Lacto-Fermenting 🥕

My favourite ingredient right now is the humble carrots. This simple fermentation process requires nothing more than salt, vegetables, and water and a jar or two and a cloth cover or breathable lid — no elaborate equipment is needed.

Lacto-fermentation works because harmful bacteria are unable to tolerate much salt, while healthy bacteria can.

The basic ingredients I have experimented with … organic carrots, snow peas, radish, cabbage, onions, garlic, turnips, and unpeeled organic lemons. Often I add spices to enhance the flavour but there’s no need really.

🥕 Peel and trim your vegetable. Chop them into long sections or in the case of garlic just separate and peel the cloves.

🥕 Place your empty jar or jars on a kitchen scale. Press the tare button to set the scale to zero. Place all your prepared vegetables or lemons in the jar, making sure they fit snuggly. Pour enough water to cover the vegetables or lemons, leaving about 2cm of space between the top of the vegetables and the top of the jar. (Please do this as I have filled the jar up and have woken in the morning to the liquid running down the bench. dripping into my kitchen draws 😏.

🥕 Record the weight of the jar full of filtered water and vegetables. The vegetable must be fully submerged under the water

🥕 Multiply this total weight by 0.02 to calculate the amount of salt your will need. As an example, my carrot mixture weighs 890g so I need to add 17.8 grams of salt.

🥕 Empty the water from your jar or jars into a nonmental bowl and add the calculated amount of salt to the water and mix thoroughly until dissolved. Pour this salty brine back into your jar, jars to cover your vegetables.

🥕 Cover loosely with material fixed with a rubber band or your fermenting jar lids that can breathe.

🥕 Place your soon-to-be Lacto-fermented creation in the cupboard to ferment. I usually leave for at least 3 days and sometimes up to five days.

🥕. After 3 days you can taste your creation using a wooden or plastic fork (don't use metal and don’t double-dip). Continue to ferment until you get your chosen taste. Then move your creation to the fridge, where they should keep for up to 3 months with a secure lid.

Lactobacillus is the good guy on the salt-tolerant team.

In this genus, several species are used to produce fermented foods. Lactobacillus bacteria produce lactic acid from naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables. In addition to preserving flavor and texture, lactic acid also prevents the growth of bad bacteria.

Let me know how you incorporate your Lacto-fermented magic into your creative eating?