The environmental group Hazon (the Hebrew word for “vision”) sponsors a fellowship for young Jews who want to learn about sustainable farming practices while also focusing on spirituality and community life. For the group’s leaders, agriculture and concern for the environment has always been a part of Jewish tradition, and they hope young Jews will play an important role in building a healthier and more sustainable world. R&E went to a community-supported Jewish agriculture project in Falls Village, Connecticut to see how Jewish twenty-somethings are learning “to cultivate the soil and their soul.”

Here are two recipes from Adamah, the three-month organic farming fellowship in Connecticut featured in this story:

DILL PICKLES

Vegetable to salt ratio: 1 lb vegetables to 1 T salt

Ingredients and Supplies

Quart jar, crock, or other fermentation vessel
About 1 lb of small crunchy cukes
1 T salt
Warm water and cold water
1 to 3 cloves chopped garlic
1⁄2 to 3⁄4 T pickling spice
1 head fresh flowering dill (or 1 T of any form of dill—fresh or dried leaf, or seeds) any other spices and herbs you want to add (hot peppers, mustard seed, etc.)

1. Pack quart jar with cukes.
2. Mix 1 tablespoon salt into warm water, stir to dissolve, let cool and add to jar.
3. Add chopped garlic, pickling spice and dill.
4. Fill jar to 3⁄4” from top with cold water. Tighten lid and shake to further distribute salt.
5. Make sure cukes are below water level. You can wedge them under the neck of the jar, or you can use a few cuke slices to keep the good cukes below the water.
6. Leave on a tray at proper temperature (62 to 78 degrees) for at least 3 days, with lids medium-tight. After three days “burp” the jars (open them over a sink and let out some pressure).
7. After 5 to 10 days, when you like the flavor, compost the slices from the top (if they are moldy or soft) and transfer the jar to the fridge. (Half sours ferment for just 1 or 2 days. You may want to use a bit less salt, as half sours don’t have the sour flavor to balance out the salty flavor.)

SAUERKRAUTS AND KIMCHIS

Vegetable to salt ratio: 1 lb veggies to 1 1⁄2 tsp salt (or a bit more salt)

You can make kimchi with salt or with brine. Below is a no-brine recipe. If you want to make it with brine, just follow the salt to veggie ratio for the above pickle recipe and use water.

Ingredients and Supplies (Be Creative)

Quart jar, crock, or other fermentation vessel
Vegetables: cabbage, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, brussel sprouts, rutabagas, parsnips, green onions, squash, garlic, ginger, etc.
Herbs and spices: caraway, curry powder, hot peppers (fresh or dried)
Salt

1. Chop, grate, or slice cabbage and other veggies
2. Sprinkle salt on the prepped produce as you go
3. Let sit for a few hours, or get the natural juices out by “pounding” the veggies to help release the liquid.
4. Pack tightly into a crock or jar and make sure the liquid covers the vegetables.
5. Use a system for weighing down the veggies (you can use a plate and weight method, you can use a baggie full of brine, or you can just use a clean hand every day or so to push it below the brine level).
6. Leave on a tray at proper temperature (62 to 78 degrees) for at least 3 days, with lids medium-tight. After three days “burp” the jars (open them over a sink and let out some pressure).
7. When you like the flavor, transfer the jar to the fridge.
8. If you’ve made a large batch, you can put some in a jar in the fridge and eat it, while the rest continues to ferment on the counter. Refill your fridge jar as necessary and make a new batch before the old one runs out. You’ll really get a sense of how the flavor changes and at what point you like it best.