More kimchi and ginger carrots fun

[Guest guest]

Wow, what a night! My wife was a saint of toleration

as she struggled to wash dishes in a cloud of flying

carrot shreds.

You see, after I mixed up the kimchi/kimchi sauce I

was on a roll, and anxious to try ginger carrots.

What the heck, I had found bags of extra carrots and

the refrigerator and had plenty of leftover fresh

ginger just waiting to be used.

The carrots were left over from a workshop we hosted

a week ago, and some were those little fakey peeled

finger carrots that someone bought to use with

some sort of dip. Like real carrots run through

an automatic lathe is what they look like to me.

Anyway a few had already started going yeastey. I

tossed the worst ones, but figured " What the heck,

as long as it is not mold! " So perhaps a few yeast

buggers got into the mix. Add more salt!

Just to help things along I poured a little juice

from another find. Must be weeks ago I bought some

gourmet kimchi, the ten bucks a jar kind. (see

http://www.rejuvenative.com for picture ) How

embarrassing that I forgot about it! Well the lid

of the jar was really bulging. Must be live things

in there, eh? So when, after an intense struggle,

I cranked off the lid, nearly all the juice erupted

all over our kitchen counter. There was a little left

for the ginger carrots, but then I recovered the

remaining kimchi with Bubba's Kosher Dill juice.

Wow, BTW, has anyone tried that rejuvenative.com

kimchi? It has broccoli, cauliflower, all sorts

of stuff in there too. Very yummy!

My wife just eyed me soberly and tossed me something

to wipe up with. She is such a dear!

So the ginger carrots hopefully got a little jump

start. I have my fingers crossed, and think this

is turning out to be waaay more fun than kombucha

or yogurt.

I started a batch of kefir too. Bought the most

expensive plain variety I could find, mixed half

of it with some organic pasteurized whole milk, and

set the other half on the refrigerator to see if

either of them will develop kefir grains. I take

it that the kefir grains are the thing to get, right?

Sorry for rambling folks, but you know how it is.

I don't know why I waited this long...

Steve

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# Steve Veeneman - svnmn@...

# What do you really want...

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

>Just to help things along I poured a little juice

>from another find. Must be weeks ago I bought some

>gourmet kimchi, the ten bucks a jar kind. (see

><http://www.rejuvenative.com>http://www.rejuvenative.com for picture ) How

>embarrassing that I forgot about it! Well the lid

>of the jar was really bulging. Must be live things

>in there, eh? So when, after an intense struggle,

>I cranked off the lid, nearly all the juice erupted

>all over our kitchen counter. There was a little left

>for the ginger carrots, but then I recovered the

>remaining kimchi with Bubba's Kosher Dill juice.

>Wow, BTW, has anyone tried that rejuvenative.com

>kimchi? It has broccoli, cauliflower, all sorts

>of stuff in there too. Very yummy!

Wow! It sounds like you had some fun!

That is a neat website. I'd love to copy some other kimchi recipes -- I guess

you can make it with anything (though in that case, how " kimchi " is different

from any other cultured vegie is a semantic point). I've been thinking of using

the juice as an innoculant too -- I would think it would be faster than whey,

because it's already adapted for vegies.

>My wife just eyed me soberly and tossed me something

>to wipe up with. She is such a dear!

Nice to have an open-minded family ...

>I started a batch of kefir too. Bought the most

>expensive plain variety I could find, mixed half

>of it with some organic pasteurized whole milk, and

>set the other half on the refrigerator to see if

>either of them will develop kefir grains. I take

>it that the kefir grains are the thing to get, right?

Yeah. If I had extras I'd send 'em (I used my extra grains to start lemonade).

Really, I think it's best to plunk down the $20 or whatever and get some grains.

The kefir cultures other milk, but I've never had it form grains, and the milk

part doesn't seem to have the yeast content that the grains do.

I've been thinking the easiest way to make it would be to just plunk the grains

in your carton of milk (straight from the store or farmer) and set it on the

counter for a couple of days, then strain out the grains and put it back in the

carton. Or pour the carton of milk into a strainer type pitcher and when the

kefir is gone, the grains are left. The grains are really, really nice though:

they are tough and really innoculate the milk well. Try it with some half and

half too, or add some cream ...

One interesting thing: the milk is usually a little yellowish. But after it is

keferized, it is bright white. I wonder why? The kefir eats the beta carotene?

>Sorry for rambling folks, but you know how it is.

>I don't know why I waited this long...

If you come up with some good recipes, please post them! I haven't tried

broccoli/cauliflower at all.

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Trillium Custom Software Inc.

heidis@...