kim chee

 

 

I made kim chee!  I've been curious about home fermented foods.  I used the recipe in The Whole Foods Encyclopedia. (great book!)  You mix napa cabbage, garlic, ginger, chilies, sesame seeds, and salt and let it ferment for several days at room temperature.  This was great, next time I'll add more chilies though.



fruit preserves and garden vegetables

I made four batches of preserves this summer- red plum, blueberry, strawberry, and wild blackberry.   I used the recipe in the Tartine Bread cookbook, which has a 75% sugar to fruit ratio (by weight).  I doubled the recipe (ended up using 2 kilos of fruit per batch) which fills all 12 of the half pint jars that come in a pack.  I used Pomona's Universal Pectin.  All of these came out great.  The plum was surprisingly delicious.  The blackberry is fun because they're free and everwhere at places like Kelley Point and Sauvie Island beaches, and you can feel like you're doing nature a favor by harvesting an invasive plant.

I like to use as little sugar as possible so the flavor of the fruit comes through.  I like the reicipies in Jam On, which have a 50% sugar to fruit ratio and several that use only honey.   Does anyone know how little sugar can you safely use?  For these batches I used cheap white sugar.  I would like to use something more high quality next time.  Does anyone have any suggestions for a natural sugar?

 

 

Some things I grew this summer: 



spring greens- mizunte, red russian kale, swiss chard

lots of zuchinni

old german tomato

butternut squash





orca beans are the coolest ever.   I experiemented with planting some of these that came from the grocery bulk section.

pick your own berrries on Sauvie Island

My boyfriend and I picked berries this weekend at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie island.  They have the best strawberries I've ever eaten (the small "Hood" variety).  We got 7 lbs of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries for $13.   Pick-your-own fruit is awesome because it's inexpensive, and you can get enough to make a batch of preserves or freeze some so you can eat them all year long.  A dehydrator is a nice thing to have too.  You can add dried berries to trail mixes or granola.  

During the hot months I trade out my usual oatmeal for cold cereal.  I made granola from this recipe on the Kitchen Sink Recipes blog that was fantastic with yogurt and fresh berries.  It's funny how granola is marketed as a health food, but you realize when you make it yourself how much sugar and oil it has.  I guess it depends on recipe.  Regardless, I'm totally sold on the idea of making my own breakfast cereals.  They're really cost effective to make and have so much more nutritional value than their store-bought counterparts.  I want to make muesli next time.  This recipe on the Etsy blog looks great. 

refrigerator pickles & wilty greens

I've been making refrigerator pickles.  It's super easy.  For this jar I sliced 4 or 5 pickling cucumbers thin with my salad shooter along with some red onions (which later turned everything pink) and then added some red chili flakes and garlic.  I put a tablespoon or two of pickling salt in the mason jar and added all the chopped vegetables.  I poured in white vinegar till it covered everything, screwed on this lid, put in the frig, and in four days they were good to eat. 

I do this sometimes when I'm out of frig space.

Trim 1/2" off the stems and put in water like you would with flowers. Wilty greens will perk up in water.