Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew
A few years ago I was given the opportunity to try a fermenting kit by Fermentools and I enjoyed it, though I was trying it out while we were packing up a household for a bigmove. Somehow in and after that, my fermenting tools got lost and I just kind of forgot about it. I was so excited to have the chance to review the Fermentools Starter Kit this summer--and we are now huge fans.
I knew that you could make sauerkraut with fermenting and a few other things as well, like kimchi, but I didn't really know what any of those tasted like (other than sauerkraut). I wanted to make something exciting, so I looked around the Fermentools website to see if inspiration struck.
I found something on their site called "Curtido: Central America's Kimchi Cousin" and frankly, I have no idea how I found it on the site, as I had a hard time finding it a second time! (Fermentools people--if you are reading this--please make some sort of index or listing of your recipes!!)
I had the ingredients that were called for in the recipe so I decided to give it a try! It is basically just cabbage, carrots, onions, and a few jalapenos shredded/sliced very thinly. There is lime juice (I didn't have lime juice so I used lemon) as well as salt and fresh oregano (from my little herb garden, yay!) and I decided to add a little rosemary as well (since I brushed up against it in the garden and the smell was so enticing!).
Basically all I had to do was mix these ingredients up and press them into a 1/2 gallon mason jar--and let the salt do its thing--it made enough liquid within a few hours to almost cover the veggies so I made a little more brine and poured it in. The glass weight that comes with the Fermentools Starter Kit fits right in there and holds all of the veggies under the brine. The lid to put on has a little hole in it for the stopper and the airlock--and then I put it in my cupboard (for darkness) and waited!
Here are some pics of the "during" process:
We are new fermenting fans! Seriously, if the only thing I ever make is curtido--I'm good with it--but looking at the Fermentools website, there are tons of other recipes to try, so I'll probably branch out! :)
The Fermentools Starter Kit is super easy to use, and we got amazing results. Check out some other folks' reviews by clicking on the link graphic below and hear what delicious adventures they had!