From the picture, this tops my list, flaming hot Cheetos… after mentioning it yesterday, my enzyme came in later than expected but I decided to send it anyways. It’s so greasy it’s probably turned me off Cheetos forever. However, science must ensue. Here we have 15 pounds of flamin hot Cheetos mashed with enzymes for an hour and 8 pounds of sugar. Honestly, after tasting the mash, the heat doesn’t come through, and frankly it mainly tastes/smells like a corn mash. Personally I’ll be surprised if I can tell the difference between this and a white whiskey made from straight corn. So, what’s the dumbest thing you’ve done?
I never do recipes with anything. The lemons were a combo of a couple of dozen that were juiced and like a cup of brown sugar. The lemons were all fresh off a neighbour's tree, and the water was all rain from the patio, but I'm a half city block from the Pacific too, so interesting water. I also took around a dozen or so lemons and sliced them into cubes. I removed the seeds and added something like 3 garlic cloves and an equivalent amount of ginger. I was just using a bunch (8) small like 6oz jars. I filled those 3/4 with a 3% brine and maybe a couple of tablespoons of honey. They barely did anything and I thought they were all duds. I left them for 2 months and barely had to burp the jars at all. I ended up pulling the contents, drying and grinding them to make a zesty lemon spice that was alright. I poured the remaining juice from the small jars into the raw fermented juice I had made at the same time with just some added sugar that also wasn't super active. I then crushed and processed a whole crab apple I was given, also locally grown, and let it go off wild for a few days. Then I added this to all the lemon juice combined and added a bunch of brown sugar. That really took off strong and needed to be burped a couple of times a day for a week or more. Finally I let it sit in the fridge for a few months before trying it. That one was really good. Probably the best lemon liquor I've ever had.
The rice thing was in a bad container and went sour. It is still curiosity but I can't really get around using tap water in excess and needing to reduce it for more starch density. The first wash is probably viable but it did not seem particularly active.
About the best thing I've tried is pineapple by itself. Pineapple is insanely active to wild ferment. Something about it will go absolutely nuts and the juice has a really good flavor to sip or sauce. I only did a tiny amount. Like I was given an old fruit platter and put each thing in a 6oz jar for the heck of it. The pineapple generated higher CO^2^ pressures in 8 hours than anything else by far that I have tried.
The only other one I've done a few times are blueberries that were on the brink of going bad. They basically make a slightly fruity soy sauce flavor that is nothing like blueberries.
I guess you could say my recipe is always, "Thing going bad? Thing go in jar with salt brine." Deep stuff ;)
That’s fantastic! The lemon one sounds like a lot of work, but I might have to add something similar to it on my list, because I love sour. And oooh, I do love pineapples. I appreciate the knowledge share here. And hey if brining it and seeing what happens works then that’s the best approach :)