Fermentation Crocks

For those who attended our wonderful fermentation class at Three Goats Farm yesterday, here is the crock that we used for the small 5 Liter kraut batch we started. the pricing has increased slightly since I purchased mine last year- however, still a great bargain. Happy FERMENTING!







The base recipe for the 5 Liter was 4 heads of cabbage at 1 Tbsp salt per head.......from their get your taste buds and seasonal bounty involved in your recipe creation. Now go "get cultured"!

Kickin Kimchi

Its been a rainy week at Three Goats Farm. That means I have been hanging out in the kitchen....making kombucha, kefir, cheese, saur kraut and kimchi (Texas Style). It has become one of my favorite flavors with the extra kick of serrano's added to the blend of cabbages, carrots, ginger and garlic. So, I had a request to share my recipe. Please feel free to share comments and questions below, if you need guidance for your ferments---Just let me know. I would be happy to help.

Three Goats Farm Kickin Kimchi 

For this recipe, I am using a  half gallon size  lidded jar

1 head of Napa Cabbage (roughly chopped)

1 head of Green Cabbage (roughly chopped)

2 cups of  grated Carrot or julienned

4 tbsp chopped Ginger and a 1 inch cube

2 Serrano peppers (sliced)

4 large cloves of Garlic (3 sliced and 1 whole)

6 cups of filtered water

6 tbsp of Sea Salt

2 tbsp of dried Red Chile Peppers

Place the chopped cabbage, julienned carrot's, sliced serrano peppers and chopped ginger into a large glass bowl and toss to blend. In a blender combine salt, water, ginger cube, 1 garlic clove, and dried red chile pepper and blend to create your brine. Now pour the brine over the kimchi, and coat well by tossing and then "pressing" (by hand) the vegetable mixture. Continue to break it down a bit and release water from the plants cell walls (5 minutes at least). Cover loosely and allow vegetables to soak in brine for 1-2 hours. Then transfer to your jar as you pack and press the mixture tightly into the jar. The mixture should be an inch below the threads on the jar neck and completely submerged under brine. Place a whole cabbage leaf over the top of mixture (tucking down onto the inside of jar) and fill to to the rim with any remaining brine. Place jar onto a plate or bowl to catch overflow. Place the lid on loosely and store in a quiet, cool, dark area for 7-10 days (*Longer if you want it to have more KICK)

I will be sharing my favorite sauerkraut recipe next week, with a video of "Dishing with the Diva". Make it a GREAT one ya'll. ~ Off to feed the Goats!

Get wild with your honey.......honey!

In my fermentation projects that I have been experimenting with for the past few years....Mead (aka- Honey Wine) has been the most intriguing. In my research, I have learned a great deal of the primitive history of this elixir. Human Beings have recognized the magic and power of fermentation since the beginning of time. A Honey Wine called Mead is generally regarded as the MOST ancient and primitive fermented pleasure. Archeologists believe that human collecting of honey predates our cultivation of the soil. Cave paintings in locations as geographically diverse as India, Spain and Africa depict images of people gathering honey in the Paleolithic era, more than 12,000 years ago. When by chance, Honey is mixed with water fermentation begins. Yeasts surfing through the air aboard particles of dust find their way to the sweet and highly nutritive honey-water. When honey is pure it acts as a preservative and inhibits microscopic life. But diluted honey can become a stimulating medium for airborne yeast to land in and feast upon, and reproduce exponentially, bubbling and vividly alive! Its sugars will be converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide by the action of tiny beings invisible to the human eye. According to Maguelonne Toussaint Samats vast survey “A History of Food”—The child of honey, the drink of Gods, mead was universal. Mead is regarded as the ancestor of ALL fermented drinks and foods. Anthropologist and cultural theorist, Claude Strauss suggests that mead-making marks the passage of humanity from nature. He illustrates the hollow of a tree being the source and vessel for the honey creation. We have lost our sense of instinct to cultivate such primitive elixirs in our sterilized, commercialized, anti-bacterialized world. I highly encourage you to experiment with some cultivated Honey Wine at home. Don’t try it until you have read one of my most cherished books…..Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz. You may find it on my Amazon link below or just google search for more details on Mr.Katz and his workshops and DVD’s. Now get a little wild with your honey….just be careful of the buzzzzzz 




Myths/Legends/Lore: It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon.