Over the weekend, the fermentation crock I ordered from Isidora Spielmann arrived! It's both beautiful and functional, very high compliments in geek-speak. I have two heads of green cabbage bubbling away in there, slowing converting to sauerkraut.
Sunday was a total food immersion day, starting with a trip to the farmers market (carrying 10 pounds of cabbage makes for a good workout), followed by gluttony at the Spice of Life Festival (Chairman Bao's truck is worth the wait! And Masse's Pastries is serving made-to-order churros and Mexican hot chocolate!), and ending with some kimchi and sauerkraut festivities.
For comparison, here is my Harsch crock. I still feel nothing but love for it, but it's huge and merely functional in appearance.
I realized today that I need some local fermentation buddies. Sure, there are online groups aplenty out there, and I have loads of friends who will share my finished goods, but sometimes a gal just needs to compare notes with people in person. Not to mention the exciting possibility of food and beverage swaps! I'm trying to convert the boy into a fermentation buddy by insisting he reads the same beer brewing books I am. I already assigned him the boring but necessary job of equipment sanitization.
There has to be some kind of club out there for people who like to ferment things... Imagine the cool parties we'll have with cheese, beer, sourdough bread, and kimchi! Plus, everyone will have excellent digestive health, which has to be an added bonus somehow. Hm. Must think on this.
I will join the fermentation club! I am a noob, though. :(
ReplyDeleteI would also do meetups at the stores you visit to find your wonderful Asian goodies. Had no idea that fermented things would be good for digestion.
Yay! A fermentation club member! I'll contact you on your blog page and we can think up some fermenty activities.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha. That would be a party not to miss. We have a family friend who remembers making sauerkraut at certain times of the year and she would be too embarrassed to bring her friends over because of the smell. She grew up very poor and to this day, despises the stuff. More for us!
ReplyDeleteI'll join your club too! Although I will need to be in the small batches group - Jenna won't really eat much fermented stuff.
ReplyDeleteFermenting activity stage one has been accomplished... sourdough bread! I am ravenous for kimchi so I think that will be step two.
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