Kraut, Mushrooms and Apple Cider

So we're getting on with a lot of things. It's been fun and we've had some company which has made life better as it usually does. The fall keeps hanging on. Yesterday it was 15 degrees.


1) Thanks to the help of three intrepid wwoofers we fermented a large batch of sauerkraut. It fermented over the course of approximately three weeks and tastes great. It's really easy to make your own kraut. Use three tablespoons of salt for every five pounds of shredded cabbage. In a ceramic crockpot sprinkle the salt on top of each four inch layer and throw in a few peppercorns or whole cloves. Toss it around with clean hands then add other layers until you're out of cabbage. Put a plate upside down on top and put a heavy weight on top of it (maybe a large glass bottle filled with water) and cover with a clean cloth. Keep it in a warm place for a few weeks.

2) Did you know that most apple "juice" sold in Canada comes from China? Pretty crazy stuff considering the number of apple trees on our street let alone in all of Canada. Happily our house has a large apple press which we used to make cider a few weeks ago. It tasted great and sadly didn't last long. The best part was that it was made with apples picked within a few hundred feet of our home. With a few carboys you could make hard cider easily too.

3) It's damp near our house and there's a wooded brook which is home to numerous species of mushrooms. Did you know that mushrooms breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide? I just assumed they were plants but they are something else, something special. We've seen chanterelles and turkey tails not to mention hundreds of little brown mushrooms which are almost impossible to identify and therefore should be avoided. We're hoping to inoculate a few logs soon to grow our own mushrooms. You could also do this easily at home with some freshly cut hardwood and some inoculated plugs.

Will keep you posted.