Today, as I was enjoying the sack lunch I usually bring with me to work, I pondered the expansion of one of my long time hobbies - puttering in the kitchen. I have always enjoyed the whole process of preparing the food I eat, and for some of it, that involves the harnessing of beneficial microbes. Most longstanding of these is the sourdough bread culture I have maintained for more than 20 years. Most weekends, I bake two loaves of sourdough bread for use throughout the week in everything from sandwiches to croutons for soup and salads. The venerable sourdough culture I have carried for decades contains a mix of bacteria and yeast whose metabolic activities produce the leavened bread that I have exclusively consumed for many years. Home fermentation activities have not been restricted to bread: on a sporadic basis, I have fermented cabbage to make sauerkraut, and though I haven't brewed in some time, one of my earliest hobbies was making my own beer. Beneficial microbes have always been welcomed in my kitchen!
More recently, I have expanded these cultural pursuits. I revived a yogurt maker that I'd purchased several years ago, and I've turned out a few batches of very tasty homemade yogurt. I've stepped up my sauerkraut production. And just this week, I sampled my first batch of fermented dill pickles. These are classic full-sour dill pickles in the best NYC deli tradition. So with my home baked sourdough sandwich, I had a fermented pickle which was delicious. I expect to expand fermentations even further after reading a book that I received yesterday, containing info and recipes to produce all manner of fermented produce and beverages. About the only area of microbe-driven food production that I have not yet tried is making cheese. Something to look forward to!
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