First venture into fermenting with whey....advice?

[Dace]

Ok all you smarty pants out there who are into fermenting food....the by product of my yocheese is some whey about 1 1/2-2 cups worth.

Can you suggest something easy and quick for me to ferment? I would love to do pickles but I think I need a crock for that....so what else can I try?

I can go to the farmers market and get produce this weekend, but how long is the whey good for? I have it in the fridge.

 

[freemotion]

Give it a sniff today so you know what it should smell like, and just use the sniff test. It should last a week or two. Put it way back in your fridge for it to last longer. The shelves in the door are the warmest, so don't keep it there unless you will use it up quickly.

Smarty-pants, huh?

Do you like salsa? That might be a good start. Choose a recipe that makes about a quart, leave out the vinegar if it has it, increase the salt (use sea salt) to a tablespoon per quart, and add 4 tablespoons of whey per quart. Pack it in the quart jar, leaving one inch of headspace. Add a little filtered water if it is dry at the top. Actually, only use filtered water unless you have a chlorine-free well, since the chlorine will kill the good bacteria. Leave it at room temp for about 3 days, less if it is really hot. Watch the fermenting process....it should rise up in the jar, increasing on day two, and then level off around day three. Then store it in the fridge.

I've found that in the hot weather, I need a bit more than one inch of head space at the top. One inch is for 72 degree room temp.

 

[freemotion]

Oh, you can do cucumber pickles or any kind of pickles in a quart jar, too. Since you will need to refrigerate them, a crock will be too big. Crocks need to go into a root cellar or other cold storage, too.

 

[Dace]

I love salsa!

Ok, salsa and cukes it is! Can you tell me how to do the cukes?

 

[freemotion]

I posted it here before I saw your request: http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=65542#p65542

I haven't tried them yet, so I can't tell you how they come out. I didn't want to make them until I could use my own garden cukes. Not sure why, but I resisted buying cukes to make them. Now they sit on my counter, fermenting away!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Dace--did ou make the salsa and pickles? I find myself in the same place as your were.-- I hve whey left over from yo-cheese, and I find myself wanting to experiment, but don't want to screw up.

So, could you share what you did and how it turned out?

I'm curious about fermented foods, but, my experience with them has only been sauerkraut, and I'm not a fan. However, I would like to try some other foods.

So, Dace, or Free, or Wife --anyone---- help me out and be gentle!!!!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I like the bean paste. Soooo much nummier than canned refried beans. Free, correct me if I get this wrong, this is how I did your bean thing.

Soak your dry beans 24+ hours in distilled water with a glug of whey (couple spoonfuls, I just splash some in), drain, rinse & cook. I put a decent amount of garlic & some onion in mine while they are cooking. I only cover them with maybe 1/4" of water when they go in the crockpot. Then I cook on low for 8 hours or until tender. Once they are tender, I add my salt and adjust garlic if needed. I also add some cumin, once I added cilantro. Then puree them in the food processor (or mash with a ricer or potato masher).

Once they are cool (room temp), add another glug of whey, stir and put into your clean jars, leaving 1-3" headspace (I use 3" cause my house is really warm). Cap fingertip tight & set in a shady spot in your kitchen. After reading about Free's bean blob, I put a towel under & another over the top. When they stop burbling, put in the fridge or enjoy.

We've used them on nachos, enchiladas, quesadillas, in soups (after the soup has cooled). A favorite lunch is a tortilla heated up with cheese on it, then spread with the bean paste & a little cilantro.

 

[freemotion]

Yup, that is it! Bean paste, fermented, is our favorite. I made it all the time unfermented, so we had to get used to the fermented flavor. Now we both prefer it!

It is one of the few things I've fermented and had trouble with, though, so don't get too discouraged if you get a failed batch. (It's cheap, so still a good thing to learn on.) I suspect that the beans don't have much (if any) of their own lactic acid like raw veggies do, so a bit more whey might help, and a bit more salt to protect the batch until it starts to ferment. Less time in warmer weather, 48 hours, tops. I hope to ferment some more in the next month, when it gets cooler here, as we don't use climate control much in the house in the summer, so it gets pretty hot. We just turn on the window AC's when it gets unbearably hot and humid, and then just for a few days. I think we used them three days this year!

A little white mold on top is ok by me if the ferment smells ok. I just scrape the top inch off. Once I had slimy whitish liquid and the smell was not yummy, so that batch went into the garbage disposal.

The vast majority of ferments I make come out great, so worry not! Just wanted to warn you, just in case. Fermenting is an adventure!