The shorter fermentation means that you're getting just the right amount of tang (and not full blown sour) which pairs super well with all the flavors of this heavily spiced brine. We start tasting on day three and normally move it to the fridge by day five. Heavily spiced, these cauliflower pickles are one of our favorite snacks straight out of the jar or tucked into a sandwich.
]]>Black Pepper Onions are incredibly savory, with that distinctly sweet and tangy flavor that comes from lacto-fermentation. Plus, they have a deep peppery kick that just goes to show why black pepper is such an essential ingredient in so many things we love to cook.
]]>Black Pepper Onions are incredibly savory, with that distinctly sweet and tangy flavor that comes from lacto-fermentation. Plus, they have a deep peppery kick that just goes to show why black pepper is such an essential ingredient in so many things we love to cook. It tastes great, and combined with fermentation, it truly enhances all the best aspects of fresh yellow onions.
These fermented onions go with everything! This versatility means that these Fermented Black Pepper Onions play well in a variety of settings. They’re a perfect fit for burgers, sandwiches and other grillables. Their bright flavor cuts through the oozy goodness of a grilled cheese sandwich, and they work perfectly in salads. And since we eat with our eyes first, it doesn’t hurt that these onions are strikingly pepper-speckled, livening up every plate you put them on.
]]>Tomatillos, for the uninitiated, look like an unripe green tomato with a papery husk. They are firmer than tomatoes and pack a bright vegetal flavor and pleasant acidity. To use you want to peel the husk off, remove the stems, and give them a good rinse (they will be quite sticky.)
Blended into a hot sauce, the tomatillos add a great velvety consistency that resists separation. The sauce finishes with a medium-mild heat, light green color and all of the salsa verde notes you love.
]]>Fermented corn, or sour corn as some call it, is a very simple ferment and is definitely one to add to your must-try list. The juicy kernels are sour and pack an exciting burst of flavor, making it delicious enough to eat on its own or to use it as a relish. We love keeping a jar in the fridge and snacking on it with tortilla chips and even just eating it with a spoon. Seriously, it’s that good.
How to ferment your corn
Making sour corn is easy and leaves room for you to get creative. For ours, we used three fresh ears of corn, two garlic cloves, two red chili peppers, and one tablespoon of kosher salt. You can also add in onion, bell pepper, and even tomato. We like ours simple with a little bit of spice, which is why we use chili peppers.
First, shuck your corn and cut the cobs in thirds. We really recommend making this dish with corn that is in-season, as fresh corn will retain some of its delectable crunch after fermenting. If you can’t find super fresh corn or it’s not in season, you will just have to steam it for a few minutes and let cool before fermenting.
We chose to ferment the corn while still on the cob so that it would be easier to keep all of the corn under the brine. If you’d like to remove the kernels ahead of time, just keep the husks and use them to hold down all of the kernels under your fermentation weight.
Next, you’ll slice your garlic cloves and thinly slice your chili pepper. Add your garlic, chili pepper, and corn cobs to your fermentation jug. Dissolve two tablespoons of salt in a quart of water to make your brine and cover the vegetables until they are fully submerged, using your fermentation weight to keep them under the water. Add your airlock and let your corn ferment at room temperature for 5-7 days, tasting on day 5 and letting it ferment longer if it isn’t sour enough for your liking. Once you’re happy with the taste, transfer to a container with a tight seal and refrigerate. Your corn should keep for several weeks, just be sure to keep it submerged in the brine.
You can enjoy your sour corn on its own, alongside a Sunday football barbecue spread, in salads, and even on your avocado toast. Fermenting corn is surprisingly simple, with the most delicious pay off. Don’t let summer’s corn crop pass you by without giving this ferment a try.
New to fermenting? Check out our very own Fermented Vegetable Kit for everything you need to easily get started lacto-fermenting at home. Looking for more fermented onion recipes? Check out our Lacto-Fermented Red Onions Recipe.
]]>We have created and tested a wide range of fermented vegetable recipes, but when it comes to one that is super simple and gives you a bit of flair, this is it. All you need are your cherry tomatoes, aromatics of your choice and a brine. Really, it could not be easier. What makes fermented cherry tomatoes different from fermented cucumber or chilies, is the fact that the carbonation caused by the lacto-fermentation process builds up inside of the tomatoes. Yes, there’s bubbles on the inside! The result is a super tangy-sweet tomato bomb that explodes and fizzes in your mouth every time. It’s such a crowd-pleasing condiment to add to platters for parties, and kids love them too.
How to ferment your cherry tomatoes
Like we said, this is a really easy recipe. First off, you need to sort through your cherry tomatoes and put the ones that feel a touch soft to one side. You can use these riper ones for salads later. This recipe calls for firm cherry tomatoes. If they are too soft they will burst during fermentation, instead of trapping the carbonation inside.
Add your tomatoes to your fermentation jar and layer with your chosen aromatics. We used sliced red onions and pepper corns, but you can really use anything you have on hand. Think garlic, basil or a bit of thyme. Make your brine and cover your tomatoes. Add your fermentation weight and airlock. Your cherry tomatoes should ferment at room temperature for 6–8 days and can then be moved to the fridge.
You can enjoy these tangy fizz bombs just as they are, on cheese boards, or added to peanut noodles, wraps, grain bowls, pasta salad and so much more. Having tomatoes in the fridge (the place we thought no tomatoes should ever go) has been a total game changer for our kitchen-routine. Fermented cherry tomatoes are delightfully fresh, tangy and literally bursting with flavor. We can’t recommend them enough.
]]>And since the main spicy element of this hot sauce recipe is jalapeño (which has a relatively mild heat), this is a hot sauce you can douse liberally over anything in need of a light, tropical heat. It’s one of our go-to fish taco hot sauces. It also adds a fun, delicate heat to pad thai and other noodle dishes.
Lacto-fermentation adds deep complexity to hot sauces. All the ingredients in this recipe are all specifically chosen to work together in preserving their lush tropically bright flavors. To ensure a hot sauce has a fully rounded out flavor and isn’t just a one-note spicy sauce, we often add something from the onion family to a recipe. The onion used here is scallions. Scallions are brighter in flavor than a typical yellow onion. Herb also do a ton to lift the flavor and aroma of a hot sauce. The additional of a whole lot of cilantro adds a clean freshness to the recipe that helps it shine—even after a few weeks of fermentation.
So if you’re looking for a bright, tropical, fruit-forward recipe for your next batch of homemade hot sauce, look no further.
Want it spicier?
Replace jalapeños with a hotter pepper like Serrano chilies. Serrano will also help keep your hot sauce a verdant green.
Don’t like cilantro?
We get it. Cilantro isn’t for everybody. Try replacing it will another herb like parsley.
New to fermentation?
Check out our very own Fermented Hot Sauce Kit for everything you need to easily get started lacto-fermenting at home. Looking for more fermented hot sauce recipes? Check out our Fermented Pineapple Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe.
]]>
Fresno peppers look like bright red jalapeños. They are the same size and shape, and they pack a similar level of heat (although we tend to find Fresnos a teensy bit hotter). And while jalapeños will also turn red (if you leave them on the plant long enough), Fresnos are their own pepper and not just jalapeños in a fire-engine red dress. Less vegetal and with a hint of sweetness, they pair fantastically with the delicate peach flavor of this hot sauce.
Why fermentation makes the best hot sauces
All good hot sauces start with fermentation. Every bottle of Tabasco you’ve casually doused your food in underwent a pretty substantial period of fermentation. It’s that secret sauce in the sauce. Fermenting your peppers creates an acidic, warm depth of flavor because the fermentation takes place over time, leaving you with a bright but deep complex flavor in your sauce. The addition of spices like garlic and ginger or fruits and vegetables, help to build the flavors even more. They add extra layers of umami and sweetness that mixes perfectly with the slightly sour ferment.
A fermented hot sauce is made through lacto-fermentation, a natural and easy method of fermentation. At its base, all you need to start the lacto-fermentation process is your chilies and a brine (saltwater). Lacto-fermentation is an easy process to follow, and if you use vibrant ingredients, you are on your way to make an amazing fermented hot sauce. We like to leave our peach hot sauce mixture for about 2–3 weeks to ferment. When finally opening the fermentation jar, your ferment should smell slightly sour with a waft of chili heat.
The ingredients and method
To make our peach hot sauce, we use Fresno peppers, peaches, red onion, and a brine. For this recipe Fresno peppers are the perfect complement to the peaches and are not too spicy. If you want to make your hot sauce even hotter, you can add a habanero or two. We use peaches that are ripe, but not overly ripe as they will provide too much sugar to the ferment. Peaches that have just reached maturity, with no green spots are perfect because they will provide a savory lacto-fermentation spiciness to the sauce. For this recipe we add only a quarter red onion, to help build layers of flavor without overpowering the peach..
Once you have all your ingredients, you can start to assemble your peach hot sauce. Begin with a layer of chopped Fresno peppers, followed by a layer of chopped peaches (we leave the skin on), followed by a layer of onion. Layer up your fermentation jar and try to end with a top layer of chili and not peaches. Dissolve two tablespoons of salt in a quart of water and fill your jar with the brine. Add your fermentation weight, airlock, and store in a cool dark place for 2–3 weeks to ferment.
Once your ferment is ready, transfer your fermented chilies, peaches, and onions to a blender. You can add one cup of brine to the ferment. You can also add a cup of white vinegar to help balance out the flavors in your fermented hot sauce. Blend it all up and transfer to bottles or jars. You can store your fermented peach hot sauce in the fridge where it will keep for months.
]]>It couldn’t be easier to get from bitter sourness to mellow fruitiness. With a little salt and patience, you’ll have preserved chili limes in just a month. Since limes bring their own juice to the party, you don’t even need to worry about a brine. When the preservation process is over, you won’t be eating the lime flesh (it soaks up too much salt to be palatable), but the rind, so we recommend choosing organic or minimally-processed produce. When the limes are ready, rinse the fruit, ditch the flesh, and cut up the rinds. Slice them for garnish, or finely chop to mix an extra dose of delicious citrus into your next dish.
]]>The key to this ferment is piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar that comes in a cone shape and can be found online and in Mexican specialty stores. This sugar smells like a cross between maple sugar candy and cola, and once you taste it you’ll be sneaking it into your dessert recipes as well. You can sub in a cup of turbinado or brown sugar in a pinch.
Making Tepache could not be easier. Just toss your ingredients: pineapple peels and core, piloncillo, and some spices into a fermenter, top with water, cover and wait 2-3 days. You can ferment this recipe as either a half gallon or full gallon batch without changing anything but the water quantity. The half gallon size will be stronger and lends itself super well to cocktails or cut with a beer.
]]>When you ferment honey with garlic, the honey takes on intensely savory garlic flavors and becomes super runny and perfect for drizzling on pretty much anything (roasted vegetables, cheese boards, and pizza are some of our favorites). But this recipe isn’t just about making flavorfully infused honey. The garlic cloves actually change drastically during fermentation—losing their harsh bite while tasting mellower and sweeter. We use these cloves whole studded into focaccia, sliced in pasta sauces and minced into marinades and dressings.
So, how do you make fermented garlic honey?
Fermented garlic honey is one of the easiest ferments to make, with the most tedious task probably trying to get all those garlic cloves peeled. You will need a glass jar, two heads of garlic and one cup of local honey (you’re looking for raw, unpasteurized honey) to cover your garlic cloves.
It is important to note that honey has a really low water content and naturally antibacterial properties. This means that it can kill off wild yeasts and bacteria from the environment. By crushing the garlic cloves slightly and allowing them to release their juices in the honey, the antibacterial properties become less potent and the fermentation process can start. The honey will start to foam and become runnier as it begins to ferment and infuse with the rich flavors of garlic. Fermented garlic honey will take about a month before it is ready to eat and can be left up to twelve months in a cool, dark cupboard.
This process differs in a few key ways from most of our fermentation recipes. We recommend using a 16 ounce jar instead of your 1/2 gallon FarmSteady fermenter (because it would be quite a bit more honey to fill). But you can absolutely scale it up (and once you’ve had a taste of this, you will likely want to). We also don’t use a fermentation weight (it would just get covered in honey) or airlock, and we instead recommend that you turn over your jar every day or two to re-coat the garlic cloves, and loosen the lid periodically to release any built up CO2. And lastly, we don’t ever move this to the fridge. Honey and refrigeration don’t go well together. So this is one ferment that you will keep at room temperature the whole time.
Fermented garlic honey should become a staple in your home. It’s really easy to make, will elevate the flavor of even the most tried and true dishes and can be your secret immune-boosting and cold-fighting weapon. Try it, and you’ll always need a jar on hand.
Uses and health benefits of fermented garlic honey
Fermented garlic honey has a sweet but savory taste. It can be used as a marinate for meat and poultry dishes, or as a drizzle for vegetable bakes (think roasted pumpkin and butternut). When mixed with a bit of olive oil, it makes a perfect salad dressing, especially where fruits like figs or dried apricots are featured in the salad. You can also drizzle it over herby breads or crispy bacon, and it is absolutely amazing on pizza.
Both honey and garlic have well-known health benefits. Unpasteurized raw honey is packed with antioxidants that protect and strengthen the immune system and has antibacterial and antiseptic properties. In ancient times it was used as a traditional medicine to help heal wounds and as a remedy for sore throats and coughing. Honey can also be used as a natural sugar alternative.
Garlic is an ingredient found in most cuisines around the world. It contains high levels of sulfur, amino acids, flavonoids and allicin. Allicin is the compound that gives garlic its antibacterial and antiviral properties, making it quite a potent immune booster and cold and flu fighter. Some folks swear by eating a clove of fermented honey garlic when the onset of a cold is detected. While it can’t protect you from germs or viruses, it can help alleviate those dreaded cold and flu symptoms and soothe a cough and scratchy throat.
]]>Fresh dill and garlic are usually the flavors you’d find in full sour cucumber pickles. (Curious? Check out our recipe for Classic Dill Pickles.) And the technique for making these Fermented Dilly Green Beans is pretty similar. No vinegar required for this recipe. All you need to get started is a salt-water brine, herbs, an optional hot pepper for a little kick, and some time.
Lacto-fermentation allows the green beans to retain all their nutrients, while also providing a healthy environments for gut-friendly bacteria you can’t get from other pickling methods. Trust us when we say that lacto-fermented Dilly Green Beans are both delicious and versatile, making them a worthy addition to your must-try list of ferments. We always find ourselves going through them faster than expected, but they’re just so delicious!
Dilly Green Beans are delightful to munch on for an afternoon snack, served as a dinner side dish, or added to a brunch Bloody Mary. They also make a wonderfully tangy addition to a stir fry, salad, or cheese board. Plus, they can even replace dill pickle chips on a burger or sandwich. They’re so easy to make, and they’re ready to eat in just one to two weeks, depending on how firm or soft you’d like them to be (and we like ours crunchy!). But taste them over the course of fermentation, and you’ll know for yourself when they’re just perfect.
We love applying the flavors of classic dill pickles to other vegetables. It just works so well with lacto-fermentation. So if you like this recipe, we think you’ll love these other recipes too. Try making some Dill Pickle Sauerkraut, Dill Pickle Carrot Sticks. They can all be made easily with our Fermented Vegetable Kit.
How to make fermented dilly beans
When fermenting green beans, we like to find the crispiest ones we can, preferably ones that are freshly picked from the garden or purchased from the farmer’s market. When they’re not in season we just scour the market shelves until we find the firmest ones possible. Similar to when we are selecting cucumbers for fermented pickles, we want our green beans to be small, firm, and fresh so they retain that snappy crunch. We always start with two pounds so we can pack our fermentation jar full and have beans to snack on for a while.
First, you’ll trim the ends of your beans and pack them into your fermenter. We wedge ours in upright so we can fit as many as possible. While adding the green beans, throw in some sprigs of fresh dill and two thinly sliced garlic cloves between them.
Once your fermenter is packed, you’ll make your brine. Simply dissolve two tablespoons of kosher salt in one quart of water. Be sure to avoid iodized salt, as iodine disrupts the fermentation process. Top the green beans with your fermentation weight and submerge in brine. Screw on the lid and top with your air lock. Then the rest is easy… we wait!
While fermenting, be sure to store them at room temperature—too warm and it could speed up fermentation (read our Tips for Fermenting in Hot Weather), and too cold it could prevent fermentation or slow it down dramatically. Taste your dilly beans one week in and see if they are tangy enough to your liking. If not, leave them for up to two weeks! Once done, you will transfer your finished Dilly Beans, brine-and-all to jars and store them in the fridge for up to two months.
Fermented Dilly Green Beans will quickly become one of your favorite ferments because of their versatility, amazing pickle flavor, and how quickly they ferment. Use them to add a tanginess to your favorite meals and afternoon snack time and love every bite of snappy crunch.
]]>But these wild leeks are heartbreakers too. Their season is super short, and their fevered popularity has led to some pretty frightening harvesting practices that puts this wild crop at risk. If you are harvesting them yourself, we recommend using a foraging knife to harvest the leaves from the stalk, leaving one leaf on each plant and the bulb and roots in the ground so it has a chance to spread more tasty ramps. Be sure to only forage what you're going to eat (we recommend <10% of a patch) and leave the rest behind. The thing about ramps is that they are much better at spreading by bulb division than by seed, so the more bulbs in the ground, the more ramps the next season.
If you are lucky enough to have a good patch on private land like us (or a trusted sustainable source at a farmer's market) you can mix a few bulbs in there too, but this recipe works just as well using ramp leaves only. The garlic-heavy aroma of ramps pairs beautifully with the bright, crunchy cabbage base, and make for a fun update to the tangy depth you love in a good kraut.
Fermenting ramps helps stretch their lifespan, so you can be sure that you make good use out of every single ramp you pick. And layering them in-between kraut means that you are getting two ferments in one: crazy delicious lacto-fermented ramps, plus a whole bunch of ramp-flavored kraut to make those few weeks of ramp season last longer.
]]>In fact, you won’t come across fiddleheads at the supermarket. If you’re interested in eating fiddleheads, you’ll have to cross your fingers and head to your favorite farmers market in the spring. Or you’ll need to head out into the woods with an experienced wild-crafter and forage some fresh fiddleheads yourself.
Check out our Foraging Tool Kit if hunting for fiddleheads sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.
We’ve been cooking with fiddleheads for a few years, and we were growing a little bored of the recipes we’d find. Don’t get us wrong. Recipes calling for fiddleheads sautéd in butter are delicious. If you’re curious, sautéd fiddleheads are somewhat similar to asparagus in flavor and texture.
But we thought that if we’re going through the trouble of hunting down these delightfully cute fiddleheads, we ought to put them in something a bit more fun than a pan of butter. (And yes, there is such a thing.)
So we began making savory fiddlehead tarts, and our foraged feasts have taken on new life. Fiddleheads nestled atop a delicately complex and fluffy, eggy, cheesy puff pastry tart has become our new taste of spring.
We think this fiddlehead tart recipe will be the same for you. Enjoy.
Happy foraging!
]]>Ramps are easy to identify in the wild because their leaves give off a powerful onion scent, so you can be sure of what they are before you pull them from the ground. In fact, we don't recommend pulling them out of the ground at all if you're foraging them. It's best to use a foraging knife to harvest the leaves from the stalk, leaving one leaf on each plant and the bulb and roots in the ground so it has a chance to spread more tasty ramps. Be sure to only forage what you're going to eat (we recommend <10% of a patch) and leave the rest behind.
If you won't be hitting the trails to forage your own, check your local farmer's markets for sustainably (double check with the vendor) harvested ramps.
The bold garlic aromas of ramps make them a perfect pairing for the deep, funky flavors of kimchi, and they maintain their dark green color beautifully through the fermentation process. The leaves become silky and tender, and retain their own unique flavors against the kimchi paste, while the bulbs (if you choose to include some) stay crunchy and pungent. We like them on top of cold sesame noodles, in kimchi fried rice, or on top of toast with a soft-boiled egg. Ramps are also packed with Vitamin C, making this kimchi a snack that's as healthy as it is delicious.
]]>Lacto-fermentation adds rich complexity to any hot sauce recipe. But, in the end, it’s the ingredients you choose that guide how the flavors will develop. Fermentation tends to mellow the crisp freshness of a pepper—which isn’t always a bad thing. How the process transforms peppers is often why fermented hot sauces taste so interesting. But if you’re looking to create a super-bright, fresh hot sauce, you’ll want to consider including ingredients that brighten its flavors and lift its apparent freshness.
Citrus does this perfectly. The selection of citrus is vast, so choose a fruit you’re excited to use and that pairs well with your other ingredients. All citrus is a a little different. Oranges are sweeter than lemons. Meyer lemons are sweeter than lemons but not as sweet as oranges. Grapefruits have a super distinct flavor all to themselves. When choosing citrus, we also take its color into consideration. This recipe uses orange habanero peppers and an orange bell pepper, so we use blood orange, and it results in one of the most beautifully vibrant hot sauces we’ve made all year.
Put this hot sauce on seafood—especially fish tacos. Crab cakes, shrimp and grits, and scrambled eggs have also been improved by a healthy dose of this Fermented Citrus Hot Sauce.
Prepping your oranges
To maximize the orange flavor, we ferment these peels and all. Which means that you want to opt for organic and minimally processed fruits and give them a good rinse before starting. But you don’t just throw the oranges into the fermenter whole. Cut the ends off the orange and then carefully slice off the peels (and reserve). Then cut the orange into segments vertically into wheels (instead of slices). This makes it super easy to spot and pop out any seeds (and looks very pretty in your fermenter).
Layer the peels at the top of your fermenter to keep everything submerged under the brine while providing a massive boost of citrus flavor to your finished hot sauce. Watch the video for more tips on prepping your citrus.
New to fermentation?
Check out our very own Fermented Hot Sauce Kit for everything you need to easily get started lacto-fermenting at home. Looking for more fermented hot sauce recipes? Check out our Fermented Pineapple Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe.
]]>We ferment a lot. But, if we’re being honest, the idea of fermenting mayo gave us the heebie-jeebies. Mayonnaise is the quintessential food poisoning warning. We spent a decade of schooling worried that our brown-bagged turkey sandwich would kill us by lunch. So even though we knew we could make a fermented mayonnaise, and that we very likely should make it, we kept putting it off.
Instead, to ready ourselves for cookout season we would made batch after batch of Fermented Ketchup and Fermented Mustard. We packed our fermentation jars with Lacto-Fermented Pickles and Classic Sauerkraut. We made extras to bring along to friends’ backyard parties. And we guiltily kept dragging out the store-bought mayo. When we finally pushed our irrational fears aside and made homemade fermented mayo, we wondered why we had waited so long.
Making mayonnaise from scratch is super simple. The only equipment you really need is a whisk (but it will come together just as well and a bit quicker using a blender or food processor). With homemade mayo you can use better quality oils than the stuff you’ve been purchasing from the store. Mayonnaise is mostly oil (held in magical suspension through emulsion) so your mayo is going to taste very much like the oil you’re using. For a classic mayo choose a neutral oil like canola or grapeseed, for something more flavorful use your favorite olive oil. We also recommend sourcing the best eggs you can and letting them come to room temp before mixing.
The only additional ingredients you need are lemon juice (or vinegar for a sharper acidity), a couple tablespoons of whey (strained from a yogurt with live cultures) and a little bit of salt and Dijon mustard. Your homemade mayonnaise will come together in less than 10 minutes (even if you’re whisking by hand) and only needs 6 hours to ferment, so there is definitely time for you whip up a batch ahead of your next cookout.
Tip: You can also use a blender, food processor, or immersion blender for this recipe - just add the ingredients in the same order and add the oil in super slowly.
Making your own mustard is great because you control the heat level, acidity and consistency so that you’re making the perfect mustard for you. And mustard seeds are kind of magic. At the absolutely simplest you could just add water to them and it would become mustard (and fun fact: the colder the water, the spicier the mustard will be). Adding in an acid (in the form of vinegar or a fermented brine) will add a lot of flavor and the acidity helps preserve the mustard heat.
We love using leftover hot sauce brine for a spicier mustard, but you can use kraut brine or whey if you’re looking for something milder. The fermentation is quick, just 2-3 days on the counter and then it’s ready to blend. Whether you want whole grain, half cracked, or silky smooth is totally up to you.
]]>Growing up, we couldn’t eat our french fries or hot dogs without smothering them in ketchup first. It’s one of those nostalgic flavors that will never not be a guilty pleasure, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a grown-up update to an old childhood favorite.
And you might think that sounds crazy. Why would you want to mess with something that’s so simple, and so readily available? But trust us when we say that this is not the ketchup of your childhood. Fermented ketchup is the cool, worldly older sister to the stuff from the grocery store. It’s deep, and nuanced, and a little dark in the best way.
This ketchup, first and foremost, brings tomato flavors to the forefront. For lack of a better word, it’s deeply tomato-y. The stuff you grew up loving is dosed heavily with refined sugar and onion powder, effectively masking the very stuff it’s supposed to taste like: tomatoes.
We add Worcestershire sauce for an umami base that, along with fermentation, turns this recipe from a tomato sauce into a crave-worthy condiment. Paprika and cayenne add a nice kick, but can be left out for the ketchup purists out there. Maple syrup adds a touch of sweetness and smooths everything out, while apple cider vinegar brightens it all up.
So there you have it. Our argument for messing with what we grew up thinking was the perfect addition to anything grilled or griddled. Adjust this recipe as you like for a ketchup that’s all your own, and make a whole new flavor to be nostalgic about.
]]>But sometimes, perfectly firm, uniform pickling cucumbers are hard to come by. And as our craving for pickles doesn’t wane with the seasons, we’ve turned to making big jars of lacto-fermented sliced pickles. These pickles are packed with a ton of dill and garlic flavor and are the perfect sandwich pickle any time of year.
For cucumbers you want to use ones that are small, firm and mostly seedless. Pickling varietals work great, but we have also had success with the small seedless Persian and mini cucumbers that grocery stores stock year-round. But firmness is key, as you need the slices to maintain their shape through fermentation, so if any are soft, or have loose watery seeds you’ll want to add those ones to a salad and only use the super firm ones in your fermentation jar.
]]>Whether you’re new to lacto-fermentation, or you’ve become a pickling expert, fermented jalapeños are one of our tried and true favorites. Natural fermentation preserves the jalapeños, meaning there’s no rush to use them all before going bad.
We love picking up a big batch of jalapeños at the the farmers market during prime pepper season or grabbing some at the supermarket any other time of year and fermenting them for later. The best part? This ferment is incredibly easy and will take you under 15 minutes to prepare.
All you really need are jalapeños and a saltwater brine, but we encourage you to get creative and add flavors that inspire you. In our recipe, we use a little lime peel and garlic, but you’re free to use onions, more peppers of another variety, fresh herbs, and other seasonings. This recipe is an ideal base for experimenting with jalapeño fermentation.
How to ferment your jalapeños
To make your own lacto-fermented jalapeños, you’ll need fresh jalapeños that are still green, 1.5 tablespoons of kosher salt, one quart of water, and any additional ingredients of your choice. Seriously, this recipe could not be any simpler. You will de-stem your jalapeños and thinly slice into rounds. We like to keep the seeds for ease in preparation and for a little extra heat, but this is up to you depending on how spicy you’d like your final product to be. Put your sliced jalapeños in your fermentation jar along with your garlic cloves, herbs, and anything else you’d like to add.
Now it’s time to prep your brine. Simply dissolve 1.5 tablespoons of kosher salt into one quart of water. Place your glass fermentation weight over the sliced jalapeños, and pour in your brine to cover the glass weight. Lastly, top your fermentation jar with your lid and airlock. Your jalapeños will need to ferment at room temperature for 3-5 days. After the first three days, taste to determine if they’re developed enough for your liking or if they should ferment longer.
Some folks prefer to ferment their jalapeños for up to two weeks, however, we like ours on the less sour side. It’s totally up to you. When they’re just perfect, transfer to smaller jars and move to the fridge where they will keep for months!
We love how versatile jalapeños are, and trust us when we tell you we’ve found endless uses for this fun and easy ferment. Think spicy quesadillas, tacos, nachos, soups, and more. They add a richness and depth to recipes that can make things almost taste slow-cooked. Try adding them to your next batch of skillet chili if you want to know what we’re talking about. They make a 30 minute chili taste like it was cooked for hours.
You can also use them to make a salsa, giardiniera for homemade subs, or blend them up with a little acid (like vinegar or lime juice) for a simple jalapeño hot sauce. This recipe makes a full quart, leaving plenty to store for a rainy day or to share with friends.
New to lacto-fermentation? Check out our very own Fermented Vegetable Kit for everything you need to easily get started fermenting at home. Looking for more fermented vegetable recipes? Check out our Lacto-Fermented Red Onions Recipe.
]]>What’s a SCOBY, you might be asking? We’ll admit that it’s weird, but it’s the key to brewing kombucha. And it actually does most of the work. SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, and it ferments your tea into kombucha. It looks like a little jellyfish (you read that right). It’s a little slimy and rubbery with strands that hang down when it’s floating.
So how does homemade Black Tea Kombucha taste? Well, to start, it has hints of black tea. It’s a little tart and can be a little fizzy. It’s also the perfect base for adding fruits, spices, and other flavors you might like in your kombucha.
]]>When making homemade kombucha, you can use just about any tea. Black tea, white tea, red tea, pu-ehr tea, herbal tea. They’re all fine to use and will make delicious kombucha. Depending on the tea you choose, the finished kombucha you brew will take on some of its flavors.
So when making Green Tea Kombucha, expect gentle herbaceous and floral notes. It’ll be light in flavor and color and not too over-powering. Homemade Green Tea Kombucha can best be described as pleasant. Not too sharp, it’s really easy drinking.
It also acts as an amazing carrier for all sorts of flavors like herbs or fruit.
]]>Here at FarmSteady, we love our fermented vegetable recipes. Why? Because they are some of the easiest and tastiest ferments you will ever make, and they are perfect if you are a beginner just starting to get your fermentation groove on. Give this fermented red onion recipe a go (our Fermented Vegetable Kit makes it super easy), and soon you will start using pickled onions on everything from burgers to tacos, and even to spice up your avocado toast.
Fermented red onions are closer in texture to cooked onions than raw. The process of fermentation breaks down the onion’s crisp texture, transforming them to a smooth and silky condiment. If you usually avoid raw onions because of their bite and pungent flavor, pickled onions are a great alternative. In addition to the change in taste and texture, the fermentation process makes onions easier to digest and even more nutritionally beneficial than if you were to cook them. Lacto-fermentation creates a ferment packed with natural probiotic cultures that our gut loves, so this is not just a delicious condiment, but a healthy one too. This is why we prefer homemade to store bought, as pickled onions from the store are not always fermented.
How to ferment red onions
For this fermented red onion recipe, you will only need three ingredients: red onions, salt, and water. If your onions are relatively large in size, you can use three of them, otherwise you may need four medium-sized ones.
First, we need to prepare the onions by cutting off the woody ends and peeling them. Next, you can cut your onions in half and start to thinly slice them. We want nice silky onion strings for the end-product, so no dicing required.
Transfer your sliced red onions to a big bowl and sprinkle them with 1.5 tablespoons of Kosher salt. The next step is the fun part–massage your onions. Start working the salt into the onions by pressing and massaging them with your hands. This will cause the onions to start sweating as they release their juices. You will feel the onions break down and soften as you massage them. Once they don’t feel crispy anymore, transfer them to your fermentation jar and use your fermentation weight to weigh them down. Next, add half of a cup of water and close your jar and airlock. You will have to check the water level in the jar the next day and top it off so the onions are fully submerged when weighted.
The fermentation process takes 5-7 days, depending on how they taste and your preference. Keep your onions at room temperature and taste your ferment around day 5. You can measure the amount of tang and depth of flavor according to your own taste buds. Once you have decided your ferment tastes absolutely delicious, you can store it in the fridge where it should last for at least two months–that is if you can stop yourself from not eating it all within the first few days.
]]>Red cabbage and beets, even after fermentation, do an amazing job of holding on to their vibrant red hues. And thanks to a potent zing of ginger, this Beet Apple Ginger Red Kraut has energy to spare.
Apples provide just a hint of natural sweetness, and matchstick-cut beets help keep the structure of the kraut intact and crunchy (red cabbage on its own in kraut can sometimes get a bit soft compared to green).
Kraut should be as varied as the food you cook. So we started experimenting... A lot. And we found that spicy, herb-filled kraut can elevate the simplest dishes. It can turn a side dish into a glorious meal. Don't believe us? Take crispy rice. Top it with Jalapeño Cilantro Lime Kraut and a soft-boiled egg, and you have a healthy bowl of goodness for any time of day.
The flavor combinations in this kraut are fantastic and will surely wow even your most fermentation-skeptical friends. Plus using napa cabbage gives it a really fun texture that's closer to some of our favorite Asian ferments.
]]>The main ingredient is the ginger, preferably grated with the skin on, added to water and sugar. The sugar is used to feed the naturally occurring yeast that will soon start to release carbon dioxide, giving the starter a natural fizz. And much like a sourdough starter, once you have your ginger bug going you can use it for making batch after batch of ginger beer and naturally fermented soda.
Ginger ale is one of those retro drinks. It reminds us of cassette tapes, box televisions, and carefree childhoods spent outside climbing trees. It also reminds us of a time where we were blissfully unaware of how bad soda was for us.
This is the reason why you should welcome the ginger bug and fermentation into your life. By naturally fermenting soda you are using real ingredients (fresh ginger or fruit), real sugar (we opt for raw sugar) and by fermenting it the wild yeast is consuming some of that sugar (although not all, so we still consider ginger beer and naturally fermented sodas a treat and not a health beverage).
Using real, fresh ginger also has health benefits. Ginger, officially named Zingiber Officinale, has been used as a medicinal plant and delicious spicy addition to food for centuries. It contains active therapeutic substances like gingerol, shogaol, paradol and zingerone that gives it potent antioxidant, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. Plus we love the taste.
Making your own ginger bug starter and using it to make naturally fermented sodas, is a healthy alternative to buying commercial carbonated beverages. Once you get used to the flavorsome health kick you get from a naturally fermented soda, you will never go back to store-bought again.
So, what’s the next step? Making your own ginger beer, of course. Once you have your ginger bug going check out our easy step-by-step guide to making homemade ginger beer.
]]>This Smoked Poblano Hot Sauce is smoky but tastes quite fresh (thanks to the selection of poblano and serrano peppers). It’s spicy, but not too spicy. (You, of course, could make it spicier with even more serrano peppers.) Its flavor is quite complex. It’s an attractive smoky green worthy of any kitchen table, and we think you’ll love it.
When we say smoked, we’re serious. In this recipe, we take a portion of the poblano peppers, slice them in half, and char them on a grill so that they’re blackened. (We know… The peppers are technically grilled. Not smoked, you BBQ purists out there.) The fire mellows a bit of the peppers’ heat and adds a rich smoky character to the hot sauce.
The addition of onion and garlic, plus the magically transformative effects of lacto-fermentaion in general contributes a deeply flavorful savory, umami flavor to this hot sauce.
Let’s talk about poblano peppers…
Poblano peppers are a type of mild pepper that originate from Puebla, Mexico. If you compare their heat to other peppers, they slot in between a bell pepper and a jalapeño. On the Scoville heat scale they measure about 1,000 – 1,500 SHU (Scoville Heat Units), while a jalapeño ranges from 2,000 – 10,000 SHU.
Poblano peppers are grown in the southwestern areas of the United States and are typically harvested when they’re still green. This gives them their mild flavor. When poblano peppers are ripe, they turn a deep red color and taste a little spicier. In Mexico the red poblano peppers are commonly dried and sold as ancho peppers.
Making smoked hot sauce is easy
For this fermented smoked hot sauce recipe, you will need to gather your hot sauce ingredients, fermentation jar, make your saltwater brine, and light up your grill.
To grill your poblano peppers, halve four peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds. We like to grill our peppers until they are charred black on both sides. If you don’t have a grill, you can also char them over the flame of a gas stove or place them under the grill element of your oven. The idea is to create that proper smoky flavor that makes this hot sauce so unique. Evenly char both sides of your peppers and chop them once cool.
While you wait for your charred poblanos to cool, prep the rest of your ingredients. Slice six garlic cloves and roughly chop four fresh poblanos, three serrano peppers with the stems removed, and one medium onion. Layer the ingredients in your fermentation jar, sprinkle with one teaspoon of cumin, and cover with your saltwater brine. You will need to place a fermentation weight on top to make sure everything stays submerged. Place an airlock atop your fermentation jug and leave in a cool dark place for two weeks. (Want to learn about airlocks? Check out this video.)
Once your hot sauce is ready, strain your solid ingredients, reserving one cup of brine. Blend your fermented solids, one cup of brine, and one cup of white vinegar until smooth. If you prefer really acidic hot sauces you can add more vinegar, but definitely taste it first.
Your final result will be a beautiful deep green hot sauce, specked with charred black flakes, giving every dish you add it to a deeply smoked umami spice.
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