So, my name is Trey and I'm a geek.
Lactic acid fermentation is a process where pyruvic acid is converted to lactic acid and a tad of energy in the form of ATP. Or in more general terms, it's a way for some bacteria to gain energy by converting carbohydrates (glucose into 2 molecules of pyruvic acid into ATP) into energy when there is no oxygen (anaerobic). Lactic acid acts as a great preservative (and is supposed to be healthy) and fermenting was one of the earliest methods to perserve food (like.. before Homo sapiens even!).
A friend of mine got me into making your own sauerkraut. Sauerkraut, like Kimchi, is a lactic acid fermented cabbage. I love both, so I bought a Harsch fermenting pot (you can ferment in any clean glass or earthenware pot, but this makes it easier).
But now I've gotten into all kinds of fermenting things, some successful, some.. well.. let's say I need to try again...
I started with red cabbage sauer kraut. It's been fermenting a month, 2 gallons worth. I opened it this weekend.
Success!! It tastes just like, well... sauerkraut! Those anaerobic bacteria did a great job! And was great yesterday with my "Nearly everything but Meat loaf." So, next time I'm going to make some Kimchi.
I also tried to make pickles, the old fashioned, no-vinegar fermented kind in a fermenting jar.
Opps, first lesson.. use good cucumbers. The pickles are amazingly bitter, but so were the fresh cucumbers.
Then last week I tried my hand at sour dough. First week the starter worked great. Unfortunately, I was making a white bread sour dough, but accidently put in a 'white' whole wheat flour in instead of real white flour. If you know anything about baking, whole wheat needs gluten added to rise better. So this first try ended up like a brick.. a tasty brick, but a thick one.
I was going to try again, but hmm.. my starter seemed to have died. Not sure why, I replenished it, but it lost it's bubble. Sigh.. start again.
There are SOO many more thing to play around and ferment..
like yogurt (gotta buy a yogurt maker!)
and rootbeer (real rootbeer, for which I've bought the birch bark, sassafras, sasparilla and licorice bark to make it with!)
Tempeh
Kefir
and so much more.
I'm a geek
Comments (1)
May you rot away in happiness, my friend. :)
Comment #30556 on September 5, 2007 2:40 PM |