What's Your Favorite Fermented Pickle Recipe?

I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

After trying out fermenting last year with a Starter Kit from Fermentools, I was excited to try more. Sadly, though, I lost some pieces to our kit. Thus, I was thrilled when I was offered a chance to review the Starter Kit again and have already begun exploring with it.

Just like our last kit did, the one I was sent this time came with quality products mostly sourced in the United States.

• a custom-made glass weight which fits inside wide-mouthed mason jars,

• salt which dissolves easily for fermenting,
  
  
  

• a corrosion-resistant stainless steel lid that is said to last a lifetime,

• a high-quality rubber gasket canning ring,

• an instructtion/recipe pamphlet,

• and an airlock that works so you don't have to remember to burp your ferment.

It's an effective and well made little kit!


My Latest Fermentools Experiment

Not long after receiving our newest Fermentool kit, I realized I had some cucumbers leftover from a gathering that were not getting scarfed down here. So I decided to experiment with them, some flowering-and-going-to-seed dill, some garlic scaped, and brine.

I simply put the cut up cucumber spears in a small jar with the herbs, mixed up some brine, topped the cucumber-herb mixtrue with it, and then put the weight and gasket, lid, and airlock on.

I poured some water into the gasket and, then, put the jar into a cabinet for several days.

The color changed some, of course, when the ferment was happening, and, then it was time for taste testing.

My kids said the pickles were "strong" and "different", but "not bad, just different". They asked that I use a "real recipe" next time. So, here I am asking YOU for your favorite tried-and-true one. Please leave a comment to let me know what it is. For I liked our fermented pickles well enough, but would like something even better. And, honestly, our Fermentools kit makes trying out fermented recipes so easy that I am ready to try more tried-and-true recipes and experiments.

It's truly an easy process! No need for me to figure out brine formulas nor "burp" jars. Easy peasy and nutritious.  That's my kind of thing!

Looking Forward to More Ferments with This 100% American, Quality Kit that Supports a Fellow Homeschool Family!

I look forward to using our handy Fermentools Starter Kit and encourage you to try it, too. It's easy, the results are nutritious, and, even better, Fermentools is a family run, home educating business run by a husband, wife, and their  children. I love that!

Sauerkraut, kimchi, pcikles, and other fermenting is made easy with a Fermentools Stater Kit.

Learn More

Just one scoop of home-fermented goods is said to be packed with probiotics which can help immune systems, digestive systems, skin, and absorption of nutrients from other foods. That's a lot of punch for a little money and effort!

About 30 Homeschool Review Crew families made ferments with Fermentools. See blog and social media reviews by clicking through links found here.

Find Fermentools on social media:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram

Celebrate St. Martha with a Cook Off!

Want to have some fun this July 29th? How about enjoying a St. Martha's Day Cook Off?

July 29th is the Memorial Day of St. Martha, who is patron to butlers, dietitians, domestic servants, homemakers, hotel-keepers, housemaids, housewives, innkeepers, laundry workers, maids, manservants, servants, servers, single laywomen, travelers, and, of course, cooks.

That's right: cooks!

So, it is an ideal day to get your kids into the kitchen - or around a camp stove - for a Chopped-style cook off.

My children have enjoyed such cook offs for years and have been itching to do one again.

We've learned from experience not to do a full "Chopped" with an appetizer, main course, and dessert round, because it takes a long time and results in a huge mess to clean up. So, typically, we do just one course.

For St. Martha's day, I think I might do a main dish cook off with the following basket ingredients:

•  bread, since St. Martha is sometimes depicted serving bread
• a small bowl of fruit, since a bowl of fruit is one of her symbols
• lentils, said to have been common in Biblical times
• onions, chives, or leeks, since such things were also said to be a part of Biblical diets
• garden herbs mix, since herbs were also part of Biblical cooking.

You could do similarly or pick basket ingredients from whatever you have in your fridge, pantry and garden.

Then, enjoy your family cook off.

If you've never done one, here are some pictures of a recent Sweet Crunch Dessert cook off two of my children enjoyed recently so that you can an idea of how things roll.

I secretly set up two baskets with five ingredients each. 

The kids were called for the big reveal to see what they'd have to include in their dessert dish.

We announced each ingredient as they took it out of the baskets.

 

Thirty minutes was set on the clock and they began to cook using their basket ingredients and pantry/fridge items.

Each had their own portion of the table as a prep area.

They dashed about some, being mindful of safety and the clock.

They created different batters and concoctions.

Sweetness was added.

They know their way around out kitchen and easily shared space.

Each took one side of the stove to cook on.

Different strategies were tried.

 

Some worked better than others.

When one thing failed, another thing was tried.

Sometimes, mistakes had to be cleaned before pans could be used again.

The clean up of other mistakes was left until later.

A beautiful dish was created.

Plating went right down to the wire!

In case a Plan B dish did not bake in time after Plan A failed on the stove, a Plan C dish was created.

Dishes were presented to the judges - Mom and Big Brother.

Some plating could have been better (but flavor was great!)

Unity could have been considered, too, when Plan B and Plan C were both presented to the judges.

Our sibling contestants were asked to leave the room while Big Bro and Mom judges conferred, then hid the plate from the polished off winner's dish and put the other dishes under a large pan cover.

It was a close match, but the happier looking contestant in this photo actually lost due to lack of unity and not featuring the basket ingredients as much as the pantry apple, while the winning child was puzzled, thinking she has surely lost even though she won.

Clean up and requests for another cook off soon commenced. (The requests will be granted on St. Martha's feast day.)

Of course, before or after your cook off, I'd encourage you to read from the Bible, the Daily Readings, or another source about St. Martha, to highlight that there is both active and contemplative work in life, to take a few moments of quiet to contemplate and pray, and to chat about ways your family might serve Christ is by serving others.
I'd love to hear how your cook off goes and also to hear other ideas and resources you use for celebrating St. Martha. Enjoy the feast day!

Almighty ever-living God, whose Son was pleased to be welcomed in Saint Martha's house as a guest, grant, we pray, that through her intercession, serving Christ faithfully in our brothers and sisters, we may merit to be received by you in the halls of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

~The Collect 

We Made Some Tasty Citrus HInt Sauerkraut {A Fermentools Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor compensated in any other way.

Want to make fermenting easy? The Starter Kit from Fermentools can help!

Just one scoop of home-fermented goods is said to be packed with probiotics which can help immune systems, digestive systems, skin, and absorption of nutrients from other foods. That's a lot of punch for a little money and effort!

Our First Fermentools Experience

We've just finished making our first Citrus Hint Sauerkraut with a Starter Kit we were sent for review, and it was so easy.

Basically, I sliced some cabbage up thin.

Then, I peeled a clementine (because I did not have an organic orange) and sliced that thinly, too.

I added one tablespoon of the Himalayan  powdered salt that came with the kit to a cup of warm water to dissolve the salt, making a brine.

Then, I packed the cabbage and clementine into a jar.

I poured the brine over the mixture, topped off with a bit of water, dropped in the glass fermentation weight that came with the kit, topped the jar with a rubber gasket, stainless steel lid and rubber stopper that also came with the kit, popped on the plastic airlock, which I added some water to, and left the entire thing on my shelf.

Within 24 hours, I saw the first signs of the fermenting process occurring. Within 48 hours, I saw more bubbles forming. Then, over the course of a week, the bubbles became smaller and the cabbage color brightened a bit.

And, that is when we took the ferment out and taste-tested it.  My youngest loved it at first...

...but found the "juice" at the bottom of the jar particularly strong...

... yet kept eating more!

I liked the whole thing.

I also loved that the entire process was so much easier than the first time that we tried making sauerkraut after attending a workshop at a local farm. With Fermentools, there was no need for me to figure out brine formulas and none of us had to remember to "burp" the jar thanks to the airlock. Easy peasy and nutritious.  That's my kind of thing!

Looking Forward to More Ferments with This 100% American, Quality Kit that Supports a Fellow Homeschool Family!

I look forward to experimenting with more ferments using our handy Fermentools Starter Kit and encourage you to try it, too. It's easy and the results are nutritious!

Also, all Fermentools products are made and sourced in the Unites States of quality material:

• The glass weight is custom-made to fit inside wide-mouthed mason jars.

• The corrosion-resistant stainless steel lid are high quality and said to last a lifetime.

• The rubber gasket is a high-quality canning ring.

• The salt dissolves easily for fermenting.

• The airlock works so you don't have to remember to burp your ferment.

It's an effective and well made little kit!

Even better, Fermentools is a family run, home educating business run by a husband, wife, and their seven children. I love that!

Learn More

As a thank you to our readers, Fermentools is offering a 15% off discount. This offer only last until June 30th. Use code CREW2020.

Over 60 Homeschool Review Crew families made ferments with Fermentools. See video, blog, and social media reviews by clicking through links found here.

Find Fermentools on social media:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram