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Fermented Food for Beginners: Lacto-Fermented Vegetables

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This is part 3 in a four part series. I renamed this series Fermented Food for Beginners in the hopes that it will encourage anyone who was intimidated about making their own ferments, as I was.

Before the advent of modern day canning most of our American fore mothers understood the process of lacto-fermentation. They had crocks of real sauerkraut, lacto-fermented cucumber pickles and other treasures such as beets, onions or garlic waiting out the winter in the root cellar.

Those countries with histories deeper than our own also traditionally fermented vegetables with simply salt, water and spices – knowing that the lactic acid produced would prevent the putrefication of these precious nutritional storehouses, keeping them fed through winter. Kimchi from Korea and cortido from Latin America are just two of the flavorful and delicious condiments not native to our own country.

When we lost touch with this food preservation technique we also lost touch with the unparalleled health benefits that came with them. Sally Fallon is a huge proponent of lacto-fermentation in her book Nourishing Traditions, and for good reason:

The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anti carcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.

After being completely overwhelmed by my first read through of Nourishing Traditions I waited months before making sauerkraut. The concept was foreign and intimidated me. Because I have grown up in a culture that thinks you have to pasteurize everything I wondered if I would poison my family.

If you are like I was – intimidated and a bit doubtful – then don’t be. You will know if a batch has gone bad. You will get used to, and even start to enjoy, the flavor of these healthful condiments. You will find that they are not much more difficult to assemble than a simple salad. You will actually want to keep a few jars/crocks on hand for health and flavor reasons.

To be honest I wasn’t wild about sauerkraut at first, nor the pickles that turned to mush. I found that I enjoyed bolder variations of sauerkraut such as kimchi and cortido. I also recently discovered how to make pickles keep their crunch a bit more – grape leaves. I’ve only tried one batch, adding the wild grape leaves from our own backyard, but they are crunchy and delicious instead of mushy and off-putting like my first few batches. It is the tannins in the grape leaves that are said to perform the delicious act.

So I would encourage you, if you were like me, to give lacto-fermentation a try. It is fairly simple, frugal and makes the most of your hard-earned real food. You can use whey as a starter culture in your brine, which Sally Fallon recommends in Nourishing Traditions.

I have not been using whey as of late and have yet to have a bad batch. I will leave you with two of my favorite flavors of lacto-fermented vegetables – cortido and dill pickles. I have come to love these little treasures so much that it makes it easy to eat them at two meals a day. Now all I need is that root cellar I dream of so that I can stock it full of giant crocks full of these tasty treasures.

Cortido

from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Recipe Notes: I sometimes leave out the carrots and halve the amount of onions. A struggle that I have is keeping the vegetables below the liquid level. I have yet to have a bad batch, but this can cause mold. One thing that I am considering purchasing from here is an airlock setup that allows the fermentation gases to escape while keeping air out. You can also purchase ready-made lacto-fermented vegetables here. 

  • 1 large cabbage, cored and shredded
  • 1 cup carrots, grated
  • 2 medium onions, quartered lengthwise and very finely sliced
  • 1 tablesoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons whey (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)
  1. In a large bowl mix cabbage with carrots, onions, oregano, red chile flakes, sea salt and whey.
  2. Pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for abou 10 minutes to release juices.
  3. Place in 2 quart-sized, wide mouth mason jars and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage mixture should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jars.
  4. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

Pickled Cucumbers

from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Recipe Notes: For pickle slices simply cut cucumbers into 1/4 inch slice and cut back the fermentation time to 2 days instead of 3. A struggle that I have is keeping the vegetables below the liquid level. I have yet to have a bad batch, but this can cause mold. One thing that I am considering purchasing from here is an airlock setup that allows the fermentation gases to escape while keeping air out.

  • 4-5 pickling cucumbers or 15-20 gherkins
  • 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill, snipped
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons whey (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)
  • 1 cup filtered water
  1. Wash cucumbers well and place in a quart-sized wide mouth jar.
  2. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover the cucumbers. The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar.
  3. Cover tightly and keep and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

********** I also wanted to pass along a link to a great article Alyss wrote: Of Probiotics & Pickles.

So what about you… have you made any of these lacto-fermented vegetables? Which one is your favorite?

This post is a contribution to the In-Season Recipe Swap.

 

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232 Comments

  1. Thanks for the article. I have some frozen whey which I saved from my last batch of cheese. If I thaw it out, could I use it to ferment some veggies?

  2. I made 6 qts of fermented beets but they taste like alcohol. What does this mean? Is it unsafe to eat?
    Also, should the juice around the beets be thick and creamy or thin and watery?

    1. Kaitlyn – Beets are really high in sugar and can go right to alcohol instead of lactic acid in the fermentation process. When I do beets I usually do a small amount of beet with a much larger proportion of turnips or cabbage, otherwise you will basically make beet wine :/. The liquid should be thin and watery… like a salty pickle brine.

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  5. Just wondering if it’s possible to use a food processor- providing I’m ready to make the texture sacrifice- (and by food processor I mean ‘blender’) to break these things down, or even half in half, as my skinny arms are weak these days.

    Also- allergic to whey (is they whey protein?)- +/- with salt? Thanks so much

    1. Jamie – Yes, I believe so. I have used food processors before for both sauerkraut and salsa and didn’t have any problems.

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  10. Where can you buy WHEY? or do you make it from ‘straining Nancy’s Yogurt’. Thanks so much. I am learning how beneficial this is for our digestion.

  11. Pickle help…I just made the pickles using this recipe and they do not taste or smell like pickles. They smelled off and stung my tongue. Any suggestions??

    1. Hi Shannon –
      I find that the pickles do not taste exactly like vinegar pickles, but you get used to them. Also, they get milder as they sit in the refrigerator so you may want to let them sit for a couple of weeks and try again. They should definitely have a tangy, zingy bite to them, which is what the fermentation does, but if you feel it is too strong you may want to cut back on the fermentation time. My most recent batch is too zingy for us as well… we’ll eat them, but with the heat I’m cutting back on fermentation time.

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  13. Tracey, Not sure about purchasing whey but I just made whey using raw milk. Do you have Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions? Great investment and super easy recipe. It takes a few days but I think is ideal because there is absolutely not processing of the milk. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll email you the recipe. If you’ve never used raw milk and are interested in benefits for your digestion, it’s awesome.

    Now about pickles. I am wanting to ferment some cucumbers; however, Sally’s book only has a recipe for dill pickles. I want bread and butter pickles or at least something similar. Has anyone tried omitting the dill, maybe using less salt and adding sugar? Her recipes for the fermented fruits call for Rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice) so I am afraid to use just regular sugar. I thought about trying agave nectar but am not sure.

  14. We have not made fermented pickles but when we made the vinegar pickles we used brown sugar for the bread and butter pickles. We also used the pickling spice from our local grocery store’s bulk food section. No dill. Great pickles! Can’t wait to try fermenting our bounty.

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  16. I’m following the NT recipe for cucumber pickles, except I substituted okra (I’m southern) and added jalapenos. This is my first time, and the liquid is cloudy (this is day 2 on the counter). Is it okay? Also, it is HOT in my kitchen, up to 83 degrees at midday, so should I shorten the time on the counter?

  17. I have a question. I recently did a batch of pearled onions and whole garlic cloves. It doesn’t smell bad but I’ve noticed some of them are turning blue. Is this bad or normal?
    Thanks!

    1. Amber – That’s strange and I’ve never heard of it before. Is the actual onion blue or is it the brine? Not sure if that’s normal or not… sorry :/.

  18. Hi! I made carrots that were great. Then I made pickles that taste very strange. I used highly filtered water from a friend’s house for the carrots. Do you think water can make a big taste difference?
    I am wondering if I could use distilled water. Does anyone know?

    Thanks!
    Jana

    1. Jana – That’s a good question. I would imagine that the mineral content could make a difference. Not sure about distilled water… anyone else?

  19. Jana and Shannon, Hi. My understanding is
    1) don’t use tap water because the chlorine will kill our lovely bacteria, and, 2) Distilled water, again as I understand it, has been ‘filtered’ or cleaned, through the process of boiling and evaporation and what gets bottled for us is the condensed steam from that process (thus ‘distilled’).

    I used distilled for my beets and other than the cardamom (which I love as a spice but NOT in my beets) they are great!

    And I am making my own whey from kefir that I am also making…fabulous!

    Love your website!

  20. I have a brand new product which is very useful in lacto fermented vegetables made in a jar.
    They are weights made of glass that fit into the top of the canning jar that help hold the veggies under the brine solution.
    I have them listed on Ebay, just search for ‘lacto ferment glass jar weights’.

  21. We just jarred our sauerkraut today. We’re keeping it in a fridge and since it will slowly continue to ferment, I have left the bands on the jars fairly loose. Any suggestions on how to avoid and exploding jar?

  23. I want to make this in my fermenting crock, is the fermenting time the same? and when its done do I just transfer it into a mason jar to store? and do i have to store it in a cool place or must it be a refrigerator?

  24. I made batch of kimchi the other day and the gas was totally escaping the jar that extra fluid came out of it. The same day, I made a sauerkraut with red cabbage, a green apple and caraway seeds. But it doesn’t seem to generate too much gas – liquid did not seep out of the jar. But if I tilt the jar, I can see bubbles. These were all made with sea salt and with no whey. Because there is not much gas in the jar (I tried to loosen the lid a little and it seems that no gas has escaped), does it mean that the product did not ferment? I haven’t opened up the jar completely yet as I’m on day 3 of fermentation. Thanks!

    1. Wendy – Ferments are never consistent in my experience and just because it doesn’t contain a lot of bubbles does not mean it hasn’t fermented. I would taste it after another day or so, unless it smells rotten in which case throw it out. If it tastes tangy and fermented it is done!

  25. Hi! Thank you so much for all the helpful information! I am really new at this. The reason I really want to try the process is because I am under the impression that this will help me with my chronic yeast infection problem. Is this true?
    I wanted to know can I use my tap water to get the good bacteria that I need or do I have to get distilled water from the grocery store every time?
    I’m also a little confused about how long it’s good for. My parents can green beans with salt ( think that is all) and they keep in there basement for years. Can you not do that for the process of the reaping of the good bacteria?
    I have also been jumping from site to site trying to figure out how to make Kombucha from scratch without the scoby and starter tea. Does any one know how to do that… like kombucha tea for dummies?

    Thanks everyone!
    KIM

  26. I’m so sorry I should have hit enter! I would change my post if i could but I don’t know how. Please try to read it and not skip it.

    KIM

  27. Hi, I’m very new at this and a bit confused. I have a bad yeast infection that does not seem uncommon so I am trying to learn about fermenting( seems to make the good bacteria I need) and ran across this post.

    I have for the past 6 years have gone out of my way to buy bread, pasta, waffle mix, flour etc. that is labeled whole grain or whole wheat. Can I eat all of this as is? I can’t soak the bread of course. Soaking the pasta seem a bit odd as well as flour/waffle mix.

    Do I need to soak these things? If so, how would I go about it?

    Also, what in the world is sprouting?

    Oh, another question sorry. can you ferment with tap water? or will I have to get a water filter that filters out the chlorine and/or chloramine? I used a filter once and had to replace after a short time and it just got really expensive really fast. I know I don’t have the money.

    Sorry another one. I read that not only beans and oats but nuts also need to be soaked. What about the cans of cashews, peanuts etc. they sell at the store (ex. planters) do you need to soak those or are they ok? or like the nuts you buy in bulk (walnuts, nuts still in their shell) we used to just have a bowl of nuts with a nut cracker sitting beside it as an everyday thing.

  29. What is the process that you use to get your whey from your raw milk? Do you ferment the the whey after you get it or use it as is? Thanks for your advise, Cathy

  31. Hi,

    What other vegetables can I use instead of cabbage since I am allergic to it?
    Thank you!

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  33. I don’t know if anyone mentioned this (I didn’t read all the comments), but I did see in the post that you had trouble keeping the food below the liquid. A while back my grandma, my mom and I made saurkruat in a food grade 5 gal bucket and then canned it from there. In the fermenting stage, in order to keep it under the liquid, we inverted a dinner plate over the food and placed something heavy on it (don’t remember what) and then covered the bucket with a cloth such as cheese cloth to keep out the bugs and dirt.

  34. Hi, you can buy Lacto fermentation weights on ebay. They make them in small mouth and wide mouth sizes so you can ferment in your jars, and keep your food down. They list them as Lacto ferment glass jar weights here is a link for them… http://www.ebay.com/itm/110750934578?var=410038386074&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 BTW I’m not the seller just a happy customer and noticed the comment about keeping food down, these work perfect for mason/ball jars.

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  36. whole wheat is just as bad as white flour, you need to go online and you tube and start educating yourself on the subjects you are interested in and buy some books. It is the reason you are having health issues. Knowledge is going to be your power.

  40. I am in Australia and I just did a big batch of fermented vegies, I have just checked them after 5 days and as it has been very hot here they fermented very quickly and they taste a lot more sour and zingy than my last batch, they don’t smell off but they are very strong tasting and there was a gas release when I took the lid off. Does this mean they are off or they are just very strong? Also, does it mean that the probiotics will be stronger in them? Are they ok still to eat?

    Thanks

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  42. Great stuff. I’ve done some dairy fermenting but never veggies, but I’m gonna start this weekend. Love the rest of the site, referring my clients to your site; as a fat loss specialist I truly believe that nourishing the body is a very important step in fat loss!

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  46. For those of you looking into fermented food to help with Candida, yes, it will definitely help. However, there are many other dietary issues that need to be addressed as well. Donna Gates, of Body Ecology (do a web search and you’ll find it), has tons of info on what you need to do to heal your body. I don’t work for the company in any way. I’m an extremely satisfied customer of Body Ecology. So I’m not trying to sell you anything, just trying to help others find their way. In fact, ran across this site trying to find additional recipes for fermenting. I do have Sally Fallon’s book somewhere, going to have to find it! Forgot about it!

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