10/07/2024
I mentioned earlier that I was experimenting with fermenting ginger leaf for tea. Here is what happened... I mistakenly did not dry the leaves before processing, which entailed bruising the leaves rolling them up in a clean tea towel, wrapping with plastic wrap then stuffing in jar and capping. After the recommended three days it developed a strong fishy smell. Yuck. Still, I was reminded of the familiar scent of dried and fermented goods at an Asian grocer, so I finished drying it and steeped a cup tonight. The sun and then oven drying reduced the odor and simmering the tea was not that bad. In the end the tea has a pleasant very light grassy mushroom scent and taste. Hardly a hint of ginger! A fascinating transformation. I would not do this process again but all was not wasted. I might use these leaves for soup stock. I'll try again with dry leaves. What is confusing is that the two Youtube posts that I based this process in doesn't make sense because it's anaerobic, whereas most tea processing is an oxidation process. I will also try just using a typical black tea process and see what happens. If you have any experience with making black tea, please share!
