Making Sauerkraut

Timeframe: 1 to 4 weeks
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Special equipment:
- 1 gallon-sized glass jar
- Plate (or any heavy, flat object) that fits inside glass jar
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Ingredients for 1 gallon:
- 5 pounds cabbage
- 3 tablespoons sea salt
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Process:
1. Chop or grate cabbage, finely or coarsely, with or without hearts, however you like it. Place the cabbage in a large bowl as you chop it. I chose to mix green and red cabbage to end up with a bright pink kraut!

2. Sprinkle salt on the cabbage as you go. The salt pulls water out of the cabbage (through osmosis) and this creates the brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting. The salt also keeps the cabbage crunchy by inhibiting enzymes that soften it.

Shakin' ze salt.

4. Mix ingredients together and pack into the jar. Pack just a bit at a time and tamp it down using your fingers. The tamping packs the kraut tight in the jar and helps force water out of the cabbage.3. Add other vegetables, if you like. Grate carrots for a coleslaw-like kraut. Seaweed, greens, Brussels sprouts and beets work as well. I kept this batch simple, just adding a pinch of ground garlic. Experiment with herbs and spices (caraway seeds, dill seeds, celery seeds and juniper beers are classic).
5. Cover the kraut with a plate or some other weight that fits snuggly into the jar. This is to force water out of the cabbage and keep it submerged under the brine. Cover the whole thing with a cloth to keep dust and flies out.

Easy as heck.

Sauerkraut: The Scoop

Sauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. These bacterias transform the sugars in fresh cabbage to lactic acids which give it a sour flavor and good keeping qualities. Lactobacillus is the bacteria found in kimchi, cheese, cider, beer, dark chocolate and yogurt (as well as the human digestive track and vagina!) which has therapeutic anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. In addition to inhibiting the growth of some harmful bacteria, lactobacilli restore physiological balance in the vaginal eco-stystem by maintaing pH levels and generating hydrogen peroxide against pathogens. Pedioccoci are used as probiotics to aid digestion and are commonly added as beneficial microbes in the creation of cheeses and yogurts. 

Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus are all examples of gram-positive bacteria.

Sauerkraut is made by a process of pickling called lacto-fermentation. Fully cured sauerkraut keeps for several months in an airtight container stored at or below 60 degrees F. Neither refrigeration nor pasteurization is necessary, although these treatments prolong storage life. Fermentation by lactobacilli is induced naturally, as there is air-borne bacteria culture on raw cabbage. The fermentation process has three phases. In the first phase, anaerobic bacteria lead the fermentation and begin producing an acidic environment. The second phase starts as the acid levels become too high for many bacteria and Leuconostoc bacteria takes dominance. In the third phase, various Lactobacilli species ferment remaining sugars, lowering the pH. Properly cured sauerkraut is sufficiently acidic to prevent a favorable environment for the growth of Clostridium botulinum, the toxins which cause botulism, a rare but serious disease.

Sauerkraut in a stage of fermentation.

Although sauerkraut is best known as a German food, the art of preserving vegetables through a lactic acid fermentation process did not originate in Germany. Preserving green cabbage this way was discovered by the Chinese in 221 BCE as a way to provide substantial nutrition to the builders of the Great Wall of China during the winter months. Mongolians brought the Chinese Suan cai ("sour vegetable") to Europe in the 13th Century. Its popularity began in Eastern Europe then quickly spread throughout Western Europe. In the 18th century, it was discovered that sauerkraut was an effective cure for scurvy due to its high vitamin content (especially Vitamin C). It became a favorite food of sea travelers who had no access to fresh vegetables. James Cook, the legendary captain of the British Royal Navy, always took sauerkraut with him on long sea voyages. During World War I, due to concerns that the American public would reject the German name, American sauerkraut makers relabeled their product as "Liberty cabbage" for the duration of the war. Meanwhile, British troops used "Kraut" as a derogatory term for the German military personnel.

The veggie that started it all.

Making Kimchi

This recipe for Baechu (Cabbage) Kimchi is adapted from Wild Fermentation. Check out that book, if you haven't already! Baechu Kimchi is a basic kimchi.
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Timeframe: 1 week
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Special equipment:
*Optional* Food processor (such as cuisinart / magic bullet / blender)
- 1 quart-sized glass jar
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Ingredients for 1 quart / 1 liter:
- Sea salt
- 1 pound Chinese cabbage (bok choi or napa)
- 1 daikon radish or a few red radishes 
- 1 to 2 carrots
- 1 to 2 onions and/or leeks and/or a few scallions and/or shallots
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic (or more)
- 3 to 4 hot peppers or a 1.5 tablespoons dried hot pepper flakes (without chemical preservatives)
- 3 tablespoons (or more) fresh grated ginger root
~
Process:
1. Mix a brine of about 4 cups (1 liter) of water and 4 tablespoons of sea salt. Stir well to thoroughly dissolve salt. The brine should taste good and salty!
2. Coarsely chop the cabbage, slice the radish and carrots, and let the vegetables soak in the brine, covered by a plate or other eight to keep the vegetables submerged, until soft, a few hours or overnight.

Veggies in brine.

I used a ceramic plate to keep them submerged overnight.

3. Prepare the spices: grate the ginger; chop the garlic and onion; remove seeds from chilies and chop or crush. 
4. Mix the spices into a paste. For this step, I used a small cuisinart machine.

5. Drain the brine off the vegetables, reserving the brine in another bowl. Taste vegetables for saltiness. They should be decidedly salty, but not unpleasantly so. If they are too salty, rinse them. If you cannot taste the salt, sprinkle with a couple teaspoons salt.
6. Mix the vegetables with the spice paste. 

7. Stuff the mixture into a clean quart size (liter) jar. Pack it tightly into the jar, pressing down until brine rises. If necessary, add a little of the reserved vegetable-soaking brine to submerge the kimchi. Cover the jar with lid.

Voila!

8. Check on the kimchi once a day, using your (clean!) fingers to push the vegetables back under the brine. 
9. Ferment in your kitchen or other warm place. Taste a bit of the kimchi every day. After about a week of fermentation, when it tastes ripe, move it to the refrigerator. 

Kimchi love.

Eggs with homemade kimchi for breakfast!

Kimchi: Magic Food

The average Korean eats 40 pounds of Kimchi (김치) per year. No wonder natives say “kimchi” instead of “cheese” when they are getting their pictures taken! Although there are hundreds of varieties of the super-spicy condiment, kimchi always consists of a main vegetable ingredient such as bok choi, napa cabbage, radish, green onions or cucumber. The oldest references to kimchi date back to 600 BCE. To this day, kimchi is the most popular banchan, or side dish, in Korean cuisine.

Various kimchi

Kimchi is part of a low-fat, high-fiber diet that has kept obesity at bay in Korea. Kimchi is loaded with vitamins A,  B and C, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium and iron, but it’s biggest benefit may be its “healthy bacteria” called lactobacilli, which is found in other fermented foods such as yogurt. Lactobacilli promote healthy digestion. The bacteria also help stop and even prevent yeast infections. While kimchi is traditionally served alone or mixed with rice and noodles, some Korean-Americans have integrated it into an Anglicized diet by using it as a pizza topping or scrambling it with eggs.

Scrambled eggs 'n kimchi

Making T'ej

T'ej is fun and simple to brew. After all, it only requires two ingredients! Honey and water. Let it ferment for 2 - 4 weeks and it will be approximately as alcoholic as the average "light" wine such as red or white (10 - 14% alcohol.) After one month, your t'ej will be about 20% alcohol, the same percentage as most low-end fortified wines. However, t'ej is anything but low-end. The sharp, spicy, piquant alcoholic t'ej is a true gift of nature.

My recipe is adapted from Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation, a must-have book for any fermentation fetishist. 

Timeframe: 2 weeks - 1 month

Special equipment:

- 1/2 gallon (or larger) wide-mouth jar / plastic bucket / ceramic crock

- 1/2 gallon (or larger) glass jug

Ingredients for 1/2 gallon: 

-1.5 cups honey (preferably raw, unpasteurized)

- 6 cups water

*Optional* A handful of fresh, unwashed fruit.
I recommend blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. The unwashed fruit is covered in wild yeast that will help ferment the t'ej plus add wonderful flavor. I used raspberries.

Process:

1. Mix water and honey in the jar / bucket / crock until the honey is thoroughly dissolved. 

2. Cover with a towel or cloth and set aside in a warm room for a few days, stirring at least twice a day. Trust that the yeast will be drawn to the sweet honey-water from the air.

3. After 3 or 4 days (more if it's cold, less if it's hot), the brew should be bubbly and fragrant. Once it gets to this stage, transfer your t'ej into the clean glass jug. If the jug is not full, you can add water and honey in a 4:1 ratio to fill. 

*Toss in the handful of fruit*

4. Cover the jar with a cheesecloth, balloon or any lid that can rest on it loosely and keep air out without holding pressure in. 

5. Leave for 2 weeks to a month, depending on how alcoholic you would like it to be. Bottoms up!

1/2 gallon raspberry t'ej. 3 weeks fermented.
"YUM!" -My mom, after drinking a glass.

T'ej: a grape-less wine that will blow your mind.

T'ej is the national drink of Ethiopia. A sweet golden honey-wine, it is indigenous to the country with roots going back to the 1,000 BCE. It is considered to be one of the oldest alcoholic beverages ever produced. Traditionally, it was used to toast the bride and groom at weddings. T’ej is usually home-brewed for family consumption and rarely sold commercially. Each household has its own family recipe with variations in taste resulting from the type of honey used, as well as the materials and time involved in making the mead.

Unlike kombucha, t’ej is spontaneously fermented. This means that no lab-grown yeast is added for fermentation purposes and instead, wild yeast and bacteria present in the air ferment the honey water that is used as a base. T’ej has a deceptively sweet taste that masks its high alcohol content, which varies according to length of fermentation.  Although grape wines were introduced into Ethiopia over fifty years ago, the preferred wine is still t’ej!

A berele of homemade t'ej.

Making Kombucha

Timeframe: 2 - 4 weeks

Special equipment:

- 1 gallon-sized glass jar

- Cloth (preferably organic cotton) and rubber band to cover the jar

Ingredients for 1 gallon:

- 1 SCOBY

- 6 tea bags

- 1 cup organic cane sugar

Process:

Brewing your tea.

1. Clean your brewing area, jar and utensils with soap and warm water.

2. Bring 1/4 gallon (4 cups) of water to boil in a 4-quart pot.

3. Turn off stove and add in all 6 tea bags to the pot of hot water. Steep tea for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove tea bags and add the 1 cup of sugar. Mix well.

5. Add 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of cold water.

6. Pour the cool tea into your glass jar.

Kombucha fermentation.

1. Make sure your tea is below 90 degrees F. If it is not, wait for it to cool.

2. Once cool, add SCOBY.

SCOBY goes in.

Hello, SCOBY.

3. Cover your jar with the cloth, held tightly over the rim with a rubber band.

Now! It's time to play the waiting game...

After a day or two, the SCOBY will sink to the bottom of the jar.

In a little less than a week, you will notice speckles forming at the top of your 'cha. You are witnessing the birth of a brand new SCOBY.

SCOBY speckles.

In 2 weeks or more, a new, pearly white SCOBY should be floating on the surface of your 'cha. This means that the kombucha is ready to drink! Let it ferment for a little while longer if you desire a particularly strong, pungent brew.

Kombucha: the gift that keeps on givin'.

When you want to consume your 'cha, put the new SCOBY in a ziplock bag and store it in the fridge. Do not discard the old SCOBY. It will be darker in color and a bit ragged-looking, but it can still make wonderful 'cha. 

Kombucha Prep

Where can I buy a SCOBY?
I received my SCOBY after participating in a seminar-style class about  fermented foods at New York's Natural Gourmet Institute. However! It can be purchased at Kombucha Brooklyn (a fantastic resource for all things related to 'cha.) A quick search on Amazon, Ebay or even Etsy will provide inexpensive SCOBY options as well. If you have a friend who brews kombucha, ask them; they will surely have extras. Or you can even make your own.

What kind of tea should I use?
Black tea is made from leaves that have been fully fermented. It gives the kombucha a strong taste and beautiful amber color. Its woody, smoky tones compliment the sharp flavor the SCOBY will give your 'cha. For these reasons, black tea is my favorite for kombucha.

Black tea

Oolong tea is half way between green and black tea. It is gently rolled and allowed to partially ferment until the edges of the tea start turning brown. Depending on the oolong you use, the 'cha can be an earthy amber like black tea 'cha or light and grassy like green tea 'cha.
Green tea is withered then heated to prevent oxidation and then rolled and dried. It has a delicate taste and light green color. Kombucha made from green tea is light in color and taste, which varies depending on the specific green tea you choose. It can range from grassy to fruity, from buttery to nutty.
White tea is the rarest and most delicate of tea, plucked 48 hours or less between the time the first buds open and the time they become fully mature. White teas are expensive but they produce a wonderful light, floral taste. The white tea kombucha brings a natural sweetness and delicacy from the tea to the 'cha.

For my first-ever batch of kombucha, I used 2 bags of white tea, 2 bags of green tea and 2 bags of black tea. It worked beautifully! This time, I selected 4 bags of black tea (a dark chai) and 2 bags of white tea.

A personal favorite.

Teas to Avoid
Do not use teas like Earl Grey that use essential oils (i.e. Bergamot in Earl Grey) to add flavor. This can upset or even kill the kombucha culture. Smoked teas like Lasang Suchong are best avoided as well. They make a very odd tasting kombucha. Herbal teas should not be used on their own unless they are a blend of real tea and herbs. Make sure your tea does not contain artificial flavoring, sweeteners or essential oils. This is imperative!
Loose leaf teas can be difficult. You don't want tea leaves floating in your 'cha, as they might stick to the SCOBY and effect the fermentation process. If you decide to use loose leaf tea, be very careful when straining.

Kombucha: A Short History

Kombucha is an effervescent tea-based beverage. It is often consumed for its anecdotal health benefits. Kombucha is available commercially and can be bought at many health food stores, including Whole Foods, for nearly $5 a bottle! Luckily, it can be made at home for much cheaper. 

One makes kombucha at home by fermenting tea using a visible, solid mass of yeast and bacteria that forms the kombucha culture. This mass is often referred to as a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) or a 酵母 ("yeast mother").

Yum!

What can Kombucha do for me?

Yeast and bacteria in kombucha at 400x

Although there is little published research on the health benefits of kombucha, proponents claim that it aids digestion, helps with cancer and joint recovery,  increases energy, sharpens eyesight and improves skin elasticity. In my experience, I always feel a jolt of energy after imbibing a bottle. I've also found that kombucha helps settle the stomach.

The scientific research that has been conducted about the health benefits of kombucha mostly focuses on glucuronic acid, a compound that is used by the liver for detoxification. The idea that glucuronic acid is present in kombucha is based on the observation that glucuronic acid conjugates (glucuronic acid waste chemicals) are increased in the urine after consumption. The glucuronic acid present in kombucha assists the liver by supplying more of the substance during detoxification. So, essentially, kombucha is the miracle elixir for hangovers.

Who created Kombucha?

[courtesy of San Francisco Chinese Historical Museum]

There is a legend saying that Doctor Kombu, supposedly from Korea, brought the fungus to Japan in 415 CE to heal the dying emperor, Ingyō. The Emperor was healed and from that time the bacteria was labelled Kombu-cha (cha means tea) in honor of Dr. Kombua and his magic cha. 

Kombucha has been popular in Japan for centuries, praised and respected as a wonder of nature. Japanese geishas drank kombucha to maintain slim figures and smooth skin.

From Asia, it traveled via the Silk Road to Russia and consequently all of Europe. The most definite recorded history of kombucha began in Ukraine and Russia during the late 19th century. In Russian, the kombucha culture is called čajnyj grib (literally “tea mushroom”), while the beverage itself is known as grib (“mushroom”) or “tea kvass”. 

Kombucha was very popular in Russia and Europe until World War II, when sugar and tea were rationed, making them difficult to come by for the average family. Being as they are most important ingredients, it is easy to understand why the practice was lost. Fortunately, enough preserved the tradition, and after the war, it enjoyed a resurgence among the Italian elite, then began its ascent again through Eastern Europe.

Kombucha came to the Western world via G.T. Dave. When Dave's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, he was desperate to help. After doing research, he started brewing the pungent-tasting cultured tea, which she began drinking regularly. She beat cancer and credited her success to Dave's concoctions. Flash-forward 15 years and G.T. Dave is the king of kombucha with a net worth of $75M. 

Last year, kombucha sales made up 1% of Whole Foods' total annual revenue.
That's a lot of money.

G.T. Dave's kombucha is popular with Western audiences.