How to store fresh eggs in lime water for up to 2 years without refrigeration.

How to store eggs in lime water:

Also known as water glass eggs

1. Choose a food safe container.
2. Make the lime water by mixing 1 oz. of pickling lime per 1 qt. ...
3. Place the lime water and the eggs into the container.
4. Cap the container.
5. Store the container in a cool area up to 24 months.
6. Carefully remove and rinse the eggs when ready to consume them.

Couple of notes:

• The reason we point eggs down is that there’s an air pocket in each egg, so if you have it going toward the largest size, it’s not touching as much of the egg white and you’ll end up with a better quality egg.
• The biggest concern with water glassing eggs is evaporation. You don’t want your lime water evaporating and exposing your eggs, especially if you’re storing them away in the basement where you might forget about them.
• One way to keep evaporation from happening is to use a container with a lid. If your container doesn’t have a lid, you could add a layer of olive oil over the top of the water, then cover with a towel to keep any bugs or insects out.
• Start off with a clean vessel to store your eggs. Depending on how many eggs you want to preserve will determine the size of your container. I’m starting with a 5-gallon food-grade bucket, but over the course of the summer, I usually fill two or three of these buckets.
  
• Next, add enough water to your container that your eggs will be completely submerged, but not so much that the water will overflow.
  
• Measure out your water and lime. The ratio of water to lime is for every one quart of water you’ll use 1 ounce of lime. No matter what size container you’re using, this is the ratio to follow.
• It’s important that your eggs are not washed before you lime  them.

Here is a link for pickling lime.

https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Wages-Pickling-1-Pound-Resealable/dp/B0084LZU1Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=pickling+lime&qid=1554761812&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=omesteadingfa-20&linkId=faed19a777e6f3fef6ff96cdcf4284da&language=en_US

Homemade Sourdough Bread (no commercial yeast added)

Bread from homemade Sourdough starter.

2 cups starter (this recipe uses the starter found here on my blog)
6 cups flour (Try a mixture of 50 percent unbleached and 50 percent whole wheat flour, or adjust the proportions to your taste.)
2 1/2 cups spring water
1 tablespoon salt

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, dilute the starter with the water. Slowly mix the starter into the flour. (I prefers to use my hands, but the more fastidious among us may prefer to use a wooden spoon.) Begin kneading and slowly work the flour into the dough. Just as the dough becomes workable, stop and allow it to rest for about 30 minutes. Resume kneading until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Shape it into a ball and put it into a lightly oiled bowl, then cover it with plastic and allow it to rise in a cool place (about 62 degrees) for eight to 10 hours. Shape the dough twice and allow it to rise about 45 minutes, or until it doubles. If you're using La Cloche or a baking stone, now's the time to preheat it and the oven. Slash the loaves just before you put them in the oven. 

Ginger Bug, Homemade Fermented Soda Pop.

A little jar of ginger bug, a slurry of ginger and sugar, sits on my countertop next to my sourdough starter, where, fed daily, it bubbles and foams.  I remove a little bit at a time, no more than 1/4 cup, to make old-fashioned sodas like homemade root beer, ginger mint soda, rhubarb soda and others more familiar to those subscribe to the Nourished Kitchen meal plans who find a new recipe for fermented foods tucked into their meal plans each week.

Ginger Bug

Yield: about 1 pint

Ginger bug, a slurry of fermented ginger and sugar, forms the basis for homemade, traditionally fermented sodas including root beer, mint sodas, or fruit-based sodas that are rich in beneficial bacteria.

Ingredients

Fresh Ginger

Whole Unrefined Cane Sugar or substitute Honey, Brown Sugar or Agave

Instructions

Break off a knob from your hand of ginger, peel away its papery skin and grate it until you have 2 heaping tablespoons. Place the grated ginger in a small jar, whisk in 2 tablespoons unrefined cane sugar and 2 tablespoons filtered water. Cover the jar loosely and allow it to ferment in a warm spot in your kitchen.

Every day for at least 5 days, mix an additional 2 tablespoons grated ginger, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water into your jar. The ginger will begin to foam and bubble at its top, and will take on the yeasty fragrance of beer. After 5 days, it is ready to use. You can also store it in the refrigerator, and feed it 2 tablespoons grated ginger, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water once a week.

To use the ginger bug to make homemade sodas, prepare 1 quart of herbal tea sweetened with a caloric sweetener like sugar (or substitute 1 scoop Body Ecology's Ecobloom). Strain off 1/4 cup of the ginger bug's liquid and whisk it into the sweetened tea. Replace the 1/4 cup ginger bug you've removed with 1/4 cup sugar dissolved into 1/4 cup water. Transfer the sweetened tea and ginger bug to flip-top bottles (available here), and allow it to ferment at room temperature for 3 days. Transfer to the fridge or drink straight away.

How to Use Your Ginger Bug

To use your ginger bug in preparing homemade sodas, simply strain off 1/4 cup of the liquid and add it to 1 quart of a sweetened herbal infusion, to fruit juice, or to a combination of the two.  Mix it well, and transfer it to a flip-top bottle where you can allow it to ferment about 3 days.  Transfer it to the refrigerator, and allow it chill before opening.

*For example-  We like root beer so I take 1/4 cup of the ginger bug put it into a jug, add in 8 cups of filtered water a cup of sugar and 4 tablespoonfuls of root beer extract. Put the lid in tightly. On a Wednesday, it's usually done by Saturday dinner.

What is a Ginger Bug and What Does It Do

A slurry of fermented yeast and sugar water, Ginger Bug captures beneficial microorganisms like wild yeasts and bacteria in the same way that sourdough starter does.  The wild microorganisms, eat away at the sugar in the Ginger Bug, and produce carbon dioxide as a result.  When mixed with a flavored sweet tea, fruit juice or other base, the microorganisms in the ginger bug begin to consume the sugar in the tea or juice, and, as they do, they reproduce and emit carbon dioxide. The result is a fizzy and effervescent, naturally fermented soda that is rich in beneficial bacteria – critical to gut health and immune system function. 

What You Need for Ginger Bug (and homemade sodas)

To make Ginger Bug, you need only fresh ginger, a caloric sweetener to feed the microorganisms, filtered or dechlorinated water and a container to hold the bug.  To make fermented sodas, you’ll further need flavorings – whether that’s fresh herbs, fruit juice or a concoction of herbs, flowers, roots and bark like  I use in my homemade root beer.  While Ginger Bug itself benefits from a loosely lidded environment, homemade fermented sodas benefit from a tightly capped environment which disallows the escape of carbon dioxide produced during fermentation.  This gas, a natural byproduct of fermentation, helps to ensure that the resulting homemade soda is fizzy, bubbly and pleasantly effervescent when opened.

Fresh Ginger can be found in any well-stocked grocery store, and organic ginger can be found in any well-stocked health food store.

Unrefined Cane Sugar feeds the beneficial bacteria and wild yeasts in the Ginger Bug.  I typically use a whole, unrefined cane sugar (like this one), but have recently made the switch to Jaggery (available here) – a traditional Indian sweetener of completley unrefined cane sugar.

Mason Jars hold your ginger bug, and you can find them in grocery stores, hardware stores and online.

Flip-top Bottles allow you to tightly, and safely, cap your homemade sodas as they ferment.  The tight cap ensures that carbon dioxide remains in the bottle, effectively carbonating your homemade sodas.  You can find flip-top bottles in homebrewing supply stores, though I just use mason jars.

When I approach fermented tonics, whether it’s Continuous Brew Kombucha or Water Kefir, readers often wonder at the addition of sugar – seeking to circumvent its use.  When I read these questions, I am often reminded of my friend Hannah’s response, “The sugar isn’t for you.  It’s not for you.” Hannah runs Kombucha Kamp, a site devoted to kombucha’s benefits and uses.  Her statement holds true for Ginger Bug, too; that is, sugar feeds beneficial bacteria and wild yeasts.  Without a caloric sweetener, the bacteria and yeast have nothing to eat, and cannot proliferate.  Much of the sugar in fermented tonics is consumed by beneficial microorganisms who then transform it.

What is a Ginger Bug and What Does It Do

A slurry of fermented yeast and sugar water, Ginger Bug captures beneficial microorganisms like wild yeasts and bacteria in the same way that sourdough starter does.  The wild microorganisms, eat away at the sugar in the Ginger Bug, and produce carbon dioxide as a result.  When mixed with a flavored sweet tea, fruit juice or other base, the microorganisms in the ginger bug begin to consume the sugar in the tea or juice, and, as they do, they reproduce and emit carbon dioxide. The result is a fizzy and effervescent, naturally fermented soda that is rich in beneficial bacteria – critical to gut health and immune system function. 

What You Need for Ginger Bug (and homemade sodas)

To make Ginger Bug, you need only fresh ginger, a caloric sweetener to feed the microorganisms, filtered or dechlorinated water and a container to hold the bug.  To make fermented sodas, you’ll further need flavorings – whether that’s fresh herbs, fruit juice or a concoction of herbs, flowers, roots and bark like  I use in my homemade root beer.  While Ginger Bug itself benefits from a loosely lidded environment, homemade fermented sodas benefit from a tightly capped environment which disallows the escape of carbon dioxide produced during fermentation.  This gas, a natural byproduct of fermentation, helps to ensure that the resulting homemade soda is fizzy, bubbly and pleasantly effervescent when opened.

Fresh Ginger can be found in any well-stocked grocery store, and organic ginger can be found in any well-stocked health food store.

Unrefined Cane Sugar feeds the beneficial bacteria and wild yeasts in the Ginger Bug.  I typically use a whole, unrefined cane sugar (like this one), but have recently made the switch to Jaggery (available here) – a traditional Indian sweetener of completley unrefined cane sugar.

Mason Jars hold your ginger bug, and you can find them in grocery stores, hardware stores and online.

Flip-top Bottles allow you to tightly, and safely, cap your homemade sodas as they ferment.  The tight cap ensures that carbon dioxide remains in the bottle, effectively carbonating your homemade sodas.  You can find flip-top bottles in homebrewing supply stores, though I purchase mine online.

Homemade Ketchup

Fermented Ketchup

Prep time

Fermented condiments like ketchup provide another way to take in your good bacteria, while at the same time eliminating another High-Fructose Corn Syrup-laden food from your diet.

10 hours

Fermentation time

3-4 days

Yield: 2 pints

Ingredients

10 lbs. fresh Tomatoes

½ cup raw honey

½ cup + ¼ cup liquid whey, divided

2 oz. raw apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon cloves, ground

2 teaspoons allspice, ground

Instructions

Make Paste (from scratch)

Wash and remove stems from tomatoes.

Make an “X” shaped slit in the skin of the tomatoes at the stem end.

Boil water in a medium to large stockpot.

A few at a time, drop the tomatoes in for 30-40 seconds. Fish out with a spider or slotted spoon.

Immediately put them in a bowl filled with ice water. Then pinch the tomatoes from the non-slit end. The skins will pop off. Set aside in another bowl. Compost or discard skins.

Cut tomatoes open and squeeze out gel and seeds. (Reserve for another use).

Puree drained tomato flesh in a food processor until mostly smooth (a few lumps is okay).

Pour contents into a slow cooker, and cook for 8-10 hours on low heat, stirring occasionally. During this time, most of the juice should evaporate off, and it will take on a darker color. It won’t be as thick as canned tomato paste. You can cook longer if you want a thicker paste.

Let paste cool.

Mix ingredients

Add paste to a mixing bowl, along with honey. Stir until smooth.

Add vinegar, ½ cup of whey and salt.

Grind cloves and allspice and add to bowl.

Fermentation

Transfer to a quart mason jar or several pint jars (if sharing). Cover with lid (but not ring) and let sit at room temperature for 4 days. After about 3 days, the liquid part of the whey evaporates, leaving the whey powder on top.

Stir contents, then secure lid and put in refrigerator. Lasts 6 months

Homemade Fermented Mustard

1 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar I use the Bragg's with the "mother" in it.
1 1/3 cup mustard seeds (I like 50/50 yellow and brown) remember the darker the seed the spicier it is
2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste I use the kind without iodine
1-2 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
Honey (optional, for honey mustard)

In a large bowl or jar (a wide mouth quart jar works perfectly) combine the first three ingredients. Cover and set aside at least 24 hours.

The next day, the mustard seeds will have absorbed most of the liquid. Add sugar and salt and blend in a blender or food processor until creamy, 1-2 minutes.  As with most things I make I used my magic bullet to process it. If you prefer it chunkier like I do then put aside half of the soaked overnight seeds then add them back in after blending the rest.    

Store in a glass jar, I've noticed if I store it in anything else the mustard will pick up off flavors from the containers.

If you taste the mustard at this point, it will be quite vinegar-y and sharp; for the best flavor, cover the jar again and let set at room temperature for another 24-72 hours. When the flavor is what you like, refrigerate the mustard and use within 3 months, makes a pint.

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen, this is a great recipe to play around with the flavors. Use a different vinegar (I’m planning to try red wine vinegar soon, and imagine malt or champagne vinegar would also be interesting), or try another liquid to replace the cider (apple juice for a non-alcoholic version, but I’m also curious to try a dark beer or even something like bourbon). As long as you maintain the proportion of liquid to mustard seeds (2 parts vinegar, 2 parts mustard seeds, 1 part additional liquid), the possibilities are completely up to you.

At this point you can add other flavorings such as garlic, or honey.

Yeast Starter also known as Sourdough Starter.

2011-05-20 15:43
Mountain Standard Time

The white "bloom" that you see on juniper berries, potato peels and grapes is the kind of yeast that is used for sourdough. I always make my yeast this way:

2 c warm de-chlorinated water

1/8 c Juniper Berries, Grapes, raisins, or potato skins (scrubbed)

1 c all purpose flour

Some people add milk or sugar, I don't.  It doesn't seem to work well for me.

To start, clean and scald a quart glass jar, add to it 2 cups warm (80-90^F) non chlorinated water* (chlorine can kill the yeast, direction de-chlorinate below) add to this 1/8 cup of juniper berries, or grapes, or raisins, or potato peels (I use the potato method). Cover the top of the jar with cheesecloth and hold it on with a rubber band or the ring from a canning lid (do not put a lid on, this needs to breathe) let this sit over night in a warm place. strain out the berries, or grapes or whatever and return the water to the jar. Add 2 cups of all purpose flour stir well. put the cheesecloth back on and let it sit in a warm place, stir it daily, the longer it sits the sourer the taste.

You do not have to worry about the wrong kind of germs forming in your starter, the yeast itself puts out chemicals that kill other forms of yeast and bacteria, if you did something wrong and killed your yeast, the starter will not smell sour, but will smell rotten and grow mold. Botulism requires an anaerobic environment and will not form as long as you do not seal the jar.

To maintain your sourdough starter, use or give away or throw away at least one cup each week, add one cup flour and cup of warm non-chlorinated water*. If you want to keep it without feeding it, you can dry it by adding a cup of flour without water then spreading it thinly on a clean, parchment paper or waxed paper covered cookie sheet. When the top is dry pull it off the parchment and turn it over. When it is dry you can break it up and store it in a jar. The yeast will go into a suspended animation state when it is dry. When you want to use it again, just add enough warm non-chlorinated water* to bring it to the consistency of thin pancake batter.

*to de-chlorinate tap water you can leave it sit in an open container for 24 hours, or bring it to a boil and let it cool to 80-90^F. The chlorine will evaporate.  (I usually just boil it, it's faster that way).

I will add a recipe for bread that uses this yeast in a day or so.