Beetroot day in this #YearOfFermenting went well but not as well as expected. Work (the paid stuff) consumed a lot of my day.

There is a large jar of kvass made and ready to ferment. I am hoping for at least 1.5l from it, once strained of beetroot.

I used all the beetroot for kvass so didn't make the beet and cabbage salad that ferments.

But I picked a couple of cute small beetroot for cooking tomorrow. They are sitting in the sink waiting to be washed.

#OnTheFermentTable - the purslane is done! I'll be having some with dinner tonight.

The rhubarb is slowly fermenting.

The vinegar is not really #fermenting yet but is looking good so far (Only made it yesterday).

And #FromTheDehydrator - the grapes are still dehydrating - it takes a while. Perhaps another day.

But the chillies are done and are sitting conditioning before I lock them away.

#BeetrootOnMyMind

.... and that is the end of Grape Day #1.

3L jar of vinegar in the making. 4 large trays of grapes dehydrating in the Excalibur.

The grapes are large and juicy and will take some time

Each one had to be picked from the stem and pierced with a knife. About 1,000 grapes, give or take a couple of hundred.

The fifth tray holds all the , aaaaaalmost done.

More grapes to pick, but not until these are dried.

There are more things to dehydrate but they are all on hold until these grapes are done.

Tired. Just the cleaning up to do before I shut down for the day.

New day, new dealing with garden produce.

Today it's the grapes. I'll have a go at some vinegar, plus dehydrate some.

My grandmother would bottle grapes, and I loved them. I don't have such a sweet tooth these days, but if I had a vacola ......

Good. The chillies are in the dehydrator. 14 dozen (168 chillies).

They are small Thai chillies so they don't look that many - just 1 dehydrator tray.

I *nearly* made a fermented chilli mash, but the #KirstenShockey ones are a bit faffy - the hot chilli sauce I made the other day is simple and awesome and without messing around.

No seeding or peeling chillies for me, altho next time I make the sauce I will roast some. (These chillies are two small to remove the seeds anyway, and last time I just blended everything up in the Vitamix. We're not scared of a few seeds*).

* I read the other day that it is not the seeds that hold the most heat, but the white membrane parts of the chilli. I am not testing this.

I am adoring reading this book ( #TheCookingOfTheEasternMediterranean by #PaulaWolfert ).

I got half way through the book before there was a section that contained meat. (There were a few "chicken stock" recipes before that but mostly the non-veg components were easily substituted.)

Her description of the recipes, how she found them, who showed her, where they cooked the dish, the drive there..... All fascinating and make the book very readable.

I am up to a section on the use of chickpeas! And how she waxes lyrical about chickpeas

*Pops into kitchen to put chickpeas on to soak*

The chillies have noticeably begun to ferment (bubble) now, whereas before it was "is it bubbling, is it just trapped air, is it, is it not?"

So they will be blended tonight to make a paste/sauce before fermenting again for 4 days or so.

Also the kanji is nicely ready, and I will decant that tonight. I'll have 2 fermented drinks then - beetroot kvass for morning, carrot kanji for afteroons. That's exciting. I can't wait to taste the kanji after a night in the fridge. The taste tends to change a little.

UPDATE: the vegetables left after the kanji is decanted are very snackable, also can be sliced or diced to include in salads.

#Fermenting #FromTheKitchen #WhatIAmCooking #Vegetarian #food @Pollinators @SRDas

I tasted the new batch of kvass this morning. It'd been chilling in the fridge for maybe 18 hrs. This gives it a slightly different flavour than straight out of the fermentation jar - a little effervescent from being capped, and the sweetness comes out. Very pleased with it although I used fewer beets than the first batch. Good to know I can use less.

I have succumbed and purchased a large fermentation jar with proper airlock for larger ferments. The kvass doesn't need the airlock but the 3L jar will come in very handy for large batches to last a couple of weeks.

We are back in the swing of the kitchen again. It doesn't take long. This morning some unhulled split mung soaked for a couple of hours then cooked with spinach from the garden into a spicy nourishing soup for lunch, topped with lots of coriander leaves.

Gigantes (large lima beans) soaked overnight and just now in the Instant Pot with herbs etc, for dinner. I threw in the stems of the coriander used for the mung bean soup as they are very flavoursome. Salad will be lettuce greens, herbs and capsicum from the garden, with radishes and nasturtium capers. Maybe some pickled rhubarb. Fermented shiitake.

Beetroot fermenting again for kvass.

Picked up some cheap bananas from the shop, and some excellent looking okra. The bananas are peeled, halved and frozen for smoothies.

In other kitchen fermentation news, the Beetroot Kvass has been consumed. Truly, I have never tasted anything like this before. It will be made regularly.

The dehydrated fermented herbs, ground into a powder, tastes AWESOME. They are salty, herby, fermenty and briny. They'll work as a finishing salt, or sprinkled over veg before they go into the oven, or added to stocks, soups, dals, scrambles, ..... OhMyGoodness!

#KirstenShockey's #FermentedVegetables has the info on P142 of the 10th Anniversary edition.

Ping @dpflug