Ciaran Casey

Here's a lastminute.com post for our fermentation homework.
I decided to do two: fermented celery with red peppercorns and garlic and fennel with carrot, garlic & fennel seeds.
I found the celery recipe on Google. It recommended cutting the celery into stalks, as per the attached picture and to add some garlic. It looked a bit bland so I decided to add some pink peppercorns.I burped the jar after a few days & tasted it after a week. I found it to be not very exciting and despite it looking great in the jar, I felt quite disappointed. I reckon that I could have used a bit more salt.
However, the universe intervened in the guise of my day-job. A few days after my disappointment, I was processing an application from a new client who is a professional chef. His application stated that he makes and sells fermented foods. He said that he'd been fermenting a range of foods for about four years. I told him of my disappointing celery experience and he recommended that I try again but this time I should chop the celery into small pieces. He also recommended that I get myself a copy of The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz. So, here's to the next attempt.
With regard to the fermented fennel and carrot, I left that untouched in the jar until just a few minutes ago. It tastes great.

I sprouted a mixture of broccoli and alfalfa seeds. Paul's tip about broccoli not liking water and alfalfa liking water ensured that the sprouting was very balanced. I wanted to have a picture of the fully sprouted seeds in their jar but Alicia decanted them first.
Right now, I have brown lentils, green lentils & sunflower seeds soaking. They'll be ready for Monday.

I made a variation of the Cauliflower Soup.
I blitzed all of the ingredients and added about a level teaspoon of dried mustard powder.
I only used 1 x tablespoon of tamari and added 2 x tablespoons of white miso. It's not as salty as tamari and has a subtle sweetness. I marinated some mushrooms as per Veronica's recipe and added those as a garnish.