The preservation of food via fermentation is probably as old as 3000 BC. Lactic acid bacteria take all the credit in the transformation of simple and quite possibly boring green cabbage into delicious sauerkraut. A staple ingredient in german cuisine, it can be found by different names in many western and eastern european countries as well. Also, the famous Korean kimchee goes through the same process. Here’s how it’s done: Prep time: 5 minutes. Total time: 5-10 days or until you determine the fermentation has gone long enough. Tools: 1 glass jar, nothing metallic and food grade plastic cont ..read more

It’s been a while since my last fermentation post on this blog but make no mistake, this house is full of LAB (lactic acid fermentation bacteria, the good guys) and stuff here ferments 24/7 … multiple projects going all at the same time… It’s a bit intense sometimes. I’m getting into fruit Lacto-fermentation now and Noma is to blame. Their book on fermentation is amazing and simple…. like any fermentation literature for the home chef should be. Leave the complicated stuff to microbiologists and embrace the fun of letting stuff go bad in a good way… (minimal OCD required, I promise).  A little ..read more

Making fermented pickles at home (of any kind) is extremely simple and if you haven’t tried it then it might make sense to start with an easy yet classic recipe. Pickled cucumbers are normally called simply pickles but there are all sort fo pickles or pickled things. Anyways, semantics aside, in order to ferment cucumbers you need 4 basic components: Water, salt, flavorings and of course cucumbers, and the process I’m about to describe here applies to pretty much anything I (lacto) ferment at home so you can even use this as a guideline for fermenting, beets, celery, garlic, etc. Let’s go.  Ma ..read more

Japanese chiles are similar to Arbol chiles but milder. I figured they would make a great hot sauce to have around (a little milder compared to what I usually have in stock) and I took the opportunity to introduce a new step (more like a variation of a step) in the process that would help make the straining of the sauce easier and yield a silky texture by using a juicer. Yeah, one of those bulky 20-pound things that sit on the counter taking much-needed space and are used like twice to make… carrot juice or something lame like that. A proud “unitasker” in the words of Alton Brown. They never g ..read more

I’ve talked about making fermented hot sauces in the past and I will continue to talk about it because it’s an awesome subject. If you love hot sauces and are the DIY type then this one is for you. Fermenting anything at home is extremely simple and that’s no different for making fermented sauces. I’ve made sure the method explained here is the simplest and easiest you can find, period. It also relies on dried chiles which are more readily available than their fresh counter parts. I will go over how to deal with fresh pepper substitutions at the end of the tutorial (super easy). For now let’s ..read more

Yep… hot sauce making has taken over my life and so has fermentation. If you haven’t tried either and are hesitant well… put that hesitation aside and dive in. In my opinion, fermented hot sauces are superior in taste to their vinegar-acidified counterparts. There’s that extra complexity in the flavor that just can’t be described. And I’m not even gonna get into the whole health aspect of eating fermented foods. I’ll leave it at… probiotic, etc, etc. This is gonna be a really quick post guys… there’s seriously nothing to it. Let’s make some awesome hot sauce.  Wait, tomatillos aren’t hot… Tr ..read more

Yikes! that was a long post title! I  always struggle with post titles. I wanna summarize what the post is about and not come off entirely lame yet pay attention to SEO hocus-pocus, etc..  but you be the judge.  Now, if you don’t care for that sorta thing, I mean, blog post titles…  and you want to instead try something really cool and awesome in the kitchen, today is a fortunate day. Both passion for cooking sous vide and my renewed passion for home fermentation come together here in the nicest of ways. If you’ve been paying attention, I’ve posted about hot sauces recently. About a month ago ..read more

I love lacto-fermented vegetables. Homemade sauerkraut and kimchi are fun to make and one of the first things I got into when I started this cooking blog. Along with bread making, vegetable fermentation has always been fascinating to me. Recently I’ve started experimenting with a broader spectrum of vegetables, spices, seasonings… the combinations are endless and the flavor profile that can be achieved are incredibly complex. Fermentation, aside from all the health benefits and the preservation perks simply makes things taste awesome. It wasn’t until recently, after my article: the simplest h ..read more

It’s been a while since my last fermentation post on this blog but make no mistake, this house is full of LAB (lactic acid fermentation bacteria, the good guys) and stuff here ferments 24/7 … multiple projects going all at the same time… It’s a bit intense sometimes. I’m getting into fruit Lacto-fermentation now and Noma is to blame. Their book on fermentation is amazing and simple…. like any fermentation literature for the home chef should be. Leave the complicated stuff to microbiologists and embrace the fun of letting stuff go bad in a good way… (minimal OCD required, I promise).  A little ..read more

Making fermented pickles at home (of any kind) is extremely simple and if you haven’t tried it then it might make sense to start with an easy yet classic recipe. Pickled cucumbers are normally called simply pickles but there are all sort fo pickles or pickled things. Anyways, semantics aside, in order to ferment cucumbers you need 4 basic components: Water, salt, flavorings and of course cucumbers, and the process I’m about to describe here applies to pretty much anything I (lacto) ferment at home so you can even use this as a guideline for fermenting, beets, celery, garlic, etc. Let’s go.  Ma ..read more