I’ll be using this platform to review the most recent batch of pickling and share what’s next on tap for the lacto-ferment station..
So my uncle Rob – avid mentor, music teacher and superb cook- got me into kohlrabi from his former obsession learning to cook during my early childhood, and coming from a 50% Hungarian grandmotherly household from southern Connecticut, TBH it was pretty hard to avoid Kohlrabi in most sorts of chicken soups and stewed dishes here n’ there. So about 4 or 5 years ago I was reintroduced to the ‘K-rabi’ once again from joining a North Fork, Long Island fresh veggie CSA which delivers to NYC. Golden Earthworm Farms and Garden of Eve were the two CSA’s we belonged to.
There’s few root veggie family staples that show as much versatility as kohlrabi – from grandma’s staples to Chipotle Mayo & Cilantro-Lime cole slaw, kohlrabi can be turned into pretty much any soup item or additive, fermented item and side dish broadly speaking. After taking an interest in fermented culture from brew guy Derek Dellinger’s book, I decided to shred 2 or 3 bulbs of kohlrabi into a slaw like consistency for ‘Kohl-kraut’ (Sept. 7 ferment).
Rating: 9/10
Amy’s natural Mediterranean sea salt turned out to be a bit strong for the usual 2 tablespoon to 1.5 cups of water ratio for the ferment, but I wouldn’t say this newish variation of traditional sauerkraut came out over-salted by any means. I would definitely try this again. It was a tad saturated with 2 tbsp. and given about 2 weeks to ferment. Rather then a tart to acidic mouthful from atypical ‘kraut, the kohlrabi version has a funkier nuttiness that was great on its own and also heated up slightly with a couple of bratwursts. I would definitely give this version another try next spring, but adding peppercorn or ginger might give it a balance to the nutty flavor, so I’ll probably add either of those or even a mustard seed.
From Park Slope Food Coop Amy picked me up about a dozen Kirby’ pickles over the past week’s time so it’s about time I grabbed everything for a half-garlic pickle batch!
“Half-Garlic simple pickles”
-3 cloves garlic
-1 tbsp sea salt + 1.5 cups filtered water (brine)
-3 bay leaf strips (preserves the crispness!)
-1 tsp. Trader Joe’s tri-colored peppercorns
*I’m plumb out of mustard and dill seeds or dill sprigs – but tossed ~1 tsp crushed dill into this round to make it not too boring.. Will have to add either of the above the next go-around! Watching a couple of YouTube clips on lacto-fermented goodies, I noticed that the next few day’s forecast would be a nice split between about 70 and 76, supposedly the ideal temperature range for a stable but quick lacto-ferment! Cooler fall temperatures require one to two weeks’ worth of fermenting, so they say. So I will report back in 48 hours with a status check on these basic half-garlic bad boys!
Michael Schoeck 