Easy Fermented Vegetable Recipe

Cultured Vegetables

Directions

These simple directions come from Green Living Australia, and are typical of what can be found on the internet and in many good books on the subject.

Many recipes call for salt to be added to the mixture at the same time as the cultured slurry is added to the vegetables, this is OK as long as the salt does not contain iodine. Cheese salt from Green Living Australia is ideal for this.

1. Wash well and chop finely or shred/process a mixture of vegetables of your choice.

2. Mix together in a large bowl.

   

3. In the blender, add a couple of cups of the mixture and enough filtered water to blend into a thick liquid.

   

4. Mix in the Probiotic Vegetable Culture to this liquid, and let sit for a few minutes.

   This is probably enough Culture for about 10 kilos of vegetables.

   

5. Pack the vegetables into your crock, leaving enough space at the top to be able to slip the "split stones" in.

6. Fit the split stones into the crock.

7. Add the liquid slurry on top of the stones, and wash through to the veggies with filtered water. Top up the crock with filtered water until there is enough liquid to reach the top of the vegetables, or even cover the split stones.

   Use our specially made "fermentation crock". These are stoneware pots, with a specially made split stone weight to hold the vegetables down, and a "moat" around the top to allow the lid to sit into water, thus making an airlock allowing gas build up to escape, but no air to get in.

    

8. Keep in a warm place (25° to 35° C) for approximately 3 to 7 days, and even longer.

   Check the taste after a few days, by which time they should start tasting vinegary. When they reach the desired flavour the vegetables can be transferred to jars, and refrigerated for storage, and to slow the fermentation process.

9. Eat as a side dish with your meals, in salads, sandwiches or wraps, or as a topping to other foods. The cultured vegetables should be eaten raw, to preserve the beneficial enzymes and bacteria.

David, from Green Living Australia's personal preference is for a fermentation time of a month or longer.

Enjoy!