Fermenting greens

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Fermenting greens

Postby endlesstundra on Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:46 pm

Is it possible to ferment greens? I have a surplus of turnip greens, beet greens, chard, and more in my garden. I am considering parboiling and then freezing big batches but am wondering if anyone has heard of alternatives.....
endlesstundra
 
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Re: Fermenting greens

Postby zuzu's petals on Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:04 am

Hi there,

I have fermeted diakon radish greens (along with some thinly sliced daikon) and they were delicious. The greens were much much tastier than the radishes themselves, and they had a nice crunch, to boot. I am going to try some kale, too. I haven't experiemented much yet, but my success with the radish greens has me eager to try some more.
zuzu's petals
 
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Re: Fermenting greens

Postby Tim Hall on Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:42 pm

If it's edible, green and leafy, you can almost certainly lacto-ferment it. You may find that some greens hold their texture better than others.

Tonight I'm going to pick a bunch of Turk's Caps leaves for use as a garnish much like pickled grape leaves. Turk's Caps are an ornamental plant native to my area that few people realize are edible. Never tried fermenting it before (perhaps no one has), but I'm confident they'll ferment well. There's really no end to what you can experiment with, and you probably have a lot of good things for pickling right in your own backyard.
Tim Hall
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Re: Fermenting greens

Postby Kelly on Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:38 am

I always add greens to my cultured veggies. Some of them can get a little soft, so I just make sure that the majority of the mixture is cabbage that way there is still plenty of cripsness to the batch. Whatever is ready in the garden... throw it in! -- collards, chard, bok choy. I always add a handful of soaked seaweed too.
Kelly
 
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Re: Fermenting greens

Postby akmom on Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:05 am

Greens from the garden... this Alaskan summer we had lil sun, much rain and cooler temps.. unlike the norm.. I have a big patch of brusslesprouts that never sprouted, yet they are about 4feet tall and have lots of yummy leaves on them. So now its the end of the season.. well almost! leaves are turning and its cooling off at night. Its time to figure out what to do with these particular plants. Or more like the LEAVES..
from the previous posts it looks as though if i mix in the cabbage it should work out fine??
what ratio?
when you guys make your cultured veggies do you use an culture starter packet, or what?

Also is it ok to put salt into an mix instead of seaweed? (Celtic sea salt)
akmom
 
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Re: Fermenting greens

Postby Bunny Speakman on Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:47 am

Are you talking about making a ferment without salt? I have never done that, only used salt to make a brine of up to 10%. I would leave the Brussel sprouts in the garden until your weather destroys them. You never know when they might make a little sprout.
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