Fermenting can be a healthy and efficient way to utilize your favorite veggies in the kitchen. If you’re new to the fermenting game, do not fear, Ferment Your Vegetables by Amanda Pfeifer of Phickle.com has got you covered! It’s a full comprehensive guide to fermenting your own vegetables with tons of helpful tips and recipes. These keys to successful fermentation will help get you started!
The Keys to Successful Fermentation
There aren’t many steps to successful vegetable fermentation. Most of the tips and tricks I provide throughout this book are practical details that I’ve picked up in my years of fermentation, and while they’ll help you create your best ferment, most of them are totally flexible. The points that follow, however, are what you really need to know before getting started. Once you have these internalized, you’ll know the basics of vegetable fermentation.
Key 1: Proper Submersion
A great way to protect vegetables from air exposure is to ensure that there is a thin layer of brine covering them during fermentation. Vegetable submersion prevents discoloration, as well as surface yeasts and molds from forming on the top layer of vegetables, and gives lactic acid bacteria their preferred, airless conditions. Submersion is a more important step for brined ferments (“Pickles,” pages 39 to 69) than it is for packed ferments (“Kraut,” pages 71 to 99) and for kimchi, where you can usually skip it altogether.
As you mature in your fermentation practice, you may develop a rhythm and a sense for how rigidly you need to approach the practice of submerging, but if you’re just getting started, making sure that your vegetables stay beneath the brine should be one of your top considerations.
THE RULES OF SUBMERSION
To keep vegetables beneath the brine, you just need to apply a little bit of weight to the vegetables once they’re packed into their jars or crocks. There are plenty of options when it comes to pickling weights, and if you prefer to keep your wallet in your pocket, creativity is key. You probably already have something in your home that could serve as a suitable weight for your fermenting vegetables. Here are a few guidelines that will help ensure best results.
• Ditch the metal. Unless it’s restaurant-grade stainless steel, it’s not a good idea to put metal in or on a ferment. Acids are produced during fermentation and metal corrodes when forced to sit on acid for days or weeks or months.
Corroded metal is something you definitely don’t want in or on your food. idea to put metal in or on a ferment. Acids are produced during fermentation and metal corrodes when forced to sit on acid for days or weeks or months. Corroded metal is something you definitely don’t want in or on your food.
• Clean it. Maybe this is a no-brainer, but whatever you’re using as a weight should be thoroughly cleaned before sitting on top of your fermentation biochemistry. Soap (not antibacterial soap) and hot water will do the trick. A run through a hot dishwasher cycle also works.
• Make sure it fits. This may also seem obvious, but whatever object you use needs to fit comfortably through the smallest part of your fermenting vessel. Once things get active in your ferment, the CO
• Open wide. Using wide-mouth jars makes it easier to both pack your ferments in and to find weights that fit.
• Search for safety. Ingenuity drives fermentation experimentation, so I encourage you to consider any object in your house that might fit the above criteria and then consider whether or not it’s food safe. Glass candleholders may seem ideal, but if they’re covered in a glaze that isn’t food or acid safe, that’s definitely not something you want in your food. You can usually check with the manufacturer for details, but if you can’t, seek another option.
• Cover properly. The specialty airlock fermentation systems (discussed further on the next page) are set once you close them, but for all other methods of weighting down your vegetables, you’ll need to cover your jar in one of two
ways. If the submersion weight you’ve chosen protrudes above the rim of your fermenting jar, use a kitchen towel, cloth napkin or large coffee filter to cover the entire thing and secure it by placing a rubber band over the cloth
to prevent dust from getting into your setup. If your weight fits underneath the rim of the jar, cover the jar with its lid and ring, but do not fully tighten the ring. Leaving the jar ring somewhat loose allows CO to escape, which will prevent your jar lid from becoming deformed during fermentation.
THE TOOLS OF SUBMERSION
Any number of items can be used to submerge your ferments properly. Many of the following are free or cheap or are household items you may already have.
• A smaller jar. This is my go-to method for submersion. Use a very clean, small jar (jelly jars, quarter-pint jars, or recycled condiment jars all work well). Fill the jar with water, tightly secure its lid, and then place it on top of the vegetables inside your larger fermentation jar. You should see the brine level rise over the top of the vegetables. Once this is done, you’ll need to place a kitchen towel, large coffee filter, or cloth napkin over the jars and secure it with a rubber band around the threads of the larger, bottom jar.
An advantage of this method is that it allows COexcessive oxygen from reaching the vegetables, keeping mold and yeasts from forming. The disadvantage of this method is that it allows evaporation. This isn’t an issue for a ferment of short duration, but for ferments of a month or longer, or in a very warm climate, you may need to push down on the weight or add more brine.
• Glass or ceramic pot boiler disks. You can buy these relatively cheap glass or ceramic disks at kitchen supply stores or online. They have good heft and can be stacked to create more weight if need be. Just make sure that the diameter of the weight fits through the narrowest part of your jar.
• A boiled stone. Find a round, flat stone that will fit in your jar. Boil it for 20 minutes and allow it to cool before first use to ensure that no unwanted microbial competitors survive. Avoid limestone and other sedimentary rocks that contain calcite, a substance that will react with acid and dissolve into your fermenting vegetables.
• Ceramic pie weights or glass marbles. These little spheres make great ballast when tied in a bit of cheesecloth or placed into a reusable cotton tea bag.
• Vintage glass canning jar lids. This suggestion came from a blog reader (phickle.com), Diane, who said she often finds these old glass lids at vintage stores for a steal.
• Snack-sized, zip-top storage bags. Put some of the salty brine into the bag (do not fill completely), seal the bag, and place it on top of the vegetables. Using brine in the bag ensures that if the bag breaks or leaks, the salt concentration of the ferment will not be altered. If you’d rather purchase specialty equipment made for fermentation and submersion,
there are several options you can look into.
• Pickle weights. You can purchase special fermentation weights that are specifically to fit in jars. They can be stacked to provide greater weight or used individually. Look for weights made by a reputable potter or company. Choose glass ceramic weights, with food-safe glazes.
• Specialty fermentation systems. As vegetable fermentation grows in popularity, new specialty products for keeping vegetables submerged while allowing CO to escape are becoming more common. Current systems tend to be priced around $15 to $30 per jar, making them prohibitively expensive for those of us who have many jars going at any given time. If you’re working on just one or two jars at a time, however, these might be a reasonable investment. These systems include containers or lids fitted with an airlock, such as the Pickl-It and The Perfect Pickler; detachable lids, such as the reCAP, that can be fitted to standard mason jars with a bung and airlock; and cap/compression systems like Kraut Source. Please keep in mind that despite some companies claims, these do not make fermentation safer or easier. They can make it less odorous and neater looking.
Key 2: Proper Temperature
There are few things that impact a ferment more than temperature. Temperature influences the speed of fermentation and subsequently, its texture. The temperature at the start of fermentation even influences which strain or strains of lactic acid bacteria initiate fermentation.
This doesn’t mean that fermentation is a finicky process, however. Between temperatures of 64 and 78°F (17.8 and 25.6°C), fermentation will initiate without a hitch (though some ferments taste better when fermented at a slightly cooler or warmer temperature). I find that sauerkraut has optimal flavor and texture when fermented below 70°F (21.1°C), as close to 65°F (18.3°C) as possible, while, for my palate, kimchi is the opposite. My favorite kimchis have been fermented at slightly warmer temperatures, between 70 and 72°F (21.1 and 22.2°C).
Some science disagrees with me on this—at least one study indicates that 68°F (20°C) is the optimal fermentation temperature for delicious ‘chi, while others show a broad range, from 50 to 72°F (10 to 22.2°C), works best. This leads us back to a key principle of home fermentation: as long as you follow the basic, safe procedures laid out in this chapter, there is plenty of room for variation and preference. Often, we don’t have perfect control over temperature, and that is totally fine. If a vegetable takes a very long time to ferment (too cool) or ends up too soft (too warm), then explore different microclimates in your home, such as near an air-conditioning vent, where it’s cooler, or inside a turned-off oven or on top of a refrigerator, where it’s warmer. And remember, the slight variations that happen from batch to batch are part of what make fermentation fun!
Key 3: Cleanliness, Not Sterility
If you’ve arrived at vegetable fermentation via canning or home brewing, you may be accustomed to a strict regimen of sterility. This is neither necessary nor desirable for vegetable fermentation. Microbes are our friends, and the particular bacteria responsible for vegetable fermentation are pretty good at taking care of themselves (and us), so step away from the sanitizer and vats of boiling jars and rely on elbow grease, plain soap, and water instead. Keeping a clean kitchen, clean jars, clean utensils, and clean hands is sufficient for safe and superior home-fermented vegetables.
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Ferment Your Vegetables for Flavor, Health, and Fun!
Fermented vegetables are a great, healthy addition to anyone’s diet. Abundant in probiotics, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and more, research continues to reveal the many ways that these foods positively contribute to our well-being. From kimchi and sauerkraut to pickles and kvass, fermented foods have been part of the human diet for millennia–and are rightfully reclaiming their place at our daily table.
The idea of fermenting vegetables at home can be intimidating for those who have never tried it before. The truth is, it’s quite easy once you learn just a few basic concepts. In Ferment Your Vegetables, author Amanda Feifer, fermentation expert and founder of phickle.com, serves as your guide, showing you, step by step, how you can create traditional, delicious fermented food at home, using only simple ingredients and a little time. No fancy starters or elaborate equipment required.
Using only veggies, a few spices, and a glass jar, here’s just a small sampling of recipes you could start making today:
Zucchini Bread Pickles
Curried Cauliflower Pickles
Pint of Pickled Peppers
Simplest Sauerkraut
Ginger Beet Kraut
Green Bean Kimchi
Wild Fermented Tomato Sauce
Bullseye Beet Kvass
Ferment Your Vegetables will make beginners wonder why they didn’t start sooner, and give veteran fermenters loads of new ideas and techniques to try at home. All aboard the probiotic train!
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