An excellent sweet 'mango' chutney - sans mangos

No photos today, just a quick recipe before I forget how to make this amazing condiment.

A couple of weeks ago, a branch from an apple tree broke because the apples on it were too heavy.  Unfortunately, the apples weren't ripe yet.  Then I remembered about this Victorian recipe I read for mango chutney, only it didn't have a single mango in it.  Instead, it had unripe apples.  Perfect!

Based loosely on recipe 392 of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, I had to make a few changes.  I have a tender place in my heart for anyone who applies garlic by the quarter pound, I must admit that some of the other ingredient quantities were a bit unusual to the modern taste.  So changes were made to method and quantities but without Mrs B's little book, I wouldn't have thought to make such a scrummy chutney.

Here's a little note that Mrs Beeton gives regarding her version of the recipe:

This recipe was given by a native to an English Lady, who had long been a resident in India, and who, since her return to her native country, has become quite celebrated amongst her friends for the excellence of this Eastern relish.

Sweet "Mango" Chutney

All ingredients are approximate

3 large onions
drizzle olive oil
2 Tbs mustard seed
1 Tbs powdered ginger
4 dry chilies lightly crushed (seeds included)
a large handful of garlic
At least 6 unripe apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks less than 1 inch cubed.
1 cup raisins
2 cups apple cider vinegar or equivalent
1 to 2 cups of sugar
boiling water
2 Tbs salt

• Chop the onions into about 1/2 inch chunks, in a large heavy bottom pot, fry onions on medium-low with olive oil until transparent
• add mustard seed, ginger, chili and garlic to the onions, stir well, cook about one min
• add apples, raisons and vinegar to the onion mix, bring to boil and then turn off heat
• Mix 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of boiling water to make a syrup.  Mix until sugar is dissolved
• Add syrup and salt to the apples.  Mix well and bring back to a boil.  Taste and add more sugar as necessary.  Boil on high for about 5 to 15 min or until enough liquid has evaporated.  Mixture will thicken as it cools.
• Place into washed (and if you like, sterilized) jars, seal with lid as per normal.  Because of the spices, salt and sugar, I didn't heat process these jars.  Mrs B never did, she just tightly wrapped the mouth of the jars with sheep bladders.  But as sheep bladders are hard to come by these days, so it's up to you to know how to safely can your food.  If you have any doubt, keep it in the fridge.

Affordable: Apples would have gone to waste as they fell off the tree far too early to ripen on their own.  Onions are from the garden.  That leaves the spices, raisins and sugar - so... totally guessing, let's pretend it's about $2 for this.  It made 6 and a half 8 oz jars full, which makes it 30 cents per jar.  This tastes almost identical to an English apple chutney I bought from the store once upon a time, which cost $8 for the same size.  That's a savings of $7.70 cents.  NICE!

To make it Vegan Friendly, you need to replace the sugar with a vegan friendly sweetener, and to be careful not to harm any worms that are probably living in your apples, thus causing them to fall before they were fully ripe.  

Cucumber, garlic scapes, and dill fermented pickles recipe

Here's a very delicious fermented pickle I've had the privilege to make.  The garlic scapes are from my garden, but the cucumbers and dill are from the store.  I plan to make this again later in the year with my own cucumbers and dill, but use whole garlic instead of the scapes.  It's tasty enough, but the scapes add a special something that is really yummy.

The other day I was lamenting the price of cucumbers in the store.  It was considerably higher than normal for some reason, but fresh fruits and veg are doing this more and more frequently these days.  But I found some cucumbers that had just come in at my friends shop, and bought the lot.  They are those lovely small cucumbers, tiny little seeds, so crunchy and tender.  

A good 20 plus pounds of cucumbers plus a garden full of scapes, and a few other vegs tossed in the pot for good measure, means that I made 6 gallons worth of pickles in an afternoon.  This recipe isn't for that much, but you can easily scale it up or down to your liking.  I'll do it per pound, so per each pound of veg you add...x this and that... very simple.

My recipe is inspired from this... okay, it's basically the same only modified for the open vat ferment style instead of the small jar ferment style.  Very good recipe, but far too small an amount for how good it tastes.  The ratio of dill, garlic and cucs is up to you entirely.  If you want pickled garlic with a hint of cucumbers, do that, if you like cucumbers best, do mostly those.  If dill drives you crazy with love and passion, go nuts.  But basically, I tend for 10 to 50 garlic scapes per pound of cucs, or one bulb of garlic for 2 pounds of cucs - I love garlic.

Cucumber and Garlic Scapes Dill Pickles

• cucumbers
• garlic or garlic scapes or both
• fresh or dry dill.
• salt
• optional - chili pepper, other veg like carrots
• water

1. Weigh out the veg.  For every pound of veg put aside 2 tsp of salt.  Add one Tbs of salt to the pile (for the pot as they say).  
2. Cut up the veg how you like.  The more surface area the faster they will ferment.
3. Layer it in a clean crock (no antibacterial soap, this will kill the bacteria that we need to ferment the pickle), layer of veg, sprinkle herb, layer garlic, layer of salt, layer of veg... and so on.  Save a good Tbs of salt for the top.  When you run out of veg, sprinkle the rest of the salt on top.
4. Put a plate or cut a piece of plastic or wood or whatever you have on top of the veg/salt layers.  It needs to be smaller than the opening so it can weigh down the pickles, but not too much smaller that the veg can get around the inner lid and float.  Weigh it down with a jar of water or clean rock, or the like.
5. cover the whole thing with a cotton or linen cloth to keep the bugs out and stop the dust getting in.
6. Place somewhere at cool room temp, between 10 and 20 C is ideal and ignore it for 12 to 24 hours.
7. The veggies will make their own liquid, but probably not enough.  Add clear, clean water to the vat until the veggies are submerged.  Cover it back up and ignore it.  
8. After three days to a week, open up the vat and take out a few cucumbers (with clean hands/tools) to taste.  If you like it, put the pickles in jars in the fridge.  If you would like it more sour, replace the inner lid and weight to make certain everything is submerged.  Cover again with cloth and ignore for another week.

There may be mold.  It happens but is seldom harmful.  If the mold is black or the vat smells rotten - toss it it the compost immediately!  Otherwise, trust your senses to tell you if it's okay to eat or not.  Mold isn't always bad for you.  In fact, a great number of molds are good - antibiotics come from mold, blue cheese, miso soup, sake rice wine... all contain friendly molds.  Most molds don't care about humans one way or the other, some are helpful and some are harmful.  But the point is, not all molds are bad.  If you feel uncomfortable with mold, then don't eat the vat.  If you don't mind it, and it's not black mold, then scrape off the mold, maybe sprinkle some more salt, and make certain everything is submerged below the water.

If you are making this in the heat of the summer, which is likely given the way cucumbers grow, and don't want to eat it right away, then feel free to add more salt.  In the summer, I usually put in 1Tbs salt per pound of veg.  In the winter, when it's cool, I'll add a lot less salt, maybe 1 tsp per pound of veg (this is my basic guide for all vegi ferments like kimchi or sauerkraut).  

You can make these pickles for the flavour, or to preserve the cucumbers or for the health benefits of probiotics.  I find this recipe very affordable, especially when my own cucumbers are in full production... although if you are buying the cucs, then maybe wait for them to be on sale.  

This is a traditional method to preserve cucumbers, and also one very good for transitioning away from dependence on big business and long range food transport.  Make this in the summer when you have cucumbers coming out your ears, then you will be able to enjoy pickles well into the winter, maybe even next spring.  For preservation, it's helpful to keep it in a cooler location.

Yes, this is vegan friendly.

It may work, don't know, let's find out.

I had some daikon in the back of the fridge that needed eating up, so I decided to make some fermented pickles.  Sliced it thin, mixed it with one chili pepper, also sliced thin, and added one generous teaspoon of sea salt per pound of veg.  Weighed it down and added water to make certain everything was submerged.

It's only been fermenting for three days now, but it is quite tasty.  I'm going to leave it a week or two, tasting it probably again in a week.  I really want the chilies to mellow and the daikon to spice up.  But who knows what will happen... it's all up to the invisible beasties now.

Affordable (they were all leftovers from the back of the fridge that were going to be tossed), healthy, vegan friendly and all that jaz.

Improvising airlocks for my Wild Fermentation.

This is the time of year when we do the most fermenting.  The pears have just been picked and juiced, the grapes are plump and bursting on the vine, and there are far too many vegetables in the garden waiting to be picked, and no where to store them all.  Parry (often called pear cider), wine, and fermented pickled veg are all on the menu for this year.  

One of the things I've learnt is most important, whether it be a batch of mead or a pot of kimchi, is to control the amount of air that the fermentation has access too.   In Sandor Katz's book Wild Fermentation there are lots of options, some include covering the salted veg with a plate, weighted down with a rock till the brine comes out, others involved airlocks... some home made, some the type you find in a home brew kit.

I found a whole box of those airlocks in a free pile at a yard sale this summer.   One can often find brewing equipment on UsedAnywhere or Craigslist, for a decent price.  However, these airlocks didn't have corks, they were just the plastic inserts - which turned out to be exactly what I needed.  Because now I can use them for more than carboys and jugs, I can use them for large mouth jars as well.  

I got the idea from the Pickl-It site, who makes these fantastic jars for small batch fermentation.  If I lived in a small house or condo, or could afford it, then I would buy a whole set of these Pickl-It jars.  Their one ltr jar would be excellent for sampling new recipes, and might even be a useful idea for first try at apple cider - though the surface area of the liquid might be a bit big for that.  They also have some nifty recipes and tips on their website that you can check out.

You will need

• a jar or bottle with it's lid.
• drill press
• airlock
• file
• beeswax candle
• Matches/lighter
• a surface that can get wax on it, like a piece of tinfoil
• a grown up or someone who is responsible arround power tools and fire.

Anyway, here is how I attach an airlock to a regular jar lid.  Please note, that a lot of fermentations will degrade metal over time, so it's important not to let the fermentation touch the metal, and to dispose of the lid part after each fermentation, to prevent metal particles leaching into your food.    

First I wash and dry a jar and lid.  I take the stem of the airlock and measure it, choose a drill bit that will make a snug hole for the airlock.  In my case, 1/2 inch bit did the job.  

The next step is the difficult one.  It's best done with a drill press and someone who knows what they are doing.  The drill can easily rip the lid, especially the smaller lids, out of your hand and go to work on your flesh instead.  Take appropriate safety steps when drilling the hole, go slow and steady.   

Once the hole is drilled, take a file and carefully remove any rough edges, being careful not to disturb the rubber seal on the inside of the jar lid.  Also, use a magnet to remove any metal filings, don't blow on it or you may get metal slivers in the eye.  

Wash the lid and dry it well.  Fit the airlock into the hole.  You will probably notice that no matter how tight you press it into the hole, there will still be small gaps between the lid and the airlock.  We will fix that in a moment.  You don't really need to press it in that far, just far enough to sit in there stably.  Push it in too far and the bottom of the airlock will be in your ferment - not desirable.

A couple of mead bottles with improvized airlock lids.
 - more on that later.

Lay out a piece of tinfoil or use a level, fire resistance surface that you don't mind getting wax on.  Get your beeswax candle read and a place where you can put it down quickly and it won't topple over.  I suppose you could use any unscented wax, but I feel beeswax is more natural and like to use it for food stuff better than petrol based wax.

With the lid (airlock inserted) in one hand and the lit candle in the other, carefully drip a few drops of wax on the place where the airlock meets the lid (on the top of the lid, not the inside).  Turn the lid a bit, dripp a few more drops of wax, repeat until all the gaps between the lid and the airlock are filled in.

It's best not to hold the candle too close to the lid, as the wax will be a bit cooler and run less when it hits the lid, also flame plus plastic...

I did this with a few larger mouth jars for long term fermentation storage like shredded beats for borscht and swiss chard ribs after I discovered the 'float oil on top' doesn't work all that well for me.

Harvest and making random things

Time time of year my focus is more on outside the house than inside the kitchen.  The garden needs constant attention, the animals and...well everything.  But I still get a bit of time to cook what we harvest.

Calendula and sage for the dehydrator.  The sage is for tea and cooking, whereas I hope to have enough flowers by fall to make a dye bath for some fabric.  

Also in the photo are garlic scapes.  I never brought these into the kitchen before, so I really had no idea what to do with them.

I decided to try (a slightly altered) version of these cucumber pickles.  The ingredients are almost the same, but I used a different method for fermenting them.  Although it's going to be difficult improving on this already fantastic recipe, I plan to spend much of the summer attempting variations.

With a proper cellar I could see this being a great way to preserve cucumbers and other veg.  It was magical as the taste of the cumber went from salty to sour in just a few days.


I've also been harvesting several wild plants (aka weeds, of which we have many this year) for eating and medicinal use.  This is chickweed:

I used it to make a hand salve for a friend with some rather impressive skin troubles.  Chickweed has worked in the past for him, so I'm curious if my standard salve preparation would do the trick as well.

And finally, what would summer be without a pot of Kimchi on the go?

Daikon, carrots and su choi make up the bulk of this batch.  I chopped up some garlic scapes extra fine and tossed them in as well.  Very tasty.  Used the recipe from the book, Wild Fermentation - well more or less.

How to Cook Rice in a Korean Stone Pot (and how to season it)

A dolsot or Korean stone pot is the latest addition to my kitchen.  A Korean friend of mine taught me how to cook rice in it (from scratch - instead of just adding cooked rice and heating like most people do) and after hearing her passionate description of how delicious it is, I just had to have one.

The pot is made of a single piece of stone, hand turned on a massive lathe.  It's a heavy blighter so you don't want to be dropping it on your finger like I did.

Before the first use, it needs to be seasoned.  You only need to do this the first time or if it's been sitting for a year or more.

How to season your Dolsot

Wash the pot with water and half fill with tepid water.  Add a couple of tablespoons of sea salt to the water and swish around with your fingers until all the salt is dissolved   Leave for a few minutes so that the temperature of the water and the pot can even out, than bring to boil on medium heat.  When the water is boiling vigorously, take the pot off the heat and carefully poor off the water.

When it has cooled a bit, poor some sesame oil on a cloth or paper towel and rub the inside of the pot and lid.  Lave it to cool completely and the oil to seep in.

How to Cook Rice in a Dolsot

1 cup rice
water
salt
Kombu (kelp) - optional

• Coat the inside of the pot with sesame (or any cooking) oil.  Do this every time, just before you cook in this pot.
• Wash the rice really well.
• You can add other grains with the rice.  I often replace one Tbs of rice with  Naked Oats.
• Once it's well washed, add the water.  You can follow the amount of water on the back of the rice package or you can put the washed rice in the pot and cover with water so it's about 1.5cm above the level of the rice.  Or, you can do what I did, and measure the water in the rice-cooker then poor it into the stone pot.
• Add a pinch of salt to the rice (swish it around to dissolve) and if you like, add some kombu.  
• Let the pot stand for about five minutes before you start cooking, this allows the temperature to even out and reduces the chance of the bowl splitting or cracking.

• Bring the rice pot to a roiling boil on MEDIUM HEAT!  

• I repeat: MEDIUM HEAT!
• Once the pot heats up, you can increase the temperature, but the important thing with these pots is not to change the temperature too rapidly one way or another. 
• When the water boils, turn down the heat.  You can tell when it boils as some steam will escape through the lid.  You can even check it from time to time and stir it if you like, but I didn't bother.

• When it's finished cooking (how long this takes depends on your stove and rice/grain - but basically it's when there isn't much steam escaping any more), you can eat it as is or put toppings on the rice, increase the heat until the rice starts to make a crackling sound and goes all crunchy and brown around the edges.  The latter is called Bibimbap in Korea and is extremely yummy.

Clockwise from the top:
 Leaks lightly fried and then simmered in Sake,
Salted Salmon, Cucumber nukazuke pickles, and Kim Chi.  

Of course, mine isn't real Bibimbap, I don't have the correct ingredients or sauces.  Basically I put a collection of things I like to eat on top of the rice.




After you finish eating the rice (toppings or no) there will probably be a layer of crunchy rice around the edge.  Before the pot cools down too much, add some HOT broth, hot water, or dashi.  NOTE: Please try and keep the liquid as close to the temperature of the pot as possible when you poor it in, when it doubt err on the hot side.

Adding the liquid makes a really nice soup (and makes it easier to clean later on).

Tips for Caring for your Dolsot

• Do NOT use soap to clean this pot.  If you are having trouble getting it clean either scrub with coarse salt and water or boil up some water in the pot then allow to cool completely before cleaning.
• Always allow to cool completely before cleaning.  Even though you may be able to handle the outside, the stone retains a lot of heat inside.
• Always coat the inside with cooking oil prior to using (this includes the lid)
• Do NOT change the temperature too rapidly   This includes putting cold water in a hot pot, or hot water in a cold pot, or cooking on too high a heat.  Sudden changes in temperature will crack or even shatter the bowl, and that's the last thing we want.

Some useful dolsot links
Korean Stone Pot Care and Seasoning
Dolsot Problems?
Yeongyang dolsotbap Dolsot Bibimbap recipe

A lunch for my first Transition

There is a group of people in town who are learning skills for what they call the Transition.  Basically their idea is that the way of life we have is heavily dependent on limited resources like oil.  Eventually these resources will start to run out and the way of life as we know it will drastically change.  Everything from pre-fab food shipped from long distances to fancy cell phones, to fuel for our cars, to readily available clothing... all these things will be gone!  Poof!  Or, more likely, fizzle.

To make this change easier, this Transition group hopes to acquire skills we need for our community to be (more or less) self sufficient.  They want to help people learn to grow their own food, save their own seeds, find methods of transportation that rely on as little petro as possible, and even make their own clothes.

Transitions group exist all over, and are a 'global grassroots movement supporting citizen action toward reducing oil dependence and building local community resilience and ecological sustainability' (Transistion Victoria).  Pretty cool eh?

And right up my ally.

So I've been helping to pull flax.  This is part of The Linen Project  where members of the community make linen from scratch.  Using mostly hand tools at this point, they do tend to complain about how much work it is - obviously they aren't homesteaders at heart - but in my opinion, learning that a way of life not dependent on a big industrial complex is hard work, the sooner they stop dreaming and idealizing the future, the better. (end of rant)

If pulling flax is hard work, I'm going to need a lunch!

First thing I did was run out to the garden and pick some grapes.  Delicious.  It is a Transition event after all, I should at least have one food in my lunch that I grew myself.

Two ume onigiri, one wakami furikake onigiri (they are the rice balls), home grown grapes (the best kind in my opinion), and a soy-free chocolate pumpkin made by Denman Island chocolate (a local company and my guilty little pleasure)

I warped my drink container in the cloth so it wouldn't sweat too much in my bag.

The wrapping makes it so that there is a handle on the other side.  It's very cute and convenient 

I also made a mini-bento for when I got home in case I was too tried to make a snack.

Wakami furikake onigiri and nukazuke carrots.



As a side note: I like the idea of Transition and will be looking into this further.  What Whole Wheat Pastafarian wouldn't?

But I worry that the people I met who are engaging in Transition activities are too firmly set in their middle class capitalistic mind set.  Living a life without oil is going to take more than a few mornings volunteering in a picturesque setting talking with your friends, complaining about how much hard work it is.

If things are really going to hell in a hand basket, maybe they should look to the past instead of spending all their free time reading books about the impending doom.  The idea of free time being another luxury that they would be wise to transition away from.

There are still people alive (I live with two of them) who remember harvesting in the fields by hand, know how to properly tie grain sheaths, &c.  There are also enough manuals and writings from the last two hundred years to provide the basic understanding.  There are also people like me who are already more than half way transitioned - I sew on a treadle sewing machine for goodness sake.  Relying on info from a couple of core books over those who have lived it and are living it now... that seems like a steady road to folly to me.

But simply my opinion.

Maybe transition needs to start like this?

I hope to participate more in this project, if only because I love textiles so much.  But as a first expierence, I'm a bit underwhelmed.

Yummy Bento Lunch shared on:

Bento Breakfast & Lunch: Fall Fair

The Fall Fair is perhaps my favourite time of the year.  I usually spend Saturday there demonstrating arts and crafts, which I enjoy immensely.  It also means a long day away from home so I had better pack a good bento box or two.

My breakfast is in the cute-bunny box.  This box is actually designed to hold onigiri (rice balls) with an extra compartment for snacks or fruit.  This is my first time using this box but I found it to be excellent both is size and functionality for breakfast.  

pear, apple and grapes in the lower compartment. 

I sliced a gala apple and an Asian pair up thin, put them in salt water for a few moments, dry them with a paper towel, then alternated them for an interesting colour effect.  The fruit didn't brown at all and there was no hint of salt when I bit into them.  This works much better than lemon water for keeping fruit fresh.

The top compartment was just the perfect fit for a couple of home baked scones.  I use a variation on my Grandmother's recipe to accommodate my allergies.

Lunch was a real treat to make.  I actually made most of this for dinner the night before, and the bento box was quite literally filled with leftovers.

I love how the upper section has a lid to help prevent leaks
and keep everything in place.

Top level has nuka pickles (carrots and cucumbers), shio koji chicken, and chard namuru.  I'm super-thrilled that the nuka vat is healthy again.  I just wish I could get my hands on some more rice bran (without the germ added) to increase the size of the vat.

Bottom level has rice, ume, carrot gobo kimbira, and cheese stars.

Now this lunch box is huge by my usual standards.  Around 750ml (which apparently means about 750 calories when packed full up like this).  I usually eat about half that for lunch.  Yet, I gobbled it all down.  Something about being outside among people all day long... or perhaps it was the wicked cumulation of food truck smells... made me overly hungry.  So glad I packed extra everything. 

As it was a hot day and I worried about the chicken spoiling, I wrapped a frozen juice box next to my lunch to keep it cool.  By the end of the day, the juice had thawed and was ready to drink.  It's much better than using chemical ice packs.

Shared on

where I find some soy-free miso paste and eat pasta on Friday

Scroll down for recipe for very quick, Cry-Baby Cucumber Pickles.

If you ever are in a grocery store and you see a person with a foolish grin on her face cradling a bottle of something in her arms as if it's a precious and fragile as a baby chick, then you probably saw me yesterday.

I've looked everywhere I could think of in town for No-Soy Miso.  I'm surprised by how little miso is for sale in town these days, soy or otherwise.  Finally took a long shot and went across town to one final health food shop.  Thought I would have to beg for them to order it in, but nope.  As soon as I got inside I saw a huge double fridge full of miso, with one whole shelf dedicated to South River non-soy Miso paste.  Absolutely thrilled.

I choose a chickpea miso as it's the one everyone seems to talk about.  There is no soy in it.  It's made with salt, rice, koji and chickpeas.  It smells and tastes a lot like I remember white miso paste and tastes relatively mild.  It has a chunky texture with the occasional whole chickpea in it.



Once I got home, I realized that it's been over a decade since I've used miso.  I stopped cooking with it even before I knew I had a soy sensitivity due to the stomach ache.  I couldn't remember what to do with it.

I took a small taste and the first thing that came to mind is that it would taste good with popcorn.  It's the oddest food intuition I've ever had and I don't know if it is something I want to try, but there you have it, first reaction.


Instead of popcorn, I took a spoon full in a small mug, finely chopped some chives and added boiling water.

It was Okay, but tasted a lot like I remember miso tasting.  Since my body is use to getting sick from eating traditional, soy based miso, it was difficult to get over the negative physical reaction my body has to miso soup.

The South River's miso is very chunky in texture and I don't think this is the best way to eat it as it tasted like hot water, with flavourful chunks in it.  I think if I wanted to make an 'instant' miso soup I would mash this up quite a bit more.  Might add a pinch of Shio Koji if I were to make some miso balls.



I don't know if it's a function of his age, but The Ancient has a bit of a mean streak and usually takes it out on me.  I call this the dinner of tears as I needed comfort food after one of his insensitivities.

Chick Pea miso soup I talked about before, some anise bread, salami, garlic pasta (because it's Friday) and  cry-baby cucumber pickles.

Cry-Baby Cucumber Pickles

Half a young cucumber
small pinch of salt
1 drop sesame oil
pinch of sesame seeds

• Thinly slice the cucumber in half moon slices.
• In a bowl, massage cucumber with salt until they start to weep.
• With your hands, squeeze out your frustration and excess moisture from cucumber.
• Gently massage one or two drops of sesame oil in with the cucumber slices.
• Top with tear drop shaped sesame seeds.

Nuka Pickle Vat delicious followed by troubleshooting

After five days of stirring twice a day, my nuka vat finally smelled like nuka.  For the first try I used Albanian cucumbers and carrots, both fresh from the garden.

After stirring the vat, place the veg on top and press them in.  then cover the veg with the paste.

You still have to mix the paste twice a day, even with the veg in it.  But just make sure you cover them up again if they aren't ready to eat yet.


Before I put any veg in the vat, I usually rub them with a sprinkle of salt and leave them for half an hour to sweat.  Then I dry them off carefully with a paper towel and put them in the vat.  In theory this will stop the nukazuke from being too wet and going off.  In theory.

Troubleshooting my Nukazuke vat

It's now been ten days since I first started my vat.  This morning when I opened it up to stir, I was greeted by a sweet and sour smell and a puddle of liquid forming in the vat.  What!  No!  How can it go bad already?  I've only got three helpings of pickles out of it.

Great sadness overwhelmed me.  'It must be Tuesday', I though, 'I never could get the hang of Tuesdays'.

I've been dedicated in stirring it twice a day, so I can't imagine it went bad from neglect (like my commercial nuka paste usually does).  Could it be I didn't add enough salt?  Am I using too many cucumbers and it's making the vat wet?  Does the world of fermented foodstuff simply hate me?

Time to consult Google.

 Troubleshooting your Nukazuke Vat and Nukamiso Guide were very helpful.

It's possible I've been keeping it too air tight.  So I discarded the cling wrap and left it covered by one poorly fitting plate for a lid.  Hope the flies don't get in.

I'll mop up the moisture with a paper towel (wish I had read this before stirring the moisture into the vat again) and stir it three times a day instead of twice.

I don't use any strong soaps or lotions on my hands, and always give them an extra rinse before siring the vat, so I don't think that's the problem.

I have plenty of eggs here on the farm, so I'll see what I can do about adding eggshells.  Most old household manuals suggest dry frying the shells before grinding them to kill any bacteria, but this article just says use 'clean' ones, whatever that means.  I'm pretty desperate to save this, so I'll give it a try.

Hope this can be saved!  I love nuka more than any other way of eating vegetables.  I'll be praying to his divine noodliness for guidance with this challenge.




Anyone out there have their own nuka pickle vat?  Please feel free to share some suggestions.  I would welcome all the help I can get.

Bento Lunch: hot weather picnic and a quick fix for an eco lunch box

What better way to test out my new bento box than to go on a picnic. 

The Captain's lunch (in my old Eco Lunchbox) has rice with peas and corn, ume and grilled salted salmon in the bottom and cabbage kimpira, nuka pickles and spicy cucumber on the top.  

My box has the same with a bit of mini-anchovies preserved in soy-sub, sake and honey mix.  

On top of the rice is a light sprinkling of spicy sprinkles.

I choose these bento fillings as they keep well in hot weather.  I was very careful to make everything (but the pickles) piping hot as I packed it in the bento, then allowed it to cool to room temperature before placing the lids on top.  Allowing them to cool before sealing them up reduces the amount of moisture and helps the food keep fresh longer.  

Quick fix for an Eco Lunchbox that doesn't fit together snugly any more:

At the end, when I was rushing out the door, I noticed that the metal box didn't fit snugly any more.  Not having time to re-pack into a different box, or to fix the box properly, I had to do a quick-fix which is actually quite simple.  Here's what I did:

If the clips that fasten the bottom to the top are a bit loose, and you're in too much of a rush to do a proper fix, rest the bottom of the clip on the counter and gently press in on the wires where my thumb is.  You may need to do one wire at a time as it's quite stiff.  Bend the wire just a little bit at a time and test it frequently.  This should keep well enough for the day, but then again, this box was never leek proof anyway, especially the bottom section.  

The problem with the box is that the lower section is somehow squeezed out on one end and pushed in on the other.  Although over 8 months old, it's never been banged around or received any sort of damage I know of.  In fact, I almost never use the bottom half.  I'm going to have to reshape it somehow to make it a bit less drafty down there.  But until I can get around to doing that, I guess no more rice or things that dry out quickly in that section.     

Making Nukazuke Paste, stage one

Nuka pickles are by far my most favourite way to eat vegetables.  All summer long, the vegi come streaming out of my garden and into my Nuka pot, so much so that by the end of the season, it's a soggy mass.  The water of the vegetables are extracted by the paste while the pickling happen.

Nukazuke or Nuka pickles are made by first creating a fermented paste from rice bran then submerging vegetables in this paste for between 4 hours to 2 days.  This gives the vegetables a refreshing flavour and, like many fermented foods, has a very calming effect on the stomach.

I've never made my own Nuka paste before, my friend usually sends me a ready made bag of the stuff - bless her little cotton socks.  The problem is, you can only fit so many carrots, cucumbers, turnips, &c in it at one time.

Making Nuka is a lot like making a sourdough starter.  If you can get a tsp of Nuka paste from an active batch, it should be a lot easier to get things started.

So here we go, my Nuka pot adventure.  I won't know until the end how successful this is, but going from what little I can make out of the Japanese instructions on the back of the package, plus what the internet says, this is what I figure will work.

How to Make Nukazuke Paste

800g nuka powder
100g sea salt (non iodized)
water
dry kombu (kelp)
dry chilli
(optional) 1 tsp of Nuka paste

• Mix the salt and powder together in a non-reactive container
• Add water, a little at a time, until you have a fairly dry paste.

• Submerge the kelp and chilli in the paste (being careful not to break the chilli and release the seeds), and pat down the surface of the paste until smooth.

Not the most photogenic of foodstuff, is it? But when it comes to Nuka Paste, looks are deceiving.

• IMPORTANT - with a clean damp cloth, wipe the excess paste from around the edge.  This will probably go mouldy if you leave it.
• Cover with a pickle lid or with a clean piece of clingwrap.  Keep in a coolish dark place in the kitchen.  Stir the paste at least twice a day, three times in hot weather.
• After 4 days to a week, the paste should be ready to use and have a slightly sour smell to it like sourdough starter does.  Remove the chilli and kombu.

Now you are ready to use the paste to make Nukazuke.  I'll post more on that later.

Even if you don't use the Nuka paste, you still need to stir it every day.  If you are leaving for a few days, it may keep in the fridge for up to 3 days without being stirred, but, then again, it may not.

As for vegan friendly - I don't know.  I think it might be as long as it is okay for vegans to eat fermented foods like sourdough, then it would be okay to eat this.  Although sometimes, Nukazuke powder does contain eggshells, so you would need to double check.

Quick Pickle Cucumbers with Shio Koji

Koji is fast on its way to becoming the next super-food.  I give it about 8 months to catch on and make it to main stream media, another 6 months after that to be a common additive to commercial products.  Koji is very popular in Japan right now.  A traditional food with amazing health benefits.  I've heard that it is Japan's National Fungus, and is used for making everything from Sake to Shio Koji

One of my friends from Japan sent me a jar of Shio Koji.  My rough knowledge of Japanese food terms tells me that Shio means salty (or possibly white?) and Koji is the name of the rice fungus. You can use Shio Koji for tenderizing and flavouring meat and you can use it for making pickles.

My first attempt at Shio Koji cucumber pickles.

I cut up two small cucumbers and added about 1 tsp of Shio Koji, then let it sit for about half an hour.

The instructions (in Japanese of course, so I had a friend translate it) say you use 20% by weight of Shio Koji to the vegs.  So if you have 100g of cucumbers, you add 20g of  Shio Koji.  It seems a bit strong to me, and as I only have a little bit, I didn't want to waste it.  But I think I should have used more as I found these pickles a bit bland.