a great new fermenting tool that we highly recommend to make the process of fermenting food a hassle-free breeze!

as you all know, we do not have advertisements on our blog (except for listing other great blogs in our blog list!). however, when we come across a product that we feel is fantastic and might interest some of our blog readers, we do a review. for this review, we have not received any compensation or product other than what we purchased. a very thoughtful free gift was included but with no obligation. i'll get to that in a minute.

first off - let's talk about fermenting. it's a topic that is getting a lot of interest and that is a very good thing. lots of people are thinking about, reading about and learning about the incredible health benefits of fermented food - and the benefits are nothing short of amazing! jambaloney and i have been making sauerkraut, sauerruben, carrot and daikon kimchi, regular spicy kimchi and a variety of other kimchis, and other veg for years now. we loooooove fermented food! but although a lot of people are interested in fermenting - lots of them are scared of trying it. well - have i got a tool for you that takes all of those fears away!

so on to this great new fermenting tool that we recently purchased, have used and are thrilled with! have a gander at this funny looking baby:

to me - it looks like a crazy science experiment! but that's because whenever i made fermented foods in the past, i simply used regular mason jars, stuffed them full of whatever, put lids on them, stored them under the bed where it is dark and cool to ferment them and then HAD TO UNSCREW THE LIDS 3-4 TIMES A DAY TO LET THE GASSES OUT!!! i always put the jars on a tray because sometimes they would fizzle, bubble and overflow. no big whoop but really kind of a pain in the "you know where"! this way of fermenting food has been done for thousands of years in crocks, mason jars, bottles - you name it. and it works! it's just a pain to be worried about unscrewing jars several times a day!!!

well those days of unscrewing lids are over - woohooo! i am not sure how i stumbled across fermentools.com but it was probably while searching for crocks, ferment recipes, etc.

this company has an unique product that makes fermenting foods a breeze! i am here to testify that their product works and provides delicious results!!!! here is the 6-pack kit that we ordered for $72.90 USD - it may seem like a lot but, we saved for it as we suspected it would pay for itself in only a short time.

this kit contains an instruction/recipe manual, 6 stainless steel lids with holes in the centre, 6 glass weights (ingenious i say!), 6 3-piece fermentation locks, 6 plugs with holes for use during fermentation, and 6 plugs to use after fermentation (i just use our regular mason jar plastic lids when storing).

jambaloney and i love to buy canadian-made and us-made products and do so whenever we can. imagine my surprise to see that the fermentation locks are made in canada and that the boxes are made in the us!!!!





so once you put the little contraption together on top of say, your sauerkraut, what makes this contraption exceptionally easy to use is it takes out all of the guess work for you. the fermentation lock does all of the work releasing gases and the glass ring submerges your vegetables in the brine. no more wrapping cabbage leaves on top of the jar, or using clean rocks to keep your veggies submerged and no more worrying about mold forming on top - it's ingenious!



last but not least - NO MORE UNSCREWING LIDS SEVERAL TIMES A DAY - WOOHOO!

when i first contacted the company with questions about the product and questions about shipping, i received a very prompt response answering all of my questions. i love and appreciate good customer service and this company has that in spades!!!

Matt, the person who responded alerted me to the fact that the standard shipping rate to canada was quite expensive ($44) and made recommendations on which of their products we should buy in order to make the shipping rate worth it. we bit the bullet as the product was much less expensive than any crocks we have ever found and i have priced close to millions of crocks.

and this is where over-the-top fantastic customer service comes in to play. we received our product, beautifully-packaged and a personal hand-written note on the sales slip.

the note reads - "james and kymber - Thanks for your order. I hope you get a life time of use from this kit. I feel bad about the shipping cost, but there is nothing I can do...but add extra product. I hope you enjoy the salt."

and included in the package was a 1 lb pound bag of Ancient Himalayan Salt. now THAT is customer service!!!

i have always used sea salt in all of my ferments and was really glad to get a chance to try the Himalayan salt. the Himalayan Salt is high in trace minerals which is very good and produces a very good product but if you can't get access to Himalayan salt - sea salt and kosher salt work just as well in fermenting foods.

as with all fermented foods - you adjust for taste. some people like their fermented food at 3 days, 7 days, 280 days - it's all a matter of testing and tasting your fermented food until it tastes good to you!

here's our first bottle using our fantastic new product:

i tested it at 3 days (couldn't help myself - too excited!), at 5 days (still too excited!), at 7 days (getting close but not quite there), 9 days (ooooh almost!) and then at 12 days. we have decided that we like this the best.

i have been making fermented veg in mason jars for years without my nifty tools from fermentools.com and they have been jim-dandy and delicious! IS my sauerkraut made with the ferment tools better - YES! YES! AND YES! it is crispy, crunchy, tart, delicious and using these tools takes all of the guesswork out of fermentation! I LOVE THIS NEW PRODUCT!

i can now be fermenting 6 different things all at the same time or at different times and there is no need to worry about remembering to unscrew lids.

if you are interested in fermenting foods for yourself, but are hesitant to try and don't have a crock and don't want the burden of unscrewing lids - THIS IS THE TOOL FOR YOU!

if you follow the very easy instructions - you will be successfully fermenting your own veg for the rest of your life!

i can't recommend this product highly enough.

check them out at fermentools.com