Pickled and Fermented Veggies
Always use fresh, in-season, and ripe veggies.
To preserve the colour, you can boil for 2-3 minutes, then dunk in a bath of ice water.
Pickling – the quick version:
Wash and cut your veggies
- thin slices for cucumbers, ginger, onion
- spears for carrots and cucumbers
Do not use an aged vinegar like balsamic, or concentrated like malt vinegar. Plain white vinegar is great.
Things like …
2 sprigs fresh herbs, such as thyme, dill, or rosemary (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons whole spices, such as black peppercorns, coriander, or mustard seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon dried herbs or ground spices (optional)
2 cloves garlic, smashed or sliced (“optional”)
1 cup vinegar, such as white, apple cider, or rice
1 cup water
1 tablespoon kosher salt, or 2 teaspoons pickling salt, or just under 1 tablespoon of regular salt also works.
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional). Keto should use allulose since the polyols might crystallize, but at least the cooling effect from erythritol shouldn’t be an issue since the finished product will be wet.
Assembly:
Add the flavourings to your jar.
Add the veg to at most 1/2″ from the top.
Make the Brine = 1 cup water and vinegar, 1 tbsp salt, optional 1 tbsp sugar
Bring brine to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt and optional sugar.
Pour brine to fill up to 1/2″ from the top.
Seal the jar.
Let cool to room temp.
Refrigerate.
Wait at least 48 hours before enjoying.
Note – these are not “canned” and need to be consumed within 2 months.
If you process the jars, you can store at room temp unopened for “a long time”
Fermenting –
things like
- cucumbers
- cabbage
- peppers
- green beans
- asparagus
Steps:
Mix 2 cups water + 1.5 tbsp salt and set aside.
Wash, cut into bite-sized (or smaller) chunks.
Do not throw out the juice – do all this in a bowl.
Press out some liquid, or at the very least, squish the veggies to help break down the cell walls.
Add any optional herbs&spices you want to use.
Place the veg in something like a Mason jar (not a sponsor – YET) and leave about 1″ of space at the top.
Pour the brine over the veggies until the jar is almost full (1/2″ space).
Store in a place that’s around 70F for 3-7 days. Taste it daily starting on day 3 to see if you like the current tanginess.
When you like where it is, transfer to the fridge. If any of the veg got above the water line, you’ll likely see some mold.
Don’t freak out – scop it off and discard. This will not ruin the ferment.
You can avoid the mold forming by covering the mix with something, then weighing it down, but make sure there’s a little space of air at the top of the jar. I find that 2 strips of parchment paper the width of the jar tucked between the pickling solution and the jar so you form an X and the top of the solution is covered by the parchment paper, and then hold that in place with some crumpled up parchment paper on top. This leaves an air gap at the top, and keeps the veggies submerged in the solution. You need the air pocket because there can be a significant amount of gas released from the fermentation process.