Spoonful Suppers

My gentle re-entry into fermentation was successful. The tomatoes fermented beautifully and are now dehydrating in my oven for a fun salty snack. Feeling good about this early success in my return, I got apples and chestnuts to make blackened apples and blackened chestnuts. However, upon bringing them home I learned that my vacuum sealer was broken. So one trip to target later, I now have a much nicer vacuum sealer with a 1 year warranty, and I was able to get started. I vacuum sealed the 2 different varieties of apples and the chestnuts and popped them into my slow cooker at 140 degrees fahrenheit, just like my blackened garlic. The apples should take 60 days, however the chestnuts should be finished in only 30.

I was so excited to hit the ground running with more ferments that I started another two this week as well. I grabbed some blueberries and a handle of whiskey from the market and got a weird look at check-out, but it was very worth it. I mixed the blueberries with some salt to start another lacto-ferment, and then tackled one of the scariest ferments to date: whiskey vinegar. I was looking through old posts last night and found that I had promised to make whiskey vinegar on week 14 of this journey, and now finally on week 39, I have finally gotten around to it. In order to make whiskey vinegar, you have to burn off a lot of the alcohol. Since acetic acid bacterias turn alcohol into vinegar, you need to create the right environment for them. Whiskey, before the alcohol has burned off, is too high an alcohol content for acetic acid bacteria, which is why an open bottle of liquor has a much longer shelf life than an open bottle of wine. So in order to get it to the desired alcohol content, I burned off some alcohol and diluted with water, which is much easier said than done.

Burning off the alcohol of a whole handle of whiskey was a big task that could not be completed all at once, or I’m pretty sure I would have lit my hair on fire. Even doing it in thirds was alarmingly scary, even for someone who is fascinated by fire. Alcohol flames can get very big very quickly and it took me until the last batch to fully understand how to keep them a manageable size. The end result, however, was 500 grams of pure whiskey flavor with none (or at least very little) of the alcohol. After adding some of the raw whiskey and a bit of unfiltered apple cider vinegar, I plopped in my airstone to provide the acetic acid bacteria with oxygen.

The particular airstone that I have vibrates while it pumps air into the jar, so there is a constant hum that comes out of it. It wasn’t until I heard this hum for the first time in months that I realized how much I missed it. It feels good to recommit to this project not only to see it through but also to feel like my food (apartment, life) is alive again. It almost feels like if I am really quiet for a moment I’ll be able to hear them take a breath, or I could only be still for long enough, I could watch them change, grow, and transform. The fermentation fire in me never went out, it just needed a little oxygen.

Ferments Completed: 32

Ferments in Progress: 5

Ferments to go: 16