LET'S TRY AGAIN

Feels like I'm making up for lost time, but I simply could not let this week pass me by without doing something towards my experimental gardening and test kitchen endeavours. First things first, I processed the bell pepper and paprika I bought for the purpose in order to harvest the seeds.

Now I have to wait for the seeds to dry out completely before I can proceed. It is amazing how one seed to the next, they are all so diverse in terms of preferences and processes. It feels like I'm learning something new, every single day.

Then I also gave my orchid a rice water tonic - after stumbling on a tutorial about growing a new orchid from a leave with the help of rice water - will see how it responds to that.

And I finally got to my new Consol jars! 

This time around, I tried the oven sterilisation process - so I washed them in warm soapy water, then baked them dry for about 10 to 20 minutes in a 150 degree Celsius oven, before cooling them again.

Long ago, I saw this nifty trick of placing a cabbage leaf round at the top, to keep little bits from floating up during fermentation, but I still needed a working solution in terms of preservation weights. Fortunately I found a recommendation from a reliable source to try peeled and cored apples, cabbage crowns or radishes - I happen to have apples on hand, so I popped those in some of the jars.

Another ingenious preservation weight solution I found, is using a small jar inside the jar - and this one I like so much that I plan on sourcing little jars, exclusively for this purpose. Today however, I fortunately had a 250ml jar that fits into my 2L jar, since I somehow underestimated its volume.

So yea, I've been busy all morning and I had loads of dishes as a result, but I'm excited to have given this a second try,  with better equipment (oh and double quantities for some). So yea God willing, Tepache by Sunday, Dill Cucumbers by Monday, Sauerkraut by next Friday and more Fermented Red Onions by next weekend.

All in all, it feels like today alone, I managed to save a rather disappointing week, so now I can truly enjoy my weekend!

WORDS: rhodenel©22NOV2024 

PHOTOGRAPHY: rhoderuth©NOV2024