It has been 10 weeks tomorrow that we have been on the road. There are lots of things we have changed about the way we are living however there are a few that have remained the same …. my ferments are some of these. I was determined to keep up my kombucha and milk kefir on the road and so far so good. It felt so good having this practice continue that I have even tried to do another batch of sauerkraut.
The large kombucha jar simply gets a screw top lid put on it and placed in a cupboard with ‘non-slip’ matting on the bottom whenever we travel. When we arrive at our destination out it comes, the lid is taken off and on the bench top it is left. Easy as! I did notice though that after a week or so the kombucha didn’t taste as sweet as my usual batches however soon I realised that where it was sitting never got sunlight on it, as it did in our house. My solution? I simply try to get it into the sun for a bit each day (when I remember) and it seems to be back to its usual sweet, fizzy self. I usually only leave it for a week before creating another batch and apart from judging cooling time for the tea before adding to the SCOBY. The SCOBY is incredibly healthy and continues to grow happily, thankfully. I have given loads away and still had to pop this big bit (see photo) in the compost today.
Another Sunday and a fresh batch of Kombucha on the go
The kefir grains, which I use in Rice Milk, are much easier. They are transferred into fresh milk daily as I consume the fizzy goodness for breakfast. The other equipment needed is a clean jar (I have 2 in total to swap), a plastic spoon and the milk. Once again they are simply popped into a drawer with the cups when we travel and then brought out onto the bench while we are parked. I think they would be my favourite ferment for ease of making (without thought involved) and also that I get to enjoy it everyday without running out.
Finally my sauerkraut. We came onto the bus with a jar just freshly opened, so that lasted us for most of the 10 weeks however when that came to an end I had to either justify storing an empty jar or fill it. I decided on the latter. As we had found some fresh, homegrown radishes in a road side stall I decided to create a radish, cabbage and carrot version. It is the first time I have used radishes and I’m hoping for a kimchi taste (fingers crossed!). The process of preparing the vegetables, while very messy and harder to clean up when you are trying to converse the water you have, was straight forward enough and I was feeling very pleased with my self as I packed it tightly into the jar.
Into the cupboard it went … out of sight and out of mind. Well that was until we next stopped and I realized that my sauerkraut had been jiggled around so much that it had seeped out in all directions as it fermented away. I have had this happen before at home when I didn’t have a tight seal on the jar or there isn’t enough room for ferment to do its thing. So after a lot of cleaning up and double bagging the jar we are all set. Time will tell on the taste and I will have to remember to be less enthusiastic with the amounts of vegetables I am preparing next time to avoid a repeat performance!
Bagged up and ready for fermenting
Well that is it for now … just a wee insight into domestic life on the bus. 🙂 Until next time. I hope this finds you enjoying your own little rituals
Arohanui
Y
Becoming Healthy 