OT: lactofermented BEETS

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Shivani, if you'd be so kind as to please, if you can, pass along ANY

lactofermentation (non vinegar) pickling recipes you may have and are

particularly fond of :-) (especially if you have one for beets!) >>

 

Pickled Beets!

The recipe in Sally Fallon's book NURTURING TRADITIONS calls for baking

12 medium beets on a cookie sheet at 300 for 3 hrs. or till soft. but I

think slices of raw beet will pickle just fine. (She personally told me to

cook my stirngbeans before pickling them. I did them raw and they are

fantastic!) Anyway, do slices about 1/4 inch thick. If too thin

fermentation may go too quickly and you may get alcohol.

Use organic beets. Otherwise ther may not be enough nutrients for good

pickling, Sally says.

Add seeds from 2 cardamom pods if you wish. Or dill weed, etc. Combine

1 cup pure water, 1 tbsp. natural sea salt and 4 tbsp whey and pour over

beets in a quart jar. Press the beets down good first. Add more water if

needed to cover beets. Top of beets should at least an inch from the top of

the jar.

Cover tightly (Air will ruin the pickling, as it's an anaerobic process.)

and keep at room temp. for about 3 days. Hot weather, maybe two days. Then

keep in the frig.

If you don't have a source of organic whey, you can get some by buying

organic yogurt and draining the whey out of it by putting it in fine

cheesecloth in a colander over a bowl for some time. Don't press on it

unless your cheesecloth is really fine mesh.

What's left then, as I said, is REAL cream cheese. Whey keeps in the frig.

in a jar for months.

If you have enough whey, you can skip the salt. The salt is there to

prevent bad guy bacteria from getting a head start, but they won't be able to

if you have enough whey.

You might want to make a smaller batch the fist time, and see how they

turn out. 'Nless you are adventurous. Which you must be, though, to hang

around with Butch?!

Let me know how they turn out?

This same procedure can be used to pickle a lot of different things. (I

used the same solution to cover my beans.) There are several pages of

lactofermentation recipes in the book. And a TON of other info. you will

love, betcha.

Shivani

When it is not " room temp " (by which she meaans about 72) overnight, I

put the jars in an insulated container ( " cooler) with a couple of jars of hot

water. So far, that has produced a pretty steady 80 temp. all night and well

into next day.