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Last week I talked about lacto-fermenting vegetables for probiotics. Now that I’ve done it and tasted the results, I’m going to share pictures and some details of my process. For full instructions, see Nourishing Meals.
I first cut up a ton of vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, and half a cucumber. The picture below shows 3 quart sized mason jars of vegetables:
I didn’t want to do too much with spices and such. I didn’t know how strong the flavors would be or how they would mix. I’d rather have too little flavor than too much! I did a jar a broccoli and cauliflower with pepper corns, one with carrots, celery, and cucumbers with dill, and one with everything left and peppercorns. Here’s a visual of how much I added (the dill was dried, fresh would probably be preferable):
After compiling the vegetables, spices, and brine (I used 1.5 tbsp salt:2 cups filtered water; the last jar was slightly more dilute since I was a tablespoon or two short on brine), I added the cabbage leaf. It was hard to nicely fold it. I mostly just shoved it in so that the water was mostly above the cabbage and there was no air below it:
After this all that was left was putting the lids on and letting it sit for a week! I only had metal lids, but it is recommended to use a non-corrosive lid like these. Look at how pretty my jars turned out:
I don’t know how much of these vegetables one should consume in a day, but I plan to have about a 1/2 cup a day. I figure that’s a good amount without me overdosing on salt. In that case, with 3 quarts of veggies these will last me 24 days.
After a week of letting them sit, I tried the veggies. I was worried because, well, they smelled like cabbage. But they tasted like pickles! I’m very pleased with how these turned out. And since apparently everything with food needs to be a learning experience for me, the lesson this time around was that these did not travel well. We put them in a backpack and rode a motorcycle to my dads house and the backpack ended up covered in brine. Good to know. Here’s what they looked like after one week:
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bellavistafarm says
Thanks for sharing your post on Wildcrafting Wednesday! I am doing a similar ferment with Kimchi- it will be spicy!!!
ThoughtfulCooking says
Wow, it’s that simple? You don’t have to add any starter or anything to get the fermentation going, just the brine?
How We Flourish says
Nope! Isn’t that awesome? I was really surprised myself, but it works.
Laura FermentaCap says
I’d have thought that mason jars would have traveled ok, if the lid were tight enough…. OH…. I know! If the veggies were still in an active fermentation phase, they would still be off-gassing, and that would build pressure in the jar, and cause it to leak. So for lacto-fermented foods that you want to carry in a backpack, you’d need to ferment them for about 6-8 weeks (about two weeks out of the fridge, the rest in the fridge), so that they are no longer building pressure so fast.
Then get a good lid that tightens well – a standard canning lid should work if you get it tight enough, but you might also search online for jar lids that are a single piece with a silicone, plastisol, or latex gasket built into the lid – that kind will tighten down a bit more than a canning lid (many companies sell metal lids like this – you can email me if you need help finding one). Our company also makes a silicone gasket that works with a Ball plastic storage lid, which is an option, but not necessarily the least expensive option.
How We Flourish says
Yep, that’s it. My mason jars normally travel fine, but not when I’m in the middle of fermenting.