Preserving Your Harvest

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I picked up my standard poodle today meet Mocha.
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So cute!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I've been making and eating more cheeses. This one is a Jalapeno (from the garden) Farmhouse Cheddar. Cheeses take some time to age, this one is 3 1/2 months old and just perfect.

 

[WthrLady]

I want to try a cheddar. Directions please!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I want to try a cheddar. Directions please!

I used Ricki Carroll's book here's the online recipe. I use a different culture though because I have raw milk.

https://cheesemaking.com/products/farmstead-cheese-making-recipe

I also watch Gavin Webber on YouTube he shows exactly how to do everything and it really helped me.

 

[WthrLady]

Thank you!

 

[igorsMistress]

I've been making and eating more cheeses. This one is a Jalapeno (from the garden) Farmhouse Cheddar. Cheeses take some time to age, this one is 3 1/2 months old and just perfect.
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View attachment 4063310

That’s so pretty! I bet it’s delicious too.

 

[Smokerbill]

I making more sauerkraut today, my 5th batch (I think) since I started. For the last batch I used red cabbage, and it's really good!

I sliced the cabbage thin this time and then chopped it into shorter lengths, thinking it might ferments a little quicker.

1473 grams cabbage
35 grams canning salt (2.37%)



I learned that adding the salt and letting it rest for a few hours (mixing every hour or so) pulls out the moisture and makes crushing it easier. Then it's packed into the fermenter.

This is the red cabbage kraut I made. I'm getting the process down. This time it took me about 20 minutes to get it shredded and do the initial salting. And probably another 20 minutes to remix, crush, and pack into the fermenter.



ETA:

The cabbage is in the fermenter now. It made a lot of liquid but I still added a cup of saltwater so the cabbage is well below the surface to prevent mold growth.

I put a trimmed yogurt container lid on top to keep the cabbage from floating, and weighed it down with a ramekin, a 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup and a half pint canning jar filled with water.

The finer-cut cabbage is much easier to work with and packs better into the fermenter. In a week it'll be smelling like a dead mouse for a few days.

 

[Smokerbill]

I let this batch ferment 5 weeks instead of 3 and it turned out great. I think cutting the cabbage into very thin shreds and keeping it completely submerged the whole time helped make it better too. I opened the fermenter just one time during the process to remove a floater from the top of the liquid.

I'll duplicate this recipe (in my previous post) next time I make it.

Edited to add:
Got my next batch shredded, just need to squeeze out the water over the next several hours. Then it can go into the fermenter.
1100 grams cabbage
26.07 grams salt
= 2.37% salt concentration