Latest Ferment – Spicy, Tangy, Smoky

carrot radish chipotle ferment

I’m a big fan of lacto-fermented foods, and I especially like lacto-fermented vegetables. I love sauerkraut but I especially love fermented root vegetables. I fell in love with them after the fermentation workshop I took with Andrew Faust a few years ago. There is just something magical about how all vegetables change in the fermentation process.

Of course, lacto-fermentation shoots up the nutritional value of what is fermenting, especially the vitamin C levels. Natural probiotics and beneficial enzymes also flourish. This is yet another reason to consume such foods.

When I got back from Washington, I looked in the fridge and saw that I had some CSA carrots and radishes left over. I thought fermenting them would be a great way to preserve them.  The carrots were tiny, so grating them would have been a pain (perhaps even literally, as I was using a box grater), so I decided to slice them thinly into rounds, just as I was slicing the radishes. Then I figured that onions and garlic would be a nice addition.

Finally, I wanted to make them spicy. I didn’t have any fresh peppers on hand but I did have a bunch of dried ones. I love smoky and tangy together, so I chose to use a few of my dried chipotles.

I also wanted to use a brine with a smaller percentage of salt. More salt means the food with ferment faster, but lately I’ve been dissatisfied with the saltiness of the end product. I’d been using this brine: 1 tbs of salt to 1 cup of water. I referred to Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation, and saw that he uses a weaker brine for some things: 3 tbs salt to 4 cups water.  I decided to try it out, though I did halve it, as I wasn’t making a huge batch of vegetables.

I am very happy with the results of this ferment! It took a little longer to get to where I wanted, but I love the salt level, flavor-wise. But I love how it’s turned out – it’s not overly salty at all, it’s smoky, spicy, and tangy. Perfect!

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Lacto-Fermented Salsa

lf salsa

This week I expanded my fermentation repertoire into lacto-fermented salsa.  I’d not fermented anything involving fruit (tomatoes are really a fruit) before, so this was a new experience.  I learned that fruit-based ferments progress quicker than vegetable-based ones, so I expected to see some results early on.  Additionally, it’s pretty warm right now, and that ambient heat also encourages a quicker fermentation.  I love salsa, and thought I’d enjoy a lacto-fermented one, but had no idea just how delicious it would be!

This is a timely dish because tomatoes are in season.  Summer tomatoes are one of the true joys of the season.  They taste so amazing right now. Canned tomatoes can be used, but they are nothing like fresh tomatoes.

peeled tomatoes

So why make fermented salsa?  Well, the lactobacilli helps to increase the digestibility of the salsa, plus the increased levels of vitamins and enzymes go way up.  The lactic acid helps it to not spoil, and helps promote a healthy gut with the natural probiotics that develop.

chopped tomatoes

This is a pretty easy recipe to prepare without a food processor, but if you have one (or a stick blender even), preparing this salsa will come together in a jiffy.  I like chopping things by hand, so I was fine with doing it manually, but if I ever get myself a food processor, I’ll try it that way, too.

ingredients pre mixing

This salsa tastes like summer and has a delicious tang to it from the fermentation.  I actually took it with me as an example item for my talk on traditional foods for Queens Holistic Moms, and it was very well received!  People loved it, and went back for second and third tastes.  I was really happy about that!

The whey works really well with it, too.

salsa in a jar

This post is participating in Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.