Fall Ferments

I spent an afternoon making fermented vegetables out of my purchases at the Farmers Market:

I began with Giardiniera.  That's the half gallon on the right.  It has cauliflower florets and stems, carrots, onions, red peppers, garlic, and mixed peppercorns. I salted the vegetables first to make them wilt a bit so they would be easier to pack into the jar.  I then added well water to cover them.  I put a little jar on top as a weight.  These are two days old and bubbling madly.  I had more than a half gallon, so I put the rest into the far left jar and put carrots on top of them.


The blue crock is from my friend, Melissa.  She hand threw this fermentation crock with a little reservoir for water around the rim to seal it and keep from air entering.  It works beautifully.  The half gallon in the center is nappa cabbage sliced with red peppers, onions, garlic, oregano, and hot pepper flakes.  I tossed these vegetables with 3 T salt and when I packed them in, they had made their own brine.


The jar just to the left is zucchini with carrots, onions, oregano, garlic, red peppers, and salted brine.


The back two are only carrots and garlic in brine.  I didn't have dill for them.


These will be so good when they are done and full of probiotics and lactic acid.  They will actually be "pickled" with their own generation of lactic acid and nicely sour.  There is no sugar in these.


The little jar is leftovers which will ferment just fine in their recycled jar.