermented and made into cider, a slightly alcoholic drink with a sour taste. As always cleanliness and sterilizing bottles, equipment and buckets is essential.
20 lb apples
1 package wine or ale yeast
Sugar
1. Compress diced apples by squashing or blending to extract juice. Use a press if you have or can make one. Add the juice into a large bowl or bucket. You will need a lot of apples to make a few cups of juice. 1 gallon is enough.
2. Add yeast powder and mix thoroughly. (You may like to try with a wild ferment — just letting the natural yeasts in the air start the process, but the results tend to be unpredictable.) You don’t need to add any additional sugar at this stage as most fruits have high sugar content already. Sugar is digested by the yeasts and makes carbon dioxide gas for the fizz. It also makes alcohol, so the more sugar you put in the higher the alcohol content of your cider.
3. Cover with cheesecloth or a cotton cloth and leave to ferment for a week or so. Taste the cider. The longer it ferments the more sour it gets so stop the process when you like the taste. Ideally, yeasts work in anaerobic conditions so you could transfer the brew into a flagon or demijohn and insert a fermentation lock (water trap) to allow carbon dioxide to escape but prevent oxygen in the air from entering. Usually after a couple of weeks the yeasts die off and the cider clears.
4. You can now bottle the cider. Decant the clear fluid and try to leave the sediment behind. Even so, filter the juice through muslin and pour into bottles that can be capped. Use bottles made for sparkling wines or PET bottles would suffice.
5. To each bottle add 1tsp sugar. This will re-activate enough yeast to make carbon dioxide to make the drink fizz when you open it.
6. Keep the bottles in a warm place for at least 3 days so that the yeast can ferment the sugar. After this time you can place in the refrigerator or a cool place for storage.
7. Be mindful that when you open the bottle, gas will rush out and there will inevitably be some sediment on the bottom.
Buy or make your own cider press.
A fermentation lock prevents air from entering.
This is the basis of dishes such as sauerkraut and kimchee (both based on cabbage) but any combination of vegetables will work. Cabbage leaves and root crops seem to work well.
1 cabbage (or other leafy brassica)
1 beetroot or large carrot (Koreans add radish and hot peppers for kimchee)
1 tbsp salt (general rule of thumb is 2 tsp salt for every 1 lb of vegetables)
Spices to suit — to add flavor, e.g. lemon zest, sliced ginger or garlic, and fennel or dill seeds
Option: 1 tbsp whey
1. Dice all vegetables. Sprinkle salt over them. At this point you could leave in the bowl for a couple of hours as water is drawn out of the vegetables, and this sometimes makes packing into jars easier.
2. Push them tightly into a glass jar, with the help of a wooden spoon. The salty brine solution, made from the juice of the crushed vegetables, should cover the vegetable mix. You might need to add a little extra water to ensure the vegetables are completely covered. Adding whey (optional) often kick-starts the ferment.
3. Place a lid and weight inside the jar to keep the vegetables below the juice.
4. Cover the jar with a cloth to prevent insects from entering.
5. Leave the ferment for a day or two and then check. It should start to taste tangy and sour. Leave for a few more days if you want it to become more sour.
6. Store in refrigerator. Use over a few weeks.
Sauerkraut in a clip-top storage jar
This is easy to make, but you need to make a “ginger plant” first, and culture this over a week.
Ginger — to make 5–7 tsp full of grated ginger
Sugar — similar volume
Option: ½ tsp of dried yeast
(More sugar and water later)
1. Place 1 cup of warm water (100°F maximum) in a glass jar.
2. Add 1 tsp of grated ginger and 1 tsp of sugar and stir to dissolve sugar. You can add the dried yeast at this point but the ferment will work with wild yeasts from the air.
3. Cover with a cheesecloth and place jar on a windowsill, so that it stays warm.
4. Every day for a week (5 days minimum), add 1 tsp grated ginger and 1 tsp sugar.
5. After a few days you should notice foaming and bubbles. After one week strain the “ginger plant” through several layers of cheesecloth over a bowl and collect the resulting liquid.
6. To make the ginger beer drink add 2 lb of sugar to 1.5 gal of warm water in a clean bucket. Stir to dissolve. Mix in your ginger plant juice.
7. Pour the mixture into bottles and cork. You can use glass bottles but the gas produced from fermentation might cause the bottles to explode. Screw-top plastic (PET, common soft drink) bottles may be a better option, as when you see them swelling a little you can unscrew the lid to relieve the pressure and then tighten again.
8. Store bottles in a cool place and allow further fermentation for 3-5 days. Place bottles in a refrigerator to stop fermentation process.
9. Use the sieved “ginger plant” to make a new culture. Place ¼ to ½ of the residue “plant” you captured in the cheesecloth and add this to 1 cup of warm water. Add fresh grated ginger and 1 tsp of sugar and repeat this whole process to make more ginger beer. Give the other fractions of the ginger residue to friends so that they can start their “plant” too.
Ginger beer starter
Kefir grains are not “grains” in the true sense but are clumps of particular bacteria and yeasts that live symbiotically together. There are basically two common types — milk kefir and water kefir, and they are not interchangeable.
2 tbsp milk kefir grains
4 cups milk
1. Add kefir grains to milk in an open-mouthed jar.
2. Cover jar with a cloth and leave on the bench for a day (after 6 hours it should start to taste sour, so it can be eaten any time after this).
3. Pour mixture through strainer to remove the grains.
4. Keep the grains in a refrigerator to use at another time, and the resultant fermented milk can be added to fruit and blended to make smoothies.
Milk kefir grains
Sourdough bread is fermented by wild yeasts in the air. You initially culture a starter, much like ginger beer, and then use this to make the loaf of bread.
9 oz plain flour — can be organic, white, wholemeal, gluten-free, rye, a combination of these — your preference, but fully wholemeal or rye loaves are quite heavy and don’t rise as much, so best to mix with white flour in the ratio 1:1.
9 oz water
1. Initially mix 3 oz flour and 3 oz of water in a bowl to make a sticky paste. Cover with a damp tea towel.
2. Leave on the kitchen bench for 2 days. (Check the tea towel — keep it moist.) The dough should look bubbly — if no evidence of bubbles then leave for another day or so before feeding.
3. Each day for the next 2 days (days 3 and 4), mix in 3 oz of flour and about the same of water to make a soft dough. It shouldn’t be too runny, so maybe less water sometimes.
4. Divide the sourdough into two. You only need about 6 oz dough to make the bread; the other half is used as a starter for another loaf.
Place this new starter in the refrigerator and feed every few days with a little flour and water to keep alive if you are not going to make another loaf straight away.
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup water, plus extra as required
1. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl add 1 cup water to the sourdough to make it runny.
2. Pour the sourdough mixture over the flour and mix by hand. Add water, or a little flour, as required to make soft dough — not crumbly nor sticky.
3. Knead the dough on a lightly floured bench or plastic kitchen mat for about 10 minutes. Flour your fingers and hands too and work the dough until you find that it is elastic.
4. Return the dough to the large bowl and cover once again with a damp tea towel. Let it rise overnight (it should double in size). Popping bubbles means it is more than ready for the next stage.
5. Use your knuckles to knead the dough once again. It will decrease in size. Place back in bowl, cover with damp tea towel and let rise again over 5 or 6 hours.
6. Turn the dough onto a baking tray. Gently shape it a little to make a cylinder and slash the top once or twice with a knife to vent any water as it cooks. Cook in preheated oven at 425°F for about 30 minutes. Check to see if it sounds hollow when tapped and is firm. Remove from oven and turn onto a wire rack to allow the bread to cool.
» DID YOU KNOW?
The addition of salt is an important step in many fermentation processes. The salt slows the rate of fermentation by yeasts and bacteria.
Do not add it at the start of some recipes as you won’t get the fermentation working. So for sourdough, you add the salt to the dough to be baked but never to the starter.
It’s so easy to make and much better than the soft (cool) drinks you buy as there are no additives. Elderflower makes lovely cordial, and so do rose petals (it’s like pink champagne).
Can also use rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry, cherry and plums (apples make cider).
2 cups rhubarb (or other fruits, or 6 elderberry flower heads, 2 cups rose petals)
2 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
⅓ cup white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
15 cups water
1. Combine all ingredients in a clean bucket and cover with a tea towel. (You might need to dissolve sugar in a small amount of hot water or stir well to dissolve.)
2. Leave to ferment for 48 hours.
3. Strain and pour into plastic bottles and seal. Wait 1–2 weeks before opening.
4. Crack the cap to see if fizzy and ready for drinking. Keep outside just in case of explosions.
Sparkling cordial
Vinegar is made from fermented alcoholic drinks such as apple cider and some of the sparkling cordials. Bacteria change ethanol into ethanoic (acetic) acid in the presence of air, so this is aerobic digestion.
Like sourdough, you need a starter culture, which is called mother of vinegar — a harmless slimy mass of bacteria and cellulose that you can buy or is made during the vinegar process.
Alcoholic drink such as cider, wine, fermented fruit juice. Make sure your wine or juice does not contain preservatives, as the vinegar won’t begin to form. Check the label.
Vinegar
1. Place the fermented liquid into a bottle or jar. Cover with a cheesecloth to keep dirt and insects out.
2. Keep bottle in a dark place. Fermentation will occur faster in a warm place (75–85°F). A gelatinous layer (the mother of vinegar) forms in the surface. Leave for about 1 month.
3. Test the liquid to see if vinegar is forming. Smell and taste. It might be ready at this stage but often it takes a few months for complete conversion.
4. When you think it is ready, filter to remove the mother of vinegar (which can now be used to make more vinegar, quicker than before). Bottle and cap vinegar, and keep in cupboard or refrigerator.
5. Option. You can pasteurize vinegar if you are concerned about excess bacteria. Heat the vinegar to about 175°F for 10 minutes as this will both drive off any excess alcohol and kill all microorganisms. However, be warned, heating will diminish the flavor of the vinegar.
» DID YOU KNOW?
Balsamic vinegar is a specialized vinegar made from grapes, then aged in wooden barrels for many years.
Caramel or other flavorings may be added, and after heating to concentrate the ingredients and further aging, a dark sweet and sour vinegar is produced. Not usually made by homeowners due to the length of time the whole process takes.
Like milk kefir, water kefir grains are a special blend of bacteria and yeasts that thrive in nutrient-rich, watery environments.
¼ cup water kefir grains
¼ cup sugar
Juice of 1 small lemon
2 roughly-diced (chunky) figs (dried or fresh)
1. Heat 8 cups of water in large pot and bring to the boil.
2. Stir in the sugar to dissolve.
3. Allow to cool and pour solution into 2 or 3 large jars. Add ⅛ cup of kefir for each 4 cups in a jar — you can work out the approximate proportion. Add the equivalent pieces of 1 fig and 1 tsp lemon juice for each 4 cups too.
4. Cover with cheesecloth and allow to ferment for a few days. Taste — the longer it ferments the stronger the taste will be.
5. Strain mixture, discarding the spent figs, but keeping the water grains for another time, and collect the juice. Re-culture the grains and store in a refrigerator.
6. The juice can be drunk anytime, kept in the refrigerator until needed, or you can ferment it even further.
7. For a secondary ferment, pour ¼ cup of any fruit juice or 1 tbsp sugar into a 28 oz swing-top bottle.
Fill with water kefir until very near the top. This will enable you to produce a flavored kefir drink or one that is fizzy.
8. Allow the bottles to ferment for another day or two on the kitchen bench. Store in refrigerator until needed. Be careful when opening as gas pressure may cause contents to shoot out.
Water kefir
Fermented dairy products can be easier for us to digest because the sugar (lactose) has already been broken down and the complex protein casein has also been broken down into amino acids.
4 cups milk
1 tbsp plain yogurt culture (must be live culture)
1. Heat milk to about 104–113°F (if you think milk may be contaminated, then heat to 176–185°F to pasteurize it, but let it cool to 104°F again).
2. Add yogurt culture and stir in.
3. Keep mix warm by placing in a thermos flask or wrapped in something to insulate the mix.
4. Test the mix after 6–9 hours. The longer you leave it, the more sour it gets. Once you are happy with the flavor, keep the yogurt in the refrigerator.
Heating milk is important to denature the proteins — this treatment stops the yogurt staying lumpy.
If you want to thicken the yogurt, strain the mix through a cheesecloth and either discard or keep the “whey” that passes through. To flavor yogurt, add chopped fruit, honey or vanilla essence.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have immediate success with these fermented food projects.
It took me a few times to get the sourdough so it didn’t look and taste like a rock, but the lemon curd, yogurt, soft cheese and a host of others worked perfectly the first time, and still continue to do so. Persevere.
Yogurt
For the home gardener, foods can be most often preserved by pickling, salting, smoking, drying (dehydrating), bottling, freezing (and refrigerating) and preserving in alcohol, syrup or some other solution or medium.
So far in our discussion about foods you can make at home we have discussed drying (powdered lemon), preserving in a sugary medium (raspberry and fig jam), preserving in alcohol (cider), pickling (chutney and relish in vinegar) and bottling (ginger beer, sparkling cordial).
We have also talked about making garlic salt (for salting food) and vinegar (for pickling). Not to mention refrigeration for most of the fermented foods (which themselves are partially preserved foods).
More commercial, specialized preserving techniques include vacuum packaging, canning, adding chemical preservatives such as sulfur dioxide, and freeze drying. These are not discussed here.
Drying food
Smoking of red meat and fish both preserves and flavors the food, but you generally need to build a smokehouse, have a good fuel supply and time to do this properly.
However, excess fruit and vegetables can easily be dried or canned. Canning invariably uses heat to kill microorganisms, to drive off air by the action of boiling water, and then sealing in a partial vacuum as the solution cools down.
Drying drives off almost all moisture so that microorganisms cannot survive or breed.
Vacola canning jars