Lacto Fermented Vegetables

Food For Life Garden

Lacto-Fermented vegetables are an ancient method for preserving vegetables, which are brimming with probiotics for gut and immune support. This is a master recipe for any kind of vegetables. Some vegetables behave different from others, but you can use this as a starting point for fermenting what you have from asparagus to cucumbers, cauliflower, and cabbage to zucchini. Be aware that some vegetables should be cooked before consuming. After cooking a vegetable, add some raw vegetables, a little starter brine, or whey to inoculate your ferment.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish, Snack

Servings 2 Quarts

Equipment

½ gal Mason jar, or use 2 quart size jars.
Fermentation Lid - a fermentation top, airlock lid, or a regular mason jar lid, or a piece of cotton cloth secured with a rubber band. Fermentation lids and airlock lids are the easiest option, since you can just ignore your ferment until it’s done. They let the gasses escape, but oxygen can’t get in.
Glass weight - use a glass weight or other object to press the solid contents below the brine surface. A baggie filled with marbles or filtered water, a plastic lid from a regular size canning jar, a small baby food jar, a rock...
Large mouth canning funnel - a funnel is optional, but super handy to get salt-brined vegetables into your jars without making a big mess.
Tamping tool - I love my Acacia wood tamper but you could use a piece of clean wood or a tamper that came with your blender for example.
Bowl - for mixing veggies, for a salt-water bath for getting bugs out of cauliflower and broccoli, and for an ice-water bath if you're making crunchy vegetables.

Ingredients

2 quarts firm, fresh vegetables
1 qt filtered water if you want to make a salt-brine ferment - if you only have chlorinated tap water, let the chlorine evaporate by boiling without a lid and letting it cool, or by letting it sit on the counter for 24 hours without a lid.
2-3 Tbsp sea salt, Himalayan pink salt or Redmond's Real Salt

Optional Spices, mix and match according to your preference. Listed in the order of my personal preference :) and I most often use the first 6 spices listed. All the amounts are suggestions, but you may use more or less to your preference.

2-12 cloves garlic - if it partners well with your vegetable, garlic adds great flavor and powerful health benefits plus it tastes great fermented. Be generous and eat the garlic too. You can also make just garlic pickles by themselves for a healthy snack.
1-2 large dill heads, or a big bunch of fresh dill leaves - in case you have no fresh dill, substitute with a tablespoon of dill seed.
2 cayenne peppers, or to preference - when using fresh cayenne peppers, cut a slit in it.
2 tsp black pepper corn
2" piece fresh ginger root, thinly sliced - adds a nice spiciness and has lots of health benefits too. Or substitute with ground or granulated dried ginger.
2" piece fresh turmeric root, thinly sliced - adds a bright, fresh flavor and more health benefits. You can substitute with ground or granulated dried turmeric. If using turmeric, add black pepper as well, to make the health benefits of turmeric bio-available.
1 tsp coriander
2 tsp mustard seed
2 tsp caraway seed - almost essential for making sauerkraut
2" piece horseradish, thinly sliced
1-2 tannin rich leaves, such as oak, grape, or bay leaves - to help keep the vegetables crispy if that is your preference.
1 tsp celery seeds
2 tsp allspice berries
1 tsp fennel seeds
6 cloves
1 -2 star anise
2 tsp juniper berries
1 tsp cardamom seeds
1 small cinnamon stick

Instructions

Steps for preparing your vegetables

Soak your vegetables in ice water to keep them crispy
If you prefer crispy pickles, this step is important. Otherwise it is optional. Just place the veggies into the ice water as soon as possible after picking. Give them a half hour or so to chill and crisp. In the meantime gather your fermentation equipment and spices.
If you have cauliflower or broccoli with hundreds of places where little bugs can hide, soak them in a salted water bath first to encourage those critters to make their way out of their homes.
Special note: Cook any vegetables that should not be consumed raw such as green beans. Since this kills the bacteria you need, add some raw vegetables such as onion and garlic, or add a little starter brine from already fermented vegetables, or whey to inoculate your brine.
Prepare your vegetables
Spot clean your vegetables. Chop, blend, slice, grate or leave whole. Cut the blossom end off of cucumbers.
Salting
Find the salt ratios below!
Dry-salt method: For vegetables that are grated or blended, thinly sliced, or finely chopped, and if you use any vegetables that have natural juiciness such as tomatoes.
Salt-brine method: If your vegetables are thick slices, spears, whole or chunks such as is the norm with peppers, cucumbers, broccoli spears, or cauliflower chunks, carrot sticks, cubed or sliced beets or zucchini, etc.
A side note: if you dry-salt and find that you don't have enough brine to submerge the vegetables, make a 3% salt-brine and add enough to cover the vegetables.

Salt-Brine Method

Make your brine
To mix your brine, add 2 tablespoons of salt to one quart of filtered water and mix till dissolved.
Add Spices
Decide on what spices you would like to use for your pickles by choosing one or more from the list above, or experiment if you love another kind of spice that is not listed. Use about a half teaspoon of each per quart or a teaspoon per half gallon. Place them in the bottom of the jar. If you want to avoid floaters, pack the loose spices into a piece of cheesecloth and secure with a piece of cotton twine.
Place the vegetables in your container
Pack your vegetables into the jar and when the jar fills up, arrange the top vegetables so you can wedge them in to stay in place below the rim area. Alternatively you can use a fermentation weight to hold them down. The vegetables need to stay submerged in the brine to keep oxygen from touching them. This is very important to avoid mushy vegetables and to keep mold from growing on the surface.
Add brine and cover.
Pour your brine into the jar to cover the vegetables, but leave about an inch of head space (the space between the top of the jar rim and the brine). If you have too little headspace, your ferment might bubble over. Which is not a big deal, just know that it might happen and keep a doubled up towel under it or a plate if you don’t want your counter to get wet.
Put a cover on the jar and place the pickles in a dark or shady spot with an ideal temperature of 70-75 degrees. If it’s very warm in your house, keep a closer eye on your pickles, they will ferment much quicker.
If you use a screw-on lid, don't close it too tight to allow gasses to escape. If you use a tight fitting lid with a seal, you should burp the jar once a day to let the gasses escape. Just barely open the lid enough to let the pressure out and reseal.
If you use a cloth cover, check every few days to skim off any floaters or the thin layer of kahm yeast if it forms.

Dry-Salt Method

Put all your vegetable ingredients into a bowl
Use a big enough bowl to work your vegetables and add all the ingredients
Add salt
Add Salt according to the formula below.
If you're making a quart jar of any dry-salted vegetables, you can just add 2 tablespoons of salt per quart jar as a rule. Breaking the rule, I use just 1 tablespoon for making salsa.
Mix all ingredients
Mix everything well and let it sit for a few minutes to draw juices. If you use thinly sliced firm vegetables, such as cabbage to make sauerkraut, you'll want to knead it well, to soften it and encourage release of the juices.
Bottle and cap
With the help of a funnel, put your ingredients into a jar. Using a tamper, press them down tightly and get the juices to cover them. Add a glass weight or other item, to keep the ingredients below the brine. Try to leave about an inch or even a little more of headspace to allow for expansion when the brine starts to bubble up.
Cover with a lid or cloth.
Place the jar in a shady corner, and onto a plate to catch the juices if they overflow. Then just let it ferment. If you covered the jar with a cloth, it's a good idea to check every few days and skim off any floaters or the thin layer of kahm that might appear.
Taste and smell your ferment to determine when it’s done
You should notice the brine becoming cloudy and after a day or two there will be air bubbles when you tap the jar.
It is your preference which determines when your pickles are done. If you enjoy eating less sour pickles that are still really crunchy, then check after 3-4 days. The pickles should have a pleasantly tangy smell and if you take a taste, it will be a mix of tangy and salty.
The temperature in your room will determine the speed of fermentation. In a cold room it may take up to a week, but if it’s warm, 3-5 days may be enough to get some good acidity.
At this point the pickles are considered half-sour pickles. If this is how you like them, you can remove the fermentation weight if you used one, seal it with a tight fitting lid, and place the ferment into the refrigerator or root cellar, where it will keep for a year or more. It will continue to sour, but very slowly.
If you prefer full-sour pickles, which have a greater amount of probiotics, let them ferment for at least 14 days or more, up to a month. Taste a bite and if you are happy with the flavor, seal them up and place them into the root cellar or refrigerator for long term keeping.
They will keep on the counter in a coolish location for many more weeks or even months too, but they will continue to sour and will get softer.
Once the bacteria have eaten all the sugars in the fermentation, your pickles will start to deteriorate and will not be good to eat anymore. Placing them in cold storage will put those microbes to sleep or at least make them very groggy and this will bring fermentation to a near halt. Thus preserving your pickles.

Notes

Salting formulas:

The formula for a dry salt fermentation:

For 1.5% salt multiply the product weight in grams x .015. For 2% salt use product weight x .02. My strategy is to use 1.5% if the temperature is about 75℉ or less and then I taste it to see if I would like to add more. And I use 2% if the temperature is over 80℉.

Homestead hack: when you make just a small amount of fermented herbs, or grated zucchini, or salsa for example you can skip the math and mix 2 Tb of salt into each quart.

The basic recipe for a salt brine, without use of a scale:

Use filtered water and add 1-3 tablespoons of salt per quart. Technically, you'll want to arrive at a 2% to 4.5% salt solution. Most vegetables will work great with a 3% brine most of the time.

Per quart of filtered water, use

4 teaspoons of salt for a 2% brine

2 tablespoons of salt for a 3% brine**

3 tablespoons of salt for a 4.5% brine*

*More salt will slow down fermentation, which is a good strategy for hot weather and to keep vegetables more crunchy.

**When you're just starting out, I suggest using 2 tablespoons per quart of water as a basis. Once you learn more about the process, the science behind it, and what works for you from experience, you'll be able to adjust this for different situations based on that experience and observation. For example, if your pickles turn out less crunchy than you like, use more salt next time and lower the room temperature if possible.

The scientific method for making a brine by using a scale: The most accurate way to measure your salt ratio is with a scale: Tare your container. Then fill fill it with all the ingredients and the water. Multiply the combined weight by .02, or calculate 2%. The result is the amount of salt you need for a 2% salt ratio. Add the salt and close the container and shake it gently to dissolve the salt. Then place a weight on top and use your fermentation lid to cover it.

Examples of vegetables you can use:

I like to ferment carrots, onions, cabbage, padron peppers, jalapenos, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and summer squash, cucumbers, garlic cloves, herbs, beets, tomatoes, watermelon rind, and more. I've also fermented garlic scapes, purslane and often mixed vegetables. One veg I'd like to try but haven't yet is okra.

Try mixing vegetables to make tomato salsa, salsa verde and hot sauce. I love to blend hot peppers to make a fermented hot pepper paste. A friend of mine makes a hot sauce with hot peppers and smokes them first. Super!

Enjoy your delicious lacto-fermented vegetables!

If you would like to learn more about fermenting specific vegetables, look up recipes in the Fermenting category. Did you know that you can lacto-ferment (salt-ferment) all vegetables, herbs and fruits? Some may not taste that great fermented, but many are delicious this way and all will have enhanced health benefits because they are loaded with probiotics and will not only retain the vitamins, minerals and enzymes of fresh picked raw produce, but they will be enhanced by fermentation.