I know I only talked about one success, but I'll get to some more later.
Let's talk about failure.
First of all, remember how cocky I got about my yogurt? How it was just the easier thing ever? Well, it was----the first time. The second batch did not set up at all, and I am still not sure exactly what I did wrong. I think I might have just not been precise enough about the temperature or the measuring---I think what I must have done is put the yogurt culture in to the milk when it was too hot, thus killing all the beneficial guys. Whoops. I was totally humbled in a matter of minutes. I decided to try to salvage it by heating it up again, but at that point the milk totally separated.
So-----yogurt cheese! It's actually really delicious. I drained all the whey out to use in future fermentations and then rinsed the curds and put them in a container with some onion and dill. Real yummy. So although it was a total FAILURE of a yogurt, it was a resounding success of a yogurt cheese. Cool. Next time I get a gallon of milk I really want to make paneer. That seems to be a super simple cheese too.
The next failure I am sorry to report is my latest batch of saurkraut. I kind of had a feeling when I was cutting it that something was not working out right---in contrast to the juicy explosion of the previous batch, I had to WORK that cabbage to get any liquid out. I made sure that the liquid level covered the veg when I put the weight on top, but then I did not go back and check it regularly. Today I realized that there was some mold growing around the lip of the crock, and when I took the weight out the kraut was totally dry. It smelled fine, but I am paranoid enough to just put it on the compost pile and try again the next time I get my hands on a cabbage. So, kraut fail. Luckily I have some pickled radishes and carrots in the fridge if I need a fix. Which I just might tonight cuz my throat is feeling scratchy and I am a little run down. I always seem to crave fermented foods when I'm starting to get sick. Kombucha to the rescue!
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For you, these seem to be learning experiences and experiments rather than actual failures. Do you make kombucha too? I'm about to start (trying) to grow a mother. I was thinking about doing a series of failures too, but then you beat me too it. Maybe I'll wait until a little later in the season when I can talk about how my tomatoes didn't sprout or whatever.
ReplyDeleteRebby is in charge of the kombucha--she's been doing it pretty much constantly for almost two years. (we let our mother die the last time we went on vacation, but got a new one from a friend)
ReplyDeletewish there was a good way to ship them because we could probably divide ours at least three times now!