Fermentation Foundations
Sour and Useful
Fermentation has been used for hundreds of years to help preserve food. It is a very convenient way to make use of your harvest. However, making your own ferments at home can be stressful, especially if you don’t know what to do. This guide will help teach you the basics of fermentation, or as I like to call it, “Fermentation Foundations”, so you can make your own delicious fermented food at home! Here we will be covering the fermentation of vegetables, but there are many other types of fermentation out there.
How It Works
Fermentation is what happens when certain types of bacteria, yeast, or mold break down the starches of a product and create acids, gases, and alcohol as a byproduct. These little fermentation agents used to ferment foods are specifically “good”, meaning that the byproducts they produce are not toxic. The acid they produce, called lactic acid, helps keep all the microorganisms that can spoil your food away. Beer, wine, kefir, kombucha, yogurt, and pickles are all examples of people using fermentation to create different types of food!
Tools and Ingredients You’ll Need
"Mason Jars" by Richard Elzey is licensed under CC BY 2.0
You don’t need many tools to start fermenting! All you need is a container, tongs, a thick cloth, and a lid or plate. All of these need to be sterilized, but we’ll get to that later. The container needs to be big enough for the amount of vegetables you're fermenting. In general, you want a 1 gallon container for every 5 pounds of vegetables. You can also use several different types of containers. You can use jars, crocks, or any other food safe container. You will need the plate to weigh down your vegetables in your container if you're using a larger one, and the cloth is there to help cover the top of your container so no extra bacteria or molds come in. It also prevents dust.
For ingredients you need your vegetables, water, and salt. The type of salt you use is important. Different types of salts can result in different results. You don’t want to use iodized salt or any salt with anticlumping ingredients. It will cause the brine to be cloudy, darken your vegetables, and discourage the good fermentation agents from doing their thing. Instead, use sea salt, canning/pickling salt, or Kosher salt.
The Process
Before you start to use any of the tools you plan on using for fermentation, you have to sanitize them first. To do this, get your largest pot, fill it with water, and bring it to a boil. Then, place all the tools you are using for fermentation into the boiling water to kill the random microorganisms on the tools. Skipping this step can lead to your food spoiling and you getting sick, so don’t do that! Additionally, wash your preparation surface and your hands in warm soapy water.
Next, you’ll need to create a brine, which is just a fancy name for really salty water. The amount of salt you use is important because too much salt will kill off all bacteria, even our fermentation agents, and too little can cause it to spoil. Depending on what you are fermenting, you’ll need different percentages of salt. In general, a percentage of 1.5-5% of salt will be enough. Follow your recipe, as most recipes will tell you how much salt you’ll need. Also, you should always use unchlorinated water like distilled water to allow the beneficial bacteria to grow.
After you make your brine, it’s time to prepare your vegetables. Wash your vegetables thoroughly in cold water without soap, and cut off the tops if you need to. Vegetables like carrots, zucchini, and cucumbers are good examples of ones where you need to do this with. Cucumbers in particular have an enzyme in that spot that will cause your fermented vegetables to go soft, which is not good. If you want, you can halve or quarter your vegetables. This will help the brine access the vegetables, and it can make getting them into the container you're using a lot easier.
The last step is to put it all together! Place your prepared vegetables into your container and cover with your brine. Here you can add spices and herbs to help give your ferment some extra flavor. If you are using a large container and your vegetables are floating, try putting a sanitized plate on top to weigh down your vegetables. Cover the container with a lid or a heavy cloth and put in a place that averages 65-75℉ and is not sunny. A countertop works well for this. The process can last for some weeks depending on your tastes, so make sure it isn’t too in the way.
For maintenance you’ll need to release gas from it everyday if you’re using a lid, otherwise it might explode. You can also use gas pipes made specifically for fermentation if you want, called “pickle pipes”, or you can use an airlock. You’ll also need to occasionally skim off “scum” that float up to the top of your container, roughly every day or so. The scum is extra bacterial and yeast floating to the top, and you can just scoop it off with a sanitized spoon. Just make sure it’s not your ferment molding.
How To Tell If A Ferment Has Gone Bad
Sometimes a ferment goes bad. That can happen due to various reasons, such as not sanitizing the tools properly. Some easy signs of this happening are a rotten smell, soft, slimy vegetables, and mold growing in the container. At that point, throw out the ferment and start again.
Pickles and Beyond
Fermentation can be a scary thing to dive into if you don’t know what you’re doing. Hopefully this guide has helped you overcome your fermentation phobia, and it has introduced you to the exciting world of making your own ferments. While this guide only talked about fermenting vegetables, there are so many different ways to use fermentation! From drinks to dairy products to pickles, fermentation is there to make it happen.
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I would also like to thank Le Cordon Bleu, Sarah Miller with Masontops, the National Center for Home Food Fermentation, Sandor Ellix Katz, Kirsten K. Shockey, and University of Missouri Extension for the information used in this blog post! If you want to check out their websites and books, they’re linked below.
Le Cordon Bleu:
https://www.cordonbleu.edu/news/art-of-fermentation-one-trick-to-make-fermented-vegetables-great/en
Fermentation Guide and Recipe Book by Sarah Miller:
https://www.keimling.de/media/parsed/pdf/Masontops_Guidebook.pdf
National Center for Home Food Fermentation:
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/ferment
The Art of Fermentation : An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes From Around the World by Sandor Ellix Katz:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fermentation-Depth-Exploration-Essential/dp/160358286X
Fermented Vegetables : Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes by Kirsten K. Shockey:
https://www.amazon.com/Fermented-Vegetables-Creative-Fermenting-Chutneys/dp/1612124259
University of Missouri Extension:
