Autumn Vege Bag - Week 4

We’ve all noticed the dramatic change in seasons over the last week or so, which means the Ahoaho and Crooked Vege māra are going through some big changes too. Tomatoes have slowed down hugely, producing less than half of what they were a couple of weeks ago - but we should have a couple more weeks left at least to enjoy the last of summer.

Ahoaho’s cucumbers and tomatoes have called curtains on the season, but Crooked Vege will have them for a short while longer - this is the beauty of the collaborative farming kaupapa we’ve formed through Ōtaki Vege Bags. By working together, we build more resilience into our local kai (and cucumber) supplies.

This week we have

1. Salad (from Ahoaho māra kai)

2. Zucchini (Ahoaho māra kai)

3. Carrots (Ahoaho māra kai)

4. Aubergine (Ahoaho māra kai)

5. Beetroot or tokyo turnips(Crooked Vege Ōtaki)

6. Shishito chilli, snake beans or herbs (basil or garlic chives) (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)

7. Heirloom tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)

8. Lebanese cucumber (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)

Vege highlights and recipes

Snake Beans

There’s only a few bunches of snake beans this week, they’re only just coming onto harvest, so we’re hoping we’ll have a steadier supply in a couple weeks time. Snake beans are more commonly grown in asia and subtropical areas of the world, but they seem to be doing ok here. We’ve grown them out of compulsive curiosity - they apparently can get close to 1 meter long! We’re picking them smaller, as they seem to be nicest at a more modest length.

Use them just like a regular green bean.

Garlic Chives

Crooked Vege has tried to grow spring onions a few times, without much luck. But we have found garlic chives grow well. On such a small land base, trying to supply vege for as many people as we can, we have to focus on the crops that want to grow on this whenua.

And it turns out we like them more than spring onions.

They have a similar flavour profile, although as the name suggests, they have a slight garlic-y flavour. They’re a bit more mild in flavour. We use them as an onion, spring onion or garlic substitute - or simply to flavour roast veges and salads.

Beetroot (or any vegetable) sauerkraut

We usually think of sauerkraut as a cabbage dish, but sauekraut (or something like it) can be made with most vegetables. We commonly use beetroot, fennel, pak choi, radishes and carrots to make a sauerkraut-esque ferment. Any firm veggies work, softer, leafier stuff like zucchini and kale tend to get a bit too mushy.

It’s a great, delicious way to use up vege you’re not planning to cook with, or are a bit tired of.

Sauerkraut is a form of lactofermentation, which utilises the extremely abundant lactobacillus bacteria (its on the skins of vegetables, your hands, wildly abundant in the air around you) to preserve food. It’s one of humanity’s oldest and safest forms of food preservation. There are potential digestive and health benefits to consuming fermented foods (and, conversely, some people find fermented foods tough on their digestion) - but this is a heavily debated and researched topic we’re not going to make any big claims about! We do it because it’s tasty and a simple way to preserve kai.

Lactofermentation works by simply creating conditions that lactobacillus thrive in that harmful bacterial and fungi cannot. We keep the ferment anaerobic (without air), in a salty environment (which prevents most other microorganisms) and as the lactobacillus takes hold, it creates an acidic environment. Lactobacillus is a very aggressive bacteria, and in these conditions it outcompetes anything dangerous.

The basic process is simple:

1. Shred, grate or slice very finely vegetables

2. Weigh

3. Add 2.5% of the vegetable weight in salt - e.g. if you have 1kg of vege, you add 25g of salt (1000/100 * 2.5 = 25; or 1000/40 = 2.5) and mix thoroughly, squeezing and massaging the vege as you go. You’re trying to use the salt to squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible. Leaving the vege sitting in salt for 10-20 minutes before massaging can make your life a bit easier.

4. Add any spices or herbs you feel like - cumin seeds, coriander, pepper, chillies, fennel seeds, juniper berry, bay leaves, ajwain, mustard seed cardamom, ginger, carraway, ANYTHING that excites you. If you add a significant quantity (e.g. half a kg of onion), make sure you add the equivelant 2.5% salt.

5. Pack tightly into jars - you don’t want any air in there. Leave about 2-4cm head space from the top of the jar.

6. Weigh down - you want the produce sitting under its own brine. You can get fancy glass fermentation weights, but the cheapest option is to find a jar that fits just inside the mouth of your fermentation jar, or to fill a ziplock bag with a 2.5% salt water brine. Cover the jar with something to keep fruit flies out. You can also loosely put a lid on, but gas builds up from the fermentation which could explode your jars - you can “burp” the jars to release the gas.

7. An alternative to weights is to use “fido” bail top jars. This is my preferred method after years of fermenting. As the kraut ferments, it produces gas. The rubber seal on the jar keeps o2 out, but as the pressure from the co2 builds, the bail top allows a little gas to escape. Meanwhile, the co2 “on top” of the ferment prevents oxygen getting to the surface.
   These are usually $3-$5 in the op shops, but often the rubber rings are too perished to successfully keep oxygen out - they can be purchased online or at shops like bin inn. Note: There are lots of these style jars that are ‘decorative’ only. Looks for jars that are made in a european country, as the glass is tempered to withstand high pressure. If there is no brand or country of origin embossed on the jar, assume its not safe for high pressure fermentation.
   The downside to this method is you can’t easily “taste as you go” - once you open the jar, it needs to go in the fridge, as you’re relying on the build up co2 to keep the ferment anaerobic - as opposed to the method in step 6, where a weight keeps the produce anaerobic.

8. Leave it alone for however long you like! Put a plate or something underneath, as some vigorous ferments will overflow. Somewhere out of direct sunlight, but ideally somewhere you can see it so you don’t forget about it. As the weather cools down it’ll take longer to ferment. Recipes online often call for 3-5 days - I personally find that I prefer it after a minimum of 2 weeks, but we’ll often leave things longer than 6 months. It’s personal preference, really.

Potential problems: Sometimes a film like substance will form on top of the brine/produce, if too much o2 gets onto the surface. This is called kahm yeast. It’s a kind of semi-transparent white film - it’s not fuzzy like mold is. It’s actually not dangerous to eat, but it tastes unpleasant - if you catch it early, you can scrape off the top couple of centimeters, but i find if you catch it too late, the flavour penetrates too much of the ferment. Occasionally, if left too long, or if produce sits above the brine, mould may grow - mold is notable by being fuzzy. In this case you should discard it. These problems are avoided by keeping as much air off the surface as possible at the start.