Fermentation My Way is Fun!

Expanding Culinary Potential for Health

I have been fermenting things for years now, and it’s a topic that often comes up in conversation. It has become a popular thing to do, you hear about it all the time, and folks are aware of the many health benefits of including fermented products in their diet. Disclaimer: I am no expert, just an enthusiastic amateur who has been asked ‘how’ enough times to write a guide to refer folks to!

What I love about fermenting is its range and variation, and how you can create out of this world flavour that can transform any meal into something exquisite.

So where does one begin. One can buy artisan ferments at a local market, and they will probably be of a superb quality. However, if you are like me, at some point you will want to drop off into your own world of creation, and start doing it your way.

So how did I learn? Like many things, I gave it a go and found out by trial and error. What’s to lose? A couple of carrots and a cabbage? It could be worse.

The great beauty of doing it yourself is that it means you can add whatever you like (within reason) to the mix, and you can make it in bulk and store it for later, or do what I rather do: small, experimental batches.

There is so much that could be said about methods, and I am no master – there are many more advanced fermenters out there which you will certainly be able to find. One note when beginning with fermentation: Treat it like an experiment and be prepared for it to go wrong – it’s happened to me many times and it is part of the learning process.

Fermenting in brine.

For my purposes I will keep but this basic and in brief. Choose your vegetable, I would start simple, with a cabbage. It can be simple at first, just cabbage and perhaps a bit of flavour to your liking (mustard seeds/caraway/juniper/chilli whatever really). You can also include root veg like beetroot/carrot etc.

What you need:

Equipment:

A sharp knife, one large one small

Glass jars with lids that can be sterilized (although I have seen folks fermenting in disposable plastic bags… no thanks)

Chopping board x2

A scale with grams

 A big bowl

A grater (optional, but good for getting stuff like ginger really fine)

The Gang.

Vegetables etc:

1 white cabbage

3 small carrots

Onion (to taste)

Ginger (optional)

Fresh Turmeric (optional)

Herbs/spices you like, e.g. Chilli flakes, Nigella seeds, Carraway, Pepper

Salt!

A very basic method.

Firstly make sure all the equipment is very clean before you start, and make sure you always have clean hands.

First up, grab your cabbage, remove the outer leaves and any that have blemishes on them. Cut the stump from the bottom, and slice it in half. Carefully remove the core without taking too much of the leaf. It is important to watch for any corruption or rot and remove it – it could spoil your whole batch.

Now chop your cabbage. You can slice it very fine, or more chunky, it will ferment all the same. The more you create ferments the more you will know what is to your preference. Once chopped, move to the second board.

Take your carrots and top & tail. Wash them and inspect them. They may not need peeling, just a rub down with a clean cloth. When satisfied, chop your carrots into whatever shape you wish. Circles, semi, circle, batons, or even grate them. Add it to the pile.

Cut any other veg you choose to add like beetroot or celery - tip - be creative with your cuts, make different shapes, one round, one baton, one square, one semi-circle and so on.

Peel your ginger and turmeric. I do this with a small sharp knife, gently scraping off the skin. This removes a fine layer rather than taking a large chunk of flesh off with the skin. Turmeric and ginger grate very well into ferments, however in this case I decided to chop very finely with a large knife. Add it to the pile.

Finally open and chop the onion. I make mine into 2-3 millimetre ribbons or something like that. Add it to the pile.

Once you've chopped it all and have a large pile of cut veg, put a large container on a scale. Zero it.

Add the components. At this point you can add in the other herbs and spices I mentioned such as chilli flakes, pepper, nigella seeds, or anything else you fancy really.

The Maths.

After you have added everything you desire you will reach your final weight.

We want to add 2-3% of that weight as salt. To work out 2% of the weight - easily done by moving a decimal space to work out 1% and then doubling. So if its 1.291 Kilograms then we can move the decimal place, and get 12.91g (1%) x2 =25.8g. Now you can go up to 3% (which would be 12.9g x 3 = 38.7g) if you want, but never over. In this instance I’d probably put about 30g of salt in just to be sure, I avoid going over 2.5%, but I did have trouble with some going bad hence the slight increase over the 2%. And yes, one could just round the 1.291kg up to 1.3kg to make it easier to do in the head.

Once you have worked out the correct amount of salt to add, zero your scales and add it!

Yes, I was a bit heavy handed….

The salt you use does not seem to matter much, but I would always try to use something that is pure salt, not table salt as these often contain anti-caking agents.

After adding the salt to the mix, masticate it with your hands, don't be afraid to give it a good mix and squeeze, but hygiene is essential. After the initial crush with the hands I use a metal spoon to turn it over -  you can leave it for a few hours and mix it every now and again to make sure the salt is integrated.

After an hour or two you can jar it up. Sterilisation is a big issue, but I do feel many folks go totally over the top when it comes to this, boiling jars for hours just to bring them back out into an unsterile environment.

Overkill.

I use a ‘cheat’ method and it almost never fails: Firstly you simply thoroughly wash the jars with soap and water, rinsing clean with hot water, and set them aside. When you come to jar up the ferment, one boils the kettle and adds an inch or so of boiling water to the clean jar and screws the lid on tight. I then hold it in a clean cloth and shake vigorously. Warning, the jar may expel boiling water! But this has never been a problem further than making the cloth wet and warm.

After a rough shake, open and discard the water, letting the jar steam off. Wait a minute and throw out the remaining water. Your jar is now ready to be filled with ferment.

You can use a spoon or clean hands to pack the jar. You can push the ferment down quite firmly. By this point there should be much liquid coming out of it, but don’t worry if it is on the dryer side, the fluid should rise as you pack the jar. You can leave an inch at the top as when they start fermenting they have a tendency to overflow!

Tadah! You now have some jars of ferment. What’s left to do now? Wait.

Let it sit in a reasonably warm, dark place - the warmer it is, the faster it ferments. I would also recommend putting the jars in a Tupperware base because they often overflow.

Check after a few days, use a clean fork to taste some and see if it going sour, that is what you are looking for. Time will vary depending on temperature. When it is too your liking you can fridge it to slow down the fermentation - but it will continue, albeit slowly.

So there you go. A very rough and basic guide to the way I do it. What I must emphasise is that this is a recipe that can and should be varied upon. I have added all sorts of things to my ferment – all colours of cabbage and carrot, beets, celery, kohl rabi, pineapple, and more.

There are no limits to fermenting!