As the primary growing season winds down, it’s a great time to preserve your current harvest, and learning how to make fermented vegetables is a healthy and tasty way to do that and enjoy your produce for weeks to come.
Fermented foods are great for gut health, adding good bacteria which provides probiotics and helps strengthen the immune system and regulate appetite. Fermentation also preserves the nutrients and enzymes in the vegetables. This increases the digestibility of many vegetables, which promotes good gut health.
And fermenting may seem challenging, but it can be quite simple. Here are a few easy steps:
Gather your Vegetables
As far as the types of vegetables, you can ferment pretty much any vegetable. Some vegetables just require a little more care or a different process than others. Here are a few veggies that work well:
- carrots
- green beans
- peppers
- radishes
- beets
- broccoli
- cauliflower
- whole pickling cucumbers
Prepare your Vegetables
While you can ferment any vegetable you like, you’ll want to make sure the ingredients in your jar are roughly the same shape and size and evenly cut. This will ensure that they all ferment at the same rate. And note that the finer you chop or shred the vegetables, the faster they will ferment.
Jar and add Brine
Put your vegetables in a mason jar or fermentation crock (or some people prefer these Fermenter Lids) and cover them with a brine made from 1 tablespoon of salt per cup of water (use natural, non-iodized salt and, preferably, bottled spring water). You can add herbs and other seasonings such as garlic, red pepper flakes, or some crushed black peppercorns.
The key here is for the vegetables to stay submerged in the brine, as anything exposed to air will rot and create mold. For vegetables that float, find a way to weigh them down. Fermentation weights are the easiest way to go but you can also nest a smaller jar in a larger jar or place a glass weight in the jar.
Let it Ferment
If you are using a mason jar, tighten the lid until it is barely snug. This prevents oxygen from entering, but lets carbon dioxide escape. Otherwise pressure can build until an explosion occurs (fermentation crocks typically have a water seal for this purpose).
Store the jar in a cool, dark place, ideally where the temperature stays around 65 to 70 degrees.
Fermentation times vary from a few days to a couple months or more, depending on the vegetable, temperature and other factors. The only true way to know when it’s ready is taste is by tasting it. Once the optimal flavor is attained, move the batch to the refrigerator to stop further fermentation.
Our team at Yard2Kitchen looks forward to hearing about your fermenting projects! And we hope you will enjoy the results. As usual, please Contact Us if you are interested in having your own backyard organic vegetable garden.
Resources:
https://anoregoncottage.com/easiest-fermented-pickled-vegetables/