New Here

[LadyFriday]

Hello everyone. I had been looking for fermentation forums and came accross this one, I am so excited to have found it. I have been reading about fermentation and watching youtube videos, theyre all so different. Some people just ferment using water and salt. I am trying to heal gut issues and an autoimmune condition through healthy diet and really want to add fermented vegetables. If someone could help me out on how to get started or link me to some resources id greatly appreciate that! Thanks in advance!

[Tim Hall]

Any basic sauerkraut or kimchi recipe can be adapted to just about any vegetable you want to ferment. Sandor's "Wild Fermentation" is a good place start with recipes.

[Christopher Weeks]

Welcome!

I'd suggest buying or borrowing the Wild Fermentation book and just trying some vegetable ferments that sounds appealing.

But, barring that, coarsely chop a cabbage, slice up a few carrots, peel a bulb of garlic and then soak them overnight in brine. A 5.4% brine is three tablespoons of pickling salt (no additives) in a quart of water. Drain off the brine and pack the veggies into quart (or half-gallon) canning jars, leaving a couple inches at the top. Pack the veggies in firmly so that their fluid and residual brine starts to percolate to the top. Push an 8-oz canning jar into the produce and brine, through the mouth of the larger jar, with enough force to cause the fluid to rise up between the jars and entirely cover the produce. Rubber band a kitchen rag over the top of the entire thing and leave it out on your kitchen counter.

Open it every day. Pull the little jar out and with clean hands, pluck a bit out and taste it. It will pleasingly transform for at least three weeks. Figuring out when it starts unpleasantly transforming is part of the art of this hobby and it'll depend on your preferences. If you ever get bits of floating produce at the top of the liquid, you're likely to get some fuzzy mold. Just scoop it off as soon as it appears and compost it. If it keeps coming back, replace the small jar with a clean one and wipe down the inside of the big jar, above the level of the produce and brine, up to the rim with white vinegar. If your brine level is ever too low, add a bit of water. If you have to add more than a very small amount (more than a couple tablespoons?), add a bit of salt, too.

When it's no longer getting better each day, it's done and you put it in the fridge.