by Teddysad » Sun Mar 01, 2015 7:39 am
In the interest of cheap, natural and efficient ferment nutrients, I have undertaken an experiment. My purpose was compare some garden vegetables and their ferment power.
My aim was a light neutral base for gins etc - not vodka - I prefer wheat for this.
I settled on:
Tomatoes, Green Peas (these were a frozen pack from the freezer),
Bok Choy (a Chinese Cabbage) and Spinach
Preamble Note:
Contrary to popular opinion Popeye did not eat spinach for its iron. (Incidentally the
story of a misplaced decimal point is a total myth)
While it has a reasonable iron content very little is absorbed by the human body.
Popeye ate spinach for its Beta Carotene or Vitamin A.
The following table is very interesting Not my tests but from reliable sources.
Note these are on a 100g sample
Tomato Green Pea Bok Choy Spinach
Calories 18 81 13 23
Total Fat .02g .04g .02g .04g
Saturated Fat 0g .01g 0g .01g
Polyunsaturated Fat .01g .02g .01g .02g
Monounsaturated fat 0g 0g 0g 0g
Cholesterol 0 0 0 0
Sodium 5mg 5mg 65mg 79mg
Potassium 237mg 244mg 252mg 558mg
Carbohydrate 3.9g 14g 2.2 3.6g
Dietary Fibre 1.2g 5g 1g 2.2g
Sugar 2.6g 6g 1.2 .04
Protein .09g 5g 1.5g 2.9g
Vitamin A * 16% 15% 89% 187%
Vitamin C * 22% 66% 75% 46%
Calcium * 1% 2% 10% 9%
Iron * 1% 8% 4% 15%
Vitamin D * 0 0 0 0
Vitamin B6 * 5% 10% 10% 10%
Vitamin B12 * 0 0 0 0
Magnesium * 2% 8% 4% 19%
* based on RDI 2000 Calorie Diet
Note especially Vitamin A, Iron, Potassium and Magnesium levels
Method
I took garden fresh samples of each of these and dehydrated them and then ground to a powder.
I then prepared 4 batches
In each was 800g of white sugar, dissolved into 2 litres of hot tap water.
For each test I measured 10g of the powder mixed into 100ml of warm water, added to the sugar water mix and topped up to 4 litres in a demijohn.
For each I re-hydrated 10g of bakers yeast in 100ml of warm water, allowed it to start expanding then poured into the jar and stirred. Then made the following tests
At this stage each is identical except for the powder.
SG pH Note
1 Tomato 1080 4.6
2 Green pea 1080 6.8 Added a pinch of Cit Acid to 5.4
3 Bok Choy 1080 5.5
4 Spinach 1080 7.0 Added cit Acid to 5.5
Observations re powders
No 1 evenly spread throughout the solution
No 2 had settled onto bottom of jar
Nos 3 and 4 had the nutrient sitting on the top of the mix
No 3 was slowest to kick off
No 2 was fastest
After 1 hour
1 was bubbling at 25 burps per minute
2 was bubbling at 42 burps per minute
3 was bubbling at 30 burps per minute
4 was bubbling at 45 burps per minute
After 3 hours all ticking away evenly but No 2 had a very high light foam pushing up to the airlock Pressure released and it settled.
24 Hours later No 1 and No 4 had very thick krausen cap, No 3 had much less and No 2 had no cap.
All ticking away steadily
I wondered if No 1 and No 4 had too much nutrient causing the thick cap so I prepared 1 more each of these but this time with 5g of powder and 5g of yeast. These became No 5 (Tomato) and No 6 (Spinach) (Note I now realise it was a sign of a strong healthy ferment.)
30 minutes later activity started in the airlock. These were (as expected) not as dark coloured a solution.
After 48 hours all still ticking away although at a slightly slower rate.
No 4 - Spinach has had much of its krausen cap fall - this may be a sign of getting close to completion. I see lots of bits of nutrient rising and falling away as the CO2 lifts it and breaks away to the surface
I will not open any up to test SG until I see a marked decrease in activity.
After 7 days ( my shed is at around 22C) the following was observed:
All were bubbling away slowly with the exception of No 4 (Spinach)
Measured the SG of 100ml of each
1 1012
2 1021
3 1020
4 993
5 1045
6 1040
My conclusions at this stage:
Note that this was in fact that a comparative test not a search for an ideal recipe.
Based of these results SPINACH is the clear winner.
I suspect the amount of nutrient per gram gives the superior fermenting power.
The reduced levels of No 5 and 6 reflect this.
I plan to refine this probably with bigger quantities of nutrients and on a larger scale.
If this extrapolates well, I suspect 50 to 60g of dehydrated spinach may be all that is required for a 25l wash. I will also trial a tomato one with more powder
I will be certainly planting spinach this year!
PS I have photos of different stages but did not want to block up the forum at this stage