Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Carrot-kraut

"Honey, what's the orange stuff on the counter?"



"It's carrots," I say, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Why are there carrots in a jar on the counter?"

"Umm, they're fermenting."

"I see. And why are you making rotten carrots?" he asks.

"Fermenting! Not rotten!" I reply, indignant.

"Fermenting is synonymous with rotten."

"Point taken. They're supposed to be good for you. And I needed to use up some whey. Will you eat them when they're done rotting? I mean, fermenting?"

"Have I ever not eaten anything you've made?"

He's such a good sport.

The rotten fermented carrots, which he dubbed "carrot-kraut" were finished fermenting today. I have a weak stomach. I made him and the kids taste them first. I'll tell you that the texture was sort of like limp grated carrots saturated in snot - sort of a mucous-y, stringy sort of substance. Probably the result of, well, rotting.

Chloe's response was something along the lines of, "Wow! Those gave my brain a zap! I like them!" Another bite..."Mmm. Well, I maybe kind of like them, but not very much." Another bite... "Those are really yucky, Mom."

Hubby dutifully ate them. He's amazing. Cora and I opted out.

We're throwing the rest of them away.

I know this whole fermented foods thing is supposed to be really healthy, but there are some things I just can't force my family to do, and eating rotten vegetables is one of them.




7 comments:

Wendy said...

omg, you're so freaking funny, I laughed out loud as usual. I love that it gave Chloe's brain a zap.

I am also astute enough to notice that your hubby and kids are often the good sports, tasting your healthy experiments while you "have a weak stomach". ha ha ha!

Just Me said...

yea... That doesn't sound particularly appetizing. But at least you tried (to make it at least. lol)

Anonymous said...

Love how your hubby called it carrot-kraut! It's great how you experiment with so much and now I know never to try this! ;)

Julie said...

LOL Wendy - it's true. I'm terrible about trying new things. I don't really care for food in general, so my delving into all this weird cooking stuff really is a stretch for me. I'm lucky to have a family that are all relatively good sports - especially hubby!

Unknown said...

Oh Julie... I'm soooooo LOL at this entry.... You are sooooooo weird with your experiments. And that they ate it???? OMGosh.... too funny!

inadvertent farmer said...

Oh my...in all my years I have never heard of such a thing. Hmmmm a cross between very brave and gross! You have a very sweet hubby...mine would have not even considered tasting such a thing, but then again he won't even eat pickles because he says they are rotten cucumbers! Kim

Anonymous said...

The line between "rotten" and "fermented" is certainly very fine and depends a lot on personal taste. But you'll miss out on a lot if you discount all things for enter as rotten. After all, yogurt, black tea, sugar, beer and wine are all delicious fermented foods!