Lacto-fermentation and fun with Yeasties

Yay for nerdy things that have to do with food. I love all things food, generally. There was one time when I agreed to try a Thousand Year egg and gagged healthily. It is an acquired taste, I assure you.

This morning I was reading the Washington Post's "Lean and Fit" column as I often like to do, and came upon something I'd never heard of per se- lactofermentation. The whole concept is pretty appealing to me and I think I'll add it to my "try canning food some day" to do list. In very basic terms you put some veggies or fruit in a Mason jar and seal it air tight, then some lactobacilli turn the sugars into energy to multiply. Think yummy kimchi or sauerkraut. Wikipedia does a great job explaining the technical, chemical process that happens.

It's funny because this isn't an unfamiliar thing for me, but naturally I'd never thought to learn more about it. My sister in-law is Native Alaskan and she used to get jars of pickled octopus legs from her aunts back up in Alaska. I'm not positive, but as that is a traditional recipe, I'm fairly certain they use fermentation to help preserve the octopus legs before they put in the veggeis and spices. I also have an aunt in-law who is Korean and she makes the world's best homemade kimchi. We always eat it at Thanksgiving with all the other trimmings.

I really like the idea of breaking out of the mold and fermenting other things besides cheeses and beers. Speaking of beers, our first porter is doing well. For whatever reason- the gravity was too high? the temperature wasn't low enough when we put the yeast in?- we had to pitch new yeast into the mash on Sunday. The porter "baby," as we often call our brews, is doing well with a strong fermentation going on. We're expecting to taste its goodness come December. Such a blessing since we moved to a part of the country that isn't as microbrew focused as the Pacific Northwest.

And here, is some Scandinavian herring treats for your contemplative pleasure...