Desfiles de Boyeros & Lacto-Fermented Ginger Carrots

Hello friends! I hope you all had a great weekend... I did! The city we live in, San Ramon, is having a week long festival in the downtown area. There are lots of food, handmade crafts, handmade jewelry, music and MORE food. They also have several of those blow-up bouncing things with slides... Naomi loved it, of course! Yesterday they had their annual Ox Cart Parade. It was amazing to see over 100 pairs of bulls pulling the traditional ox carts that were used years ago (and still in use today!) to carry their sugar cane and coffee beans to the markets. Some had horns that were scary and impressive. Traditionally it is the men who lead their bulls along using goads, but there were also little boys and girls leading their bulls. Some of those bulls were so big they simply towered over the kids, but the kids had no fear. The youngest one I saw was a little boy about 5 years old leading baby bulls. It was so cute, but I wouldn't want Naomi doing that! At one point, a pair of bulls got aggressive and were pushing their master around and charging people... they weren't happy bulls (would you be?). It was pretty intense to watch. Thankfully we were up on a balcony with some friends, so we were safe :o) Of course we took lots of pictures... here are some of my favorites:

So today I want to share with you a yummy condiment of lacto-fermented carrots and ginger, using the fresh ginger I found a couple weeks ago. This is a great first-time introduction to lacto-fermentation because the sweetness from the carrots neutralizes the acidity that some people are not too fond of when they start out making their own lacto-fermented veggies. The taste is wonderfully delicious! Ginger carrots go really well with rich and spicy foods (especially Indian & Thai food!). I love it with my baked potatoes with lots of butter and its great with homemade coleslaw too.

This recipe is from Nourishing Traditions, but I changed the amount of sea salt because I personally think 1 tablespoon is a bit too much for one quart. I also changed the amount of whey, but you can put the whole 4 tablespoon if you like. I love the whey... so I use the full amount. I made over 2 quarts of this stuff and looking forward to using it!

Lacto-Fermented Ginger Carrots

Makes about 1 quart

• 4 cups grated carrots, tightly packed
• 1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• 2-4 Tbsp. whey (if you don't have it, use an additional 1 tsp of sea salt)

In a bowl, mixed all the ingredients together and let it sit for 15-30 minutes ("no-pound method"). Then pound for a few minutes to make sure all the juices are released. Place in a quart-sized jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices cover the carrots, add water if needed to cover. The top of the carrots should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and put airlock on (if you don't have that... the lid will work fine). Leave at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

GREAT NEWS: I will be doing a giveaway next week! Cultures for Health will be giving away one of their Fermented Vegetable Master for FREE! Make sure you check back next week and enter. I pray that you all will have a great week!