Sourdough starter, kombucha, sour pickles and sauerkrautBusy, busy in the kitchen today!
I have had a sourdough starter going in the kitchen for over 2 weeks now, trying to built it up enough to bake a decent loaf of sourdough bread.
Kombucha is being made weekly, with a gallon a week being sold.
The 3 pickle plants are producing giant pickles, which I have been fermenting the old fashioned way. Salt water, garlic, peppercorns, dill, and a couple of grapevine leaves to keep them crunchy!
In a couple of days I will put them in the fridge and they will be ready for eating soon thereafter.
And the sauerkraut is the result of lots of cabbage coming our way from the CSA.
One huge head yesterday has been pounded down to 1 1/2 quarts, and is on the counter fermenting for a few days.
Mmm...I love homemade sauerkraut!
Good for you, too!
I will put all of this in the basement fridge, bringing up one quart at a time as we use it up.
Sure wish we had a root cellar like my Memere and Pepere did!
Kept thing nice and cool, year around.
Perfect to hold the apples, potatoes, cabbages, etc, from harvest pret' near to the following spring.
What's happening in YOUR kitchen this week?
xoxo,
Cindy
PS....I think I am burying myself in "busyness" so's not to think about my daughter, her husband, and my darling Trena who left yesterday.
HOW long till Christmas???
Trena and her Auntie Gina
19 comments:
Oh Cindy your grandchildren are so beautiful... Trena's face is angelic!
The new baby...ahhh... beautiful!
Your kitchen is hoppin' and I always love to look at your sidebar, Cindy... love your chickens!
Blessings ♥ Maria
My but you are one busy gal! You could almost say you've got yourself in a pickle! ;~P
I made some sauerkraut this spring, under a friends tutelage. Hubby loves it, but even though I am mostly German, I just don't understand why someone would do that to a perfectly good cabbage? ;~P (I could eat it if I were starving, but, thankfully, I am not!)
I tried some Kombucha that a friend of mine made. Didn't taste too bad, but I had a hard time thinking of that 'mother' and 'pups' (they looked like ugly jellyfish) floating around in the drink! She asked if I wanted a 'pup' to start some of my own, but I told her the hubs didn't want any more pets!
I have tried several times to make sourdough starter without success! Do you have a recipe and/or pointers for success? I'm tired of wasting so much flour ~ having it turn into a slimy, mouldy glop! I have tried in the winter, spring and summer. Whole wheat flour and white flour. No luck!
I sound pretty hopeless, don't I! Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Not much happening in my kitchen yet! I'm gathering my supplies, getting ready for the big Tuna canning! Tuna has been ordered, just waiting for my ship to come in! Huh! The story of my life!
(Just kidding! I have a very blessed life!)
Enjoy your harvest goodies!
I have a large fruit and nut sourdough loaf sitting on my kitchen bench - will enjoy a slice or two later toasted for supper. It is the most delicious bread and I'm so thankful to have kept my 'grandma' starter alive for the past 4 years.(The starter is really old - has antique status!) I would recommend finding a starter from someone else if you don't experience success - before procuring 'grandma' I tried making my own starter and don't know what I captured but it was not good. So much is dependent on the airborne yeasts in your environment.
Wishing you every success with your sourdough baking - there is nothing quite like authentic sourdough!
what a coincidence - I'm going to make sauerkraut with my cabbage too!
Wonderful stuff you've got there! I need to get busy in my kitchen. I've been fighting a cold off and on for two weeks and it's taken the wind out of my sales; not much enthusiasm for cooking right now. But I NEED to get in the kitchen! Peaches arrive today and will need processing by Monday or Tues.!
Hello. Fun to see that you also use grape leaves in your pickles. My aunt taught me to make pickles (and now I continue to keep her pickles in the family) and that is what she used to make them crunchy but I've never heard of anyone else using them.
Your sauerkraut looks delicious.
My my you are one busy lady for sure, and I sure could go for some of that sauerkraut, it looks so good, I have never had home made only that in a can, lol bet it is really good, perhaps one year I will grow cabbage and make some, hugs my busy friend, and have a good day, Barbara
Hi,
Just found your post and was excited to learn that you make fermented sauerkraut. How would I get your recipe? Enjoyed all your blogging.
Thanks,
Shirley
Blue Gate Farm
distractions are good when hearts are breaking. christmas is not too far away! love all of your cooking. and congrats on the newest grandbaby! trena is such a dolly.
Shirley, you can e-mail me at: cindy50@altelco.net and I will pass on the easy peasy recipe!
Barbara...Mmmm...you've not had sauerkraut till you've tasted homemade!
Lady Farmer...Check out the "pay what you can" e-course on my sidebar! Wardeh also has a sourdough e-course which she is offering as a "pay what you can"! I am taking both courses!
Ann...glad you finally had a successful sourdough starter! Can't wait to delve into some new sourdough recipes. Homemade tortillas? That's what next for me!
Everything sounds very good. I am doing dill pickles today, and some freezer coleslaw. Want to try making sauerkraut again, tried last year and it didn't turn out.
Keeping busy does help, Christmas will be here before you know it.
I love Konbucha and used to make it about ten years ago. But I have now turned to wine making and drinking a bit of it most evenings before I go to bed.
Will have to look up Kombucha since I have no idea what it is.
Your sauerkraut looks wonderful. Didn't know you could ferment it like that. My grandmother always put it in a large crock with a towel placed on top, then a heavy plate with a large brick on top of that to help push down the cabbage! She'd rinse the towel every day....really old fashioned...but I loved to go into the cellar when I was a child and "steal" handfuls of the stuff once it became sauerkraut...good memories.
Hi there! I saw your comment on Barbara's blog. Your blog is adorable!!
I hope you'll stop by and say hi sometime on mine - Cooking up Faith.
This week I'll be writing about stories of faith and overcoming obstacles. :)
Big Fat Mama
Cyn,
Looks great! I've never tried Kombucha(sp?), because I'm the oly one who'd drink it. I too love kraut, make mine in a 5 gallon crock, but used to do it in the jars for years before I found my crock. The pickle recipe sounds much like mine and aren't the grape leaves a wonder?
Take care and you are still inour prayers.
Blessing and hugs,
Kelle
Just stopped by to say hello and Happy Summer.
Love the new blog look!
Choosing JOY, Stephanie
Be careful about all your fermenty goodies being kept close together. Their yummy good bacteria can cross contaminate each other and in some cases it will kill the kombucha mother and greatly affect the strength of your sourdough. I have my kombucha on the top on the fridge in the storage room and kefir and sourdough in totally different places in the kitchen.
Fun stuff!!!
Sounds great! Busy here in our kitchen....cucumbers and lots of beans!! Doing a lot of bread baking too! Come say hi.
I'd say you are buried !!!
time will fly if you keep fermenting ... how bout some grapes!
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