Kimchi, Kefir, Sauerkraut and all other fermented foods

Kimchi time again! Made about 6L so should keep me going...

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I have kimchi jealousy.

Now have a threaten myself to go to loon fung and stock up.

Oh and if you (readers) haven't done beetroot, you should as it is like cooked beetroot but nicer.

Followed the instructions for pearly barley miso in the Noma book but made it with teff. Think it's OK, I tasted some and didn't die.

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Has anyone here had success making tepache?

Wondering if organic pineapples are a must or will the fermentation process take care of any nasty bits in regular pineapples?

New toy day. I'm planning on converting an undercounter fridge I have in to a fermentation chamber. Mainly for bread initially, but I should be able to do some funky ferments in it eventually. Got a small tube heater that will sit where the salad tray was. Whole thing can fit 3x ikea boxes = 6 oval bannetons.

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Same thing, different fermentation. 😉

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Nice! What wattage is that heater? I'm a touch worried mine is too powerful - 45W

I haven't checked if my 25l brewing vessel will fit. I think it may be a bit big.

got a batch of sprout kimchi in the fridge. it's very, very funky

Mines 40W. I wouldn't worry about the power, just make sure it's horizontal, the inkbird with take care of the rest. It's surprising accurate when set up.

Are you bringing the cables through the condensate drain at the back?

Did consider it yeah, or just drill a hole through to the compressor cavity, not sure if that's an incredibly bad idea though I haven't had a proper look yet. Either that or feed it in where I'm taking the existing thermostat out.

I'd be wary about drilling through the back or sides, too easy to hit a refrigerant pipe. I just slightly enlarged the drain hole, cut the plug off the heater to pass the cable through and rewired. The Inkbird thermometer probe when straight through.

I left my fridge stat in place, just turned it to max. But I want to be able to sell the fridge again if needs be so didn't want to do anything drastic.

What’s the white creamy looking element?

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It’s rice flour porridge. Thickens the juices a little.

what was your measurement of rice flour water seen lots of different versions, some where it looks like yours other s where its v watery or like porridge.

I used maangchi’s easy kimchi recipe. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/easy-kimchi

It does look a bit thick there but an awful lot of juice comes out of the veggies as they ferment and now the consistency is bang on with just barely detectable thickening of the juice. I didn’t have the sweet rice flour, just regular from the Chinese supermarket, not sure if that makes any difference.

And the flavour is awesome. Kimchi fried rice with an egg on top was back tonight after a Christmas hiatus!

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Thanks will try that vers with vegan tweeks 👍👍

Juat had a read did you do the squid bit!!

for those who've made their own kimchi, I've been doing this recipe regularly since the first lockdown. it's delicious
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/kimchi-udon-with-scallions

Oof, nice! Thanks
My fave two recipes for kimchi are
https://mykoreankitchen.com/kimchi-fried-rice/
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-jjigae

First kimchi is go. It’s this recipe but I always play fast and loose with the details when cook. I hope that doesn’t cause me too many issues here.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/brussels-sprout-kimchi-51187100

I will get some rice flour to add in next time and try a different recipe.

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nice

I added too much shrimp paste into my brussel sprout kimchi and now it is SO FUNKY. I've just been chopping it up and tossing it into that kimchi noodles recipe I linked above. now and then throw it into a grilled cheese too

I would maybe remove the orange thing from the top of that kilner jar ? kimchi is liable to explode if sealed too tightly, I'm told. never happened to me but I never leave those rubber seals on

Hmmm. Is it okay to open it to do that?

Also - what temperature should it be at? Some say room temperature, some say colder. Our kitchen is quite cold at the moment because we’re having building work done.

you'll need to keep opening it every day or so to burp it, so opening it now to remove the orange thing should be fine.

I keep mine in a cupboard under the stairs when fermenting, which is roughly 'room temperature' whatever that means. not blazing hot, not freezing

This got knocked over in the cupboard and now the cupboard stinks.

But on the plus side, some air bubbles are appearing which suggests it’s doing it’s thing very nicely. It’s going back for another five or six days.

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are you tasting it every day when you burp it ? it's quite easy to over ferment and end up with something that is super tangy. that might be to your taste, of course, but not every loves the tang

and, yeah, I've ended up with a funky cupboard a few times : / usually when burping the kimchi and not appreciating how much it has fermented... and then... it spurts liquid everywhere. this is why I take it out the cupboard to burp it now

The more sour and stinky the better.