I’ve made pickles a few times this summer. They tasted great, but they weren’t crunchy. Then I read on a forum how one can use a tea bag in the ferment to preserve the crunchy. I tested it out this week and it works. You need to use black tea. Check out the Awesome Pickle post Live-fermented dill pickles with tea for a pickle recipe that uses tea bags.
Jim
Aug 11, 2012 — 9:38 am
Their 8/2 post describes a 1-week kimchi. What do you think?
MAS
Aug 11, 2012 — 9:47 am
@Jim – 1 week sounds right to me. Most of mine clock in around 6 days.
Barbara
Aug 11, 2012 — 12:27 pm
What a great tip! Divine and I didn’t think to eat pickles during the summer, but what a fantastic idea!
hännah @ dishesanddishes
Aug 12, 2012 — 7:57 pm
Thanks for the tip! I just made my first fermented pickles (actually cauliflower) and I’ll definitely try the tea bag trick in my next batch.
Eric
Aug 16, 2012 — 11:09 am
@Jim I thought one week was a little short, too, but that kimchi tasted great. I usually let mine go longer, but it all comes down to taste and how quickly the fermentation is moving, which seems to have a lot to do with how hot it is.
MAS
Aug 16, 2012 — 12:07 pm
Interesting that in the new book The Art of Fermentation there is a quote from “a team of Korean academics” that determined optimal taste for kimchi required just a 3 day ferment with a 3% salt ratio.
I’ve done 3 day ferments in the heat of the summer that tasted awesome. They don’t have the diverse probiotic cultures of older ferments, but they still taste good!