Hello everyone,
Having made a couple of batches of high meat, and seeing more and more questions on the internet surrounding the topic of high meat, I've decided to make a little guide for fermenting raw meat.
Preperation
1. Get the meat that you want to ferment.
Make sure it is fresh (never frozen) and has most of the liquid still in it.
2. Cut it up into small cube-sized pieces and put it in a GLASS mason jar.
Never use plastic because it can make the meat very foul and screw up your batch. It simply doesn't get you results as glass jars do and it can even make you sick.
3. Store the high meat either in your fridge or outside.
I would not recommend in a room temperature environment for reasons I mentioned in this post, it is simply too warm to ensure proper fermentation. Also, make sure that your fridge is not too cold, because the colder it is, the slower the fermentation. If you don't feel anything after consuming the 1/2 months old high meat, then try turning your fridge to a warmer setting. That might help the bacteria just enough to really grow.
4. Stir the contents every 2/3 days.
Depending on the temperature of the environment where you're fermenting, the meat will need fresh air to continue the bacterial fermentation process. This is why you need to air the jars every 2/3 days for 5 minutes. When you air them, make sure to stir the contents of the jar so that all the meat has access to fresh new air. This will make sure that all of the meat properly ferments, and not just the meat on top in the jar.
5. Wait 1-3 months.
Waiting for your high meat to develop can be boring, but sometimes it can take long before the desired effect is reached.
If you want you can try a piece every week to see how it develops. After 2 months you can try 3-5 pieces to really get high and feel the effects.
Pro-Tip - Don't just make one jar, start with 3 or 4.
Chances are you're gonna love high meat and after 1/2 months of waiting for your first jar to be ready you will be craving that stuff. In order to not run out too quickly and having to wait a month or two you should prepare 3 or 4 jars, even when it's your first time.
Extra observations
Temperature
Possibly one of the most important factors of making high meat.
I have noticed that high meat ferments way quicker in room temperature than the typical fridge temperature.
However, there seems to be a certain max. temperature that ensures proper high meat fermentation. I'll explain it.
I make high meat on my balcony usually because my room mates can't stand the smell of the rotting flesh.
In the summer my high meat jars would sometimes pop open by themselves from the pressure that was build up inside after being closed for 24 hours. The sun shone on the basket where I kept the jars in, and the temperature was usually between 20-30 degrees celcius in the shadows alone. Even though the meat fermented very quickly, I noticed that the high meat itself was not as good as high meat that fermented on lower temperatures. Sometimes I would even get white mold on the meat, Something I've never had before. The effect of this high meat was also bad/nothing special. I would eat it and it would taste good, but I didn't get high/happiness after 30-60 mins of consumption. Also the ravenous hunger that would appear after consumption, would simply not come up.
I am not sure what the max. temperature is to prevent the high meat from going moldy and not having the intended effects. I would need to conduct some sort of expirment to grasp the ideal temperature. However I do know that in the autumn and winter I had no problems with the high meat going moldy in the wrong way. So I guess that under 15/13 degrees celcius is fine for the meat. If you are worried about your high meat being frozen at night in winter, don't worry about it. From what I've seen as long as it goes back up above freezing temperature when you plan to consume it, the high meat still has the intended effects.
Meat type
I have only succesfully made high meat with fresh, never frozen meats.
The quality of the meats was organic and usually still fresh enough that it hadn't dried up yet.
This is important because when you put the meat in a jar, the liquids/blood are released from the meat. Meats that didn't have a lot of liquid inside of them fermented much slower and tasted less good than meats that weren't dry when they were put into a jar.
my favourite high meats are definitely liver. Veal liver is the perfect high meat for beginners because it is pleasantly sour and tasty like an old cheese. Other high meats can be harder for beginners to like, such as high meat or other fermented organs. Normal cow liver can be fermented as well, but veal liver somehow has a way more subtle and clean taste. I definitely recommend veal for starters.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them below.
