It Takes Time, Fermentation

For the past several years, my wife has made homemade Kombucha tea.  It’s a naturally fermented tea.  It’s supposed to be good for your digestion and health.  We like it, and it sure tastes good with BBQ or for settling your stomach when you are hungover.  Not that I have a lot of experience with the latter!

Lately, we have branched off into doing other things with fermentation.  We made homemade sauerkraut.  It was excellent.  The kraut you purchase at the store uses vinegar to give it that sour sharp taste in your mouth.  The fermented kraut we made at home had a sour taste, but it was strangely pleasing and not shocking.  We also made some pickles that were addicting.

It’s really easy to ferment something.  All you need is some kosher salt, filtered water, a jar and the fruit or vegetable that you are going to ferment.  Oh, and patience.  It takes time.  For really good kraut, you need a couple of weeks.  There are lots of good blogs out there that have recipes you can follow.

Fermented foods have a place in every culture.  They were a way to preserve things without refrigeration.  It turns out, they provide good probiotics for your gut.  It’s starting to emerge scientifically that good gut bacteria is a secret to good health.  Good gut bacteria might even be good for your mental health.

However, these kinds of foods are mostly illegal to sell in supermarkets because they are hard to produce in an industrial manner.  So, you have to do it at home.

We are now branching off into other things.  Last year, we fermented some Meyer lemons and this year we are fermenting a big jar of them again.  Yesterday I started the fermentation on some red onions.  I love Frontera Grill chef/owner/founder Rick Bayless’s red onion garnish recipe and wondered if I could ferment some red onions, have them taste better and be good for you.  Yesterday I made some.  Here is a photo.  I think they will be outstanding with pork shoulder.