Fermented vegetables
A vegetable, salt and time. The oldest and simplest way to ferment.
- Recipes
- 31
- Time
- From days to weeks
- Levels
- From first steps to advanced
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Fermenting vegetables means letting the lactic acid bacteria that already live on them do the work. Salt draws the water out and holds back the microbes that would rot them; lactic acid bacteria tolerate it, eat the sugars and turn them into acid. Within days the jar bubbles. Within weeks it is sour, crunchy and keeps for months in the fridge.
How it works
Two ways to salt
Dry-salted. Shredded or thinly cut vegetables are mixed with salt and release their own juice, which ends up covering them. That is how sauerkraut and kimchi are made.
In brine. Whole or chunked pieces don't release enough juice, so they are covered with salted water. That is how pickles, carrots or cauliflower are made.
The rules
- Everything under the liquid: mold needs air.
- Never less than 2% salt, weighed on a scale.
- Temperature sets the time: cold slows it down, heat softens it.
- It smells clean and sour. If it smells rotten or you see colored fuzz, throw the whole batch out.
Recipes
Sauerkraut
9 recipes
Kimchi
5 recipes
Brine pickles
11 recipes
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Fermented dill pickles
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Brine-fermented carrots with ginger
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Fermented cauliflower with turmeric
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Fermented green beans with garlic
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Fermented radishes
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Fermented red onions
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Fermented beets
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Fermented giardiniera
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Fermented bell peppers
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Fermented green tomatoes
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Fermented asparagus
Problems
Other families