After a trying week last week, things are finally back on track and I have been able to highlight more cells on my excel spreadsheet green. My housemate is in great health, so I am back in the house. I returned home to a finished ferment; the gammel dansk vinegar was delightfully acidic after a little over 2 weeks on the kitchen table. I am happy to report that the finished product tastes much better than the bitters from which it came. It is still packed with flavor, but much less assaulting. I’m not quite sure what the best use of this vinegar is, although I have a feeling that a mayonnaise made with this vinegar instead of lemon juice would be perfect on a potato salad (my North Carolina roots makes me believe any and everything can be incorporated into a potato salad).
Onto the more exciting fermentation moments from this week: the night of the 21 rst, I was 28 hours into the koji growth on the peas and cracked wheat for the yellow pea shoyu (for the third time). I was getting increasingly worried that the peas would overheat and I would have to start over yet again. Out of an abundance of caution, I rigged up my sister’s fan up next to it to turn on if it got too hot, and I set an alarm for every two hours. After a sleepless night of closely monitoring the mold, I finally had perfectly moldy peas and cracked wheat for the yellow pea shoyu.
Yellow Pea Shoyu III will now occupy a shelf in the kitchen so I can stir it once a day for 2 weeks, and then I’ll move it to a darker, spookier corner of the apartment for it to ferment for the final 100 days.
Against all expectations, the pears finally ripened this week. They made up for refusing to ripen by being quite keen to ferment. They started bubbling as soon as I added the yeast. Only shortly after I put them in the jar, the jar overflowed into the airlock and caused a mini explosion in my sisters kitchen while she was on a work call. I managed to get it all (mostly) cleaned up before she noticed, but I did lose some pears in the process. The remaining pears are making a delightfully fragrant perry that is sweet and lightly alcoholic. I stopped it a few days before a week, because it was already quite noticeably alcoholic, and I didn’t want to let it go too far. However, I did not account for a speedy ferment, so my scheduling is a bit off. I am going out of town for a week in February and if I start the vinegar stage of the perry now, it will be finished right in the middle of when I’m gone, so I have decided to let the finished perry hang out in the fridge for a few days before I start the vinegar stage.
A big part of the reason why my housemates are okay with this project (besides the fact that I did not ask for permission before starting it, so they are forced to be) is because I provide them with free kombucha. After returning home I decided they were well overdue for some fresh kombucha, especially considering the eau de squid that is having a hard time staying contained in the box I put the squid garum in. In order to smooth things over, I started a batch of apple kombucha.
The final wrench that was thrown in the gears this week (it seems like every week has a few) was a power outage on the night of the 26th, prompting a relocation of the squid garum to my boyfriend’s housemate’s unoccupied room. I’m hoping that February brings less general chaos, so the ferments can get some rest.
Next week I am scheduled (read: I scheduled myself) to attempt the bee pollen garum. With bee pollen costing $20 for 8 ounces, I better not mess it up because I won’t be able to try again until my next pay check.
Ferments Complete: 6
Ferments in Progress: 6
Ferments to go: 162
Spoonful Suppers 
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