How to make fermented ginger carrots

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The end of this summer I planted a bunch of carrots one afternoon and I unfortunately pretty much forgot about them.  Without proper thinning I ended up with quite a few short and/or twisted carrots which I decided would be perfect to make some fermented ginger carrots.

Step 1: Clean and peel carrots.  Peeled and cut the ends off of the carrots and set them aside.

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Step 2: Shed the carrots.  With a food processor this speeds up the process significantly but you can also do this with a hand shredded or even some good knife work.  The smaller the carrots the faster the fermenting process will be.  After slicing place carrots into a bowl and mash them a little bit to get some carrot juices flowing.  (personally I use a piece of wooden dowel)  Finally toss in 1-2 tablespoons of fresh grated ginger.

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Step 3: Fill with brine and wait.  In a separate container mix 1 quart of distilled water with 1.5 tablespoons of sea salt and mix until dissolved.  Pour over brine over carrots and cover jar with some cheesecloth.  Typically with fermenting I would have to construct something to keep the vegetables from floating to the surface but I have found with carrots they are pretty good about sinking to the bottom on their own.

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You can let them ferment on a warm counter for a few days or up to a week and a half.  Then move them into your refrigerator where they will continue to ferment at a much slower rate until all are consumed.

Pumpkin pancakes with pumpkin spice whipping cream

 

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My seed collection from my Winter Luxury Pie pumpkin I purchased a few years back finally paid off and I was able to produce a couple of decent sized pumpkins which should provide me enough pumpkin goo (canned pumpkin) to make plenty of baked goods this fall.  For those who have not made their own pumpkin goo the process is very easy…even easier this year with my new food processor (no need to add bit of water to help my struggling magic bullet I have used in the past)

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So with about a gallon of pumpkin puree on hand I froze about 3/4 of it by spooning some into silicon muffin cups, freezing for a couple hours, adding to freezer bag and repeat.

With what I had left seemed like a good idea would be pumpkin pancakes which I made this morning with the following recipe.
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Pumpkin pancakes with pumpkin spice whipping cream
Recipe type: Breakfast
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1.5 cups milk
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 2 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2.5 teaspoons pumpkin spice (1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ginger)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Mix milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar in bowl.
  2. In separate bowl combine flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt and stir until well combined.
  3. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture and mix just enough to combine (over mixing can lead to chewy pancakes)
  4. Heat a griddle or frying/cast iron pan on medium-high heat and pour ¼-1/3 cup of batter into pan and flip when brown and serve.
Notes
For whipping cream simply add ¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to purchased whipping cream. Or make it yourself with 2 cups of heavy cream, 1 teaspoon powdered sugar, and ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice and whip until you have medium peaks.

 

 

Making homemade applesauce

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This weekend we decided to head to our favorite pumpkin patch to get some obvious pumpkins, kettle corn, cider donuts, and about a dozen pounds of u-pick apples.

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Now that I have amassed a plethora of apples we decided to make some homemade applesauce.  For just a few apples I would just cut the apples by hand but with this many I break out my apple peeler which gets the assembly line moving much faster.

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If interested here is the applesauce recipe I traditionally use for my applesauce…not super sweet but with nice hint of lemon.

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Awesome applesauce
Recipe type: Dessert
 
Ingredients
  • 5-6 pounds of apples (peeled, cored, quartered)
  • peel of half a lemon
  • Juice of two lemons
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon (more if desired)
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1.5 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients into large pot over medium high heat. Cover and bring to boil then lower temperature to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Note: This also works great with a crockpot (high to boil and low for 30+ minutes)
  2. Once the apples get a soft and mushy remove lemon peels and mash with a potato masher. For a less physical approach an egg beater (personal favorite), immersion blender, food processor, or blender (pulsing) can smooth things out real quickly

Good for on year in the freezer and probably good for a couple weeks in the refrigerator…though it has never lasted that long with my 11 year old daughter knowing about it.  Great cold but I like it best warm with a bit of vanilla ice cream or a splash of cream or whipping cream.

IKE