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For the aspiring homesteader, making your own homemade cranberry sauce has to be one of the easiest recipes to follow. Unlike many fruits, cranberries contain a lot of natural pectin and gel up perfectly without having to add any store-bought pectin. Basic recipes include just three ingredients: cranberries, sugar, and water, and cook up in only 15 minutes. What could be simpler? Customize your flavors to lean towards sweet or savory, and enjoy this healthy cranberry sauce year after year!Additi …

Three Delicious Recipes to Make with Sourdough DiscardSourdough starter is the gift that keeps on giving. In addition to making the most perfect bread you’ll ever eat, sourdough discard can also be used to make delicious breakfasts, desserts, and baked goods of all sorts! If you’ve jumped on the sourdough train, here are three ways to use up sourdough discard.There are a few important things to know as you work with sourdough starter and discard. One of the most important steps is to measure ing …

What is Kimchi?Kimchi is a staple dish in Korean cuisine made of salted and fermented vegetables. The name kimchi encompasses any vegetable that is fermented in the Korean style. Believe it or not, there are almost 200 documented types of kimchi!Many people are familiar with the traditional napa cabbage kimchi also known as baechu kimchi. It usually includes napa cabbage, radish, and gochugaru (Korean chili pepper powder) with a few additional spices and vegetables. In Korea, kimchi is tradition …

How to Make Black Garlic Quickly and Easily at HomeFamed for its many health and medicinal benefits, as well as its skill for warding off vampires, garlic has long been touted as a must-have dietary ingredient for ultimate health. Not only may garlic be able to boost the immune system, reduce blood pressure, and lower the risk of heart disease, but it may also help people live longer with reduced risks of dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. Sounds great, right? Let’s eat all the garlic! The proble …

Last summer, I sat in my basement faced with a dilemma. We were moving and I needed to pack up 500 glass canning jars. At the time, most were empty but a few dozen still had food in them. Packing the empty glass jars was a chore but not impossible. I wrapped each individual jar in paper and set them carefully in a box.The nerve wracking part came with the jars that were filled with food. They were heavier and I couldn’t pack them in a regular box for fear of the bottom falling out from the weigh …

Why Vegetables Should Be Fermenting In Your Kitchen If you don’t have vegetables fermenting in your kitchen right now, you’re missing out. Fermenting vegetables by preserving them in liquid improves their nutritional profile and results in a tangy, crunchy, delicious final product. Kimchi and sauerkraut are popular variations, but almost any vegetable will ferment when submerged in liquid with salt and / or another starter culture added. Fermented vegetables also last for many months …

What’s The Difference? Fermentation vs Pickling Fermentation and pickling can be easy to mix up; there are some areas of overlap that can easily spark some confusion.After all, you can make fermented cucumber pickles, or pickled cucumber pickles. But, do fermented cucumber pickles qualify as fermented, or pickled? For the answers to this question and more, read on as we explore the overlap between these two methods of food preservation and preparation.In short, here’s what you need t …

Sprouting is Easy!If you have been interested in sprouting seeds at home, it’s always a good time to start. Regardless of the weather outside, you can sprout on your kitchen counter all year round, and in as little as two days you will have a batch of inexpensive, nutritious sprouts. Sprouting is also a fun activity for kids, and they can be recruited to grow their own little “garden” indoors. For the most basic set-up, all you need is a glass mason jar, seeds to sprout, water, and a bit of ligh …

Food Dehydrator, Oven Drying, or Sun Drying?Dehydrating your own fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and meats is an essential way to extend your harvest and enjoy delicious foods year round.A couple of fruit trees, a hunting trip, or a successful mushroom hunt can yield far more than one can eat in a week, and freezer space can fill up fast.The price of sun dried tomatoes alone can justify investing in a food dehydrator that can process pounds of dried tomatoes overnight!But where to start? Which me …

From starters to scoring patterns, you may have tried your hand at a loaf or two of sourdough - or perhaps you simply watched your friends take the challenge. While it is true you could spend years perfecting your sourdough game, with a few tips and tools you too can achieve the chewy, crispy-crusted loaves of your dreams.Sourdough StarterYou may have heard of heirloom sourdough starters that are decades old, or your friend’s beloved starter lovingly named and tended to. Sourdough starters are t …