Preserving the seasons through fermentation

The new culture of culturing: One of the hot topics in the Bay Area food community is fermentation — using friendly bacteria to turn fruits and vegetables into sauerkraut, kimchi and other piquant preserves. Tara Duggan gives an extensive overview of this new culture, one that is spawning home-picklers, classes, and small businesses. Although a jar of salted vegetables sitting at room temperature for a few days or weeks might seem dangerous, when done right it's amazingly safe, with one expert saying that, "lactic acid bacteria that carry out the fermentation are the world's best killers of other bacteria." A list of Bay Area resources and a few recipes are also included (some of which we plan on starting this weekend). (San Francisco Chronicle)

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By Red Icculus on June 11th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

We have always done all of our own pickling, canning, and brewing.  It's a great way to stretch your dollars on the food bill.