Sunday Salsa

I recently purchased a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods" because I'm an idiot  I want to learn more about how to ferment foods.

This is a stellar book which not only describes the process but explains the health benefits and science behind it.

In for a penny, in for a pound ... I made a quart of lactofermented salsa today and set it up on the window sill back behind the (non-operational) woodstove. You're supposed to leave it at room temperature but this is about the best we can do. For 3 days it'll ferment and bubble there, if things go well and then we'll enjoy the heck out of it.

My neighbor is all about fermenting foods these days and he gave me a jar of salsa and kraut to get me started. That was a huge inspiration. It was probably the best salsa and kraut that I'd ever had (though the kraut was a lot closer to kimchi, thank you very much, Michael).

So this was more or less an experiment to see if we can pull it off. We didn't have whey but you can supposedly substitute apple cider vinegar with the mother if you double the salt. I doubled the salt and added extra vinegar. My cooking conditions are less than sanitary right now since they're all effectively done on the picnic table out on the back porch. However we'll see if the lactobacilli can overcome that handicap.