WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT

Sometimes, you just know you have a future together - like the first time I made those Malay Style Date Balls (for which I now have my first order), and then the lactic acid fermentation process ('Lacto-Fermentation') - when I first tried my hand at some Sauerkraut, Fermented Red Onion with Thyme, and Dill Cucumbers, about a week ago. 

Honestly, I'm not quite sure which I love best, so I just have all three in the same sitting. 

The lactic acid fermentation process ticks so many of my boxes, it's really a no-brainer, and I can't believe I've not come to it earlier.

The process is genuinely enjoyable, since it's hand made using traditional methods and tools. The ingredients are basic, natural and cost effective. There's a sort of slow living pace to the whole thing that encourages mindfulness and the end product is not just delicious but also has incredible health benefits, to boot. 

Anyway, my first attempt was done with makeshift tools and old (cumbersome) glass coffee jars I had on hand, but considering that this is an exercise I want to repeat soon and often, and with a myriad of other recipes I'm itching to have a go at, I deem this a 'hobby' worth investing a lot more of my time and resources into. 

To start off, I'd like some proper preservation jars.

Now as a South African, I grew up with the Consol brand as the industry standard and as I rummaged through my stuff I discovered that I still have some on hand. I found a 1L jar (sprayed copper and used for storage in the bathroom) and two vintage 500ml jars (one used for my kitchen utensils and the other I've converted to hold my kitchen string).

And I also found that I have a priceless item - a fourth one, the 2L capacity jar, no longer in production - filled with pebbles from the Drakensberg mountain streams. A rather heavy memento I use as a bookend, from a particularly memorable trip to Bushman's Neck. 

Personally, I'm not likely to endorse any sort of brand name - for the name's sake - but Consol has always been a personal favourite of mine, and remain so to this day, so naturally, it was the first place I went to have a look at online too.

The ingenious thing about Consol, is that their 500ml, 1L jars (as well as my vintage 2L preservation jar) all have the same size neck opening, so the same lid size can be used interchangeably.

Back in the day, they only came with the metal screw ring, dome and gasket combination for a lid, or am I mistaken, since I still have a glass dome that pre-dates the metal one? 

While at their online shop, I had a look at what else they have on offer and I was intrigued by their grater and juicer set, since my vintage glass lemon squeezer unfortunately fell and shattered recently, and grating straight into a jar can be immensely convenient at times. They also had this adorable piggy bank bottle conversion - though to be honest, I'm probably better off saving my money elsewhere. Although the 250ml preservation jars take different size lids, they are also multi functional and two options I saw and was tempted by was the massive salt and pepper grinders as well as the miniature jugs.

Yet now they also stock the modern plastic lids for ease of use. What's more, they sell the lids separately so I can, quite inexpensively, update my existing (vintage) preservation jars in the process too. Though I intend to stick to black or dark grey, to better accommodate my personal style aesthetic, I'm sure it could be exciting for others to see that they have some different colours on offer too.

I'm not knocking the original design, it worked perfectly, and quite frankly I intend to use my old metal screw rings still, just differently. As with the makeshift conversion for my kitchen string, these metal screw rings work perfectly for keeping thin cotton material or regular cheesecloth in place.

It works not just for making stuff like Tepache and Ginger Bug, that needs open preservation, but it also serves ideally as a strainer for whey and the sort, simply by using a slightly larger square of fabric and indenting the centre.

Besides the products I've mentioned above, they also have an array of sizes in jars and bottles for all sorts of preservation and brewing purposes, at seriously cost effective prices. I have my eye on about three sizes that could potentially work for my future projects. So yea, I have a lot on my wish-list right now, and I'll definitely be back there to purchase when the time comes - every rand and cent, well spent and justified.

There is however one item on my wish-list I cannot justify - one that feels like an absolutely unnecessary indulgence, since no cup or glass should be purchased for five or ten times the price I could get a regular alternative. I tried to argue that it's two in one... but even then, the price simply does not justify the practical purpose. 

Which ever way, I'm still inexplicably drawn to this set of Double Wall Tumblers. I suspect it's deeper rooted than just aesthetic appeal.

WORDS: rhodenel©14NOV2024 

PHOTOGRAPHY: rhoderuth©13NOV2024; rhoderuth©14NOV2024