A wonderful way to preserve grape tomatoes for use in salads, etc.
Wash about a quart of grape tomatoes (don’t use water with chlorine) and remove the stems.
Poke a hole in each tomato with a toothpick, to allow the brine to enter the tomato.
Fill a wide mouth quart canning jar with the tomatoes to within an inch and a half of the top, adding a basil leaf every few inches.
Mix 4 cups of water (again, no chlorine as this will prevent fermentation) with 3 Tablespoons of sea salt.
Pour this brine over the tomatoes in the jar leaving an inch of space at the top. (You may not need all of the brine).
End with several basil leaves on the top to help keep the tomatoes under water.
Use a glass canning lid, a well scrubbed stone or a small bag filled with brine to keep the tomatoes submerged under the brine. Cover the jar with an airlock and place in a dark area (ie. a kitchen cabinet) for 3 – 5 days.
If you don’t have an airlock system you can cover loosely so that gases can escape.
After 3 -5 days, refrigerate. The basil imparts a wonderful, aromatic, sweetness to the tomatoes.
Usually for me celery is just a tool to get ranch dressing to my mouth but I’ve fallen in love with pickled celery. This ferment is very simple to do with much rewards.
Trim celery and cut into pieces to fit your jar. Stuff celery in a quart sized mason jar (you might need 2 jars depending on how much celery you have). Insert garlic, onion slices and dill in between the celery stalks. Pour in starter culture and cover with salt brine to about 1″ from the top of the jar. Cover tightly and let set at room temperature for 5-7 days. Burp the jar daily to release built up gases.
Closely related to cabbage, they are a perfect vegetable to pickle. The best part about these, besides the awesome taste, is how cool they look in the jar.
Layer the Brussels sprouts, shallots, and red pepper flakes in 1 quart mason jar, packing them tight. Pour whey or vegetable culture over the top and fill with salt brine to cover, leaving about 1” of head space. Use a small plate or cabbage leaf to keep Brussels sprouts submerged. Let set at room temperature for one to two weeks. Place in cold storage.
Beware when opening the jar. This smells almost as good as kimchi.
I’ve had the image of golden colored cauliflower in my head and having had cauliflower curry in the past, I knew this combo would be smashing. Crunchy, sour and spicy!
In a 1/2 gallon mason jar, layer cauliflower, spices and salt, gently pressing cauliflower in. Pour whey over the top and fill jar with filtered water. Cover tightly and shake to disperse spices and dissolve salt. Loosen cover and let set at room temp for 3-5 days. I like to tighten the lid on the last day of fermentation to seal in a little effervescence. Nothing more fun than fizzy vegetables!
These are great on their own or as a salad topping. Flavoring with thyme and marjoram just seemed right.
Quarter mushrooms and layer into a quart sized mason jar with thyme, marjoram and garlic. Fill to the top with the brine solution. Use a weight to hold the mushroom under water (I just used a small spice jar filled with water that fits nicely inside my jar). Cover loosely and let set for 3-5 days. If you don’t use all the brine, place remaining in the fridge for future use.
We all should be eating more fermented foods and garlic is one food that many of us consume regularly. Why not ferment it to add some additional probiotics to our diets?
Place the whole garlic heads on a sheet pan and roast the garlic in the oven, at as low of a heat as you can go, for 45-60 minutes. The skins should be peel right off, but the garlic should still be firm. You don’t want to overcook the garlic, in order to preserve as many of the nutritional compounds as possible.
Remove from the oven and let the cloves cool for 10-15 minutes. The next part is a bit tedious. You have to peel each clove of garlic.
Once you have the garlic peeled, place all of the cloves in a clean quart mason jar. In a separate dish, dissolve the salt into 2 cups of filtered water. Add the whey (only if water is room temperature and not hot, otherwise it will kill the bacteria). Pour the liquid over the garlic cloves. If you don’t have quite enough liquid, just add a little more water until the garlic is about one inch below the liquid and the liquid is about one inch below the top of the jar. Shake everything around to mix and cover with a lid (not too tight). Leave at room temperature for 8-10 days and then move to cold storage.
Pickled garlic will keep for at 6 months to a year, if not longer.
Note: If your garlic turns blue or green, don’t be alarmed! The color change happens when the anthocyanins and/or the sulfur compounds react with the acidity or minerals in the water. Many times, it’s the reaction of the garlic to copper in the water. It is still totally edible and won’t hurt you.
An amazing way to preserve garlic! The lacto-fermenting process also takes some of the heat out of the garlic, making it pretty easy to eat raw. The benefits of eating raw garlic are astronomical. Garlic is known to have great healing qualities. Use your lacto-fermented garlic in any recipe that calls for fresh garlic. Of course, if you cook it, you will lose probiotics, but the flavor is fantastic.
Place garlic heads on a cookie sheet and put in a warm oven, no more than 200 degrees for about an hour. Alternately, you could place in a dehydrator set at 160 for the same time. This precess helps to loosen the skins from the cloves, making the garlic easier to peel.
Peel the garlic being sure to leave the root end intact. Cutting off the root end of the clove could cause the fermentation process to be uneven.
Fill a clean quart size mason jar with the peeled garlic. Pour in the whey or veggie juice at this time if you will be doing it that way. Dissolve the 2 tablespoons of sea salt in 1 quart of water. Pour over the garlic, leaving at least an inch of head space.
I weigh down the garlic with a cabbage leaf and place a clean rock (that I’ve boiled to sterilize) on top to keep them below the liquid.
Cover with a lid and leave on the counter for 48 hours if using the whey option, otherwise leave on the counter for about 5-7 days. Open up the jar after a few days to see if it is beginning to smell sour to your liking.
Remove cabbage leaf and rock and store in the refrigerator for up to a year. Can be eaten right away, but I like them after they have aged about a month in the refrigerator.
*NOTE: Some garlic pieces may turn blue in this process. Don’t be alarmed. It is a chemical reaction with the copper in some water and is harmless.