Fermented Foods

Pickled Avocados
Use white vinegar, water, and salt brine.
The optimal time to pickle an avocado—when the fruit is on the firm side, slightly too firm to eat plain, and the pit is a bit hard to remove, but the fruit still cuts and peels without any problem.

Heat some white vinegar, water, and salt in a saucepan on the stove until the mixture comes to a boil. Then you cut your avocados in half, remove the pits, peel the halves, then cut the halves into chunky pieces, which you then fill a glass quart jar with.
Finally, you pour the boiling into the quart jar, over the avocados, let the brine cool, then put a lid on them and stick them into the refrigerator to marinate for a couple of days before using them.

3 medium avocados
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon non-iodized sea salt, or kosher salt

1. Cut the avocados in half, and remove the pits, then carefully peel away the skin from the fruit. Cut the avocados into large chunks and gently pack them into a clean glass quart jar.

2. Combine the vinegar, water, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.

3. Pour the brine over the avocados in the jar. Wipe any vinegar spills from the jar rim with a clean towel or paper towel and gently screw the lid onto the jar.

4. Let the jar sit until it has cooled down.  Once the jar is fairly cool, it should be put into the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before eating to give the flavors time to meld. The avocados will keep, tightly sealed in the refrigerator, for up to 2 weeks.


Fermented Pickles
Ingredients
2 to 2½ English Cucumbers
½ bunch of Cilantro
½ bunch of Dill
1 head of Garlic
2 tablespoons Himalayan or Sea Salt
Handful of fresh grape, raspberry, oak, blackberry or cherry leaves (these leaves supply tannins to help keep the pickles crispy and crunchy)

Instructions
Slice 2 of the cucumbers about a ¼ inch thin. Don't slice them any thinner as they can come out mushy if sliced too thin.
Peel the garlic.
Take the cilantro and dill leaves off the stem.
Place the cucumbers, herbs and salt into the mason jar and fill ¾ of the way. Then fill it with water 3 inches from the top. T
Take the grape, cherry, oak, raspberry or blackberry leaves and fold them up and put them in the top so that they are pushing the cucumbers down and the cucumbers slices are submerged in the liquid. These leaves contain tannins which will keep the pickles crispy.
If you don't have access to these types of leaves, you could use the other half of the cucumber at the top, cut into big pieces, to push everything down but the pickles won't come out as crunchy.
Screw the top on halfway. If you screw it on too tight, as it could explode or liquid could spill out when it starts to ferment.
Wait 2 days and then open the jar and taste the fermented pickles.
When they taste a bit sour, you’ll know they are done.
Make sure you don't wait too long, otherwise they will get soggy.
Throw out the leaves or cucumbers chunks.
Keep refrigerated.


Homemade Sauerkraut

Ingredients:
2 medium sized heads of cabbage
6 tsp. salt
6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 gallon mason jar and cloth to cover
rubber band

Directions:
Chop cabbage (save 1 leaf to cover in jar when finished).
Using 1/6 of the cabbage at a time, mix in 1 tsp. salt and mash with hands until liquid begins to emerge.
Continue this until all cabbage and salt is used.
Add garlic and pepper and continue to mix and mash.
Once finished fill a 1/2 gallon mason jar with the cabbage.  Liquid should be covering all cabbage.
Place the leftover cabbage leaf over the top of the shredded cabbage.  Try to get as much air out as possible.
Cover jar with a cloth and rubber band and wait 7 days or so.  Taste periodically using a clean utensil each time.   If a little mold develops simply remove it- it will not affect the rest of it.
Once it is to your liking, store in the refrigerator.  It will keep for weeks as the refrigeration will slow down the fermentation quite a bit.