New Year's Challah

Kimchi = yum

After many years of admiring Sandor Katz, I finally got his fantastic book Wild Fermentation.
If you like to ferment foods and you do not have this book, you are completely missing out. It is well worth the price and will provide really good information as well as instruction. If you want to see more of what Sandor is up to you can check out his website
http://www.wildfermentation.com/

Over the past decade I have been present at many of his fermentation workshops. There have been times when I have made sauerkraut and pickles (although I haven't had the best luck with pickles) as well as kombucha, and I love to eat good fermented foods. For years now I've talked about adding fermenting into my life in a more regular and permanent way. However, life moves along swiftly sometimes and intentions get stuck in brambles on the banks.

Finally last week I felt like it was time to really get going. So I pulled the cabbage and carrots out of the fridge, the garlic and ginger from the shelf, and the wakame and dried peppers (which is all I had) from the cabinet and set to work following in the wise words of Sandor Ellix Katz.

The vegetables soaking in brine.

onion being grated for the spice paste

grated ginger for the spice paste

viola! the finished product packed tight into this wonderful lidded jar we received many years ago from some old friends.

We loved the finished product. It wasn't too spicy, but had a little kick and that was just right for us. In fact we like dit so much that it is now gone and a new batch is in the works. I couldn't believe how easy it was to produce this delicious treat that will surely become a staple of our diet.

side note*** If you like to ferment foods and have to grate things like onions and ginger a lot for pastes, I would highly recommend investing in a Japanese ginger grater. They are very affordable and they do a great job of completely breaking down whatever your grating.