Something gets in my head and I’m off to the races! Lately, I’ve been wanting to do some fermenting foods. I’ve read about it, I’ve listened to podcasts, Vince and I have talked about it. Fermenting seems interesting and healthy and . . different!
I’ll post more about it and report on how things taste but this morning, I put some okra on to ferment. I wanted to try lacto-fermentation and it needs whey so I made yogurt. To get Greek yogurt, I strain the whey from the yogurt. The straining can be done with cheesecloth but I love this bouillon strainer. Originally, the intent was to use it for prickly pear juice and not have to strain the juice through multiple layers of cheesecloth multiple times and I’m happy to say that worked great with the prickly pear juice . . one trip through the strainer and I had clean and clear juice ! It was worth the cost just for that but then I thought . . hey, I can use this for straining yogurt to make Greek yogurt and it’s amazing for that.
Bouillon Strainer
The batch of yogurt from yesterday made almost 2 pints of yogurt, a little jar of starter for next batch of yogurt and almost a pint of whey.
Yogurt and Whey
Yogurt went into the fridge and the whey went into the jars of okra!
Fermenting Okra
It should take 5 – 7 days before we can try it. I’m so excited to try this. I added a few jalapeno slices, a couple of tabasco peppers and some garlic. Five pints and 1 quart . . hope we like it but if not, the okra, peppers and garlic all came from the garden so I didn’t lose much.
Sherrill says
So you put the whey in along with the other additions and just let it sit in the fridge? No canning or anything? Is it supposed to be like pickled okra?
NancyB from Many LA says
Look into homemade sauerkraut too!
We just started making keffir (sp?) It’s good, and really good for you!
Toni Wood says
Judy, love okra but think I’ll pass on fermented okra!
patti says
are those lids on during the fermenting process? dh makes saurkraut and it needs to allow the gasses to escape. wad surprised to see the lids. never heard of using whey, very interesting.
Denise Porter says
A neighbour lady was telling me at church just this past Sunday about lactobasity in the gut and how she was preserving various foods by this process …. using salt, I think. My 15 yr old son has gone over to her place tonight to see how she was injecting potatoes with something and then baking them. Supposed to be something like this. Will be interesting to see how their experiment turned out!