Give (Lacto-Fermented) Peas a Chance

I've been weighing up the pros and cons of growing peas on my allotment: the plants take up a lot of space, relative to how much edible plant matter you can actually pick from them.  Another thing is, peas in the pod - and the pods themselves - are so delicious freshly picked, that actually gathering enough of them to be worth cooking is an exercise in willpower in itself.  Not to mention leaving some of them swell into a full size peas as to have seeds for next year's crop.  Peas test my patience.

Mostly peas.

But yesterday, scouring the internets for unusual chutney recipes (because that's something I do) I stumbled across the idea of lacto-fermented peas.  I was very happy about this: my lacto-fermenting wild garlic and spinach experiments of yestermonth have been a resounding success.  It also provides the answer to the question of whether I should carry on growing peas.  That answer is yes.

So, energised by the thought of preserving another edible green in a tasty and fridge-less way, I gathered up a bag of pods, and taking my lead from the recipes here and here, got cracking.

First I chopped the tips off.

Then I made my brine.  I used about tablespoon of salt and added garlic, mint, coriander, and pepper.  Nothing fancy.  I could have added some chilli, too, but I was being cautious.  I only used table salt, because that's all I have.  Lacto-fermenting enthusiasts tend to recommend fancier salts, straight from the sea or the Himalayas, which still contain interesting minerals, so I might have to invest in some of them. 

Lacto-fermenting is generally easier than pickling, in that totally "sterilising" your jars isn't really required.  No hot water or heating the jars in the oven: as long as they're clean and dry, that'll do.  It's all about cultivating healthy bacteria, after all.

Next I packed the pods into my jar, poured over the brine, and weighed down with a freezer bag with water in it.  All you need is enough to press the contents down so that all the contents everything is are below the surface.  This is easy to do.

Finally I sealed the jar and left it on a shelf, where it's already serving as a serviceable bookend.  

Time will tell how delicious these may be, but I have very high hopes.

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Here's a couple of my recent allotment videos.  I now have 62 subscribers.  These are very exciting times.

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Grow Your Own Curtains

It's been a dream of mine for some years now to sleep in a room with curtains made entirely of plants.  I'm moved a little closer to living (sleeping?) that dream today by editing the plastic bottle planters I made back in January.  Sadly, most of the devil's ivy cuttings I tried to root inside these have failed to flourish.  So much for being invincible.  But some of them may still be, so hope is not lost.  Still, evidently it's time to...branch out.  Ha ha ha.  Ha.  Oh, you like puns?  Alright then.

Plant pot noodle.  I promise I didn't re-pot this plant like that just to make that pun.  OK, maybe I did.  I like to have fun.

Anyway, with all my mint on the allotment going mad just now, I've been taking plenty of cuttings and this means finding places to put them, if I don't eat or drink them first.  I've had some success with apple mint in a window bottle planter in the kitchen, so I've some hope the same process might work with water mint, too, but so far it's looking a bit pathetic.

Please don't die.
(Also pictured: the remains of a devil's ivy cutting.  You never know).

These cuttings were only taken yesterday though.  Mint cuttings normally take a day or too to wake up if they do decide to root.  I'm more optimistic about the other vines I've rooted into on of my bedroom bottle planters.  These have excellent curtain potential.

You can just see from the pictures here (these things are strangely difficult to photograph) how I've taped up some of the holes in the bottles, which I initially cut much too big.  Water drains out of them far too easily, so I'm hoping this will allow them to retain a little more.

I feel strongly that the more plants you have in your bedroom, the better you will sleep.  I sleep pretty well these days.  But you can never be entirely sure that plants share your agenda.  Plants move in mysterious ways.  Dream on.

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I also make videos sometimes.  Here's my latest one:

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Prayer Plant Curiosities

It's one of my favourite plants, the maranta leuconeura, or "prayer plant".  I never should have messed with mine so much by trying to propagate it during the winter.  It does seem to be very sensitive.  This may be because it's from the other side of the world so doesn't really feel at home in the English climate.  Can't blame it for that.  Anyway, I think I might have cracked it: the last cuttings I took from the parent (now deceased, no thanks to me) in spring and left in water to root for a good two to three months, seem to be taking to their new pots.

Those leaves are magnificent, aren't they?  Every one a work of art.  In the two weeks or so since I potted them, each has sprouted several new "baby" leaves.  I'm taking this as a positive sign, but I still can't really be sure.  Why so comparatively colourless?

I don't know.  I still have much to learn.  It's been unusually damp and sunless all through June so far across the UK, so I'm leave the prayer plants by the window to gather as much natural light as they can.  Apparently they don't like too much direct sunlight, so I'll move them away from the window if summer comes properly.

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Fermented Garlic Report

Well, I have to tell you, the wild garlic I fermented into a jar two weeks ago was delicious.  Salty, chewy and invigorating.  The only real downside is how much of it gets stuck in your teeth.  And even that can be fun.

Fun.

It's probably psychological, since I was already aware of the possible relation between healthy gut bacteria and healthy brains but all week, chewing my way through the first jar, I've been feeling great.  From above average to the point where I'm smiling in public as I go about my day, indifferent to how this probably makes me look like a maniac.

Anyway, since then, I've been on another forage, and returned with a whole bag full of leaves, enough to ferment into a jar this size:

Fun size.

It also occurred to me the same process would probably work with spinach, too, so here's a test size jar of just harvested allotment spinach, all sealed up and doing its thing:

Fun, fun, fun.

Recipes for "lacto-fermented" spinach I had a look at recommended including garlic (actual "garlic") and/or a slice of lemon in the mix, but I decided not to bother.  I'm sure this won't be an issue.

So, another lesson learned: fermenting green food is cheap, easy, delicious, and makes you grin at strangers like a nutcase.  It's June now, which means the wild garlic season is closing, so I'll be venturing back into the woods before too long to stock up on as much as I can.  What else can be fermented?  I'm having a good time.

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