Fermentation: Part 2

 

Ellen Lampert, the other presenter at the Fermentation Workshop, showed us how to make whey and its by-product, cream cheese. Her information was adapted from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions.

 

WHEY AND CREAM CHEESE

Whey is a starter culture for lacto-fermented vegetables and fruits, for soaking grains, and as a starter for fermented beverages. The cream cheese by-product of whey making is far superior to commercial cream cheese, which is produced by putting milk under high pressure and not by the beneficial action of lactic acid-producing bacteria.

TO MAKE WHEY YOU NEED:

2 quarts of buttermilk OR

2 quarts of yoghurt OR

2 quarts of raw milk

AND

A deep bowl, a kitchen towel (NOT terrycloth), a large strainer, a wooden spoon, an airtight glass jar

Sally Fallon (Weston A. Price Foundation/Nourishing Traditions) suggests using whole milk buttermilk. I use cultured buttermilk off the supermarket shelf and it works just fine.

If you are using raw milk, put the milk in a clean glass container and allow it to stand at room temperature 1-4 days, until it separates.

METHOD:

Line your large strainer with your kitchen towel. Put the strainer and towel in or over your bowl. (I balance my strainer on an upended measuring cup inside the bowl. This allows me to check on the draining process without too much fuss.) Pour the buttermilk, yoghurt or separated milk into the towel-lined strainer. The whey will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the towel. This can take the better part of a day or overnight.

When it looks like most of the liquid has drained into the bowl, and the remaining solids (now cream cheese) are beginning to pull away from the towel, tie up the towel with the milk solids inside,WITHOUT SQUEEZING. Tie this sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of a container so that more whey can drip out. When the bag stops dripping the cheese is ready.

Store the whey in an airtight jar (mason or weck). If the cream cheese is stored in an airtight container, it will keep for a month. The whey will be good for six months.

PICKLED CUCUMBERS

(makes 1 quart)

1. 4-5 pickling cucumbers
2. 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
3. 2 tablespoons fresh Dill, snipped
4. 1 tablespoon sea salt
5. 4 tablespoons whey
6. 1 cup filtered water

Wash, but don't scrub cucumbers, slice if needed and place in a wide-mouth jar. Combine remaining ingredients ajnd pour over cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover cucumbers. The top of the liquid should be at least 1-inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days (2 days for sliced cucs) before transferring to cold storage. Optional ingredients include thinly sliced carrots, grape or oak leaves. These will help maintain a crunchy pickle.

TIPS

A starter culture is not necessary. There are plenty of great micro-organisms hanging around just looking for a job. The salt holds "bad guy' bacteria back while your "good guy" bacteria get to work. You do get a different culture when you go with the bacteria in the air/on the veggies rather than using whey.

You can use less or even no salt if you add whey as a starter culture. Whey being rich in lactic acid and lactobacilli. The more salt you use, the slower the fermentation will take place, the more acidic the result will be.

Use well water, spring water, distilled water, reverse osmosis water or purified water. Do not use city tap water as chlorine prohibits the growth of beneficial bacteria.

You can use any kind of jar that has a lid you can secure (glass enamelware or gourds not plastic or metal).

Organic produce will supply more nutrients for the fermentation process. Trace minerals must be present in sufficient amounts for enzymes to function.

If you are not sure whether the veggies are pickled enough, stick them in the fridge and try them the next day. if you want to pickle them some more, the process will continue again if you leave the jar out at room temperature any time in the future.

Fermented veggies will keep for months in the refrigerator, though they will continue to ferment just a bit so they become more pickled/sour/soft over time. Our ancestors kept them in the root cellar.