Bubble & Bubble

Last night I went to my third cooking class at the home of Dara Merin of The Sage Table. We went through a comprehensive list of fermented foods and asked questions as she prepared some dhosa (fermented lentils and rice) and potatoes for our dinner. Topics covered included fermented vegetable pickles, kombucha, sourdough, nut yogurts, vinegars and dhosa.

The homemade kombucha was entirely different from what I have had out of a bottle. My first kombucha experience was a bit offputting -- it tasted like apple cider vinegar. Others I have sampled tasted lighter and less like vinegar. Dara told us that when kombucha tastes like vinegar -- it's gone too far in the fermentation process and you should just toss it or let it go to become vinegar. I can't wait to try my hand at kombucha at home!

Nut yogurts sound really intriguing -- I have lots of raw cashews, so I plan to give that a go.

I left the class with starter for kombucha, sourdough and a jar of vegetables to ferment/pickle. I can't wait to do a jar of carrots, cauliflower and hot peppers for my brother -- he's going to love it. I am also going to make my own sauerkraut.

Seems like I need to wait until I get my tomato seedlings out of the kitchen though -- they have microbes in the soil that can get into my fermented cultures. I promise pictures of the tomato seedlings soon!