Introductory Recipes to Lactofermentation

Thanks for having participated in WAIT! Our workshop to learn how to prolong food life with lactofermentation. We are happy you enjoyed it and hope you can continue to experiment with what you learned, as it is fun, easy, and cheap! Marco Young shares with us main steps to remember when fermenting our veggies, and some basic recipes to keep on exploring with fermentation.

Below is the basic recipe for lactofermenting any vegetable or fruit. From this foundation, you can experiment as much as you like with things like salt level, herbs and spices, duration and so on. The most important things to remember are:

• “If it’s below the brine, it’s fine!” – the brine is important because it takes away the oxygen and creates the anaerobic environment that the Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) love. This is why using a follower, such as a freezer bag with water in it or a cabbage leaf, to keep all the fruit/veg submerged is important. As the LAB begin to proliferate and do their thing – i.e. break down sugars into lactic acid – they lower the pH of the liquid. This creates a sufficiently acidic environment which LAB can easily tolerate but other microbes can’t. If you wanted to be really fancy, you could remove the oxygen by vacuum packing your ferments! This would have the same effect and is actually how they do many ferments at Noma. But a brine does the job just fine, too.

• 2% salt – the salt is critical for creating the conditions for our LAB to thrive whilst inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria. Salt has the ability to halt biological processes in both microbes and humans. LAB are in that they are halotolerant, which means they can tolerate slightly salty conditions. By making our ferment conditions salty, we provide a window for the LAB to acidify their environment in time before any other unwanted guests arrive.

• Sterilising – whilst fermenting is generally considered a pretty safe practice, it’s important to remember you are playing with microbes here and so it’s better to play it safe rather than sorry. Sterilising your equipment before use drastically lowers the potential of introducing unwanted microbes into your ferments.

• Vegetable/Fruit surface area – when preparing your fruit and veg for a ferment, remember to bear in mind that the more surface area you expose – i.e. the smaller/finer you chop and slice it – the quicker it’ll ferment. This will influence the texture of your ferment and you can obviously experiment with this to your heart’s content, even opting for multiple textures in one ferment!

• Burping – as the LAB metabolise the sugars in your ferment, they produce carbon dioxide. This builds up in your jar and must be released one way or another. Probably best to let it our yourself by “burping” the jar once or twice a day, rather than have it forcing its way out! You’ll only have to do this for the first week or two of the ferment, after that the CO2 production drops off and you can let it do its thing without interruption.

• Cooking with ferments – whilst you certainly can cook with your ferments and/or brines, and I encourage you to do so! – it’s worth noting that most microbes can’t survive cooking temperatures. This means that while your cooked ferments might taste great, they will no longer provide you with the same health benefits as their raw counterparts.

• Done! Fridge it – you could probably ferment something indefinitely, with varying results, though I wouldn’t recommend this. Don’t be afraid to periodically taste your ferments, and once you’ve reached your desired flavour, whack it in the fridge! This will slow down the LAB party almost to a halt, maintaining that desired flavour for longer.

• Backslopping – this beautiful term refers to the practice of using the brine from a previous ferment to inoculate a new ferment. By pouring some of your old brine into your new ferment, you’ll be introducing a great big community of LAB to the party. This means it’ll take much less time for them to get established in there and thus reduce the fermentation time. It also lowers the pH of your ferment from the get go, reducing the risk of contamination.

For more information on this and much more, I strongly suggest reading a copy of Noma’s Guide to Fermentation. Now, let's see the recipes!

1. Basic lacto-ferment recipe:

Equipment:

• Jar
• Follower (something to keep the fruit/veg submerged below the brine)
• Scales
• Bowl
• Knife
• Chopping board

Ingredients:

• Fruit/vegetable
• Salt
• Water

Method:

• Chop up your fruit/veg to the desired size.
• Weigh your fruit/veg. (Remember to zero the scales with the bowl first!)
• Add 2% salt of the total weight of the fruit/veg. For example, 1kg of fruit/veg = 20g of salt.
• Use your hands to massage the salt into your fruit/veg.
• Put everything into your fermenting vessel and press it down to release any brine from your fruit/veg. Be sure to leave about 1-2” of space at the top of the jar for the build-up of CO2.
• Top up with a 2% brine – water with 2% salt in it (1L of water = 20g of salt)
• Use a follower to keep all the fruit/veg submerged in the brine. A freezer bag with water in it works well, or a cabbage leaf can do the job too. Don’t use something metal, like the lid of a jar, as this will rust!

• WAIT! Sit back and watch the LAB take over. Remember to burp your jars every day for the first week or two!

2. Lacto-fermented Cherry Tomatoes

One of the easiest and tastiest ferments you can make. Watch your friends’ eyes widen with amazement as you feed them one of these! Literally 5mins to make and you’ll probably nosh them down in the same amount of time! They go great in salads, or as an interesting garnish. But to be honest, they’re great to just pop in your mouth as they are, like olives. Should keep for weeks, if not months, in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• Cherry tomatoes, whole.
• Garlic (3 cloves), minced.
• Dried oregano or fresh basil
• Salt.
• 2% brine.

Method:

• Weigh your cherry tomatoes and add your minced garlic and herbs.
• Add 2% salt.
• Put it all in a jar and submerge with a follower.
• Ferment for 1 to 2 weeks.

3. Salsa Starter

This is one of my favourite recipes because it’s so versatile and delicious! It adds a real level of complexity to a salsa that is difficult to replicate any other way. This particular recipe is for a Pineapple and Mint salsa, but you can go wild with experiments and change up the pineapple and mint for anything you like! I’d recommend something sweet to balance out the acidity and spice. The salsa starter itself will keep for months in the fridge. However, if using fresh fruit in part two, remember that the shelf-life will be dramatically reduced as that will go off before the starter does and ruin your salsa!

Ingredients:

Part One

• 3 – 4 large tomatoes, cut into quarters.
• 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped.
• 1 large white onion, roughly chopped.
• 8 – 10 garlic cloves, whole/roughly chopped.
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped.
• 1 – 2 red chillies, roughly chopped
• Salt
• 2% brine

Part Two

• Fresh pineapple
• Fresh mint
• 1 large tomato, roughly chopped.
• 1 tbsp honey

Method:

Part One

• Combine all the ingredients into a bowl. Weigh and add 2% salt.
• Put everything into a jar and submerge with a follower under a 2% brine.
• Ferment for 2 weeks.

Part Two

• Spoon some of your salsa starter into a blender. Be sure to get a little bit of everything – the tomato, onion, ginger etc. Blend.
• Add the fresh tomato, pineapple and mint and blend to your desired consistency.
• Taste and adjust the flavour with a little bit of honey to balance the acidity and spice, if using chillies

4. Sauerkraut

This is one of those ancient recipes that every grandma in Eastern Europe probably has their own special way of doing. I’m no grandma, but here is my recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 white cabbage, thinly sliced/chopped.
• 1 large, white onion, thinly sliced.
• 1 head of garlic, minced.
• 1 handful of fresh dill, roughly chopped.
• Peel (without pith!) of 2 unwaxed lemons, thinly sliced. (Use a peeler to do this)
• Salt
• 2% brine

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients into a bowl. Weigh and add 2% salt.
• Put everything into a jar and submerge with a follower under a 2% brine.
• Ferment for 2 - 4 weeks, or until you’ve reached the desired taste, and then pop it in the fridge.

5. Kimchi

This again is one of those ancient recipes that every family in Korea has their own special way of doing handed down through generations. This is a basic kimchi recipe that works and tastes great with consistent results. That being said, I encourage you to research and experiment with your own recipes, too. You can ferment this one for as little or as much time as you like, just pop it in the fridge when you’re happy with how it tastes.

Ingredients:

• 1 Chinese leaf cabbage (aka Napa cabbage), roughly chopped.
• 2 large, white onion, thinly sliced.
• 1 head of garlic, minced.
• 2 – 3 carrots, thinly sliced with a peeler.
• 1 handful of radishes, sliced.
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced.
• Optional: 1 red chili, chopped.
• 2 tbsp of Gochujang (or add to taste). This is available in Asian supermarkets, or you can find it online both in dried flake form and in paste form. Both work well.
• Salt
• 2% brine

Method:

• Heavily salt the cabbage and make sure the salt is evenly distrusted. Leave this overnight, or until the cabbage has “wilted” to your desired texture – at least 3 hours.
• Rinse the cabbage thoroughly to remove all the salt.
• Combine all the ingredients into a bowl. Weigh and add 2% salt.
• Put everything into a jar and submerge with a follower under a 2% brine.
• Ferment for 2 - 4 weeks, or until you’ve reached the desired taste, and then pop it in the fridge.

Have fun, experiment, and share with us the new tasty recipes you'll come up with!!