Fermented Solomons Seal
As I just started this blog and had to deal with all these website-configurations this post is a little bit late, as almost all the Solomons Seal shoots are too big and fibrous by now. At least here in the Appalachian Mountains.
Giant Solomons Seal (Polygonatum commutatum, syn. P. biflorum) is an easier to cultivate Asparagus as it readily spreads all over the garden and sends up these delicious and tender shoots. They don't come up all at the same time which gave us a harvesting period from early-mid April until now, mid May.
The shoots that are just about to open the first leave are perfect to harvest, as they don't have a fibrous base yet and can be harvested as a whole. Older ones need to be peeled or picker further up from the soil level.
The taste reminds strongly of Asparagus, which doesn't surprise as they are both in the same family, together with Hostas by the way.

We were eating lots of stir-fried Solomons Seal and as they were about to get too big, I went out and harvested all the ones that were still young enough and made a ferment from them.
I took half gallon jars and cut the shoots to size, stuffed them in tightly and covered them with pre-boiled but only warm water. In each jar I added 4 tablespoons of salt, 6 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of mustard seeds, 3 tablespoons of dried dill and 1 tablespoon of dried red chili flakes. I looked for 2 stones that I washed and put on top to keep the Solomons Seal submerged in the water. The dried dill tends to swim on the top now as it is finely crushed and i feel like this could develop into a molding problem, so I would advise to use fresh dill on stalks the next time.
