sauerrüben

I made this sauerkraut about a month ago, and I think it ties with my seaweed sauerkraut for the best yet. I didn't write down the exact weights of all the ingredients, but I do have an approximation so I can maybe replicate it later. If you like beets, this is the sauerkraut for you!

I scrubbed and shredded 8 medium beets, a small red cabbage, and 1/2 a small green cabbage. I added 3 cored and roughly chopped Gala apples, and ended up with about 2 kg total. I mixed in 17g salt, and some bay leaves, tarragon, marjoram, and sliced green onions. No matter how I squashed it I couldn't get quite enough juice to thoroughly cover it, so I added a little bit of water, maybe 1/2C.

After 2 weeks it didn't seem quite ready, and after 3 weeks the juice was so sour I thought maybe I'd let it go too long, but it turned out to be just right. This amount exactly filled up a half-gallon jar.

pretty pink plums!

My Victoria plum tree--only about three feet tall--made lots of plums this year. A few went to waste before I got around to picking them but I still had 1.9kg, enough to make lots of jam. The jam I made was so tasty that I think it will be my default Victoria jam from now on.

I halved and pitted the 1900g plums and added them to my jam pan with 1600g sugar, 300ml orange juice, and one big cinnamon (not cassia) stick. I brought it all to the boil, them simmered till the plums were soft. Let it rest for a few hours, then brought back to a hard boil and cooked, stirring very frequently, for about ten minutes at which point it had turned to jam. I stirred in 130g chopped walnuts, then put it in jars (11 half pints!) and boiling-water-bathed it for five minutes.

What I did in August

My new computer was in Texas getting a fresh motherboard for much of August, so I didn't do much blogging. I did lots of interesting things, though, and took pictures as I went so that I would eventually be able to tell all about it.



I bonded with my new kitty, Marigold Hanele. She's nothing like my darling Maria, but she's a sweet, good girl. She likes to cuddle me violently throughout the night, then play all day long. When I'm not playing with her, she works on little projects, like figuring out how to get a high-up cupboard door open so she can see what's inside and throw it on the floor. A grown cat--she'll be three in November--she's much livelier than Maria ever was. She especially loves to help me sew: the only time she likes to sit in my lap is when I've got a needle and thread.

Speaking of sewing, I made a couple of dresses. The first one was a McCall's 'Pounds Thinner' pattern from 1972, and I look kind of frumpy in it. Rachael says it's because I don't need slimming dresses, and says I should make myself a nice A-line dress instead. The second was a McCall's 'One-hour' dress, but it took me much longer than an hour to sew it. It's made out of leopard-and-floral print rayon, which I found very hard to cut and sew in a straight line. It turned out well in the end though, and as you can see it looks nice on Rachael!



I made lots and lots of jam and pickles! My damson tree had more damsons on it than ever before--9 ounces--so I made a tiny batch of damson apple jam. The Warner plum tree made many, many plums, and I made twelve jars of lemon-plum and lemon-vanilla-plum jam. And another twelve jars of pickled Warner string beans. I also made this saffron-peach jam. I didn't make it exactly as written, and as it was such a success I want to note down here what I did so I can replicate it in the future (isn't it a pretty color?): for five pounds of nectarines (they're better than peaches for jam as you don't have to peel them) I used 1 3/4C sugar, juice of a giant lemon, and only 6g saffron (and that was plenty). I ended up with 7 1/2 jars.



Finally, I made David Lebovitz's pineapple coconut macaroons. My pineapple came in a different size of can than his did, and I veganized them, so I had to change the recipe a little. These are the ingredients I used: 16oz canned, crushed pineapple, 160g sugar, 200g desiccated coconut, 6T flax gloop (in place of the egg whites), and 1/2t vanilla. I followed his method exactly. He's right that these are at their very best on the day you make them, because of their delightful crunchy crusts, but they taste just as nice for the next couple of days.

a quick carrot pickle update

When I posted about my sauer-carrot a few weeks ago, I promised to update you when it was finished. I got distracted, so am a little late, but now am here to tell you that it was a qualified success. I checked it when it had fermented for exactly two weeks, and it was just right--pleasantly sour, and still possessing a nice crunch. Its only trouble is that it's a little too strongly flavored for me to eat it on its own, as a salad, as I like to do with my regular, cabbagey sauerkraut. If I make it again--and I think I will--I'll add maybe a quarter of the carrots' weight of either apples or Asian pears. As it is, it makes a nice pickle to add to sandwiches and salads.

Maria, the cutest, best kitty: a retrospective

Poor Maria had been off her feed for about a month before I took her in to the vet. For a while, I would give her some new and exciting food and she would perk up for a bit, but I realized I was deluding herself. Maria's bloodwork was okay and an x-ray inconclusive, but her doctor thought she should come back for a paracentesis: it might make her feel better, plus they could examine the fluid they drained from her and maybe figure out what her trouble was. We took her in the following Tuesday, but the results were not happy. Maria had a terrible mass around her liver and stomach, and there was not any point in sending the fluid for analysis. I should just try to make her remaining days as happy as possible.

The paracentesis didn't seem to have revived her at all, so I made an appointment for the home euthanasia doctor to come on Thursday, when Maria's mom Rachael could be there. Dr Knasiak was really nice. He was the same guy who'd drained her on Tuesday, and he told us that the mass was large and branching, 'like a ginger root,' and even if we'd caught it earlier, when it was smaller, it would have quickly grown back. He gave Maria a couple of shots--first a calming one, then a lethal one--and she died in her mommy's arms.


The very first picture I took with my first digital camera.


Maria with my knitting. She always loved to help me with it.


Here she is being groomed by her mom.


Maria looking like a little kitten with her doll, Ratty.


Maria looking elegant. This is the day she changed the pronunciation of her name from 'Mar-ee-a' to 'Mar-eye-a.'


Maria on her mom. Whenever Maria came upon a prone person she would sit on their back or bottom.


Maria helping me knit on her last day of life. She was so tired, she just sat on my lap all day waiting for her appointment.

If you want to see more pictures, there are lots on my flickr.

red right hand

I'm really excited about my new book, The Art of Fermentation. I've only read a little bit of it, but already have a list of things to try on my next days off. There's a fizzy beverage made from juniper berries, and another one--Punjabi--made of carrots and ground mustard seeds.

I was inspired to make sauerwurzel when I read that almost any vegetable can be made into sauerkraut or kimchi, and that if you want to use less salt the minerals in seaweed will have a similar effect. I decided to julienne my carrots rather than grating them, as I thought that would improve the eventual texture, but the decreased surface area made it harder than usual to press enough juice out to cover the carrots. I would press for a while, let it rest so the salt could do its osmotic thing, then press some more. As you can see, all that pressing turned my hand red! It faded pretty quickly, but is still faintly orange from having carrot juice ground into it.

Here are the ingredients I used: 5lb carrots, julienned; 1lb radishes, thinly sliced; 1C dulse, soaked in cool water to make 1 1/2C (soaking water included in the sauerwurzel); a small bunch of dill, roughly chopped; and 15g salt. I'll check it in a couple of weeks. I just put the lid on my fancy sauerkraut crock at ten this morning, and it began bubbling after only eight hours.

quick and easy date candy

This is a really easy-to-make treat, and is always popular at potlucks. My friend Little Debbie often brings it to work meetings because there's nothing in it that any of our colleagues (a picky bunch) object to. It's a modification of this recipe from Vegetarian Times, de-glutenized and with different flavors. I also made it bigger so that there would be plenty of leftovers for me--it makes an excellent restorative at work.

When I brought these to work for the Fourth of July, also Nurse Mary's last day before retiring, several people asked me if they had figs in them. I think it was a combination of their slight pepperiness and the mysterious crunch of the chia seeds which made people think that.

Figgy Date Candy
makes a lot--enough to fill a quarter sheet (9"x12")pan
easily halved if you don't want that much

16oz Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1 1/2oz raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
up to 1T water, as needed
6oz walnuts, roughly chopped, divided
3 1/2oz chia seeds
1/2t cinnamon
salt and pepper, and pinch of each
finely shredded desiccated coconut
coconut flour (or rice flour)

Whiz the dates and cacao in your food processor till they make a smooth paste, adding a little water if necessary. Scraped the sides , then add 4oz of walnuts and the chia seeds, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Process till the walnuts seem well chopped and everything's thoroughly mixed.

Line your quarter-sheet pan with wax or parchment paper, then scatter a couple of handsful of desiccated coconut over the bottom. Scrape the date paste over the coconut, then press it flat, using a little coconut flour to help with the stickiness. Strew the remaining walnut pieces over it, and press them in. Put it in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up, then cut into pieces (how big is up to you), dust the edges with a little coconut flour, and store in a tin.