Fermented Rhubarb (savory)

Click here to watch Fermented Rhubarb Video


Here's a page out of my book, "Lactofermentation Through the Season". Just in time for the first Rhubarb stalks.

Fermented Rhubarb

Seasonally, rhubarb is one of the first vegetables that I ferment since it is one of the first to be available in late spring/early summer. Since it is perennial it is best to harvest some while leaving some to continue collecting sunshine, water and nutrients to build the root system. Because of this I will make it in small batches throughout the season as the plant puts out more stalks.

In most recipes rhubarb is cooked so the toughness gets softened. Lacto-fermentation is essentially a raw product so it’s important to use tender rhubarb stalks. Lacto-fermentation will soften the rhubarb to a degree but tough, stringy rhubarb may not ever become palatable. Best to use young stalks no more than 1 inch wide. And remember: Do not use Rhubarb leaves as they are toxic!!

Yield 1-2 quarts

Ingredients & Equipment

Ingredients
• 10 stalks young rhubarb no more than 1 inch wide
• Leaf layer: horseradish leaves, Swiss chard leaves or blackberry/raspberry leaves
• Do not use Rhubarb leaves as they are toxic!

For the brine
• 2 quarts filtered or spring water
• Pure salt, kosher, pickling or coarse sea salt, with no additives

Equipment
• Large pot for boiling water
• 2 wide mouth quart canning jars
• 2 canning lids and rings
• 2-4 rocks
• Small pot for sterilizing the canning lids, rings and rocks
• Wooden pressing tool
• Wide mouth funnel (optional) for filling the jar
• Ladle

Preparation

Making the Brine
• Bring the filtered water to a boil for 4 minutes.
• After it’s cooled a bit add 3 tablespoons of salt and stir to dissolve.
• Allow brine to cool to near room temperature (2-4 hours or overnight).


Sterilizing
• In a small pot sterilize lids, rings and rocks by boiling them for 4 minutes.
• Let them cool for about 10 minutes and pour out the water to let them cool further.

Leaf Layer
• Wash leaves and reserve.

Assembling the Jars

Filling the Jars
• When the brine is almost cool chop rhubarb into bite size pieces.
• Start layering the rhubarb into the jar an inch or two high at a time, gently pressing it down with wooden pressing tool.
• Keep adding 1-2 inch layers of rhubarb, pressing down each layer until about 2-3 inches of space is left at the top.
• Press it down again.

Leaf Layer
• Add a layer of leaves on top of the top layer of rhubarb and press it in.

Rocks
• Place a rock or rocks on top of the leaves.

Brine into Jars
• Ladle brine into the jar leaving about 1 inch of space from the top.
• Let sit uncovered for 10 minutes to allow air bubbles to escape.
• If the brine level drops below 1 inch from the top add some more brine.
• Wipe any brine off top of jar, put lid on jar, and screw on band.

Fermentation

• Allow to ferment on kitchen counter or shelf for 3 days at room temperature, 72 degrees.
• Gently move to the refrigerator.
• Taste after 2 weeks. It may be ready or it may need more time.
• Store in refrigerator. Taste gets better with time.
• Lasts 1-3 months in refrigerator.

Variation:
The fermented rhubarb is very good using only rhubarb but for variation try adding spring scallions, spring celery leaves, early chard stems and/or tender horseradish stems for very interesting and sometimes very exciting flavor!

Primroses - Hose-in-Hose

Here is a photo of one of my favorite flowers from my garden, blooming now. Given to me by my friend Hilda, (an Englishwoman transplanted to New Hampshire, US). They are double primroses, called Hose-in-Hose, because each flower has a flower growing out of the center.
I just found out that primroses are edible; haven't eaten them yet, though. Too pretty.

Gravlax - Home Cured Salmon

Check out my recipe and video on how to make this delightful and economical food Gravlax-Home Cured Salmon

4 Home - Rendered Fats

Top white fat is pork, far right is from chicken soup, bottom is chicken fat, left is duck. They have a refrigerated life of about 1 month so I freeze it till I need it. I also have some goat fat in the freezer from my recent goat braise.

Spring Garden in New England

Ingredients for the first salad of Spring:
Claytonia,
Shredded Red Sauerkraut and
Horseradish Condiment made with
homemade herbal kombucha vinegar


Claytonia in the Over-winter cold frame


This week begins the section on “From The Garden”. The snow is almost gone, still a few patches in the woods and in the shade. We’ve had our first salad consisting of Claytonia also known as Miner’s Lettuce.



This week’s video First Spring Salad, shows a thick row of Claytonia/Miner’s Lettuce grown in the over-winter cold frame. It germinates easily in the fall and is thick by March. We start thinning it out by cutting some leaves and using them for salad. I mixed some Horseradish Condiment and Shredded Red Sauerkraut into the salad and topped it off with Olive Oil. I love the spring because we get that first burst of enzymes from the garden! The salad was fresh and potent and full of flavor!



There is also a page, Spring Garden showing photos of the new greens already up in our New England garden.



Future pages will include descriptive photos and videos on the growth cycles of Walking Onions and Green Garlic which are very easy to grow and require minimal work.

The First Signs of Spring

Hi All,

Hope you are getting glimpses of Spring as the snow recedes. Today we started raking the leaves off the beds and I saw shoots from my Walking Onion beds, Green Garlic Beds, and Horseradish Beds.

We’ve also overwintered some rutabagas by leaving them in the ground in the hopes of getting salad greens from them in early Spring. There are little nubs of green! In our overwinter cold frame we have a thick crop of Miner’s Lettuce, a goodly amount of Mache’ and some small Swiss Chard plants. These were all planted last fall. The Miner’s Lettuce needs some thinning so we will have our first salad this week!

Can’t wait to ingest these potent greens!

I finally finished up 2 new videos for my video course site:
Kombucha Cultures and Fruit Infused Water Kefir. Kombucha Cultures is a short video contrasting a young, smooth culture with a mature, gnarly culture.

Fruit Infused Water Kefir is about turning your extra finished water kefir into a fruit drink using seasonal fresh fruit. These drinks quench thirsts in the heat of summer. They are delicate-tasting and give us those great probiotics and enzymes that keep us running smoothly.

These videos expand the Kombucha and Water Kefir section. Another Kombucha video on Kombucha Marinades for meat and fish is in the works.

Hope the videos are helpful.
Best,
sharon

Medicinal Kombucha

While experimenting with natural remedies I found an excellent concoction that breaks up congestion. It uses Kombucha Tea or Kombucha Vinegar as a base with the addition of Lemon, Horseradish Root and Ginger Root. You can download the recipe and view my video on how to make it here:
Medicinal Kombucha

Kombucha Tea