I never get tired of the magic of fermenting vegetables. Today I uncrocked a batch of Classic Sauerkraut that’s been fermenting since September. It’s “just cabbage,” but tastes rich, sweet, sour, with a wine-like depth and so much umami.
Cabbage + salt + time = sauerkraut. The sum is always more than the parts. And I don’t do the fermenting, either. The vegetables do it themselves. I just create the safe environment so that it can happen.
It’s fun to look inside other peoples’ refrigerators, isn’t it? Here is the Curious Farm pickle fridge — specifically the fridge that stores the sauerkrauts and all that are ready for Market.
The Harvest Market is tomorrow, and I’m very excited to see everyone there again. I hope you’ll come down. As you can see from the photo, Curious Farm has made the switch back to glass. Next year, everything will be sold in glass again, and I’ll find other uses for the eco-friendly compostable deli containers I used for most of this year. Glass has its challenges, too, but we’ll move forward with glass in any case.
Look at those jars… so much love inside each one. Can you imagine what the Pickle Lab smells like when I’m shredding 40 – 50 pounds of sweet, green cabbage? Or the leeks from Sweetrock Farm? Or what it smells like when I’m peeling 8 heads of garlic for a batch of kimchi? It’s magic and medicine. Plucking dill seed for the cucumber pickles always makes me feel washed clean… the aroma of dill just refreshes the spirit.
It’s true that cabbages, cucumbers and other vegetables talk to me. I was going to make kraut out of the kohlrabi grown by Galin-Flory Farms, but the crunchy brassica spaceships told me that they wanted to be a pickle instead. There was an awful day when I went to visit a produce stand with my mother and saw glorious, huge, vibrant cabbages that were screaming at me to turn them into sauerkraut. I went over to talk to them, and I tried not to cry. Sweetly, I explained that all of my fermenting vessels were full, and I couldn’t take them home. I told them I knew that other sauerkraut makers would be coming by today to scoop them up and let them ferment. I firmly believe that all cabbages grow up dreaming of becoming sauerkraut. Left to their own devices, they would ferment naturally. It is what they want to do, thank goodness.
This year, my customers surprised and encouraged me. Thank you. You know so much about the health benefits of these traditional, live-cultured foods! Some of you came to the booth every week or every other week, steadily encouraging me. You gave compliments that made me blush. You went out of your way to bring Curious Farm products to people you love. Some of you even became addicted to kimchi this year!
When people ask about my new business, I always mention my customers. Pickle lovers are spirited, opinionated folks, and you didn’t fail me. I heard plenty of constructive criticism: “More garlic!” “Too spicy!” “More heat!” “More dill!” “I don’t know… that’s kinda weird…”
I listened to it all, and I learned so much. Thank you.
I can’t wait for next May, when the Market starts up again! See you tomorrow…
My daughter thinks kohlrabi looks like a space ship or an alien. She loves it, though. Crunchy, fresh, sweeter than a turnip, and with a cleaner taste than a broccoli stalk.
This week at the Beaverton Farmers Market, Curious Farm will offer Sour Kohlrabi Pickle for the first time. If you loved the Sour Turnips, I think you’ll like these, too. They’re less pungent but maybe more addictive.
The kohlrabi was grown by Galin-Flory Farms. They’re next to us at the Market, and they’re growing some delicious, gorgeous vegetables and berries. Every Saturday it’s such an inspiration to see the rainbow of bounty they bring.
This is a batch of Curious Farm Harvest Kimchi, just before it goes into the crock to ferment.
The dark leaves are tender, young broccoli leaves from this patch in the garden:
The sweet carrots came from here:
The garlic was harvested at Curious Farm a month ago:
This batch of kimchi will be available at the Beaverton Farmers Market in early October. We love sharing the bounty with you.
This morning I jarred up a new batch of Curious Farm Chili-Garlic-Ginger Sauce for tomorrow at the Beaverton Farmers Market.
I love all the products I make, but I’m really excited about this sauce. It has concentrated heat from the chili flakes — which have some meaty sweetness to them, too, not just fire. The garlic gives the sauce a round, earthy warmth, and there’s just enough ginger to add sweetness and lift.
The sauce hits all of the taste spots on the palate — sour, pungent, sweet, bitter, and salty — and those flavors linger in just the right way. Even better, because Curious Farm’s Chili-Garlic-Ginger Saunce is live-cultured, it’s still full of probiotics, anti-oxidants and raw goodness.
“The Sauce” (and it needs a name so come taste some at the booth soon and help me come up with a lively name) is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. It’s not quite a salsa — though it could be used wherever one would use salsa or tabasco. It also is different from the fermented chili sauces available in Asian groceries. There’s more flavor dimension in this “Sauce,” and that might be because it’s still alive and hasn’t been shelf-stabilized.
Come give it a try at the Beaverton Farmers Market some Saturday! A 9-oz jar is $6.50, and — if you bring me back the jar — I’ll give you $1 off your purchase next time.
and I love this beautiful garlic — still juicy from its recent harvest. It’s sitting outside in baskets so that it will cure in the sun before I bring it in to store safely.
I am using this home-grown garlic in the new, very concentrated, curious farm chili-garlic-ginger sauce . This sauce is great for eggs, tossing with noodles, basting chicken and seafood, adding a smidgen to your own sauces and dressings.
Live-cultured, curious farm chili-garlic-ginger sauce is full of probiotics, raw goodness, antioxidants, and flavor.
Sometimes I love how beautiful my compost pail looks before I take it out to the pile or to the hens.
Underneath you can see fresh beet trimmings from making a batch of curious farm grown-up beets. on top, you can see how vibrant the beets look after fermenting for curious farm beet kvass.