Good dill pickles

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My coworker at the farm pressed these cucumbers on me, saying how perfect they’d be for pickling. Not wanting to let her down, I took them home, though I didn’t feel like I had the time to make anything with them. This recipe from Well Preserved saved me, and is excellent in its simplicity & ease. Even my less-than-perfectly-fresh cucumbers transformed into delicious dill pickles with minimal effort.

 

Rice wine

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I finally strained the rice wine I started many many months ago.

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First through a sieve, then a cloth. It is still cloudy.

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The taste is… Interesting. Strong. Alcoholic. I’m going to let it sit in the fridge for a while, and check in with again later.

Gleaners’ kimchi

One of the farmers had a surplus of napa cabbage that was unsellable: The leaves were too loose, their tips were sun-burnt, and the earwigs had been voracious. I took home a dozen or so heads, for myself as well as a couple fermenting friends. Unfortunately, by the time I finally sat down to make kimchi 2 days later, the cabbage was a right mess. From 4 heads, I barely eked out 2 pounds of useable veg!

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I honestly thought of tossing the whole lot into the compost, but with the gift of green onions from a neighbour, and the other ingredients on hand, I pressed forward.

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4 days on the counter, then into the fridge. Yum.

Dandelion greens

There are so many bitter greens at the farm, and I don’t like any of them! But as so many flavours are improved with the addition of salt, garlic, and a little time, I am happy to present this experiment with dandelion greens.

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275 g dandelion greens (1 cm dice)

60 g garlic (minced)

12 g pickling salt

 

Finding koji

Finding koji was easier than I thought it would be: Someone in my local fermenters’ forum told me that the Japanese grocery store near the university sells it from their freezer section.

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Yes! And rather cheap, too.

I have spores from GEM Cultures stored in my fridge for the eventual day when I inoculate grains &  grow my own, but for now, this is good.

Community plate

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Clockwise from top left: Nettle & red cabbage kraut by Christina, kimchi by Kyla, kimchi by me, nettle kraut by me (with nettles from Jay).