Naturally Fermented Purple Cabbage | 天然酵母醃酸椰菜

A couple weeks ago, I bought a purple cabbage to make a salad for a family event.  Although I already chose the smallest size of the purple cabbage, it was still as large as a basketball.  I tried my best to use the cabbage to make a salad with twenty servings, but there was no way for me to use the whole thing.  So I saved the rest for this recipe.

This recipe is almost identical to the the Fermented Cabbage I posted a long time ago.  You can skip the carrots in this recipe, but the taste will be different, because the carrots bring extra sweetness to the cabbage, which I found balances it very well.  This fermented cabbage can be served with grilled meat, on hot dogs, tacos, or even sushi.

I hope you will enjoy the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 head Purple Cabbage, small

4 Carrots, peeled and cut into large sticks

1/2 tablespoon All Purpose Flour

Water

Salt

材料：

1/2 頭  紫椰菜

4 條  甘筍，切粗條

1/2 湯匙  麵粉

水

鹽

METHODS 做法:

1. Cut the cabbage into thin strips.  Place the cabbage in a large bowl and add in 1 heap teaspoon of salt.   Rub until it is well combined; let it sit for 20 minutes.

2. While waiting for the cabbage, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.  Then, let it cool to lukewarm temperature.  Stir in the flour; set it aside.

1. 椰菜切幼條；放到大碗中。加入1大菜匙鹽；揉至混合。讓其靜置20分鐘。

2. 等待期間，把大鍋水燒滾。待放暖後，加入麵粉；拌勻。

3. Drain out the released juice from the cabbage.  Rinse the cabbage two times under running water to remove the excess salt; drain well.

4. In a large glass container, toss the carrots and cabbage together.  Pour in the flour water.  The flour will be the natural food source for the bacteria during the fermenting process.

3. 倒掉椰菜洗出來的水，再用清水洗椰菜兩次，沖走多餘鹽份。

4. 在一大只玻璃器皿內，混合甘筍和椰菜。注入麵粉水。麵粉水會在發酵期間用作酵母的天然食糧。

5. Place a dish upside down on top of the cabbage mixture.  Make sure the vegetables are totally submerged in the water.  Otherwise, it will result in mold.

6. Then, Cover the pot with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent air or other moisture to go in.

5. 用碟子蓋上椰菜面；麵粉水要完全浸過椰菜和甘筍，以防發霉。

6. 在玻璃器皿上再蓋上一層保鮮膜；以防水氣進入。

7. Let it sit in a corner without direct sunlight for 14 days, while waiting for the sour flavour to develop.

One thing to mind is that the liquid may smell unpleasant in the first couple days for some noses due to the sulphur contained in the cabbage.  It is kind of like rotten eggs if I have to say it; however, the smell should go away when it comes to the second week.  Check the pot (without opening the lid) to see if any mold developed.  If so, the batch is bad and should be discarded.  No messing with mold. 

7. 放到陽光不能直射的地方發酵14天。

頭一星期，椰菜的特殊氣味會明顯較大，似壞了的雞蛋。但進入第八天，氣味會大減。檢查 (不開封) 液體周邊是否有霉。如發現，便不能食用，要把椰菜倒掉。

Homemade Strawberry Jam without Pectin ｜自製草莓果醬 (不含果膠)

Strawberry is almost the first fruit to welcome summer in Ontario; many of the local farms will open to the public for pick-your-own strawberries.  Every year my husband and I will bring our son to a strawberry farm to learn where the food comes from while picking some of the freshest fruit home.

Like many other children, my son always has fond memories of going to a strawberry farm, sampling those fresh fruit right on the field.  He will walk up and down the aisles, finding the biggest and the best looking strawberries between the leaves and shoving them into his mouth.  "It's so juicy! Mommy, look!" my son says happily.  His content face is usually covered with delicious juice.

The 30 pounds of strawberries we picked this summer.

This summer, we brought home thirty pounds of strawberries.  It was a little crazy.  I spent a full two and a half hours hulling them to prepare for the jam making.  It was a mind-over-matter job indeed.

There are two common ways to make strawberry jam.  One is using pectin and the other one without.

Pectin is extracted from high pectin fruit, like apple, through heat and acid.  It is a thickening agent that helps gelling jam or other preserves.  By adding pectin, the jam can solidify without too much reduction in the liquid.  So, it generally helps speed up the cooking process, also resulting in a larger portion of jam.  Though, pectin may cause stiff jam and may also leave some off flavour in the product.

Strawberries contain high amounts of pectin naturally; therefore, it's not necessary to thicken the jam with extra store-bought pectin.   My strawberry jam recipe is the traditional way without pectin, which means that it requires longer cooking time to reduce the liquid to the right consistency.  The finished product is usually about half of the amount of the fruit.  However, the jam is much more fruity and has no off flavour from the pectin.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you will enjoy this recipe.

Homemade Strawberry Jam without Pectin

自製草莓果醬 (不含果膠)

INGREDIENTS

8 cups Strawberries

3 cups Sugar

1/2 Lemon of Juice

DIFRECTION:

1. Gently rinse the strawberries.

2. With a chopstick, hull the green leafy top of the strawberries.  Discard the tops.

3. Pour the strawberries in a big deep pot.  Mash them with a potato masher until lumpy.

4. Add sugar and lemon juice.  Mix together over high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to boil.  Reduce the heat to medium.

5. Continuously boil the mixture until it becomes thicker.  Reduce the heat to simmer.  Skim off the foam and stir the mixture occasionally.

6. When the mixture reduces to nearly half, test the jam by dipping a cold spoon in the jam.  If the jam coats the spoon without falling, the jam is ready.  Remove the pot from the heat immediately.

I tested my jam on a cold plate.

7. Bottle the jam in hot sterilized mason jars immediately.

8. Seal the jars in water bath for 10 minutes.  The jars need to be totally submerged.  Leave the jars to cool and check carefully to see if the lid is moving.  The lids should not be movable.  Once cool, store them in a dark cool place.

The best part of making jam for my son was that he got to lick the spoon after I finished the jam.  Another lovely memory!  He said it was a big strawberry lollipop. 

The batches I made this year.  They should be enough to last until next summer.

Yum!