Lacto Fermented Cucumbers

Lacto-Fermenting Cucumbers. See all those bubbles!!

Recipe #2 in our pickling 3 ways series: Lacto-fermented Cucumbers

Lacto-fermenting is a simple and easy way to preserve food a few months. And oh so delicious. I mean, once you start lactose-fermenting you usually can’t stop because you body craves this delicious and nutritious magic. Lacto-fermenting works with a salt brine. The salt brine kills off bacteria that can harm us, and then the beneficial bacteria can multiply. As they multiply they make our foods delicious! Lacto-fermented foods are tangy and effervescent.

Lacto-fermenting is very forgiving in the preservation sense. As long as you keep the foods submerged in the brine, they will preserve well. But, you must be considerate of the brine strength ( foods aren’t too salty) and the flavor combinations.

Lacto-Fermented Cucumbers

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of kosher salt

6 cups of water ( if you have city water consider using spring water or a filer that removes chlorine, higher levels of chlorine may effect your results)

8 medium sized pickling cucumbers

8 cloves of garlic

2 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

8 sprigs of fresh dill

4 quart sized glass jars with tight fitting lids ( almost all of my canning jars are repurposed jars)

Directions:

Wash all your cucumbers and trim the bottoms and tops

Fill a separate jar or pitcher with 6 cups of water and 6 tblsp of salt, stir to dissolve and set aside

Crush each clove of garlic and place 2 in each quart jar

Evenly divide spices between jars

Place one sprig of dill in each jar

Slice cucumbers length-wise into spears ( each will need to be cut into 4-6 spears)

Trim cucumbers in length so they fit in the jars with a few inches to spare

Pack the jars with cucumbers, pack them tightly so they have no room to move

Place a spring of dill on top of each jar and then push it into the cucumbers so it stays wedged under the brine

Pour brine over each jar until everything is under water ( leaving a little head room)

Tightly lid jars, store in a cool, darkish, easily accessible locations.

Burb the jars daily. They should start to fizz a bit when you open them ( make sure you do this to release pressure so they don’t explode!)

Now, deciding they are ready. I’m sure there is some science to this but it is more intuition and taste buds. The factors of what went into the jars change based on rainfall and sunshine. I believe these that I made will be ready in about 4 days. I say they are ready when I try one and want to eat another and another ( seriously).

Once they are fermented to the flavor you like, put them in the fridge. They will keep a few months, but they probably will not last that long. xxoo

Pickles (way one of three)

Refrigerator Pickles

I am the lucky recipient of a full box of cucumbers so I will be pickling all week! My family has three favorite recipes for pickles and I will share them as we process.

This recipe is for refrigerator dill pickles. They are simple, quick, and delicious. Its a great place to start if you are new to preserving or pickling. And the flavor is most similar to what we expect pickles to taste like ( from the store).

Refrigerator Dills

Ingredients:

5 large cucumbers suitable for pickling ( small seeds, thin skin)

3 cups of water

6 tablespoons of white vinegar

3 tbsp kosher salt

2 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

4 cloves of garlic

8 small sprigs of dill

Directions:

Mix the water, vinegar, and salt together in a large jar or pitcher. Shake or stir until all salt is dissolved. Set brine aside.

Set out 4 pint sized jars.

Crush cloves of garlic and place one in each jar with one small spring of dill. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of peppercorns in each jar. Follow with 1/8 tsp of coriander and mustard seeds.

Fill the jars with cucumber sliced in spears or rounds. Pack them tight!

Place a sprig of dill on top the the cucumbers.

Pour the brine over each jar until the cucumbers are covered completely ( you should have enough brine to do this with a little left over).

Put the lids on jars and shake them a bit to mix ingredients throughout.

You technically can eat these after a few hours, but they will be best after 2-4 days. These pickles should keep for a month or more in the fridge. Keep the cucumbers covered in brine to maximize freshness and flavor.

recipe #2 Lacto Fermented Cucumber recipe

Friday-Night Pizza Recipe

Crushed tomatoes and mozzarella/romano

I’ve had some requests for my Friday-night pizza recipe. Simple family rituals like Friday-night pizza night help keep us centered when the ride of life gets wild. And, when we do something we enjoy with regular routine we start to cultivate a sense of time and place. We prepare our body to take cues from our environment and condition ourselves to receive the good stuff.

This is a base recipe to start playing with. It’s a beautiful starter for learning about bread-making and building a confident understanding. It’s very forgiving. I also sometimes use a sourdough starter or use other flours. This basic recipe is meant to be easy. You can whip up the dough in the morning and have it ready for dinner. But if friends invite you over, throw the dough in the fridge covered with a wet towel- it will be just fine tomorrow. 

4 cups of flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp yeast

1 1/2-2 cups of water (the water depends on the humidity and the season) 

Combine and knead all ingredients. The dough should be soft and tender but not at all tacky or wet. 

Let rise.

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough in two and gently stretch into disks. Dock all over with a fork. 

Par bake the disks on a pizza stone ( I also LOVE my cast iron pizza pan) 

You just want them about 1/2 baked. Remove from oven and spread a clove of minced garlic and one spoon of mayo all over with a pastry brush ( each). Yep, sounds crazy but I learned it from a friend about 15 years ago and it’s so important! You can use olive oil, it creates a slightly different texture. 

Apply sauce, herbs, and topping of your choice. I like pepper jelly, cilantro and mozzarella with sautéed shiitakes.  Or crushed tomatoes and mozzarella. Use a hard mozzarella and just cover the sauce with a thin layer of cheese. Then finish with Romano from a micro plane. 

Bake in the oven until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. Enjoy, with loved ones, on a regular basis.

Beltane invitation

The Earth is just so pleased and in love with herself. And so in love with the sun. When you step outside and stand on Earth and feel the Sun’s warmth on your skin, you are just a little more in love with it all too. The birds and insects and spring peepers make a little love song. Water babbles or ripples or waves, and when the wind blows it is full of fragrance. It is all a romance. Everything is looking for union, full of excitement and expectation. 

The fires of Beltane used to be a time of play and exploration of your own sensuality, sexuality, and intimacy. Whether alone, or in trusted partnership, this trio of sensuality, sexuality, and intimacy provides an opportunity to practice deep level lower chakra work. Modern humans have very little space to explore the gift of their sexuality or the ways physical pleasure is related to health and spirit. As children come of age we give them long talks about the dangers of sex, and no discussion about its benefits, no discussion about its sacred gifts. Your sexuality and its expression, your fullness and understanding of it are a cornerstone in the foundation of your health and wellness- yet even alternative health practitioners rarely ask their patients about their sex life. 

Vibrancy is a result of optimal wellness. It is a result of all chakras being open and interconnected, the chakras are interdependent. We cannot do chakra work, spiritual work, or wellness work without doing the deeply personal work of investigating what sexuality, sensuality and intimacy mean to us. When my clients do this work they suddenly find new doors open on their journey, new tools available in all areas of life. 

We expect women to stand up for themselves at work and in public arenas when so many still aren’t comfortable asking the person they love and trust most in the world for what they want in bed. Lower chakra practice is essential to strength, confidence, and creativity. As a result of all our conditioning we keep our deepest selves from ourselves and from each other. The conditioning of men, of women, and our relationships with each other has complicated our desires. Imagine how much magic can happen when we practice removing these conditions and the hearts are even closer than the bodies.  This is about much more than intimate partnerships, healthy intimate partnerships just provide a safe place to practice. When you are intimate with your sensuality and your lower chakras, you are free to connect more deeply with everyone and everything you encounter. 

Today the sun will kiss your skin and the breeze will blow your hair. Its an invitation. 

Go play, its May.