This is the state of fermentation stuff so far. We wild; all wild. Right to left bottom to top:
- lemon juice, squeezed - 1/2 food processor apple added after it went off, added a little bit of salt but not enough to do much. It will probably fail, but I'm curious where it goes. It is quite active already.
- lemon slices in a 2% salt brine with rainwater and the other half of the apple in a mason jar.
- new blueberries with a 3% salt brine and a bunch of raw sugar and rainwater just to see where it goes.
- top of 3 is grapes and watermelon, mid is cantaloup, and bottom is pineapple from a mix fruit platter. All are in rainwater and ~3% salt brine.
- I previously did 3× of these small containers with whole lemon slices, 4 garlic cloves, and an equivalent amount of ginger. Processed this, dried it, and added some salt and smoked paprika. That is in the small grinder. The juice that was left over is a super zesty spicy lemon flavor. That is what is in the lone red/white cap container.
- bottle with the ripped label is half of the sauce I made with the last batch of blueberries (600mL juice), and the remaining (1000mL) stock after a 5lb chuck roast that was smoked for 4 hours and dutch oven for 6 more with chicken stock and a beer. Those were reduced down to ~600mL, filtered, and bottled.
- the mason jar in the back is a large bed of 3 onions that was cooked with chicken over it. The onions were run through a food processor along with some cherries and 3% brine that fermented for 3 weeks, along with half the sauce from the previously mentioned blueberry run. It's pretty good for a first intuitive concoction. It has a savory sweet-and-sour flavor. It would be even better with more back of the tongue full sourness. I might need to try something with a tomato to pull out that kind of flavor. I'm already playing with unique stuff though. I've never had anything quite like this sauce.