More fermenting

If you have heard enough about sauerkraut from me this year I suggest you skip this post and wait for the next, which I promise will be about something different. However, if you are still even remotely interested in hearing more about fermented food, do read on!

It was a complete coincidence that the February talk at the West of England Herb Group that I attend was about fermented foods. The speaker was Matthew Pennington, chef at The Ethicurean restaurant in Wrington, just outside Bristol. The restaurant is set in a walled garden where they aim to cook all they grow. They began experimenting with fermenting food in part to preserve things they had a glut of and in part to see them through the UK 'hungry gap' of March to May when there is traditionally nothing to harvest that is home grown.

Matthew demonstrated the very simple method of making sauerkraut (and I was very reassured that I had done it right) before going on to talk about all the other things he has fermented. Essentially, anything goes. If a vegetable can be chopped, chop it up: grated beetroot; shredded leeks; diced squash; a mix of shredded carrot, onion and celery. If you'd rather not chop it, leave it whole and soak it in a brine - cucumbers, peppers.

The golden formula just seems to be to add 2% salt. So, that's 2% salt to the weight of the chopped vegetables - 20g of salt to 1kg of shredded vegetables - or 2% salt to the combined weight of the whole vegetables and the water you are soaking them in. So if you have stuffed your jar with baby cucumbers and topped up with mineral water so they are completely covered, weigh this and then then add 2% salt (remembering to subtract the weight of the jar first). And yes, I did just say 'mineral' water, because tap water contains chlorine which will kill the bacteria you are attempting to grow. You must also keep all the vegetable matter under 'water'. The fermenting process is anaerobic but anything poking out of the liquid that the fermenting process produces has the opportunity to grow something you really don't want to eat, such as mould. If need be, weigh down your vegetables with a zip lock bag filled with water, a 'pickle pebble' or even a sterilised beach pebble (boil it in water to kill off anything untoward). Or just top up with mineral water if your vegetable and salt mix is very dry.

Of course, you can also add whatever spices or flavourings you like, but do bear in mind that anything you add will have its flavour enhanced enormously. I think I added half a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns to my litre/kilo of cabbage and it is very peppery. Matthew said that juniper berries go really well with cabbage but that you only need to add 2-3 per kilo of vegetables. In Wells Market this week I came across a stall with different flavoured sauerkraut, including a 'kimchi' flavoured one. Kimchi is a Korean fermented dish where a whole cabbage is fermented in a spicy brine. This version just added the finely chopped chillies, ginger and garlic to the shredded cabbage and salt mix and made it as if it were sauerkraut. Great if you like something fairly spicy (not forgetting that the spice flavours are greatly enhanced as they ferment).

As for how long to leave it, temperature plays a big part. However, 1 week seems to be the minimum but it can take up to 1 month if the temperature is a lot below 20C. Since the fermentation process releases gas, your jar should not be completely sealed. Matthew had an array of special fermenting jars from Lakeland but for his kefir he had used a clip-top jar (like a Kilner jar) but had removed the rubber seal. Before being so knowledgeable about fermenting food (hey, I've made a batch of sauerkraut and been to a talk!) I had used a clip-top jar with the rubber seal still on. The air still managed to bubble out so I don't think there are any hard and fast rules.

After this introduction to fermented vegetables to eat, Matthew moved onto drinks.  The first was a fermented beetroot drink which was made from large chunks of beetroot, mineral water, live yoghurt whey (the liquid that would drain off if you were to put some yoghurt in a muslin lined sieve and leave it for about 24 hours) and 1% salt. Next was fermented milks or kefir (use any milk you like including nut 'milks') and add a starter 'kefir grain' which you can apparently buy on Ebay. Next we moved onto Meads. I really did not know that honey will spontaneously ferment in water with no need to add salt or any sort of yeast or starter grain. We tried a lovely honey mead which had been flavoured with Winter Savoury. I think the measures were 500ml mineral water, 100ml honey (raw is best as it is more likely to contain the good bacteria you want to grow), a handful of the flavouring herb and perhaps a handful of dried fruit to keep the fermenting process going (dried apricots had been used in this case, but dried cranberries, cherries will all work too giving slightly different flavours). The result was a beautiful pale gold liquid which was about 8% alcohol after 6 months of fermenting. This is the only fermented product that is properly alcoholic and takes longer to ferment than the vegetables. A month is the minimum recommended time at room temperature but the longer you leave it the more the flavour will develop - and presumably the alcohol content will rise too.

Finally, Matthew moved onto fermented herbs and spices. He had brought along chillies, ginger and turmeric for us to try. I have to say the fermented ginger smelt disgusting but a mixture of all three on cooked potatoes was delicious. He has also tried garlic, lemongrass, and galangal. He tends to blitz the chosen raw spice with 2% salt so that he has a paste as that is how he likes to use it in the restaurant - adding a spoonful at the end of cooking - but if you wanted to have larger chunks or to leave it whole, go for it. We also tried a fermented 'blitz' of rosemary and parsley, and some amazing wild garlic, which had been left whole.

Since it is almost wild garlic season I can already picture Herb Group members foraging out in force and experimenting with fermentation. Just imagine a generous dollop of fermented wild garlic and a knob of butter gently melting over just-cooked potatoes.... mmm-mmm! Meanwhile, I picked up some scrummy looking venison and pork sausages at Wells Market this week so it'll be more sausage, mash and sauerkraut for me.