MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH: {Fermented or Not} Ketchup & Mustard

You may have gotten the impression (from this post, or maybe this one) that I've really gotten into fermenting things lately, and if so, you'd be right!

After my initial abysmal fermenting failures, I forged on and kept trying different things until I had a success or two under my belt, which gave me enough encouragement to experiment further. Since kombucha's one of the things I've found to be the most forgiving, and because my family really enjoys it. I've got a very steady supply of it on hand. So, of course, I'm always looking for new ways to use it!

This ketchup and mustard are super easy to whip up and a great way for beginners to give fermenting a try. It's also a simple way to start introducing fermented foods to your family if you have kids (or spouses) who might balk at the sight of kombucha or sauerkraut. If you don't have your own supply of kombucha on hand, see if a friend's willing to part with a litre or so (maybe in exchange for some of your finished product!) or you could also purchase some kombucha (if you can find a plain, unflavoured raw one somewhere, which I'm guessing might be kind of expensive!) For those of you who are making your own kombucha, this is a good way to use up a batch that's gotten a bit too vinegary for drinking straight up - it's actually optimal to use a more vinegary kombucha for these recipes.

You can absolutely make these recipes *without* fermenting them if you wish, although their shelf life will not be as long and you won't get the benefits of the probiotic bacteria. Simply substitute apple cider vinegar where it calls for kombucha. If you use a good quality, raw apple cider vinegar (I always have a bottle of Filsinger's on hand) you will still be getting some beneficial prebiotic bacteria in your condiments.

Fermented {Or Not} Ketchup

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
½ cup raisins (use unsulphured if fermenting)
½-1 cup water*
11 oz tomato paste (2 of the 5.5 oz tins)
¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp dry mustard powder

⅛ tsp cinnamon

⅛ tsp cloves

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

⅛ tsp black pepper

⅛ tsp allspice

1-2 tsp sea salt

about 1 cup kombucha or raw apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

• In a small saucepan, simmer the onion, garlic and raisins in the water for a few minutes until softened. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth.

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the pureed raisin mixture with the tomato paste, sugar and seasonings. Let cool to room temperature (this is important as if it's too hot you'll kill the beneficial organisms in the kombucha or ACV).

• Add kombucha or apple cider vinegar to desired consistency. If using ACV, store in fridge immediately. If fermenting with kombucha, transfer to clean Mason jars and cover with lids. Let ferment at room temperature for 3-5 days, then store in refrigerator.

*If you're fermenting your ketchup and using tap water, be sure to dechlorinate it by boiling for 15 minutes or letting it sit overnight.

Fermented {Or Not} Mustard

Ingredients:

¾ cup whole mustard seeds (yellow, brown or a combination - brown are milder!)

2 cups kombucha (or 1 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 cup water)

2-4 tbsp honey or maple syrup

4 cloves garlic, rough chopped

1 tbsp sea salt 

Instructions: 

• In a clean quart jar, combine the mustard seeds and kombucha (or ACV and water). Cover and let stand at room temperature for 4-7 days, adding more kombucha as needed to keep seeds covered as they swell (if using ACV and water, refrigerate for 24-48 hours then proceed with remainder of recipe).

• Pour soaked seeds into a blender and add honey, garlic and salt. Process until desired consistency, adding more honey or salt to taste. Refrigerate.

Both the ketchup and mustard will keep for months in the fridge if fermented (although I doubt they'll last that long if your house is anything like mine!) They will not keep as long if not fermented, but should be good for at least 2-3 weeks or so (you could freeze extra for longer storage). 

I shared this recipe at Full Plate Thursday.

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Probiotics for Pennies

My homebrewed kombucha in 3 flavours: strawberry, pineapple and grape (the bottles are from IKEA)

It's back to school this week, and that means it's a perfect time for...probiotics.

Wait, WHAT?!?! You thought I was going to say a good stiff drink, right? :)

I'll admit the (alcoholic) drink sounds tempting, but there's another type of drink that will definitely have more long-term benefits than that bottle of wine you're eying. Better yet, it's one you can easily make at home for just pennies: a delicious homemade probiotic beverage.

Increasing your family's probiotic consumption at this time of year is particularly advantageous as probiotics are beneficial to both the digestive and immune systems. With the stress of the new school year (not to mention the exposure to a round of new germs in the classroom), probiotics can be a great support to help maintain optimal health for all your family members.

There are definitely some pretty extreme health claims for probiotics on the internet; research *does* support that there are a variety of health benefits to consuming probiotic foods on a regular basis - the exact benefits depend on which particular organisms you're ingesting. I have personally noticed that since I started brewing kombucha and drinking it nearly every day (starting early this spring), my seasonal allergies have improved dramatically this year - I've been using my homemade nettle tincture FAR less than I did last year to treat allergy symptoms. Your own experience may be completely different depending on which types of probiotics you consume and your body's own personal affinity for particular organisms over others.

While you can certainly purchase both probiotic supplements and prepared fermented foods, it can be a big investment (it can easily cost you $1-2 or more per day for supplements per person!) and you really have no way of knowing how active the supplement is when you take it (even if it came from a very reputable company, the way it's been stored and handled since production can adversely affect quality). The same goes for many fermented foods produced on an industrial scale. While there are certainly some quality products out there, they are going to be the pricier ones, and even paying a higher price is no guarantee of quality with so many companies jumping on the probiotic bandwagon just to make a quick buck.

The obvious solution is (as usual) to do it yourself! Making your own probiotic foods might sound intimidating, but keep in mind that people have been fermenting foods for thousands of years! Some fermented foods are quite familiar to most of us (e.g. yogurt) and some might sound just plain weird, but there's plenty of opportunity to discover some tasty, interesting and probiotic-packed foods in the middle.

A (not at all comprehensive) list of fermented foods would include:

Dairy-based:
Yogurt
Kefir

Non-dairy based:
Kombucha
Water kefir
Ginger beer
Lacto-fermented lemonade

Fermented vegetables (e.g. sauerkraut, kimchi)

Fermented condiments (ketchup, mustard, salsa, barbecue sauce, chutneys, etc)

Getting started with fermenting:
Based on my own personal experiences, the two foods I've found the easiest to start with are yogurt and kombucha. You don't need any special equipment to make either of them. You can find my basic yogurt making method HERE. I've since switched from putting the cultured milk in a Thermos to putting it directly into Mason jars and wrapping them with towels; that way I just pull them straight out of the cooler and put them in the fridge.

To start making kombucha, you will need a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) - as home brewing of kombucha has gotten very popular, you shouldn't have too much trouble tracking one down if you start asking around. A new SCOBY forms with each fermentation, so most people who make kombucha regularly are more than happy to give some away :) Kombucha brewing has a nice rhythm to it, as it takes about a week to ferment, which is a nice manageable time frame to be switching out batches.

One of the reasons I love kombucha is that you can have a ton of fun experimenting with different flavours - our favourite so far is definitely pineapple (which gets *very* fizzy); we've done strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, grape, peach and lemon as well and I'm looking forward to experimenting with apples and pears now that they've come into season!

My family also loves lemon-ginger water kefir, which I wrote about earlier this year. I was initially very excited about it, but over time I found out that the 2 day fermentation cycle was burning me out, plus the water kefir grains are a lot more temperamental than kombucha SCOBYs so I ended up passing my grains along to a friend who wanted to give them a shot. I plan to give lacto-fermented lemonade and gingerale a whirl to see how they compare taste and ease-of-making wise.

The nice thing about fermenting foods is there are SO many options, so you can pick what works best for your family. Ideally, it's a good idea to eat a number of different types of fermented foods on a regular basis so you get exposed to a wider variety of beneficial organisms.

I'm going to be fiddling around with my fermented ketchup recipe this week, so I'll share that soon. It's super easy if you have some kombucha on hand! The first batch I made met with huge approval from my family so it disappeared fast; I have some ideas of how to make it even better, though :)

And since the jalapeno peppers are one of the few things that we got a bumper crop of this season, I'm going to be trying out this recipe very soon, too.

 Intrigued enough to give it a go? Some helpful resources to get you started:





The Cultures for Health website (great articles and instructional videos, plus you can order cultures from them if you can't find anyone to donate some to your cause!)

Kombucha Kamp - a great resource for all things kombucha-related.

(Yes, the usual disclaimers apply: Those are Amazon affiliate links for the books, and I am hardly an expert on fermented foods or gut health. I'm simply sharing my own experiences. You need to do your own research and make your own decisions about what is right for you and your family, and consult with a health professional if you have any concerns about why fermented foods might not be right for you.)

Are you already a seasoned fermenter, or just getting started? I'd love to hear your experiences with making your own fermented foods.

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Water Kefir: My Family's New Favourite Drink!

It's been one of my goals for the last year or so to add more fermented/probiotic foods to my family's diet. Of course, homemade yogurt (with all its beneficial bacteria) has been a regular part of our diet for many years. And I use a good-quality, raw, organic apple cider vinegar for all of our salad dressings.

Given all the benefits of eating fermented foods, I would really like us to be having 1-2 servings per day.  And of course, making them myself is a much cheaper option than buying ready-made ones! I'd tried my hand at fermented lemons and sauerkraut last spring but that experiment didn't end well and I got frustrated and gave up for a while.

Several months went by. Okay, okay, it was basically a year! And then all of a sudden I started seeing a lot of references to water kefir popping up all over the place and I got curious. I read a bit about it, but was feeling skeptical. Probiotic? Yes. Delicious? I thought not (my initial response to the concept was more along the lines of "eeew, that sounds gross!").

Then one day my friend Anita happened to mention that she was looking to rehome some of her water kefir grains as she was getting overrun with them and I thought "what the heck - I'll give it a whirl". Although I wasn't yet convinced I was going to actually enjoy it, I thought I should at least give it a try because as far as fermented foods go, it's supposed to be one of the easiest to have success with, and it's also really inexpensive to make.

As it turns out, water kefir's a lot more pleasant than I expected. The thing that really gives it great potential is that after it has done its initial ferment for 48 hours or so, you can do a "second ferment" where you remove the kefir grains and add fruit or juice to the water kefir (in the photo above, the jar on the left is in the middle of its second ferment, the jar on the right is doing its first ferment). When sealed with a tight lid, you end up with a pleasantly fizzy beverage after another couple of days.

I have been doing the second ferment with lemon juice and fresh, chopped ginger (juice of one lemon and about 1 tablespoon of ginger to a quart of water kefir). I can't tell you how happily surprised I am by how fantastic it is! It tastes like a homemade lemony gingerale and is incredibly refreshing. My whole family loves it to the point where there might be some arguing about who got more of a particular batch :) I'm so fond of it that I already get upset by the idea of not having some around, and I only started making it a couple of weeks ago!

While there is a small amount of maintenance to making water kefir, it's a few minutes every 2-3 days and in my opinion it's totally worth the effort. Aside from the water kefir grains (which you can probably get by asking around to see if anyone in your area has some to spare), the only other supplies you will need are white sugar and some quart Mason jars, plus whatever you want to add to flavour the water kefir for the second ferment.

If you're interested in trying to make your own water kefir, I'd recommend checking out this video from Cultures for Health, along with their instructions on how to flavour water kefir. 

Have you tried water kefir? Do you have a favourite way to flavour it? 

 

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Project: Fermentation

I think I have a commitment problem. I'm supposed to be working on The Great Room Shuffling and Reorganization Project, but I got obsessed with distracted by another activity I've been wanting to try for ages: fermenting things.(Does this Project ADD happen to anyone else, or am I the only one?)

Technically I *have* already done plenty of fermenting, as that is the process that takes place when you make yogurt and I've got that one down pat. Somehow, though, taking the step from yogurt making to lacto-fermenting fruits and vegetables was a bit of a leap for me, and I felt quite apprehensive about taking the plunge. One of my close friends happens to be quite experienced at fermenting things, so with her encouragement I finally JUST DID IT!

Lacto-fermentation is actually quite simple. You don't need any special equipment to get started, just some Mason jars, sea salt and your fruits and veggies of choice. Some recipes also call for whey, which you can easily obtain by making yogurt cheese; it's the liquid that drips out, SAVE IT! If you don't use up all your whey fermenting things, there's a list of other ways to use it here. I think the biggest thing to get over when starting to ferment fruits and vegetables is the leaving-jars-of-cut-up-produce-on-the-counter-for-days aspect; we are so conditioned to refrigerate everything in our culture!

The photo above shows my two initial fermented food experiments: a quart jar of cabbage (sauerkraut) and 2 pint jars of fermented lemons. I followed these basic instructions for fermenting the cabbage, and this recipe for the lemons. They have already spent their allotted time on the counter and have been moved to the fridge to "brew" further. I have been told the sauerkraut is usually good to start eating at this point; from what I've read, the lemons usually need a few weeks of fermenting in the fridge before they are ready to enjoy (they become much less salty tasting over time). 

Why bother to ferment foods? It's a very inexpensive way to add more probiotic bacteria to your system. There are many health benefits to increasing the amount of probiotic bacteria in your diet; they improve your gut health as well as your immune system. Probiotics have been shown to boost resistance to colds, flus and infections, and research has also shown a link between probiotic food consumption and lower levels of stress hormones and depression. For more details about the health benefits of fermented foods, check out this article.

Health benefits aside, it's just plain fun to pound a bowlful of cabbage with my meat tenderizer (actually, that just may be conferring some mental health benefits, lol). If you'd like to learn more about how to ferment foods, I recommend Sandor Katz's website, Wild Fermentation, and his book of the same name: Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods (yes, that is an Amazon affiliate link!). 

My next lacto-fermentation projects will likely be gingerale, ketchup (because my boys put it on everything!), ginger carrots and this cranberry chutney, which my fermenting-enthusiast friend Linda says is "the bomb" :)

Is anyone else out there a lacto-fermentation enthusiast? What are your favourite foods to ferment?

A NOTE FOR LOCAL READERS: IT'S HERE! My "Feeding Your Family On a Shoestring" course will be running this spring semester through the Continuing Education department at Mohawk College. There will be 4, three hour sessions and you will get to pick my brain about any ...and all aspects of feeding your family well on a small budget. We will be baking bread, making yogurt and flour tortillas, and cooking a variety of healthy, low budget dishes to add to your repertoire. I will also be sharing many tips and strategies for shopping and managing your kitchen to get the most out of your food dollars.

Course fee is $160 which includes a copy of my book, there is also an additional $25 fee for food costs. Classes start Monday April 29th, 7-10 p.m. More details on p. 52 of the spring 2013 Mohawk Continuing Ed calendar or follow this link and click on the "Creative and Visual Arts" section.

For families of four spending more than $700 a month on groceries, this course can easily pay for itself in 1-2 months!


DID YOU KNOW? I now have an events page! Come find out where you can catch up with me at a signing, seminar, workshop or food demo HERE.

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