The Week in Review January 29-February 2 — The Cultured Pickle Shop

Tuesday

Kombucha. Prep & Packing.

We Juiced Celery and Yuzu and added the juice to a fermented Sencha, green tea, for Kombucha.

We prepped Fennel for Kasuzuke. For this project, we use only the fennel bulb. We remove the stems and reserve them for juicing. The bulbs are quartered and salted at 6%. We will press the salted bulbs for two days before burying them in the lees.

Alex packed some Sea Kraut. This is one of my favorite varieties of sauerkraut that we produce. It is a Green Cabbage Sauerkraut with Gold Beets, Burdock, Ginger, and three types of seaweed- Arame Dulse & Hijiki.

Wednesday

Kimchi. Kombucha

We juiced Fennel and Apple and added the juice to a fermented Mint tea. We juiced both the bulbs and the stems of the fennel and saved the fronds and the pulp for the weekend's Dashi.

We worked on two Kimchis. Bok Choy, which had been brining for two days, was drained and dried for the day. It was mixed with Dulse, Ginger, Garlic and Chile in the evening. We laboriously cubed daikon to be brined for the next two days.

**Bok Choy with Ginger and Dulse for Kimchi**

Parsley leaves were plucked to be marinated in Miso Tamari. The stems were saved for the weekend's Dashi.

**Parsley to be marinated in Miso Tamari**

A batch of Ginger & Turmeric Carrots was packaged. For most of our lacto-fermented pickles, we coax a brine out of the vegetables by salting them and allowing the salt to pull the liquid out, forming a brine of the vegetable's own juice. By doing this, we concentrate the vegetable flavor rather than dilute it with a saltwater brine. However, in order to do this, the vegetable must be shredded; you can't pull enough juice out of a whole vegetable, so in that case, we must add a saltwater brine. We use this as an opportunity to add another layer of flavor by making a strong tea out of an herb, or in this case, fresh grated ginger & turmeric; we salt the tea and use it to brine the vegetables.

Brining Jars of Ginger-Turmeric Carrots. When the fermented Carrots are ready to package the brine is separated, the carrots are packed into the jar with the ginger and turmeric and the brine is added back in.

Thursday

Weekend Prep. Carrots. Kasuzuke

We started a couple of quick pickles for the weekend. By using a mature ferment as a pickling medium, we are able to impart the complexity in just a couple of days.

**Kohlrabi prepped to be mandolined and pickled in Umezu**

**Red Daikon prepped to be mixed with our Indian Pickled Lime**

Winter is the best time for preserving carrots. The cold concentrated the sugars yielding beautifully sweet carrots.We started a batch of Carrot Ribbons fermented with green garlic & Dulse

We harvested Beet Kasuzuke, a one-year fermentation of beets in sake lees.

We drained and rinsed the fennel bulb that we started on Tuesday. We buried the fennel in a mixture of sake kasu, sugar & salt for a one-year fermentation.

**Fennel Bulb salted at 6% and pressed for two days**

**Pressed Fennel to be Drained & Rinsed**

**Fennel bulb being buried in Sake Lees for a one-year fermentation**

Friday

Kimchi. Dashi.

The Daikon that was brined on Wednesday was drained and mixed with scallion, garlic, ginger, and chiles for kimchi.

**Daikon, Scallion, Ginger Garlic & Chile for Kimchi**

The pulp we saved from juicing apples and fennel fronds form earlier in the week were simmered all day. In the evening, they were cold and infused with kombu seaweed. The kombu adds some ocean umami, a little viscosity, and makes it a dashi. The dashi will be heated and served as a start to this weekend's Rice & Pickles meal.