Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew
Some of you may remember last year that we reviewed a really great kitchen product that gives you all the tools you need to start fermenting foods in your own home. It quickly became a favorite in my home, allowing me to make my own kimchi, sauerkraut and other fermented foods and saving me tons of money instead of buying prepared options at the supermarket. Many of those premade options have unnecessary chemicals and preservatives, where as making my own at home, I knew exactly what was in the jar. Well, we have once again been given the opportunity to review the starter kit from Fermentools and once again, we were so pleased with this product.
The Fermentool Single Fermentation Kit included everything needed to get you started with your first jar of fermented food.
This included 1 304 stainless steel lid that is corrosion resistant and extremely sterdy, a glass fermentation weight made to fit inside a standard widemouth Mason style jar, 1 plastic air lock that is easy to disassemble for cleaning, a pair of rubber stoppers (1 with a hole for the airlock, one solid), a rubber caning gasket to place between the lid and the mason jar to guarantee a good seal, a bag of Himalayan powdered salt, and an instruction pamphlet with instructions and a recipe for making sauerkraut to get you started.
We have used the Fermentools kit quite a bit in the past, so I was super happy to get a second set to have on hand. With our current move, I still have things in boxes, so I haven't unearthed my other set just yet. However, the idea of having two sets is something I like, because with our old set, we were constantly making homemade Kimchi and over time, the rubber stopper has been stained orange due to the red pepper paste that is used. Now I can continue to make Kimchi with the stained stopper and then make other stuff such as Dilly Beans (fermented dill green beans), garlic and cilantro jalapenos, and other non staining stuff in the 2nd.
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| Making Kimchi some time back before our move. |
For our first ferment for this review, I decided to try making some lacto-fermented Ginger Ale. For this batch, I did not need to use the included glass weight nor did I use any of the included pink Himalayan salt. Instead, because this was a lacto-fermentation, I used some champagne yeast to begin the fermentation process.
Sadly, we never got the carbonation we wanted out of this batch. I do believe this is because I purchased non-organic ginger. I've read that doing fermentation with non-organic ginger is always a hit or miss due to the radiation that is done to the ginger. While we did get a slight carbonation, it wasn't anything like previous batches in the past. Again, this was not due to the Fermentools system but was most likely due to the ginger itself or that I possibly added the yeast when the temperature of my sugar syrup was too high for the more fragile yeast and maybe killed the yeast. I will definitely be trying this again in the near future with organic ginger (and allowing my sugar syrup to completely cool to room temp).
For my second fermentation, I was going to make a bath of cilantro and garlic jalapenos which have been a real hit in my house previously. These are absolutely PERFECT for topping hot dogs, burgers and cheese steaks and we go tend to go thru the jar pretty quickly when I make these.
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| Previous batch of Jalapenos using the Fermentools system |
Unfortunately, when I went to the store, there seemed to be a shortage of jalapenos and two peppers weren't going to cut it. so instead, I decided to just grab a head of green cabbage and make a batch of standard sauerkraut. I completely obliterated the cabbage in my food processor, added some of the Himalayan salt, and allowed it to sit on the counter, away from the windows, for roughly 2 and a half weeks.
For this fermentation, we had to use the glass counterweight to keep all the cabbage weighed down and below the liquid level. The weight worked perfectly, eliminating the possibility of mold growth in the fermentation.
In honor of the Olympic games, we have been eating "International Foods" for the last week, so our homemade sauerkraut turned out to be an absolutely perfect accompaniment to our German themed meal of brats with peppers and German potato salad. The sauerkraut had the perfect salty/sour taste was enjoyed by everyone. I'll definitely make another batch when this batch is gone, but I think I'll add Caraway seeds next time around.
I really enjoy this product and if your looking for a easy and cost effective way to begin fermenting your own foods, the Fermentools Start Kit is the perfect way to get started.
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Members of the Crew have been using the Fermentools Starter Kit in their homes to make a large variety of healthy foods. Be sure to click the banner below to read their reviews today.
