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Adventures in Food-making: Beet Kvass
Jul. 15th, 2011 09:42 amSo, the problem with getting a CSA is that you get a pound of parsley and it sits in your fridge mocking you because you don't know what to do with parsley besides use it as a garnish or maybe a little in soups, and you have some in your garden anyway.* Or, you get a ton of kale and you like kale but your housemate is in Vermont for the week and you end up eating kale every morning for a week and there is still kale left over.** And perhaps my farmer has had a bumper crop of onions? I used to go through about an onion a week; now I'm cooking things at a rate of about an onion a day, and there's still a pile of them in my crisper!
And then there is the problem of the beets.
I do not have tons of experience with beets, but making roast veggies with a few beets mixed in has been known to be tasty. Except it's not that time of year yet that I'm getting other roastable veggies in the CSA, and it seems silly to go to the store to buy other vegetables when I literally have run out of room in my crisper to store all the greens.
Did I mention that we decided to get the small box this year after crawling out from under mounds of vegetable matter last year? Did I mention that I eat vegetables for breakfast these days?
So, I had some beets, and I've been told that I need to incorporate more lacto-fermented foods into my diet. Which really means I need to make them myself, because $10 for a 6-ounce jar at the farmers market Idon'tthinkso.
In theory, lacto-fermentation is pretty easy. You push vegetables, whey, and some water in a glass container and leave it on the counter for a while. I've been reading for months about cultured veggies, but I didn't really have the courage -- or, let's admit it, the inclination -- to start.
The girlfriend told me, when she heard about beet kvass, that it seemed I had found the only way to make beets even more unappetizing than they already are. Beet kvass is more or less fermented beet juice. It is supposed to be crazy-healthy.
So I had the beets. I needed whey. An easy way to make whey is to make cream cheese. ...The unfortunate side effect of this is that then you have cream cheese. This would not be a problem, except that I am avoiding wheat and thus bagels, and honestly I don't know what else one can do with cream cheese.***
So, I made cream cheese. I made whey. I put it in with the beets and stuck the crock in the laundry room for two days. And now I have two quarts of beet kvass that I am still trying to make myself screw up the courage to taste.
*Yes, there is a pound of parsley in my fridge right now. Ideas?
**Sir Now Appearing came home last night, thank GOD. Someone to help me eat the vegetables! Of course, last night we also got our new CSA box, with more mounds of veggies. I swear, we're being invaded!
***Anyone who points out that cheesecake can be made with cream cheese will have the cream cheese mailed to them, unrefrigerated. Also avoiding sugar these days, which makes me cranky...
And then there is the problem of the beets.
I do not have tons of experience with beets, but making roast veggies with a few beets mixed in has been known to be tasty. Except it's not that time of year yet that I'm getting other roastable veggies in the CSA, and it seems silly to go to the store to buy other vegetables when I literally have run out of room in my crisper to store all the greens.
Did I mention that we decided to get the small box this year after crawling out from under mounds of vegetable matter last year? Did I mention that I eat vegetables for breakfast these days?
So, I had some beets, and I've been told that I need to incorporate more lacto-fermented foods into my diet. Which really means I need to make them myself, because $10 for a 6-ounce jar at the farmers market Idon'tthinkso.
In theory, lacto-fermentation is pretty easy. You push vegetables, whey, and some water in a glass container and leave it on the counter for a while. I've been reading for months about cultured veggies, but I didn't really have the courage -- or, let's admit it, the inclination -- to start.
The girlfriend told me, when she heard about beet kvass, that it seemed I had found the only way to make beets even more unappetizing than they already are. Beet kvass is more or less fermented beet juice. It is supposed to be crazy-healthy.
So I had the beets. I needed whey. An easy way to make whey is to make cream cheese. ...The unfortunate side effect of this is that then you have cream cheese. This would not be a problem, except that I am avoiding wheat and thus bagels, and honestly I don't know what else one can do with cream cheese.***
So, I made cream cheese. I made whey. I put it in with the beets and stuck the crock in the laundry room for two days. And now I have two quarts of beet kvass that I am still trying to make myself screw up the courage to taste.
*Yes, there is a pound of parsley in my fridge right now. Ideas?
**Sir Now Appearing came home last night, thank GOD. Someone to help me eat the vegetables! Of course, last night we also got our new CSA box, with more mounds of veggies. I swear, we're being invaded!
***Anyone who points out that cheesecake can be made with cream cheese will have the cream cheese mailed to them, unrefrigerated. Also avoiding sugar these days, which makes me cranky...