Harvest Bounty and Pickling: Crock Pickles

crock-pickles-2

Now doesn't that look delicious! These cucumbers have been pickling for only three days. We tried them and they are great! This recipe is so easy anyone can make their own pickles.

I have just found a book by Janet Greene called Putting Food By. It is all about preserving food by canning, freezing, pickling, drying, and curing. It includes the newest canning procedures. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend it for anyone new to food preserving.

putting-food-by

This is an excellent book on preserving food.

Crock Pickles
This recipe is based on Little Cucumber Crock Pickles found in Putting Food By. This is a very easy recipe for someone new to pickling. I have changed the recipe to be safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. The raw cider vinegar adds some live culture to these pickles.

3-4L organic raw cider vinegar, enough to cover the cucumbers
1/3c local raw honey
1/2c organic whole mustard seeds or 1/4c fermented whole seed mustard
1c sea salt
5kg of organic pickling cucumbers, small and medium size
4-8 heads garden fresh dill flower heads (optional)
4-6 garden fresh grape leaves (optional)
1-2 heads of organic garlic, peeled (optional)
2-3 whole hot red peppers (optional)

Take a clean 10L crock and lay the grape leaves, garlic, hot peppers and dill flower heads on the bottom of the crock. In the crock, mix the salt, honey, mustard seeds and half of the vinegar. Add the well washed cucumbers. Add enough vinegar to cover all the cucumbers. Use a plate and granite stone to weigh down the cucumbers in the solution. Nothing should be exposed to air. After a day, pour 1/2c to 1c of sea salt on top of the plate and stone. You can start eating the pickles in just a few days. If you add more pickles later add more salt to the top of the plate and rock.

crock-pickles-1

Here is the crock with the plate, stone and salt weighing down the pickles in the pickling solution. The more salt you use the longer the pickles will last.

The raw cider vinegar does have a live culture, but I am not sure if the high salt content will kill the live culture. Nevertheless, these crock pickles will not be as nutritious as lacto-fermented pickles. If you are trying to improve your gut health and want to ferment your pickles, here is a recipe for Lacto-Fermented Horseradish Dill Pickles. Eat lacto-fermented pickles within two months or they may go soft.

pickle-jar

These pickles came out of the crock. Making pickles will save money and are better than commercial pickles.

Homemade pickles will be of better quality than any commercially prepared pickles. Making your own pickles will help you avoid additives that are found in many brands of commercial pickles. Also, you will produce less garbage and less recycling. If you are interested in reducing your garbage and recycling please read Solidarity… Of a Sort.

Frugal Tip: After you finish eating the pickles, do not throw out the pickling juice. Reuse the pickling juice for the vinegar portion of homemade salad dressing. Pickling juice can also improve the flavor and texture of home canned vegetables.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD): Recipes

eggs-bacon-salad

Eating well on the SCD or GAPS is easy and doesn’t need to take a lot of time. Here is some buttered scrambled eggs, topped with homemade winter salsa. What looks like bacon is salted pork belly. The side is a seasonal winter salad with homemade mustard seed dressing.

“People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are healed by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.”
Wendell Berry

Over the years I have been asked to compile a recipe cookbook for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. This post is an index of all the recipes on eatkamloops.org. Some of the posts have many recipes not described in the title. I hope to better organize the recipes at a later date. Nevertheless, these recipes will be good for anyone on the SCD, GAPS or the modified paleo diet.

There will be a few recipes that are not safe for someone on the SCD or GAPS. I have put most of these recipes in an area called Transition, but use your good sense. Remember what my great grandfather used to say: “If the food doesn’t agree with you, leave it alone.”

When people come off the SCD or GAPS, the types of foods they can tolerate is very individual. It is important to slowly introduce a new food and watch carefully for negative symptoms. Sometimes it takes awhile for the old problems to come back. If old symptoms come back, simply remove the irritating food again.

The best advice is to go slowly with one new food and watch carefully for old symptoms. Compulsive eating can be another dangerous sign to remove the food. Here are two posts with more details on how to home test for food tolerance:
Coffee Substitute Taste Test
Food Intolerance Test: What NOT to Do

Some of us can never go back to the old foods. We have to move on from where we are. I would like to give just a few personal examples. Raw dairy was the first food I was able to reintroduce. It was a great surprise to me that I could consume raw dairy, since dairy is considered very hard to digest. I still cannot consume pasteurized and homogenized dairy. Everyone in the family can consume raw dairy products without problems.

Over a number of years, I have been trying to find safe sources of starches to increase my family’s carbohydrate intake. Partly, this is because half of my family needs more carbohydrates in their diet for optimum health. I tried potatoes, which appeared to be okay for me, but after about a month I would wake in the morning with totally numb hands. Everyone else in the family was okay on potatoes. I have found sweet potatoes agree with me and everyone in the family.

Many times I have tried to reintroduce grains without any success. Even using nourishing traditional preparation methods, grains are poison for me and I get immediate feedback that this food is not for me. After numerous trials, I am at the point of being off grains for life. My daughter can tolerate some grains but she can get into trouble if the amount of grains goes above some unknown tolerance point. Everyone’s reactions will be different so transition is a very personal journey.

Please remember that during transition the foods that will agree with me may not agree with you. If your child is on the SCD or GAPS, they will have an individual response to food too. So your child may be tolerant of a food that you cannot tolerate. In general, children heal better than adults. Always keep this in mind during transition. Go slowly and be careful. If you get into trouble, go back to safe foods and try again in four to six months.

Basics
Beautiful Bone Broth
The Grease Bucket: Something from Nothing
WAPF Shopping Guide: How To Assess Food Quality
Cooking with Grass-Fed Meats and Fowls
Making Raw Sweet Butter or Raw Cultured Butter
I Got Culture!
Learning Home Cooking
My Mother’s Dutch Oven
Eating Nourishing Traditional Foods While Traveling
Wise Tradition Beginner Video Series
Fresh Homemade Sausage
Harvest Bounty Canning: White Peaches
Harvest Bounty and Pickling: Crock Pickles
Harvest Bounty and Pickling: Crock Hot Peppers
Harvest Bounty and Dehydrating: Photo Essay
Harvest Bounty Canning: Banana Peppers
Pantry Foods: Charcuterie
Seasonal Foods: New Zealand Spinach
Making Charcuterie: Photo Essay
Easy Worcestershire Sauce
Fruity HP Sauce
Spicy Ketchup
Pantry Foods: Sprouts
Seasonal Foods: Mung Bean Sprouting
Seasonal Foods: Microgreens and Indoor Gardening
Onion Gravy
Homemade Vanilla Extract
Homemade Stevia Extract
Mary’s Oil
Indoor Growing Unit: Photo Essay
Plumy Cranberry Sauce
Homemade Sambal Oelek
Seasonal Food: Frozen Apple Pie Mix
Seasonal Food: Apple Chutney

Fermented Foods
Wild Fermentation
Lacto-Fermented Horseradish Dill Pickles
Lacto-Fermented Horseradish Condiment
Making Homemade Lacto-Fermented Whole Seed Mustard and Yoghurt Cream Cheese
Winter Storage: Kimchi and Lacto-Fermented Green Tomatoes
Apricot Chutney
Traditional Sodas and Water Kefir
Harvest Bounty and Traditional Fermentation: Photo Essay
How to Make Homemade Kombucha
Making Homemade Kefir: Photo Essay
Traditional Ginger Beer

Main Dishes
Traditional Sour Cabbage Rolls
Morels and Mushroom Season
Roasted Lamb Chops with Savory Stuffing
Just One Sit-Down Family Meal
Christmas Forest Stuffing
Holiday Dinner Menu
Upsidedown Pizza
Liver and Onions
Orange Ginger Dressing
Marrow Bones and Parsley Salad
Salted Pork Belly
Caveman Pancake and Very Berry Sauce
Beef Omelette Pizza
Making Sour Cabbage Rolls: Photo Essay
Seasonal Foods: Gazpacho Soup
Seasonal Food: Paleo Pie
Pass on Supplements and Eat Real Food
Seasonal Foods: Frozen Wild Mushrooms
Seasonal Foods: White Bean Salad
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Spicy Winter Soup and Creamy Squash Side Dish
Seasonal Foods: Roasted Beets and Walnut Salad
Seasonal Foods: Cellar Beet Borscht
Cauliflower Side Dish
Paleo Paella
Nutty Meatloaf
Easy Garam Masala and Paleo Kofta Curry

Travel Foods, Snacks and Appetizers
Recipes of Nourishing Traditional Traveling Foods
Perfect Pate
Crunchy Kale Chips
Pantry Foods: Fast Cured Green Olives
Seasonal Foods: Delicious Dandelion Control
Seasonal Food: Walnut or Beef Dolma and Kefir Cucumber Sauce
Spicy Jerky
Jarring Crock Pickles and Making Sweet Pickles: Photo Essay
Coconut Coffee Creamer
Seasonal Foods: Beet Chips
Flax Crackers
Sesame Seed Dip or Dressing
Seasonal Foods: Zucchini Chips
Seasonal Foods: Smoked Sockeye Salmon
Seasonal Foods: English Pickled Eggs
Seasonal Foods: Beet Pickled Eggs
Seasonal Foods: Sweet Pickled Eggs with Turmeric
Homemade Broth Powder
Sesame Flax Crackers
Spicy Bean Chips
Cauliflower Summer Salad with Crispy Walnuts
Ghee Coconut Creamer for Camping
Dutch Oven Pizza
Car Camping, Special Diets and Nourishing Traditional Foods
Head Cheese: Photo Essay

Desserts
Swine Flu: Delicious Cure
Christmas Butter Tart Squares
Chocolate Brownie with Cream Cheese Icing
Lemon Coconut Cookies
Birthday Cheesecake
Chocolate Mousse Pie
Creamy Coconut Candy
Raw Fig Bars
Brazil Coconut Candy
Christmas Fruitcake, Raw Cashew Marzipan with Orange Peel Glaze
Pantry Foods: Christmas Critters
Pantry Foods: Mock White Chocolate
Pantry Foods: Bitter Chocolate Walnuts for My Sweet Valentine
Seasonal Foods: Rhubarb Crumble
Fireweed Birthday: Independence Day!
Coconut Ice Cream
Birthday Trifle
Seasonal Food: Paleo Pumpkin Pie
Sesame Seed Halva
Seasonal Foods: Rhubarb and Sour Cherry Crumble
Seasonal Foods: Rhubarb and Raspberry Compote
Homemade Fennel and Ginger Candy
Crunchy Cacoa Candy
Quick Birthday Cheesecake
Vanilla Coconut Pudding
Ketogenic Chocolate Fudge
Beanie Ginger Snaps
Fragrant Ginger Snaps
Dandelion Chai Tea
Walnut Choco Bar
Walnut Chocolate Toffee
Paleo-Plum Cake Cockaigne
Chocolate Truffles
Macadamia Candy
Sunflower Cups: Photo Essay
Chocolate Avocado Pie
Gelatine Jelly Dessert
Homemade Seasonal Fruit Gummies

Transition
Cream, Cream and More Ice Cream
Birthday Chocolate Ice Cream
Creamy Spring Custard
Sweet Potato Custard
Vanilla Colostrum Shake
Walnut Maple Ice
Summer Salads for Hot Days
Sweet Potato Pancake
Sprouted Buckwheat Granola
For the LOVE of Quark
Coco-Chia Pudding
Homemade Furikake
Seaweed Salad
Sweet Potato Custard

liver-onions-oysters

Even if you’re on a special diet like SCD or GAPS, all good diets begin and end with nourishing traditional foods from a quality source.

Winter Storage: Kimchi and Lacto-fermented Green Tomatoes

crock

This is one of my fermenting crocks. I have about five different types and sizes. You can pick up crocks at garage sales or buy them new.

It is that time of year again to be thinking about winter stores. I spent the day making kimchi. Kimchi is by far my favorite lacto-fermented food. This recipe is based on a Korean Sauerkraut recipe from Nourishing Traditions. It uses mostly local produce that you can get at the Kamloops Farmer’s Market.

If you have never made lacto-fermented vegetables, please read Wild Fermentation. Remember to use organic or un-sprayed vegetables because the fermentation culture can be killed by residue pesticides or herbicides. Ask the Rubinsons at Silver Springs Organic for their organic fermenting cabbages for best results.

kimchi-and-eggs

This is a favorite breakfast with grilled steak, kimchi, eggs and garden fresh greens.

Kimchi
2 large organic fermenting cabbages, finely sliced
1 large organic onion with green top, grated or chopped
6 large organic carrots, grated or chopped
2c organic daikon radish (any type of organic radish will work), grated or chopped
4T organic ginger, freshly grated
1 organic hot red pepper, finely chopped
6 organic garlic cloves, freshly grated
4T sea salt
4T whey (if not available add an extra 1T sea salt)

In a very large bowl mix together all the vegetables, salt and whey. Put the mixed ingredients in a fermentation crock or follow the directions in Wild Fermentation. I use two types of fermenting crocks in my household. I have two 10L Harsch Gairtopf Fermenting Crock Pots and various sizes of Medalta Crocks.

Lacto-fermented Green Tomatoes
4-5 pounds organic green tomatoes
2 organic garlic cloves, whole
1 organic hot red pepper, whole
1T sea salt
2T whey (if not available add an extra 1T sea salt)
enough fresh water to cover green tomatoes

This is a good recipe if you find yourself at the end of the summer season with too many unripe tomatoes. Only use the hard green tomatoes that have not turned color at all. Follow the directions for Lacto-fermented Horseradish Dill Pickles. The green tomatoes need the same treatment as pickling cucumbers. If you like dill better than hot red peppers, try replacing the pickling cucumbers in the recipe with green tomatoes for a dill favor. The green tomatoes should be tried in a month and the flavor will improve over the winter.

Updated November 8, 2010: I originally wrote this posting back in early October. I had never tried making Lacto-fermented Green Tomatoes but I had lots of green tomatoes and nothing to lose. I have just opened my crock to find a coat of white slimy mold on the top. I have learned from experience not to worry about the mold as long as there isn’t a horrible smell. The mold on top actually seems to protect the contents below. I carefully removed the slime and cleaned the sides of the crock. I lost a bit of the mold to the fluid so I washes the green tomatoes in fresh water (no chlorine please) and filtered the liquid with a sieve. I returned the green tomatoes to the crock and poured the liquid back in. I moved the crock to our cold storage area for the winter. I tried a few of the green tomatoes. They remind me of a cross between an olive and a very crunchy pickle.