Last week I made fresh mozzarella for a pizza, which left me with whey, the perfect opportunity to do a lacto-fermentation project with whey.
Also last week, we chowed down on the single jar of pickled asparagus I made from the garden, and it was so good I thought I’d try asparagus this time.
Most people ferment with salt, but I like the idea of using whey. The chief benefit of whey seems to be that the fermentation is faster. Instead of a week, my asparagus would be fully fermented in 1-3 days. I found that my asparagus was actually too crisp after 3 days, so I let it go for 5. I like them to have an al dente crispness, not a raw crispness.
I looked at a number of recipes, and in the end I’m not sure I liked this spice mix the best. I used black mustard seeds, peppercorns, red pepper flakes and garlic. The asparagus has a good, sharp edge, but maybe too much spice flavor and not enough asparagus flavor, which is what I liked about the first batch.
Also, the “brine” is really cloudy. I have to admit, I don’t think my whey was completely strained. It had some little bits of curd floating in it. That is, I’m sure, where the cloudiness came from, but it also might be the nature of fermenting whey. It doesn’t seem to have affected the asparagus at all, and I didn’t get sick when I ate it!
I’m loving the fermenting, really. I just ordered a gallon size fermenting master so I can make bigger batches once my own veggies start coming in.