Getting some culture
The Wombat has embarked on a new project. Â She is growing things.
A few months ago, I purchased Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation. Â I am here to report on my first few projects.
KEFIR:  For the past few years, I have been stretching my store-bought kefir ($5.49/quart!) by adding a cup at a time to fresh milk and leaving it sit out for a day.  But last week, I order my very own kefir grains, which arrived  from Ohio today.  I added some milk and in a mere 24 hours, I should have some new kefir to make into smoothies.  Yum.  I am, however, a little concerned about the beasties when I leave this Friday for two and a half weeks…
KOMBUCHA: Â Last Saturday, I started a kombucha culture from store-bought. Â By this morning, it had an oozy little film on the surface and it smelled just like it should. Â I have added some more sweetened tea today and transferred it to a larger container. Â I hope it will grow well until I have to refrigerate it for my trip…
MILLET PORRIDGE: Â Well, Mr Katz gives an appealing description of millet porridge. Â And, generally, the Wombat really loves her porridge — oatmeal, cream of wheat, cream of rice, and jook are all delicious! Â So, I ground up some millet, added some water, and let it sit for a couple days until it fermented a bit, and then added more water and cooked it. Â And it made my whole house smell unpleasantly of cheese. Â Although cheese can be delicious, H pointed out that the smell of cheese is not always a good thing — when your feet, your yoga clothes, or a wound smell like cheese, this is a bad sign. Â Well, my millet porridge smelled unappealingly of cheese and tasted bitter. Â I decided that I would not feel guilty about throwing it out. Â The Wombat does not care for cheesy millet porridge.
RED WINE VINEGAR: Â Last Saturday, I picked up a cheap 1.5L bottle of red wine at CostCo for my first vinegar experiment. Â I poured the wine into a large, 2-gal glass wide-mouth jar, added a cup or so of raw cider vinegar and covered with a towel to await transformation. Â It is starting to smell more like vinegar. Â On Monday, I will take a sample to the lab to test the pH and see how things are coming along.