Vinter thread, brewing and ferminting.

[Willie]

Bought 2 fermenting lids so I will dip my feet in here. Started a sauerkraut and a garlic ferment. Now I need more lids....cukes will be coming in real soon.

 

[Willie]

Ok.........kimchi??? Whose got the secrets/tips??
What cabbage, what fish sauce, what salt, what peppers? Radishes?

At my local store the sheisters want $9.70 for a lame looking 1 lb Napa Cabbage head. I'ma tell you right now...............that ain't happening Meanwhile green cabbage is around 80 cents a lb. I planted Napa cab seeds three days ago......they are up.......should have some 72 days yonder, lol. Be costing about a nickel a head by seed. I almost fell the fuck over....$10 cabbage, gtfoohwts.

Ordered a few more lids, started some sour pickles. Today was a 10 cuke day! I have a few miles of jars.
The sauerkraut is alive

 

[JollyPete]

Napa is the traditional for kimchi, salt it liberally with whatever salt you have on hand,not really important what kind. Let it sit for a few hours, rinse. Mix a couple tbsps of glutinous rice flour and water, bring to a boil til thickened, add a little sugar now if you want. Let the paste cool, stir in gochugaro, add the fish sauce; Korean/Vietnamese/Laotian fish sauce isn't sweetened at all like Thai is but I don't think there's a dramatic difference personally, garlic, ginger, then depending on how traditional you wanna go, salted squid, carrots, and onion. Then take the paste, paint a side of each cabbage leaf then into a jar and let it ride for a couple weeks/month in the fridge.

I like mine fairly fresh, myself.

 

[WillieP]

Napa is the traditional for kimchi, salt it liberally with whatever salt you have on hand,not really important what kind. Let it sit for a few hours, rinse. Mix a couple tbsps of glutinous rice flour and water, bring to a boil til thickened, add a little sugar now if you want. Let the paste cool, stir in gochugaro, add the fish sauce; Korean/Vietnamese/Laotian fish sauce isn't sweetened at all like Thai is but I don't think there's a dramatic difference personally, garlic, ginger, then depending on how traditional you wanna go, salted squid, carrots, and onion. Then take the paste, paint a side of each cabbage leaf then into a jar and let it ride for a couple weeks/month in the fridge.

I like mine fairly fresh, myself.

Nice write-up.
I've never even tasted the stuff.
Sounds like something my wife would like...

WillieP

 

[GthaEnigma]

Kimchi braised short ribs are a heavenly meal.

 

[Willie]

Napa is the traditional for kimchi, salt it liberally with whatever salt you have on hand,not really important what kind. Let it sit for a few hours, rinse. Mix a couple tbsps of glutinous rice flour and water, bring to a boil til thickened, add a little sugar now if you want. Let the paste cool, stir in gochugaro, add the fish sauce; Korean/Vietnamese/Laotian fish sauce isn't sweetened at all like Thai is but I don't think there's a dramatic difference personally, garlic, ginger, then depending on how traditional you wanna go, salted squid, carrots, and onion. Then take the paste, paint a side of each cabbage leaf then into a jar and let it ride for a couple weeks/month in the fridge.

I like mine fairly fresh, myself.

Thanks for the details. After I coat the cabbage leaves do I stack them after coating them or just into the jar randomly. Salted squid sounds good to me.....

 

[JollyPete]

Thanks for the details. After I coat the cabbage leaves do I stack them after coating them or just into the jar randomly. Salted squid sounds good to me.....

You can just smash em in there, no need to gently stack!

 

[Willie]

Did sauerkraut in green cabbage for 2 weeks, then one in red cabbage for a week. The red one was a winner. The green was good too but more sour.
Half sour garlic dills for 2 weeks......yum, sour enough you pucker. Tried a jar with 10 days on it and I liked them better. 2 jars of garlic, 1 jar pickles, 1 jar cherry tomatoes fermenting now.
Got 10 lids now

 

[808LOLO]

I just wanted to throw something in for kimchi. i use same recipe as above pretty much but i add grated korean pears and its juice too. Is the secret sugar that it needs maybe to feed yr ferment actions. I dunno forsure what it does but i like to add it still. Whole fam loves kimchi cucumber over here. Def the perfect healthy cool/hot snack.

Nice thread i need to get back into these kinds of hobbies! Homemade chili pepper water is actually my best homemade meds. Straight sippin on it too! not used as a hot sauce

 

[Willie]

I've never made better pickles Wow!
The cherry tomatoes are like little tomato'ee champagne bubbles that melt in your mouth.....the garlic and basil in the jar plays well with them. Flavor is amazing would try to do a sauce but.....poof, they are gone.
Red cabbage kraut is awesome.
Will sample the month old garlic this weekend.
Napa cabbages are growing. This is working

 

[Willie]

alrighty..
That fermented garlic......well that is like garlic to the 10th power, lol. Not a fan of it straight from the jar but, it's great to add to other ferments I have going. Really strong taste that lasts for a while.
Just made 5lbs of red cabbage kraut. Half plain and half spicy. Made a giardinera which was ok........not super.

The cabbages I planted grew like hell but did not head up. So kimchi will have what napa cabbage I did get and some kale and some swiss chard. I got 1000 grams of leafy material My fish sauce and korean peppers arrived today, so will be making this tomorrow. Gonna salt the cabbage shortly.

Cuke season is over.......tears have been shed. Got one jar of sour pickles left and that is half full of green tomatoes. I might do a jar of just green tomatoes. It's what I got left but also the slugs are getting nutz here with all the rain. I don't think they can get to red before those fuckers eat into them.

Time to fire up the seed sprouting stuff

 

[Willie]

So........making my second batch of Kimchi now. I now have a much better understanding of what's what. This round I bought a head of napa and also added some chard and kale. Could not find Daikon radishes in the store, so used red/. No Korean pears either. This stuff is great and I will be looking to other things to "kimchi". The cuke suggestion by @808LOLO sound pretty good.

This is a neat little kimchi calculator

Kimchi Calculator — Peter J. Kim

www.peterjk.com

 

[Willie]

This week was cabbage city. Regular green cabbage is on sale for 19 cents a lb. OMFG....anyway I nailed 5 lbs. Then I found some Napa cabbage for 99 cents a lb........that's 1/3 of what it normally costs here locally. Grabbed 9 lbs of that. Kimchi, Kimchi, Kimchi.

My recipe has evolved and I add red chard, red radishes to Peter Kim's recipe above. I also bump the garlic and ginger up a bit.

It take 5lbs of cabbage plus the other stuff to end up with about 3/4 of a gallon, which is 2.5 quarts. I eat about a quart a week, so I'm good for a while now

That 19 cent sale is on to honor St. Patty's day......I am out of sauerkraut now I think of it.

🌶️