Mustards and vinegars

 

   I have been having fun making vinegars and mustards.   Above is a citrus vinegar I have making for cleaning with.   It takes about 20 days to turn into vinegar and then I remove the fruit and give it another 10 days to finish.   It makes everything smell so good when you clean with it.  To make it all you have to do is cut up some oranges and a lemon or two, add 1/4th cup sugar and fill with spring water.   Cover it with a cloth or a coffee filter and stir everyday.   When you Ph reaches 3.5 or higher it is done.   I also made a raisin vinegar for cooking my stir fry's in, it has a lovely mellow flavor.   I made blueberry and strawberry for making vinaigrette this summer for my salads.   I love that it is all organic and so much cheaper then store bought.

 

  Another thing I have gotten into is mustard making.  I love a good coarse brown mustard so the first one I made was a lacto fermented one.  I use yellow and brown mustard seeds, a habarnero  pepper I grew, some garlic and ginger and then I fermented it for about a month.   I loved the flavor and shared a lot with friends.   I then made a maple syrup mustard but didn't ferment that one.  I had some organic maple syrup I picked up from a family in Wisconsin and used that and then for a little kick added just a pinch of cayenne pepper I grew, dried and powered this summer.   It has a sweet taste with a heat kick at the end.   Last week I made a 24 hour mustard using mostly yellow mustard because I didn't want it as strong and added herbs I grew like dill, ginger, cumin, garlic and chives.   It is yummy.

     I love messing around with these and sharing them with some friends who are also mustard lovers.  We trade our products so I get there hot sauces or home made beer.  This summer I had a lot of curly parsley I grew so I made pesto hot sauce out of some and pesto sauce out of the rest.  I froze a lot of the pesto but used the last up last week on some chicken.   Bummer.  I am going to plant a lot more parsley this year.   The flat leaf doesn't taste as good making it into pesto and they don't sell any curly leaf in the stores so I guess I will have to wait until next year to get more.

    Next I am going to make some Blueberry water kefir.   I drink a lot of water and it gets boring so a nice sparkling flavored water will be great.

   I hate to waste anything from the garden so the strawberries I pick and clean to dehydrate I use the cutting from them to make vinegar.  I cut off the top that isn't quite as sweet and stick them in a jar.  If I don't have enough I freeze them until I do then I stick them in filtered water, add a little sugar and make vinegar out of them, green tops and all.  I do the same with apples.  I save all my cores and skins and make apple cider vinegar.   It tastes so much better then store bought and is so much cheaper.

    So that is what I have been doing.  Lots of dehydrating and making soup mixes for storage.  Ready for lean times.