A Simple Way to Get Everyone to Eat Ferments at Every Meal
Our kitchen table is often overflowing with dishes after a meal or kombucha making supplies or sourdough bread pans and dusty piles of flour. This table is where we gather for nourishment of all kinds and store piles of groceries after the weekly trip to town and do all sorts of making when the counters inevitably clutter up.
It is, as you can tell if you stopped by in real life or simply look at these photos, rarely clean.
But having not had a table we could all gather around for several years makes me really appreciate this sturdy thrift store find. And it is making storing and eating fermented vegetables a snap.
In Traditionally Fermented Foods I argue for not refrigerating fermented vegetables. I share reasons why storing them in cellars or counter tops produces a tastier, better ferment based on my own research and experiences both on- and off-grid. Much of the book, in fact, is geared towards those of us who use fermentation as a tool in the pursuit of a more sustainable food system. Because that is how we use it.
So my tip for getting everyone to eat fermented vegetables at every meal? Well, it’s as simple as leaving jars of various fermented vegetables in the center of the table. These are jars that have been fermenting for at least 4-6 weeks at room temperature and are therefore fully fermented and taste “ripe”.
When I plop a pan of eggs or a pot of Rice and Beans at the table, these ferments add tang, crunch, and of course a host of health benefits. They sit beside eggs and potatoes for breakfast, bowls of soup for lunch, and atop vegetable stir-fry for supper. Some updated recipes for our favorites can be found in Traditionally Fermented Foods and include:
- Fermented Salsa
- Any type of Kraut
- Fermented Spicy Carrots
- Whole Fermented Tomatoes (so easy and tasty!)
- Summer Squash or Cabbage Cortido
- Kosher Dill Pickles
Of course, if someone is already averse to that lactic acid tang, it might take a bit of cajoling. I have found that children, when started at infancy or toddlerhood, go on to really like fermented pickles of all kinds and ask for them on site. Us adults are harder to convince but given time – and ferments made tasty by using some tips and tricks also shared in TFF – we eventually come around.
And now, I don’t know how many half-gallons later, we are nearing the bottom of our turnip kraut. We’ve still got a few gallons of pickled turnip sticks but this kraut will be sorely missed.