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Other fermented foods?

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Sander

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Besides the obvious mead, wine and beer, does any of you make other fermented foods?

I make:

Kefir Milk fermented with a symbiotic culture of yeasts and bacteria. Usually takes 24 hours.
Kombucha Sweetened tea fermented with a symbiotic culture of yeasts and bacteria. Usually takes 2 weeks. End product contains a small amount of alcohol and a lot of organic acids.
Sourdough bread
 

Consul

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I wouldn't mind learning more about kefir. A friend of mine told me about it, and I did some searching, but didn't find anything beyond basic descriptions. Do you perchance have any links? Thank you.
 

WRATHWILDE

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Sander said:
Besides the obvious mead, wine and beer, does any of you make other fermented foods?

I make:
Sourdough bread

Any good recipes or a place to find a good starter, sourdough bread in the midwest universally sucks. I really miss the San Francisco Extra Sour Sourdough.

Wrathwilde
 

Zem

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What timing! :)

My dads been experimenting with Kombucha as well. As far as I can tell the usual recipe is 1 cup of sugar in a gallon of strong green or black tea. I've found that after 8 days it's about right, longer than that and you start getting more vinegar.

Heres a weird one though--he boiled some honey ( :'() and skimmed off the foam and used a cup of that as the sugar nutrient for the Kombucha. It came out much lighter, but very nice (frankly it does taste a little like mead). Still he is worried that it may be too alcoholic (he doesn’t drink) I'm trying to guess the ABV in this stuff. It certainly seems to ferment a little, but it converts the sugars into so many other things, I cant begin to guess.

Any clues?
 

Sander

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@Consul

http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html is a really good link to start with. I love this stuff and it's supposed to be really good for you.

@Wrathwilde

I made my one starter, using kefir. It works like a charm. My recipe: mix water, flour (whole wheat) and sourdough and bake it... (To me it's more like an art than a science ;) )

@Wolfie

Temperature is pretty low right now (around 60 F), so for me it takes 14 days. In summer it's more like 10 days. I've used honey (NOT boiled) and grape juice instead of plain sugar. Both turned out nice. I guess quite a bit of alcohol is produced, but most of it is converted into other things. In the end product there might be something like 1% alcohol (my guess), but of course this depends on a lot of factors.
 

hedgehog

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Well,
I tried my hand at making boza, which is a (somewhat sour) fermented grain drink with very low ABV (~2%). Some recipes swear its made with bulgar wheat, while other recipes mention millet and rice. So far using the bulgar wheat mixes, I have come close, but not close enough to enjoy. Still working on it... The people who introduced me to boza say that it is supposedly very good for digestion, although these people also enjoyed belting back very strong sljivovica like water.
hedgehog
 

NeadMead

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Has anyone here tried making sake? if so, send recipes. If I do get into brewing I may be interested in making some. ;D
 

Consul

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Thank you for the link. I'll definitely have to give this a try.
 

lostnbronx

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NeadMead said:
Has anyone here tried making sake? if so, send recipes. If I do get into brewing I may be interested in making some. ;D

I've never done it, but it seems like it can be easier or harder, depending upon your level of interest. The following is a Japanese site (in English) that appears to be a decent introduction to home sake brewing.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html


-David
 

Miriam

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Sander said:
Besides the obvious mead, wine and beer, does any of you make other fermented foods?

I regularly make sourdough, sauerkraut, and vinegar, and I have a pathetic little kombucha culture all dried out and sitting in its jar...nobody would drink the tea but me. My kids would show their friends "the alien my Mom is growing in the closet"... :D Occasionally I'll make yoghurt and mascarpone (kefir I buy from the Russian dairy outlet in the local covered market). I'd like to make cheese someday, but have a problem finding kosher rennet: the dairies won't part with theirs to a little guy like me. I understand nettle tea might work instead.

Wrathwilde, why don't you try trapping your own wild yeasts out of the air? Maybe the yeasts around my Israeli apartment are full of the tension and energy that goes around here, but I get great bread out of my starter. 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup water, cover the jar with a paper towel, and feed it every day from the first signs of fermentation. By the fifth feed, it's strong enough to lift your bread dough right out out the window.

Walnut sourdough bread, with a mild cheese, some ripe pears and a glass of Ancient Orange...life could be worse.

Miriam
 

Brewbear

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My mom makes cheese from the regular (pasteurised) milk. It is not like the feta, it is "fresh" cheese. She boils the milk and as it starts boiling she adds 2 tablespoons of vinegar. That causes the milk to curdle. The curdles are collected and pressed in a cheeesecloth and hun to dry. Pretty darn good cheese too!!!!

Cheers,
Brewbear
 

Miriam

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You know, BrewBear, I'm going to try that. Thanks!

Miriam
 

Sander

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Miriam said:
Walnut sourdough bread, with a mild cheese, some ripe pears and a glass of Ancient Orange...life could be worse.

Life could be a lot worse...

I've made "fresh" cheese using kefir and raw goat's milk. Quite tasty!
 

Holly

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Jan 28, 2006
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I make Amish Friendship Bread - which uses a pretty basic yeast starter.

I have been wanting to try Kvass. And my own vinegar - I make a non alcoholic (non fermented) drink called shrub that uses vinegar and I would really like to use my own vinegar rather than store bought all the time.

My boyfriend got into drinking kefir.
 
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