Lacto Fermentation: Quick 'n Easy Guide

 KITCHEN GARDEN

LACTO-FERMENTATION

There are several ways to preserve food, these include freezing, drying, pickling and fermenting.

You may think that fermented foods are a recent trend, but in fact, fermenting food has been carried out for thousands of years.

Fermenting food is one way of preserving your ample supply of produce that's growing in your garden.

There are a few ways to ferment foods but lacto-fermentation is one of the easiest.

• The term lacto-fermentation is a scary one and belies how simple it really is. It's unbelievably quick and easy.

  

  Lacto fermented radish

  
  

So what is it?

Firstly the term wasn't derived for having to use milk in the process.

Lacto refers to the lactobacillus bacteria that does all the breaking down of the food.

Did you know that all vegetables are covered in the various strains of the good bacteria lactobacillus?

It does involve lactic acid in the process which is a good thing because lactic acid is a natural preservative.

• What about the bad bacteria?

No problem, the brine that you submerge your vegetables in kill them off, while the lactobacillus survives to do the preserving work.

Using the correct salt to water ratio in your brine will ensure the safety of your lacto-fermentation.

How do you do it?

You can lacto-ferment most produce in yur garden.

 Beans, carrots, beetroot, and Corinne's favourite is using stalks of chard, nasturtium seeds.

You need salt but not iodised or table salt. Table salt will make the ferment go bad because of it's additives.

• Use high quality sea-salt.

• 

  Photo: Corinne Mossati of Gourmantic Garden

  Non-chlorinated water, and no fluoride so will need to be filtered water.
• Kilner jar or a glass jar with a lid.
• Weights to submerge your ferment.
• BASIC RULE: Brine solution is 2-3% salt.  
• 2% brine:1 litre of water needs 20 grams of salt: 
  

Step by Step

1. Collect your dry ingredients and add them to a dry sterile fermentation jar.
2. Pour in the brine solution to cover the vegetables.
3. Add a ceramic weight on top to keep the vegetables below the liquid.
4. Burp the jar daily: this releases the gas.
5. It will take 2-3 weeks during the summer months.
6. Once it's ready, place it in the fridge to slow the ferment process.

Are you a chilli aficionado?

Perhaps you’re growing the world’s hottest chilli, Carolina Reaper or the second hottest, Ghost chilli?

But did you know that Carolina Reaper chilli is 200x hotter than a Jalapeno pepper?
But what do you do with all those chillies other than freeze them?

• Why not make a chilli lacto-fermeneted sauce?

Follow the above steps then once you think the chillies are done, drain the brine and add other flavouring ingredients.

Blitz in a food processor.

To find out more, listen to the podcast.

I'm talking with Corinne Mossati, founder of the http://www.thegourmanticgarden.com website.

If you have any questions you can email us Realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2rrr, PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.