23 Jan Kitchen Wins: Aaron’s Ferment Projects

I’ve been working on various ferments since our first weeks here. I made a bottle of Chili Peppa Water, Chili Garlic Paste, fermented Basil Habeñero Pesto, fermented fruit salad, and rice wine vinegar.

Rice Wine Vinegar

I bought a $3 mini bottle of sake from Walmart and added 20% apple cider vinegar, 10% water into an air-releasing jar (covered with bug-safe fabric). I agitated the jar daily to increase microbial activity — which makes it ready faster — with the aim to add it to the Chili Peppa water. The vinegar was ready in about 3 weeks! Was super yummy and we have the jar to use for cooking now in the fridge.

“Chili Peppa Water”

My take on a hawaiian classic condiment. Made with 10 Hawaiian chilis grown here on the farm. I smashed the chilis, put them in a bottle with 3% saltwater brine, a couple cloves of smashed garlic, and a large knuckle of smashed ginger. I let ferment for 4 weeks, then for the final I added 1 ounce of the rice wine vinegar once that was done. This turned out REALLY good, in fact we have already finished the first bottle after dousing many meals and have the next batch already started.

Basil Habeñero Pesto

I came across this book, Fiery Ferments: 70 Stimulating Recipes for Hot Sauces (also the inspiration for the Chili Peppa Water), and copied her recipe for Basil Habeñero Pesto: take 3 or 4 bunches of basil, 4 habeñeros, 3 cloves of garlic, mince or food-processed finely into a jar with 1/2 tsp salt. Sealed up tight, burp (unscrew the lid to release the gas) every week or two for about 6 weeks. The recipe says 2 weeks, but we’ve been busy with other distractions! Taste tests are amazing and we can’t wait to cook with it!

Chili Garlic Paste

Bunch of chilis. Bunch of garlic. Throw in a jar. Top with 4-5% saltwater brine. Let sit for about 6 weeks, burp a couple times. About time to taste this one too!

Fermented Fruit Salad

This is based off “friendship fruit”, and I put bite-sized pieces of starfruit, papaya, and various orange citrus into a 1/2 gallon mason jar covered in sugar and let to ferment. This is supposed to be ready in a week or two, but mine had barely started to ferment (bubble) in that time. I strained and bottled it after a month, it didn’t tasted good and the fruit turned to mush. I’m holding a minor amount of hope for it and I’m still letting “age”. We’ll see. At the very least, it will make a nice tropical vinegar?

The next batch of ferments…

Around thanksgiving I started a tangelo wine, chili chive garlic pesto (another basil-pesto paste), and some sourkraut. I also made extracts of Mimosa blossom (the “happiness tree”), and tonka (Brazilian teakwood seed which is similar to vanilla bean).

Tangelo Wine

So we had some honeycomb leftover from the honey harvest in a large plastic-lidded quart mason jar. The sneakiest island insect (the ant) invaded the jar and I figured the best way to not waste the honeycomb was to drown them in tangelo juice. I juiced 4-6 tangelos into the jar, added a tbsp or so of honey, and let it sit for two weeks. Then I strained and bottled it and allowed it ferment in the bottle until it was carbonated. We drank it on the beach

Chili Chive Garlic Pesto

Same general idea as the first habeñero basil paste. I used habeñeros again, plus chives in addition to the basil. Coming along well, should be ready soon!

Sourkraut

We have an ABUNDANCE of cabbage varieties in our kitchen garden – perfect for making kraut right? WRONG. This was my first, and biggest fail in the ferment world. I salted the cabbage leaves in a bowl, chopped it up into strips, put it in a jar with more salt. I let it sit, probably way to0 long (about 8 weeks) — and when I opened just the other day, it smelled EXACTLY like dirty diaper. I think I did not add enough salt, possibly the leaves were not washed thoroughly enough so some random organic matter was probably still in the jar. Tossed it all – will try another batch OR just might move on to kimchi now that our carrots are coming in!

Mimosa Extract

I harvested a bunch of Mimosa stamens (1/2 cup packed) and put them in a glass vessel with just enough vodka to cover them. This should yield an extract rich in mood-enhancing properties, possibly flavored floral / plant-like. An experiment but I found the recipe online.

Tonka Bean Extract

I’ve made this several times as I’ve had a supply of tonka beans for a few years, gifted from a past employer. I place a tonka bean in 4-6 ounces of spirits — I used vodka in this case. Normally I use bourbon. After 4 weeks, it’s a perfect (and better) replacement for vanilla extract.

Newest batch of ferments…

Lately, I’ve started batches of lacto-fermented: ginger, turmeric, and garlic — ready in a month. Using the lees from the first tangelo wine, I started two more tangelo wines: one with tonka bean, and one with kumquat. Those should be ready in 2-4 weeks.

That’s it! My inspiration for getting into ferments is Sandor Ellix Katz. He wrote the Art of Fermentation – which after sampling many fermentation books, I found this to be the most inspiring and comprehensive book about the benefits of fermented cultures and the simplicity of crafting them. Could not recommend this book enough — for EVERYONE looking to live a healthier / natural-product-based lifestyle. Not only is this information life-changing, but the writing style is poetic and captivating to read. I cannot recommend this book enough.