Updates on Domestic Adventures

Well there have been some #failures and there have been some #successes.

I started 2 sets of sauerkraut. One had to be dumped. Not enough liquid so some mold developed. :( Sad. I put the surviving one in the fridge. But next time-- mental note of using less salt. a little goes a long way cause i feel like it gets saltier as it sits. Oh boy does it get saltier as it sits! When I tasted it right after I made it, it was bad. Now it's inedible. High blood pressure in a jar. I just haven't brought myself to throw it away yet. Like I think it's magically get better. Maybe once I make a new batch, I can let this fiasco go.

Looks good enough to eat, right? But beware. There's so much salt in this thing you could put it out for the horses to lick.

Mold also attacked the large container of kombucha starter. The sauerkraut that got mold and the big kombucha container were right next to each other so the kraut probably contaminated the buch.

I got a very thin SCOBY from the small jar but the kombucha was so vinegary-- I guess I can't call it kombucha, I should just call it vinegar tea. So I took the SCOBY from it and I tried again by adding some more sweet tea.  I also started two other containers, this time using a higher ratio of store bought kombucha (I use GT's raw Original kombucha) than I did on my first try. I was getting a bit worried because I had read a lot online about how store bought kombucha wouldn't produce healthy SCOBYs anymore. So I thought I would just have to go online and buy a SCOBY somewhere but was leery of buying bacteria from strangers, I was leaving the option as a last resolve.

Lo and behold, I did it!

These pictures were taken after I took some out of the containers and put them in jars to second ferment. The SCOBYs were higher on the liquid originally but the moving around to get the liquid  -- I used a turkey baster to suck out the liquid and get it into bottles I got that idea fro Gutsy Girl: http://www.sarahkayhoffman.com/2013/07/18/how-to-make-homemade-kombucha/) .

There they are all ready to start their second ferment. 2 have ginger in them and one has a lemon yuzu concoction used to make a sort of tea. I got it from a little Japanese grocer. One of my favorite teas so we'll see how it does.

And that's the story of my kombucha adventure thus far. Other news in fooding.

I made pickles. I love love love Tsukemono so i decided to try my hand at that (inspired by http://justhungry.com/introduction-quick-japanese-tsukemono-pickles)

They turned out so well, I will definitely be making them again! And again! And again!