We ferment veg on a rolling basis these days. A little of the brine from a previous batch works as a bacteria ‘Prime’ and gets the fermentation off to a flying start. But pretty much anything with any natural sugars in it will work if you have a clip top jar, some Salt and Water.
The ingredients veg wise are really arbitrary now. We had a catering bag of Garlic which was destined for composting as it had done the rounds through the local Food Banks and was sprouting. So I added a couple of quartered Red Onions to fill the jar. We did Cauliflower and fresh Chilli a while ago which Sue really liked. So the Cauliflower and mixed Peppers is a take on that, but perhaps not with as much heat? We shall see…..
The basic ‘Good for all’ brine is a 2% concentration. So 2 to 3 heaped Table Spoons of Salt per Litre of water is a good starting concentration. I use Himalayan Salt as it doesn’t have the anti-caking agents added which can sometimes inhibit the fermentation.
The only rule of thumb with one of the oldest food preservation techniques is just to make sure that your brine is at room temperature i.e. not too hot, before adding the veg. If you boil the brine to dissolve the salt the heat will kill the bacteria which you need and the whole gig will just go bad!!! Really bad! That’s the worst that can possibly happen but you’ll know by sight and smell.
The best that can happen is that it will ferment and you’ll end up with pickles which make shop bought ones seem very bland.
Also the Lactobacillus Bacteria are supposedly very good for your ‘Gut Health’ That’s not why we make these pickles though. We just like them and it’s a great way to get the best out of veg which was perhaps well beyond it’s best when we got it…...
