fermentation basics recipes and resource links

Thanks for coming to today’s “Fermentation Basics” demo at the Fun with Fermentation festival, and a big thank you to Christina Sasser and the entire WVSFA team who worked so hard to make the festival a success!  I loved the mix of old and young people, farmers, hippies, yuppies, foodies, students, and parents. I was happy to share some of my techniques and tips for vegetable fermentation, and enjoyed talking to so many of you after the demo at the Master Food Preserver booth.

Ferments discussed in today’s demo:

• Radish-cube kimchi
• Fermented full-sour and half-sour pickles
• Regular batch sauerkraut and how to can it.
• Small batch sauerkraut from Serious Eats (also check out the author’s great preservation blog, Food in Jars)
• Fermented peppers (recipe in narrative form)

Recipes with sauerkraut:

• Ruby sauerkraut, apple, and carrot raw slaw
• Transylvanian sauerkraut casserole with rice and kielbasa
• Tempeh reuben

Some books and resources I trust and use often:

• Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving (classic resource for basics of preservation, updated every few years)
• Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich (includes fermentation recipes and many ethnic recipes not available in other collections)
• Wild Fermentation by the King of Sauerkraut Sandor Katz
• OSU Extension-Lane County’s full list of preservation publications (free .pdf downloads) – See esp. “Making Sauerkraut and Sauerkraut Recipes” and “Problems & Solutions: Sauerkraut” under the heading “Pickling”
• My Harsch crock
• The OSU Extension Master Food Preserver message line for class registration, preservation and food safety questions: 541-344-4885.  We no longer have a local hotline, thanks to budget cuts in Lane County, but in the summer and before the holidays there’s a 1-800 number you can call.  More information here.