I Want To Call This Kvass But I Think It’s Technically Just Fermented Beets
“Kvass” is the drink you make from the brine, after the beets are fermented. I have tried this ‘the correct way’ with raw cubed beets, and the wrong way with cooked beets, and I prefer the cooked, tender, wrong version. I eat the beets afterwards, they are nice on salads, served with grilled meat, or just pulled from the jar as a cold pickle.
These beets were harvested a few days ago. I just washed them up and didn’t trim them too hard. I didn’t want them to bleed too much because they aren’t a very deep dark tinted variety, and I want to save as much color as possible. The pigment is supposed to be part of what makes this a kind of superfood. These were simmered until just knife-tender.
After they were boiled and cooled in some cold water, the skins and stems and roots just slipped off easily with my fingers. I sliced them in large chunks. I don’t know if these have the same danger of producing an accidental alcohol ferment as the raw version does (if they are shredded or cut too thin), but I’d like to avoid it just in case.
I had the perfect amount of beets to just fill the jar to the neck. You always think there is way too much and it will never all get in, but somehow it all fits in there. This is called pickle magic, your mom told me all about it.
After last weekend’s carrot ferment there was a lot of unused brine left over, so I had saved a pint of it in the fridge. This came in handy today. I just pulled it out of the fridge and dumped it in on the beets. This was a 2.5% brine, pretty close to perfect for beets.
Lurking in the background of the last pic is that jar of pickled ginger carrot sticks I made. They are pretty good! The carrots still have a sweetness to them, mingled with the tang of the acid from the ferment. They taste like carrots dipped in salad dressing. But of course, better for you because of the reduced sugar, improved vitamin profile, and the good gut flora they promote. I have them out of the fridge for a special purpose.
Because these beets have been cooked, they aren’t bringing any live lactobacillus to the party, so I have to get the culture from somewhere else. I inoculated the beet brine with a couple tablespoons of brine from the fermented carrots. Some people call this ‘backslopping’ and think it’s a bad idea, but I do it for other kinds of ferments too and it works out fine. Gets things going faster, even if you are starting with raw veggies.
I always forget to add spices to fermented beets. Remembered this time, and added a few whole cloves, a bay leaf, some celery seed, and peppercorns. Should have put them in the bottom of the jar but it will be fine.
This is the same piece of plastic I cut to fit in the carrot jar last week. This fits just under the shoulder of the jar and will hold the bubbly beets down under the liquid, preventing them from growing mold on top and ruining the ferment.
I sealed the jar up loosely and set it in a little tub to catch any overflow. This will ferment for a few days, then I will start tasting it periodically and refrigerate it when it is as sour as I like.
As the beets are consumed, I’ll be adding shots of the tangy brine to cold water for a refreshing drink on hot days.
Have a beautiful day! Get out there, and find your own special purpose.
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Flawlessly naming puppies since March 2009 
That was yesterday morning. I just checked and it’s fermenting already. Kind of excited, this is one of my all time favorite ferments.
Gonna run out and do some work outside in the cool of the morning. Hope I wake up the neighbor’s GSD. God knows he’s been waking US up too early for years.
It’s a rare pleasure meeting your beets
Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash was my first Pogues album. I think I still have the vinyl somewhere if Ben hasn’t kifed it yet.
I sort of knew the term “Gunners Daughter” was a maritime term associated with a Navy and thank you salty bastards for elaborating on it further.
I looked in vain for a Gunners Daughter t-shirt at the Mast Landing web store which, if the design were cool, would be a great shirt to own and probably sell well for them. Alas, they only sell shirts with their company name on them.
Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash, aka the ‘Tuesday night special’ from Hotspur’s mom.
I wonder if I can get a CBC and other labs done without a doctor’s order or referral. I’d like to have a baseline to refer to as I keep working on my diet and exercise efforts.
Nice Lumps, the beets looks very interesting.
Caught up on the later comments from yesterday. Already added some Mary Chapin to the library this morning.
Cool story:
https://pjmedia.com/paula-bolyard/2024/06/22/watch-the-best-sports-moment-of-2024-n4930075
A good serving of pickled beets was on our school lunch trays at least once a week all the way through school. I wasn’t the only hungry kid who would not eat them. I’d guess that 80% went down the drain.
Just as well, they were undoubtedly vinegar pickled and full of sugar.
I just remember that they were sickeningly sweet. And those are not two words I would’ve used together very much at that age.
mmm hot beet tea on a hot day
*surreptitiously pours some clamato into Jay’s coffee*
Whenever someone says “I didn’t ask to be born” you instantly know who they voted for.
hey now, I like clamato!
Trump says Melania won’t buy him bacon anymore, it’s too expensive.
https://x.com/_johnnymaga/status/1804662985324925193
Lumps, I think there are quite a few private med labs available to do blood testing.
I used to listen to Mary Chapin Carpenter quite a bit, but like roamy, her politics turned me off.
I hear she lives a pretty reclusive life outside of music now. Maybe she learned something.
Time to go outside and see what devastation has befallen the garden last night.
If I worried about the political leanings of “artists” my music choices would be severely limited. There are a few that are so far out in left field cough (Neil Young) cough, that that I can’t stomach anything except some of the old stuff. I just put them on iggy when they talk and listen to the music.
Thank god Pink Floyd has David Gilmour. He may be a lefty, but he’s no Roger Waters.
I don’t go looking for what the politics are of musicians, and generally I’m happy to listen to any music that I like, regardless.
But when they go out of their way to shove it in my face, it just emotionally colors what I hear. When their music brings up thoughts of their politics instead of being able to just listen to the music, I just avoid listening.
The Motor City Madman is on the other end of the scale. I like his music and usually enjoy listening to him speak.
And I have the same view of actors and other performers or artists.
There are just some I can’t look at or listen to without their idiotic public spewing obscuring their performances. They turned their public persona to shit.
It’s sad when it happens to someone you didn’t originally hold in contempt. It’s like they died. And then there are some who never let you have the benefit of the doubt. They were never alive.
I’m still waiting for the new shoes for my car.
It takes time to switch a vin # plate Mitchell, you need to have a little patience.
https://i.imgur.com/h4A3uBh.mp4
Pupster, that reminds me of that scene in Stripes where Harold Ramis is trying to teach recent immigrants English and failing miserably. Bill Murray walks in and tells Ramis that he just signed both of them up to join the army and Ramis screams, “Son of a bitch!!! Shit!!” Which is then parroted back to him by the whole class in unison. Good scene.
https://i.imgur.com/iB3l2Jj.mp4
oops. I misremembered that. One of the students says it. I haven’t seen the movie in 20 years and it shows.
Texted the salesweasle about my car – no shoes today. I have to understand that their nationwide computer network is disabled by a massive Ruskie hack attack affecting 15k dealerships and that will not allow them to put tires on my car today. Definitely tomorrow though! Not sure why yesterday was ever possibility because the hack happened last week and I was told Friday that they didn’t expect to be up and running until Tuesday. Also yesterday he kept texting me that we’re just waiting for a truck to arrive. I don’t think I’m getting the full story here.
Oh wow. I just noticed I did vehicle identification number (number symbol). From the Redundancy Department of Redundancies.
We’ll let it slide this time Pups. But JUST this time.
What are the chances I’ll get the “Waiting for Gadot” business again tomorrow? Fairly high I think.
‘The faker a show is, the more ethical it is’: Emily Nussbaum on the conditions of reality TV – LA Times
Sounds like Miss Emily is the one who is ethically-challenged.
WELCOME CARin!
My next door neighbor is a forester and his logging company (at the time) participated in the show Swamp Loggers. He said the guys that ran the production were all tatted up California dudes who wanted controversy. They were constantly trying to get the logging guys to fight amongst themselves for the cameras.
I take it new shoes was part of the deal Mitchell, am I wrong?
Wednesday Night Running Group needs to wear rainbow running togs and carry syringes with them and then sue Chipotle for denying access to queer addicts
Yah, the shoes are part of the upgrade to make the car “Certified” used instead of merely used. So I paid for them already and I want them. I understand that they need to have the computers up and running for inventory control, work orders and whatnot. It’s just irritating to use the “waiting for tire truck” excuse all day yesterday just to admit today that they can’t do it because Russian haxors.
Makes me want to send another sixty billion dollars to Ukraine.
LOL
Garmin Striker 4CV fish finder installed on kayak. Always wanted one but couldn’t see spending the money. But gift certificate from employees solves that problem.
Lookout fishies.
Sounds like Hot needs a bigger fish scale and heavier tackle.
I don’t fish for really big fish. They’ll fucking take you for a ride in a kayak.
And if you’re anchored and can’t slip the cable quickly enough they can flip you snd all your shit into the drink then it all goes straight to the bottom.
BTW, I like beets. Sometimes next morning though you get a little shock and think you have rapid onset color cancer.
I like beets too, but they are high in oxalates and so not good for people prone to kidney stones, like me. So I eat them in moderation.
Just like peanuts, cashews, and spinach. Foods my urologists say I should avoid.
Lumps got me thinking about cooking more outside in the summer, so I fired up the side burner on an old gutted gas grill that has been replaced. The old grill guts were shot but the side burner had never been used. Fresh gas bottle and ready for boiling some corn tonight.
AHA! The subterfuge is even worse than I suspected! They aren’t really waiting for tires at all. They are actually physically incapable of finishing the transaction – money is still in my account. I tell ya, if you can’t trust the word of a used car salesweasel then who can you trust??
This trickery and tomfoolery shall not stand.
My running skorts are NOT dumb.
I made a salad with roasted beets last weekend. After it was all done and dinner was over, Mrs S told me she’s never liked beets. I guess that explains why I’ve never had beets in over 20 years of marriage.
Dude pronounced the 2nd c in ConneCticut. I didn’t know that was a thing. Views look beautiful. Very green. Drone or Blimp🤷🏼♀️
Just found a reason to celebrate Juneteenth.
“Every June 19th, American patriots celebrate the execution of communist traitors Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who gave the Soviets classified info on the building of nuclear weapons.”
I sold my Bhatia bet back for $88.
https://i.imgur.com/1nKGho7.mp4
Helped my buddy/neighbor move part of his PA system over to his house. I thought it was about 700 watts, but was informed it is 2200 watts, for his living room. I’ll know when he gets it up and running, whether I want to or not.
WTG Scott. Dan meant to bet on Kim. Member I talk golf with, thought he had Kim. 🤷🏼♀️Why don’t we shoot protesters?
Just tuned in to the Traveler’s … so protesters contaminated the green on the 18th hole? Hopefully the crowd was able to beat them to death with umbrellas and chairs before authorities could intervene.
Instead of a playoff hole between Scheffler and Kim, they ought to stake the protesters to a pole out on a driving range, and give Kim and Scheffler a couple of buckets of balls, and whomever hits the protesters the most, wins.
Oil bitches not the Hamas crew in the Bronx yesterday. Dan thinks they should’ve released them into the crowd.
3$ y’all (After 5, $5 bets)
When I was growing up in Texas, you didn’t buy watermelons until after Juneteenth. They weren’t ripe until then. It was never a holiday.
My grandfather had said that the way they used to sell watermelons was that they took a small slice out one so you could taste it. The price of that watermelon dropped as more slices were taken, because it meant more people had rejected that particular watermelon.
When I lived in TX, Target would close on Juneteenth, and we would have huge parties at the lake. (1976~1981) Plastic swimming pools full of watermelon.
I haven’t hat watermelon in years. Last one I had didn’t hace any seeds, and was like, “WTFITS? This ain’t watermelon.”
We loved spitting those seeds at each other when I was a lad..
I used to just crunch them up and eat them. Got strange looks. Didn’t care.
When I was a kid, they had a tool that could take a plug sample out of a watermelon. And salt on watermelon is the way for me.
I send a watermelon through the juicer every week.
My current beverage is watermelon, orange, beet, lemon. Roughly one part juice, and 4 parts water.
A tad healthier than the 2 liters of coke I drank every day.
Before they created the seedless ones, it was a small miracle that there weren’t watermelons growing everywhere and mostly in picnic areas.
Spitting isn’t cool. Hawk tuah not withstanding.
My mom’s mom loved spitting watermelon seeds at her grandkids.
Some old dude down at the launch ramp ran into the rocks on the side and screamed out MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!. I looked down and his wife and some little kid (probably his grandson) were in the boat.
LOL
Boy goes home and says, “Mommy what does motherfucker mean?”
Oops.
Our first Royals game. Sunflower seeds. 7th inning stretch. Thousands of sunflower seeds hitting the ground. Grossest thing ever. I’ll just spit on my chest for 7 innings
Publix around the corner doesn’t even stock watermelon except for the really small seedless ones that almost never taste very good and the cut up stuff in the plastic containers. You have to go to a vegetable / fruit stand / farmer’s market. It’s odd.
When I was a teenager the farm right next to ours was owned by an old German man who had retired from farming and leased out his land but still lived in the house on the place. His house was adjacent to the property line. In the summer his daily routine was to soak a watermelon in ice water all morning and then in the mid afternoon get it out and cut a plug out of it, drain a fifth of vodka into the watermelon and replace the plug. After a suitable amount of time passed then he’d set at his picnic table under an elm tree and eat watermelon until he blacked out. On days when one of us boys was doing some kind of plowing over near that corner he was a pissed off kraut. Because the prevailing wind carried the dust right over the top of him. He waved me over once and I went to the fence to see what he wanted and he cussed me up one side and down the other. After that I never got off the tractor, just kept on matriculating.
PS. I’m allergic to all forms of melons. So I can’t share the joy.
Mr. Schlueter was his name. It just came back to me. I’m probably lucky he never shot me.
My dad tried growing watermelon, but the heavy clay soils of western PA was not friendly to that. Watermelon needs more sandy soils, which I suspect means it also needs a lot of rain (or irrigation), since sandy soil dries out quickly.
Just looked it up, and watermelon likes rich loam. SO I should be able to grow it on a manure pile.
Melons need a lot of water to really get juicy. If you’re not getting rain every 3-4 days you’ll want to run a sprinkler at dawn or dusk to simulate it.
Hence the name watermelon.
Indeed. I had the sand and rain to grow them in Belleville, haven’t tried since we moved west.
And given my weed pressure, I may give up on nightshades outside of raised beds and containers. I simply can’t keep up with the weeds for these things. I’ll stick to squash, they fight their own battles.
I never cared for watermelon, my bad I guess. Most melons are Meh to me.
Grandma and Grampa Motherfucker just returned. Everybody seems to be intact. Not sure about the hull.
Do you still have Hotspur, Hotspur?
Donna evaluated retirement plans.
Good morning! My whole body hurts! What a glorious day in the garden I had yesterday. I really bit off more than I can chew with these three big gardens on the property now.
But at least I didn’t try to do what Carin did this weekend, because if I did, my body wouldn’t hurt, I’d just be dead!
MMM coming up.