What are you fermenting this year?

[MaryB]

My cukes finally produced enough to fill a gallon crock. Mix of whole and slices cukes, some dill, and a tablespoon(palm full) of pickling spice then topped off with a brine of 8 tablespoons salt to a gallon of water. I have 2 gallon size German fermenting crocks so one is full, one is waiting for me to get to a farmers market for 2 heads of cabbage for sauerkraut.



Brine and weights added



Rim filled with water to act as an airlock, I check this daily to make sure it is topped off. You can just see the notch in the lid that lets the fermenting gasses out.

[farmerjim]

Looks good. Keep us updated on the process. The pics are great.

[Boaz]

Looks good Mary ! I hear that The more firm flesh variety of squash (butternut , acorn, etc) do well fermented ? Going to try that soon as an experiment .

I wanted to try fermented dill pickles again (after the last failed attempt) but I was not able to find any fresh dill in my area .

[Bulldogger]

I also made fermented cucumber pickles this year. My first time doing anything other than vinegar brine. I enjoy them very much. I also pickled some Armenian cucumber, which isn't actually a cuke. They turned out ok, but not as nice a snap when biting them.

I ended up with leaf wilt again, and the Armenian stopped producing, then the regular cukes, so I'm done now.

I'm also fermenting apple cider from a WilliamsWarn kit, but that's a different thread

Bulldogger

[DerekP Houston]

I'm still planning on making a batch of mead whenever I can find the time to get to dallas and get the supplies from my dad. no point purchasing double the equipment since his is sitting unused in the attic.

[JWFilips]

Just started a nice batch of Aleppo Chillies fermenting & they are bubbling away in just 3 days! This year I'm going to try for a 10 week ferment. Then liquify with rice vinegar, Garlic , a bit of sea salt and a bit of turbinado sugar.
Like Sriracha only 10 X more flavorful

[MaryB]

I was hoping my Aleppo peppers would produce this year but we had far to much rain. None of my peppers did well.

[johnson1942]

cucumbers and pole beans. used a lot of grape leaves with them but the cucumbers and pole beans are still not firm, very very tasty though.

[JWFilips]

When you ferment green beans do you pick them when the bean is just forming or do you wait until it gets sizable?
I'm still havesting green beans twice a week ( & freezing) would like to ferment some this year

[johnson1942]

i used the big ones, too big for table eatiing.they are a little soft but are they good. going to have grilled hambergers from the grill this evening and my salt brine ferment pickles and beans will help the bergers out.

[MaryB]

Leave the beans in the brine in the fridge for 3-4 weeks and they will soak it up and get crisp again.

The pickles are happily fermenting, smells great, nice foam on top but not scummy looking so haven't skimmed yet.

[MaryB]

Some spaghetti sauce base I made tonight. It is seasoned but no mushrooms or meat. 12 1/2 pints.

[Boaz]

Great cold weather food ! Looks good MaryB.

[JWFilips]

So I guess you guys are brining the beans also ? I guess I was confused; Outside of Cukes I do most of my stuff lacto-bacillus fermented. Good tip on the Green beans The big ones now I just freeze for stews ( cooks for hours so they get tender). I think I will try brining and some lacto-fermenting on the beans and see how things go.

MaryB , Nice haul of sauce!
We had hot & wet weather here since July. I Was growing Black Brandywine tomatoes and they all started splitting I just cut off the bad spots and started making seasoned sauce every weekend. The only thing strange about sauce made from Black Brandywine's is it is Brown! So I'm calling this my "Gourmet Brown" Italian Sauce!
Outside of the strange color it sure taste great! My wife couldn't wait to use it so she has been making pasta dishes as fast as I can cook the stuff!
Have been gaining weight since!
Jim

[JWFilips]

Thought you guys may like to see some of my Aleppo chili sauce fermenting
These photos show my one jar with the air lock on it! My other jars I just "burp" everyday The air locks are very cheap at pet stores that sell fish ( but I guess I'm even cheaper so I only have one real airlock) The chilies are Deseeded ( I don't like too much heat) and pureed in a blender with about a tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt whey...(only the liquid on top) I do put in about a teaspoon of canning salt just in case the bacteria are not plentiful to start ! BTW I don't wash the chllies before pureeing them ( don't want to loose the natural bacteria! But I do wipe them off with a dry paper towel so not to get dirt & non tasty spiders in the mix!)
The photos below show one week of fermenting. There are really good gas pockets forming in the pulp. Everyweek I give the jar a swirl to get the liquids mixed into the pulp! In these photos the pulp has risen above the liquid, do to the fermenting gasses.
This year must be a good fermenting year. I never seen this much gas production in one week in the past!
I will let this batch ferment for 10 weeks this year before I process it into hot sauce.

[MaryB]

Cheap functional airlock http://www.northernbrewer.com/three-piece-airlock

Pickles are happily fermenting away. Pantry smells really good!

[toallmy]

I am a year and three months into making home made fish sauce , not shore how it will turn out but got at least nine months left .It Should be ready next June , but the lady that explained to my wife how to do it sad if you want three years it's even better . By the way it is made from real fish , it smells and looks horrible .

[Silfield]

I got a brew bucket going with about 12 lbs of blackberries - should be enough for 3 gallons of wine. Picked the blackberries with my boys at the weekend from the hedges surrounding the fields behind my house and added a few cooking apples from the garden.
Had a chat with a group of folks who were out in the fields with metal detectors, they were from Idaho! They come over every year to find stuff after the harvest and had a few coins and artefacts from Roman and medieval times. Took them a camping stove etc so they could have a brew up as the weather had turned a bit for the worse-it went from mid 80's to low 60's overnight! It was appreciated as they gave my 11 year old a Roman coin when they returned the stove. Hopefully we will be able to spend a day field walking with them when they come back next year.

[Gliden07]

I made Sauerkraut and some Dilly Beans!! I have the same Crock as the OP. Fantastic tool for this!

[MaryB]

Pickles are done and going into jars then the fridge. Head of cabbage going in next! Picked carrots today and may ferment a quart of them then freeze the rest. Ones on the left are an heirloom, right is a hybrid. Heirloom out produced the hybrid 4:1 from the same length row!