fermenting - Common Sense Homesteading

How to Make Hard Cider

September 27, 2014 by Laurie Neverman 68 Comments

The most basic hard apple cider can be made on your counter top in a matter of days, and is one of the easiest home ferments. For long term storage, you need a bit more equipment, time and patience, but it's still a fairly straightforward process. I'll share three ways to make hard cider in this post.

Did you know that back in colonial times, most apples were pressed into cider? And since there was no refrigeration, the only fresh apple cider came right off the cider press. The rest was served as hard cider. The book Wild Fermentation notes that in Massachusetts in 1767, annual hard cider consumption was greater than 35 gallons per person – that's a lot of cider! [Read more…]

Enter to Win a FARMcurious Fermenting Set – Cultured Food in 3 Easy Steps

May 12, 2014 by Laurie Neverman 134 Comments

Sometimes you come across a new product and think, “It's about time somebody invented that!” That's what I thought when I came across the FARMcurious Fermenting Set. Nicole contacted me via the Common Sense Homesteading facebook page about her kickstarter project, and I knew she had a great tool that would be useful to many people. Don't have a clue about what I'm saying? Read on, or skip to the video, and learn how and why to do more fermenting and add live cultured foods to your diet. [Read more…]

The Magic Fermenting Sock

February 14, 2011 by Laurie Neverman 11 Comments

No – this is not a post about an old, nasty, sweaty sock that's been found balled up in a corner raising a fine crop of stinky microbes. This post is about my “secret” for keeping my culturing dairy warm in my not-so-warm house in the winter.

I culture milk kefir and viili yogurt from Cultures for Health at least weekly. I typically use either a pint jar or a glass jars from peaches that has the same foot print but is several inches taller. Both of these ferments culture at room temperature, which makes them very easy to do, but sometimes in the middle of winter my kitchen gets a little cold when the stove isn't on (60's, instead of 70's). So, to give my starters a little extra help, I employ the “magic fermenting sock”. [Read more…]