Fermentation archive

Dear beloved SauerCrowd or newbies,

This is an intimate, continuously growing insight into my ferments. I just now started documenting them, so bear with me and maybe get inspired.

The beauty of fermentation is also that your ferments are like your unique handwriting, your style of painting & although you can do exactly what another person does, your ferments will always have your very personal stamp.

Maybe I am crazy, but maybe you can relate when i say, my ferments sometimes even reflect my mood and my inner self. From really crazy experimental ferments, romantic/classic ones or just some that are rough and eccentric.

So, welcome to my brain 😉 welcome to my personal collection of ferments. I have to admit that i don’t really know a way to photograph them uniformly, so probably you will see a mix of capturing them as well.

Let’s start inspiring each other, let’s make an exchange, I am always open to tips!

Beverages

1.Kombucha

Kombucha: beverage formed out of an aerobic fermentation of sugars and teein from green/black tea into lactic-acid. The so called SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)transforms the sweet tea into a vinegar-like, fizzy drink with pro/prebiotic properties. Flavoring & carbonation through second fermentation.

That’s Herbert II. (the second), my beloved scoby which i received at the end of my internship at Instock. Thanks Lukas !. I have at least made 50 liters of kombucha from it by now.

Here i am going to post the varieties that I have made with it. But i am also going to list them down, so all the varities that I have come to make and how i like them:

2. Ginger Beer

Ginger Beer: A fermented drink mainly consisting out of ginger, water and sugar. Natural occuring yeasts on the surface of the ginger ferment the sugar and transform into a fizzy, spicy baverage which is known to be the main ingredint for the famous drink “moscow mule”. First steps to make ginger beer is to make a so-called “ginger bug” which is a strong mixture of grated ginger, water and sugar which needs to be fed with ginger & sugar until the yeasts are activated. Afterwards, this bug is mixed with fresh sweet ginger tea and bottled for carbonation.

2.1 ginger bug

This is Tanja, my ginger bug & one of the bottles that i freshly filled.

2.2 turmeric bug

My latest experiment is this “turmeric bug” Philipp which i started with the same method as ginger beer. No results yet, but stay tuned! 😉 if it woks ou i will also try-out a ginseng version!

3. Lacto-fermented veggies

Lacto-fermented veggies: Anaerob fermentation by addition of salt and the exclusion of oxygen. This is possible through the presence of natural occuring lactic-acid producing bacteria on the surface of the vegetables. Complex flavours, long storage time, nutirent dence, pro/prebiotic.

3.1. sauerkraut

For those who didn’t know by now – Moritz & Me run a sauerkraut company called SauerCrowd. So, I produce a loooooot of sauerkraut all the time.

Of course, I have to start with the classic. This is about my “home-space”, so I am not going to show you my 150kg sauerkraut stored at the kitchen republic which is the community kitchen at which we produce our sauerkraut. I am going to show you which assortments I have in my home shelf! I have to admit, strangely enough, I stopped making sauerkraut at home as often, simply because I need some more creative span when I am home. A little sad, but I am going to keep up with it soon for some Christmas experiments.

3. 2. Pickles!

“pickles” : in this case fermented pickles, meaning instead of dry salting, you add a mixture of water and 5% salt on top of your vegetabels and let them ferment in this brine. Same principle, different result. Brines are especially good for bigger pieces of veggies that you want to ferment.

4. Sourdoughs

“Sourdough bread is made by the fermentation of dough using naturally occurring lactobacilli and yeast. Sourdough bread has a more sour taste and better inherent keeping qualities than breads made with baker’s yeast, due to the lactic acid produced by the lactobacilli.” – general explaination.

For us, it is really a family tradition. My mum and her sister keep the starter culture alive for 20 years, so it’s really a special thing and awakes an lt of childhood memories. Although I still have to practice a lot, I already enjoy it a lot! its really an art form .

4.1 Wholegrain spelt sourdough bread

5. special ferments !

5.1 Garlic- honey

Garlic-honey: Lacto-fermented garlic in honey. The sugar of the honey extracts the water and forms a garlic-candy tasting liquid which is especially good for your immune sytsem, due to the allanin which is formed by the garlic (especially when you crush the garlic before fermenting).

This is feared and loved by my roommates. Always when we start to feel the flue or a cold coming up in our apartment, we all take a spoon of the garlic honey and its fine again. I remember the first time they took it and where so afraid of what it might taste like, but by now we are all used to it and started to really enjoy its flavor and especially effects.

4.2 Black Walnuts

One of the craziest ferments until now, made from my mum

Black nuts: young/green unripe nuts getting watered for several days to release the toxins and bitter flavours, meanwhile fermenting. Little poked holes in the nuts surface allow the compounds to flow. Over time the nuts turn black. Afterwards nuts are getting cooked in a sugar/spice mix and preserved in jars. Really nice, foresty flavor, perfect in thin slices and cheese.