Each year I get concord grapes in my CSA share, and I never know what to do with them aside from just eating them fresh (I once tried pickling grapes—never again). This year I decided to expand my solo repertoire with these intensely flavored and deeply purple fruit bombs and try making a lacto-fermented whey soda with them. I am happy to say, it was seriously tasty.
For my culture, I used the whey I collected from making yogurt cheese—this kind of cheese is basically the result of hanging plain yogurt (full fat without stabilizers, pectin, or gelatin) in butter muslin for a day or so. They whey drips out and what remains is a thick and tangy spreadable cheese. The whey contains cultures that usher along the lacto-fermentation process. Here’s a shot of the delicious cheese hanging with the whey at the bottom of the container.
To start, I washed and picked all the grapes off their stems, discarding any that were overripe, damaged, or in generally bad shape; firm, ripe, and unblemished grapes were what I was looking for. In the end, I had 6 cups of grapes. I added 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup organic sugar to the grapes and brought it all to a boil, and let that simmer for about 30 minutes. I cooled the mix and then put it through a sieve, discarding pits and skins; what was left was a thick juicy liquid. Continue reading “Sparkly Concord Grape Lacto-Fermented Whey Soda”
Today I opened up my fermented ginger ale to see how it turned out. Well… the good: delicious! I love the smooth flavor combination of ginger, lemon, and sweet. It’s really nice.
The (sort of) bad: not very sparkly. But there was a little carbonation, and when I shook the glass and listened to the liquid, I could hear the bubbles effervesce and pop. My thought is that more carbonation can be encouraged by putting it in a more airtight container, a kind of “second fermentation”.
Last week, I wrote about the ginger bug I created – this is the starter for naturally fermented ginger ale. It’s made from ginger, sugar, and water, it ferments rather quickly – really, in a matter of days. I let mine ferment for about five days (I fed it twice during that time). The next thing to do was to make the ginger ale itself!
It’s a pretty simple process. I chose to make a half batch, since it’s essentially a test batch; I’ll often make smaller batches of something I make for the first time. I started by combining 3/4 cup organic sugar and a 1 inch knob of ginger root (grated) with four cups of water. I also set aside the juice of one lemon.
I put the water in a pot, grated the ginger into it (I prefer to use a microplane for this task), and added the sugar. I brought that to a boil and let it cook for 15 minutes, uncovered. Then I let it cool to room temperature.
I’ve expanded my fermentation repertoire to ginger beer/ale. I love ginger and have enjoyed ginger ale in the past. I don’t care for most commercial ginger ale because it contains high fructose corn syrup. No doubt there are artisanal ginger ales, though, which probably contain sugar in place of HFCS, which would be better. But I really want to learn to make it and determine the sugar content myself.
I’m using the recipe in Wild Fermentation. The way to start the process of ginger ale is to create a ginger bug. This is pretty easy at first glance – grated ginger root and sugar (2 tsp each) are combined with water (1 cup), stir to dissolve the sugar, cover the jar with layers of cheesecloth (I did five layers), then let it sit for a day or so to ferment. Fermentation is evident by bubbles forming on the top layer of the ginger-sugar-water mix.
So far, I’ve seen lots of bubbles. I’ve been feeding it ginger and sugar every other day or so to keep the fermentation up. This week I’ll take the next step toward making ginger ale – more on that later.
This is actually my second ginger bug – two fruit flies found their way into the first one I made. I had few layers of cheesecloth on top of the jar, but I guess they wiggled their way in. Gross.
Bottom photo is the grated ginger root (I grated it with a microplane) and organic sugar. The top photo has the water added to that. I used just tap water (perhaps not the best choice, but it’s what I had). I’m excited to see if it all works out!
This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
Lately, I’ve been on a preservation kick. So far, I’ve made jam/preserves, simple syrup, vinegar pickles, and now… shrubs. Actually, just one at this point.
Yes, shrubs. It sounds like a plant, but it’s a fruit syrup that basically consists of fruit, sugar, and vinegar in a 1:1:1 ratio. It’s another way to preserve seasonal fruit, hooray! And it’s easy to make.
My main reference in learning how to do this is this great article on Serious Eats, Cocktail 101: How to Make Shrub Syrups. Apparently the shrub was popular in Colonial America. They’d mix the shrub syrup with water, making for a refreshing summer drink. It pretty much got forgotten after refrigeration and products of the industrial food system became more and more popular in this country.
The shrub has been sort of “rediscovered” here in the 21st century – I actually first heard about the shrub at The Queens Kickshaw after our food swap. Ben, one of the owners, was experimenting with them. I tasted a few he had put together and they sure were vinegary and tasty, but I like the tang of vinegar, so it was all good with me. It wasn’t until I was poking around online that I came across the Serious Eats article that talked about making shrubs in more depth.
So, we got a lot of plums in last week’s CSA share, and by the beginning of this week, they were really starting to ripen. I wanted to do something with them to extend their life – I didn’t have enough for jam really, so the shrub was a perfect solution. I had a cup of raw apple cider vinegar in the fridge, too, and some organic sugar on the shelf. Everything I needed!
I decided to make my shrub with the cold-process method. This way, the raw vinegar would get to stay raw. There is a way to make a shrub by cooking the fruit, too, which is preferred by some people. With the cold-process method, the brightness of the fruit will shine through and be a strong match for the vinegar.
Yellow plums, washed, depitted, and quartered
I started by washing, pitting, and quartering enough yellow plums to make a cup of fruit. I then combined that with a cup of organic sugar. I stirred it together, put it in a glass bowl, covered it in foil, and set it in the refrigerator.
Plums mixed with organic sugar
I let the fruit macerate for 24 hours. At the end of the 24 hours, I was looking for fruit sitting in syrup created by its juices and the sugar, which is what I found.
Plums after 24 hours of macerating
Really ripe fruit would probably take less time to exude its juices and make a syrup, but even then you can leave the fruit in the fridge for a day. Even two or three days, it will be ok.
I then drained the fruit over a large stainless steel bowl, pressing the plums a little to get the last bits of juice out.
Draining the fruit
There was a bunch of sugar sitting on the bottom of the glass bowl, so I scraped that out and into the syrup.
Plum syrup
I then added a cup of raw cider vinegar to that, whisked it, then poured it into a bottle and capped it. Finally, I vigorously shook the bottle, attempting to dissolve some of the remaining sugar.
Plum syrup with raw vinegar added
I’ll likely have to shake the bottle more times to get the sugar to dissolve. The acids in the juice and vinegar will dissolve it all eventually.
I tasted it – it was tangy! And fruity. Reminded me of kombucha when it’s got a big tang. The shrub will mellow, though, and I’ll likely notice a substantial change in that direction after a week.
All in all, this is very exciting. I can see myself making shrubs all summer long. I expect the syrup would be great mixed with sparkling water, or make into this suggested cocktail from Serious Eats:
Pair a small amount of shrub (about half an ounce) with 2 ounces of vermouth or sherry. Top that with some seltzer or club soda.
It also might be good in wheat beer (just a splash) or with some gin.
Shrubs should last quite a while – at least a year in the fridge. Some believe you can keep it on the shelf instead, but I like my syruped drinks cold, so I’m just going to store mine in the refrigerator.
As far as the science behind the drink goes, here’s a great explanation from mixologist Neyah White:
When a shrub ages, it is like an ecosystem. The ambient yeast (yeast on the fruit itself and yeast from the air) turns the sugar into alcohol, and the acetobacter (the bacteria in unpasteurized vinegar) turns the alcohol into more vinegar. Eventually this will stabilize and not turn the whole shrub into fruit vinegar since the bacteria-induced pH change will stall out the yeast’s fermentation process (and thus the bacteria’s acetic acid-producing pathway).
Very cool. I like it when people talk about ecosystems in food.
So there you have it – shrubs!
This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
One of the things I’ve been doing while straightening out my eating practices is to drink lemon water in the mornings. I first became aware of the benefits of lemon water via Joy McCarthy’s twitter feed. She’s a big proponent of lemon water and encourages pretty much everyone to drink it.
So, why is it a good idea? Well, lemon juice mixed with water creates a beverage that, when imbibed, helps to raise the body’s pH level. Lemon juice, when metabolized, is very alkalizing and therefore can help balance out an acidic body. Being acidic is not a good condition to be in – if this is the case, one is more susceptible to falling ill, feeling fatigued, etc.
Lemon water helps to stimulate digestion as well, and ameliorate heartburn and bloating. Some people believe lemon water is helpful for weight loss, too, but I’m not absolutely sure about that.
It’s very simple to prepare – just cut a lemon in half and squeeze it into a glass, then add 8-12 oz of water. That’s it! I drink it first thing in the morning, but some people also drink it mid-day and in the evenings as well. In the mornings, the key is to drink it first thing before you eat anything.
After you drink it, though, it’s best to rinse out your mouth with water to get rid of as much of the residual acid as possible – while lemon juice is alkaline when metabolized, it is acidic in the mouth and can affect tooth enamel and such. Wait about a half- hour to brush your teeth. Brushing too soon after drinking/eating things acidic can do more harm than good, as the tooth enamel will still be too soft – you’ll most likely be removing a microscopic layer that could have been repaired by the minerals in your saliva. So, be careful in this respect.
For me, I find that I feel sort of “cleansed” after drinking lemon water. Some years back a massage therapist friend of mine told me that drinking lemon water after body work or rigorous exercise has a detoxifying effect, too. I like drinking it after I run. I also find that when I drink lemon water regularly, I have less sugar cravings and my digestion is calmer. All good things.
Definitely try it out and let me know what you think!
