Freeze Aftermath

As feared, last week there were a couple of very cold nights:  The first night, the temp dropped down to about 25.5 or so and stayed below 28 for 5 hours.  The second night was similar.  For comparison, I'm reposting the pictures from a week and a half ago, before the freeze:

I definitely had losses to my blueberries, but it's not all bad.  If there's no more killing-cold weather, I might get  a crop that's 30%-50% of normal (then again, maybe not: some of the blooms that look like they might be okay may not be).  South Georgia fared worse; for whatever reason some of the blueberry regions were colder than north Georgia--as low as 22.  The rabbiteye farmers had total losses in many cases (rabbiteyes are what I grow, as well).  Georgia won't lead the country in blueberry production this year...

Bread: Thrill of Victory, Agony of Defeat

My two most recent loaves of bread have been among my best and worst.  First, the best.  I made another 100% whole wheat loaf (plus added vital wheat gluten), and it turned out very well.

As you can see, the crumb is very dense, as is the norm for whole wheat, with no big bubbles.  But the loaf raised (rose?) well and I'm happy.  It's red whole wheat, so does have that strong tannin-tinged flavor, but it's nice.  I used 3 3/4 c whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of vital wheat gluten, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 cup of sourdough starter, and about 2 1/4 cups of water.  I mixed it and let it rise for a little over 12 hours, then formed the loaf from the dough, let it rise another 20 minutes while the oven was heating up, and baked it at 30 min. @ 475 followed by 17 min. @ 450 with the Romertopf casserole dish open.

I followed a similar procedure the previous week with a rye loaf that didn't go as well.  I used 2 cups of rye flour, 1 3/4 cups of white (bread flour), 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 cup of sourdough starter and 2 cups of water.  This time it only rose for about 8 or 9 hours on the first leg, and the final result was this oval loaf.

I managed to get almost a week's worth of sandwiches out of it, but the crust (as you can see) broke away from the rest of the loaf, and the interior was a gummy mess. It slimed the bread knife every time I cut a slice. Not good.  I think the short initial rise was the source of the trouble.

The seam of flour in the middle is from where I folded it over when forming the dough for the second rise; I dusted the top and sides with dry flour to prevent sticking (or at least reduce it; there's always some sticking with rye).

When even the disasters are at least partly salvageable, that's not too bad.  Onward.

Things Are Blooming

The Bradfords around town have been in full bloom for a while at this point: they were opening up in late February.  My blueberries are blooming now and my aronia bush has been in bloom for a while, as well.

The aronia is interesting.  I got it because the juice is commercially available--meaning at some level it's palatable--and I was swayed by nursery descriptions of it being sweet.  There is a hint of sweetness, but a lot of astringency.  The only way I've managed to make it work is to put the berries in with cranberries for sauce; I have served a mix of cranberry and aronia berry sauce at Thanksgiving a couple of times.

As can be seen, the berries from last fall are still on the bush: I didn't even pick very many of them last fall, because I think I'm pretty much done with aronia.  The birds didn't even take them.  I tried one a couple of days ago and it's about the same: slight sweetness with a barrel full of astringency.  I have never successfully eaten one raw.  I always spit them out.

However, it does sucker a little and the flowers are nice and are also pleasantly fragrant.  So it's not a total loss.

The blueberries are in full bloom, and that's not necessarily a good thing.  Another cold night looms, which might wipe out the crop (again; this happened just a couple of years ago).

For now, spring is here.  Next week, it might leave for one or two fateful days.

Sauerkraut, More

After 28 days, I opened the crock.  It was about as before:  there was a slick of something on the top of the water, but it wasn't mold (or at least it didn't look like it).  Once I got the weights out, I ended up with a little over 1.5 gallons of kraut by volume.  It's a five liter crock, but once it wasn't packed down tightly, it expanded a bit.

The flavor was fine and in keeping with what I've made before.  I don't put any other seasonings in it in addition to salt, so it's plain stuff--but good nonetheless.  I tested the pH and it was between 3 and 3.5.

It was a resounding success. As noted previously, I have never had a batch of sauerkraut fail.  Another observation: a five liter crock makes a lot of kraut.   I couldn't deal with the amount of sauerkraut a three, five, or ten-gallon crock would produce, and even ten liters would be a challenge.  I lack the cool storage space that a basement might provide, so I need to put it in the refrigerator.

I may or may not make another batch; I opened it up about two weeks ago and have gone through a half gallon so far--but there's a lot more taking up refrigerator space.  By the time I finish it, the temps will be warm again.

The Frogs Are Talking...

...and they're saying it's an early spring.  In a normal year spring peepers are making noise by now:

Spring peepers

However, I have been hearing them intermittently for a couple of weeks.  Also, last weekend I heard American toads when I was out running in the woods:


American toad

Although the link (referencing NC) indicates they can call in Februrary, around here I don't recall ever hearing them before March-April.  Yesterday I heard upland chorus frogs, too; they call about the same time as the peepers but usually start a little later.

Upland chorus frog

By mid-April all will be silent.  We are pretty likely to have more frost here in north Georgia, but the warm weather that has predominated for the last few weeks is bringing fruit trees out of dormancy.  Sometimes this works out okay; sometimes it does not end well.

The Sauerkraut Tide

I noticed this the last (and first) time I made kraut in the fermenting crock, but didn't comment on it.  This time it has been a little more dramatic.

There's a definite ebb and flow of the water level (in addition to evaporation, which is slow and steady).  One morning I noticed the moat was almost dry, so added back up to the bottom of the notch.  The liquid level had overflowed a few hours later.  I then remembered what Holly mentions on her fermenting crock how-to page.  Pressure changes can pull water up.  I think it might also be related to changes inside the vessel itself.  At any rate, I haven't tried seeing if I can jiggle the lid and liberate the water, but I am now not as disturbed if I see a sudden water level change.

It has been almost three weeks; I'm going to try to let it go another week to 28 days.  The house is still cool (65-70).

More on Sauerkraut

Last year I wrote about my experiences with sauerkraut after the first few batches.  I'm doing more now, and have learned a few things.

Another sauerkraut resource is makesauerkraut.com.  It has an extensive amount of information in the form of step-by-step instructions for crocks and jars, recipes, and reviews of various fermenting tools (including jars, weights, airlocks, crocks, and more).

I start by chopping up cabbage with a knife.  I don't use a mandolin or food processor (neither of which I have).  Impressed by the admonitions to be precise on the makesauerkraut.com, I weighed the cabbage as I cut it.

Two pounds is indeed about equal to a processed head, but I had some variance. Much of the weight is in the solid core, which I did not include, but even with that and some of the outer leaves removed, some heads were around two pounds, and some were substantially more.

I was originally going for 10 pounds, because I have a 5-liter crock and 2 pounds per liter is a general benchmark.  However, as can be seen, my cabbage is pretty coarsely cut, so eight pounds filled the crock leaving barely enough room to get the weights in.  Think of it this way:  Assuming equal density, a pound of sand occupies less space in a container than a pound of gravel.

I mixed it up in two-pound batches, because those are easy to deal with.  I'm using a bit less salt than recommended on the makesauerkraut.com pages, sticking with one tablespoon per two-pound batch.  It has worked well for me in the past.  So far, I haven't had any failures with cabbage.

After salting and squeezing a bit, followed by some gloved-fist crushing and stomping with my wood bat, I sealed it up.  I plan to let it go the full 28 days.  As previously, I added a little salt water to the mix because I didn't have good coverage from just the cabbage's liberated juice alone.  I added less than a cup of water that had salt added at the rate of 1.5 tablespoons per quart (or 1.125 teaspoons per cup).

I'm planning to let it go a bit longer because I've learned that I was indeed stopping my fermentations too soon, as mentioned in the previous post.  The gaseous phase is only one of the steps in the fermentation process, and stopping things when that concludes is too soon.  Another factor is that now that it is winter, my house is around 70 so the temperature should be favorable.  We shall see how it goes.  The quantity I'm doing this time around is the same as last time, except that it's all in the crock rather than split between crock and glass jar.  This is the first time I can't see what's going on.  It is, however, bubbling, so that is a good sign.