What's new this week?

In an effort to be somewhat organized, I'm going to try to post #1 regularly and #2 categorically.

In an effort to try new things each week, that seems like a good category --'what's new this week?' - or some other name that might be catchier and more creative. And if I'm lacking in actual new recipes or whatever, I can always default to simply what's new with me - an update on life in general (yea, exciting, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight? lol)

So, what's new this week is fermenting.

I've never fermented anything before. Not intentionally anyway.

The other day I ran across a recipe somewhere for fermented carrots and I thought it sounded interesting.

Fermented foods are supposed to be GREAT for our digestive tract because of the good bacteria. And apparently fermenting can actually increase the bio-availability of nutrients in the food (looking for a citation on that one).

So I now have sitting on my counter at home, a jar of carrots. . . presumably fermenting. One mildly disturbing finding today though is that there has been a rise in reported cases of botulism in Alaska which is linked to their practice of fermenting raw meats (not something I am looking to do). They believe the rise is due to a move from traditional methods of fermenting to using plastic containers which in turn apparently promote botulism. So guess what kind of lid I used on my canning jar? Why one of my new plastic ones of course! lol

I think I'll be removing that tonight.

The other mild concern is that after reading more today about fermenting itself (not just running home and following a recipe) is that it's considered an anaerobic process. I'm pretty sure my jar is NOT anaerobic. hmmmmmmmmm. The recipe said nothing about filling to brim or about processing to remove air or create a vacuum seal.

Rather than waiting the 4-7 days, I'm going to let the carrots ferment for a couple of days, checking for mold (ewwwww) and then taste them.  If they seem ok I'll let them go another 2-3 days and then pop them in the fridge.

So that is what's new this week for me - what's new with you?