Transcription
So, as most of you know, I have been rather obsessed with fermentation over the last decade of my life. I put out countless videos on the subject, which have racked in over 50 million views.
But over the last 6 months specifically, I have taken things to a whole new level because I am deep in the process of writing a fermentation book with the main goal of making what can be a very confusing and overwhelming subject as accessible as possible. And with every single bubbling jar and croc that I've experimented with in this kitchen over the last few months, I've gained a little bit more knowledge and a whole lot of inspiration that I just could not wait to share until the book is released. So, I welcome you to my master class in fermentation.
Now, the world of fermentation is extremely vast. It has helped humans survive for thousands of years. So, of course, different cultures have adopted their own specific techniques, their own recipes, and the book covers a much broader range of all of these things, but today I wanted to specifically focus on the simple skill of fermenting vegetables. Because when you're learning any new skill, I think it's best to just start with the basics and then expand your knowledge from that point. which is why I think every single home cook should at least be somewhat comfortable with just simple veggie ferments.
So, this video won't be covering more of the complex recipes like kimchi or kombucha or even koji. Instead, we're going to be sticking to just two ingredient ferments, just vegetable and salt and water if you consider that an ingredient. And when I say vegetable, that includes every part of the vegetable. The stalks, the pods, the stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, all of which will be demonstrated in this video. And what's really fun is every single ferment that you see in this video has been harvested from my garden over the last few weeks, which really ties into the core of why humans always fermented foods. taking that abundance that's available during the growing season and preserving it to help survive those colder months when fresh ingredients were not available.
Now, of course, with modern technology like refrigeration, humans have slowly over time lost this very basic and natural ability to ferment and preserve foods. But even with all the available resources and fresh foods that we can now get year round in this modern world, people are finally starting to wake up about the health benefits of consuming food that is active, that is alive, and thriving with beneficial microbes that help create a healthy balance for our gut biome.
Now, the great thing for all of you is since we are just focusing on the basics of fermentation today, we don't need any expensive gadgets or equipment. We just need some very basic supplies and by far the most important piece of equipment of course are your jars. The most classic and I think accessible fermenting vessel being the glass jar. They are reusable and most importantly you can see through them so you can actively watch your ferments develop over time. These are your classic ball jars. Some are considered widemouth which have a wider opening and some are considered smallmouth which have a smaller opening. I do prefer a wider mouth, which is much easier to funnel things in and out of. Plus, this glass weight can fit perfectly into the mouth of the jar, which do come in different sizes, and I would highly suggest having a bunch of these around. They are a great piece of equipment to keep your veggies submerged safely under the water line, which we're going to need to create a proper anaerobic environment.
Now, of course, these glass jars come in different sizes. My favorite and what I would say the most all-purpose size is the classic 32 ounce, but I also ferment in these 16 ounces and even 8 oz for like a small little jar of peppers or hot sauce. I also want to mention these lay parfait jars which are top of the line when it comes to a pop top style of jar, which are a great option for fermentation specifically because the jars can actually be sealed tight while still being able to release gas out of the top so you don't have to worry as much about an explosion in your kitchen. Although these jars still should be burped from time to time just to be safe.
Which brings me right into the next piece of equipment, which are your jar lids. Now, there are many different types of fermentation lids. Different options that are more classic that have always been around, some new options that have hit the market as fermentation has started to get bigger. This is a fun little spring-loaded lid that keeps the veggies safely submerged under the water line without needing a weight. Right here is a one-way airlock lid, which lets that CO2 that's developed in the fermentation process out while keeping the oxygen from coming in. These things are great. I have a bunch of them in my kitchen. I use them all the time. You also have a more classic version that looks like this, which you have to add water to, but you get the same exact effect. And then of course, you just have your standard mason jar lids, which definitely do the trick, but they create a tight seal. So, if you do screw these lids on, they need to be burped from time to time to let out that CO2 so you don't have any type of glass jar explosion.
And then outside of that, the only other real piece of equipment that you need for proper fermentation is a good kitchen scale. And any somewhat accurate scale will do the trick. All right, my friends, that brings me into the most important part of this video. See how we have a percentage right here on this jar? that comes from a specific fermentation equation to get the proper salt ratio you need to have a healthy fermented product. And I did a video on this many years back, but for this book, I really wanted to fine-tune this equation. So, it was crystal clear. It was very practical and it was easy to adjust at home. And the only way to do that was to experiment myself, which is what you see all over this kitchen.
Now, I first want to briefly cover the basics of fermentation. As simple of a breakdown as possible. Remember, we have three things in this jar to unlock some incredible flavors and health benefits in this hakurei turnip. Vegetable, salt, and water. And when fresh vegetables are submerged in a saltwater solution, also known as a brine, it creates an anaerobic environment, meaning no oxygen getting in. And in that specific environment, certain beneficial bacteria like lactobacillus, start to thrive. And these specific bacteria feed on the natural sugars in the vegetables and convert them into lactic acid which gives these fermented vegetables that nice sour flavor.
All right, before we get into salt percentages, I just want to let you know that if you really are interested in taking your fermentation game to the next level, the fermentation book and course are coming this fall. So you can sign up for more information. We'll send you updates on the release. Just click the link below in the description. All right.
So, I would say this is the most important thing to understand when it comes to vegetable fermentation, which is choosing the proper salt percentage. Now, this is something I struggled with for many years. There is a lot of conflicting information out there. And the reason for that is there's really no one-size-fits-all answer. There's a range of salt percentage that's going to work well for fermenting vegetables. And the key is understanding how choosing within this ratio is actually going to affect your final product. And we have found from a lot of rigorous testing that anywhere from 2 to 5% salt of the total weight and vegetables is going to give you a great ferment. So that's the good news. Anywhere on this scale is going to give you something delicious on the other side. But how do you choose? All of these ferments have a slightly different salt percentage. And there's a reason why. Actually, there's four main things to understand and keep in mind.
Number one is timing. Salt, of course, is a preservative. So the higher the salt levels, the more of an inhospitable environment you're going to create for that bad bacteria, which is going to aid in longer fermentation time. So if you plan to ferment something for many months, it's better to go higher on that salt ratio. Whereas on the other end, if you plan to ferment something for a short period of time, a lower salt ratio is actually going to speed up the fermentation time.
Number two is texture. Salt over time is going to break down the cell walls of your vegetable. So if you're say fermenting something that's a little softer like a radish, a lower salt percentage might be ideal to preserve the crispiness and snap of the radish. Whereas a beet or a carrot, those are denser, harder vegetables. They can handle a higher salt ratio while still staying crispy.
Number three is flavor. A lot of those beneficial bacteria, those lactobacillus, actually prefer a slightly lower saline level. So lower on the salt scale can aid in building more of those delicious fermented flavors. Whereas on the other end of the scale, of course, a higher salt level is going to make your vegetables taste saltier, which some people prefer. But as your vegetables ferment and build more of those sour flavors, that sourness will end up balancing out those higher salt levels.
And finally, number four is safety. Again, salt being a preservative, the higher the salt ratio, the more reduced risk you have for spoilage, which is going to ensure a more reliable ferment, which is good for beginners if you're just getting into the game, I would go a little bit higher on the scale and then as you get more comfortable, you can start lowering that percentage and going for more of those unique flavors.
All right, so hopefully you're feeling more confident and you have a much better understanding of how fermentation works. Now, it's time to see it in action. And I have been harvesting a bunch of things over the last few weeks. And we're going to start off with carrots and beets. Two things that I love fermenting. I'm going to combine these into one jar because they have a very similar texture and the flavors together are going to be quite nice. Now, for this first ferment, I'm going to go into more detail of the process. And the other ones, I'm just going to kind of go over what I fermented and the salt percentage that I chose. and then Carly and I will do a nice little taste test to see where we ended up with these ferments at the end of the video.
Now, when you're fermenting veggies from the store, I would highly suggest peeling your vegetables because you don't know what they've been treated with and also if they've been in the ground longer, they might have a tougher skin. Since both of these are fairly small and young plants, the skin is very delicate. It's also loaded with nutrition, so it can be fermented. I'm just going to peel off and cut off any blemishes to get things cleaned up. And then I'm just going to chop up my vegetables in what I think will be just a nice little fermented bite.
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Now, once I'm done with the chopping, I'll get my scale out. I'll pop on my clean jar. I'll tear everything to zero. Then, I'm going to load in all of the vegetables. I'm going to cover them with water, which will give me the weight that I need to calculate my salt percentage. And since this is a fairly short ferment that I'm going to eat pretty quickly, I'm going to go with a lower percentage at 3.5%. But remember, since these are denser vegetables, if you're fermenting them for a long time, they could take a higher salt percentage. So, I'll multiply my water and vegetable weight times .035 to give me the amount of salt I need, which I'll weigh out separately. I'll dump that into the jar. And I'm just going to cover it with the lid and give it a shake up. Generally, that's enough to get the dissolving process to start. And over time, all of that salt will just naturally dissolve. Then I'm going to pop on that glass weight to help keep those vegetables submerged under the water line, which is very important, especially in those early days before you've built up that good bacteria to protect things. And this will happen, like you can see here, a floater will pop up. It will break the surface of the water. Now, it's exposed to oxygen, and all of that bad bacteria can come in potentially leading to the growth of mold at the top of your jar. If that does happen, which things happen in the world of fermentation, you want to throw that away, learn from your mistakes, and start over.
Now, the final step is popping on your lid. And what I love about these one-way lids is as CO2 builds up in your jar, the CO2 will push out the remaining oxygen that was left over in the jar, meaning this empty space over time will have no oxygen, which is a much safer environment in your jar.
And when actually fermenting your vegetables, there's just a few things to keep in mind. You want to store them away from sunlight. So, somewhere on a shelf that's not right in front of a window or in a basement with no windows. And when dealing with this specific type of lactic acid fermentation, just like the salt ratio, there's also a range of temperature that will work to properly ferment your vegetables. I find a range from 60°F to 75°F will work, which is great because room temperature falls right in that range. So for me, we've just been fermenting things right here at room temperature, and it's great. But if you ferment, say, in your basement at a lower temperature, you'll get some different flavors. Your vegetables will also ferment slower, which is a little easier to control. Versus at the higher temperature, things are going to ferment faster. It's a little harder to control. Things can kind of get away from you quickly at higher temperatures.
Now, for the second thing I fermented, I had some garlic scapes, which emerge from the top of the garlic plant as they flower. But I'm not actually after the flower. I'm after these tender, garlicky, sweet, and delicate stocks, which I just cut into little pieces and fermented those at a 4% salt ratio.
For ferment number three, I have my absolute favorite spring vegetable, which are hakurei turnips. These are super juicy. They're sweet. There's almost zero bite like you would get in a radish, which is why I like them better than radishes. And I actually fermented these whole at a 4% salt ratio.
For ferment number four, I've been getting a ton of these radish pods, which actually emerged when it got a little hotter and the radishes bolted. They put out flowers at the top and then these pods started to develop and they came in the masses. This is just a few radishes that developed all of these pods. And it's a great example of how much more there is to ferment than just the actual vegetable that you're used to. I cleaned off all the pods, got everything weighed out, and again, I used that nice middle ground of a 4% salt ratio.
Now, for ferment number five, luckily, I had some cabbage in my garden to show you how those ratios are slightly different. This cabbage was in the greenhouse, so it was a little hot, so they weren't really nice big heads, but hey, a few of these will turn into a great sauerkraut. So, I chopped up everything fine. I weighed out my sauerkraut. And since I'm relying on the water content in the cabbage, I lower that salt percentage to 2 to 3%. In this case, I'm going to go right in between at 2.5%. I weighed out the salt, dumped it over my cabbage, and you get to decide the texture of your sauerkraut. If you like it more broken down, just really massage in that salt and break down those cell walls.
Now, I'll place the cabbage in the jar, and I usually just wait an hour to see how much moisture is drawn out. Now, you can see here, I actually didn't have enough water to cover all of the cabbage. So, I'm going to dump in some clean water, but to account for the ratio, I'm just going to sprinkle in a little bit of salt. And that will even everything out.
Now, the last variable to consider is the time of fermentation. And what I would say is the first few days, things aren't going to taste great. If you're trying it, it might even taste a little bit off. And that's because that lactic acid hasn't developed yet. So the good bacteria, all those health benefits, the sour flavor is not developed. And after about 5 days at room temperature, that's when things will start tasting better and they'll just continue to get better over time. But we're going to talk about the specific timings we like during the taste test.
>> All right, so we have almost I don't know like 12 ferments here. All different vegetables, all different salt percentages, different timings.
>> Some things I didn't make in this video that have been going for multiple months. We're going to do a taste test. I want to rank them 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. and we'll see how it goes. Let's move these aside.
Two hakurei turnips. This is the older one at 4%.
>> This is also 4%.
>> Okay.
>> But this one's probably a week or two weeks older.
>> Yeah. Let's try the one first.
>> Wow.
>> Good. Slightly salty at the 4%, but so good. This has been going for just a month.
>> Yeah. It's salty at the beginning, but then it kind of passes and then you get that the sour flavor.
>> Yeah. The juiciness of this still holds up.
>> These look less fermented almost. Maybe cuz they're whole. Wow.
>> Salt has gone down a lot.
>> Mhm. That's from 4/21.
>> Oh wow. So that is 3 months old.
>> That is so interesting.
>> Mellowed out a little bit.
>> A lot.
>> The salt mellows. But it's not like a lot more sour.
>> This is definitely better than that one. The extra time.
>> 9 and 1/2. 8 and 1/2 for me.
>> I would say this is like a nine and this is like a seven.
>> Um
>> let's go. Cuz we have two beets now. This is a 3%. What's that?
>> 3.5%.
>> All right. So, that's This is much younger than this one.
>> Start with the young one. This one's beets and carrots, I think, though.
>> This one's just beets.
>> All right. Let's just try be the difference.
>> Yeah. Because it's a lower percentage. Not too salty.
>> Not too salty.
>> Not that sweet.
>> It still very much has like raw beet flavor.
>> Yeah. I'm interested in in what's happening here.
>> This is from May 23rd.
>> Oh, wow. That tastes like a roasted beet.
>> Completely different. It's amazing like how much the texture changes and it's not like, oh, this is mushy now. It's like, oh, this tastes cooked now. That tastes like a roasted beet and that's a 10 out of 10.
>> And it's so sweet.
>> Those a 10 out of 10.
>> So good. Beets for the win.
>> We got garlic scapes at 3% and these have been going for just a month.
>> Those will get better. That's an obvious
>> to me. That is a perfect salt level.
>> 3%. 3%.
>> Yeah, the 3% works. And we've been like blending these into salsas and relish. That's another note. It's not like we're just eating these plants. We're adding them to dishes, cooking them into things. We're blending them into things. It's just so good to have this around because you get the additional flavor that's built in. Like you don't need to add acid anymore. It's just like such a punch.
>> This is incredibly soft.
>> 8.5. Going to get better.
>> That's like a 10 out of 10 for me.
>> Okay, let's try these little radish pods that are about a month old at 4%. Oh, they're a little stinky. They smell like farts.
>> I love that smell
>> cuz that's the radish.
>> That's the radish fart smell.
>> Oh, like some have different texture. They have a bit of a pop.
>> Yeah, they're like filled with juice.
>> You know, these have gotten better cuz I tasted those about two weeks in. They're getting better. They're kind of fun. I would say an eight.
>> Yeah, I'll give them an eight.
>> Okay, so now we have four sauerkrauts. Classic. I don't This one doesn't have a date. We'll we'll guess.
>> Yeah, we'll guess. That's That's interesting.
>> Yeah, the brassica has that funkier farty type. That's why when you open like a sauerkraut, sometimes it smells like farts.
>> That's how I know this is still young. This is a young ferment that goes away at a certain point. probably a few weeks old. So, this is red cabbage with caraway. Our only spice in all of this at 4% from 2 months ago. Now, this when I was first tasting it, I was like, you got to watch out when you're adding spice. Any type of spice because the fermentation can really intensify the spice.
>> Smell that. Smells like rye.
>> Wow.
>> I think if you didn't like caraway, it would be gross. But on the right sandwich or the right dish, like this would be so good on pastrami.
>> Oh my god. or something like that.
>> That is such a good point. Nine out of 10 for me.
>> That's a nine out of 10 for me, too. Next time I would do less caraway.
>> Last one of my favorite condiments of all time.
>> Clearly favorite of mine.
>> I couldn't I couldn't resist. This is I forgot the term.
>> It's called cotito.
>> Cito. This is cabbage, carrot, jalapeno.
>> Greatest condiment of all time because it works as a salsa. It works as a sauerkraut. It works as a um slaw like
>> but it's like a slightly fermented slaw.
>> Spicy. M.
>> Oh, I made this years ago on the channel.
>> So good. The salt level is perfect.
>> And then you get the sweetness from the carrot. 10 out of 10. I mean, the only thing is just like it could a continue to age. I would love more.
>> Yeah. Well, this will be my next when we get jalapenos in. We have everything else.
>> Oh, you're right.
>> We're about to get them. They're coming.
>> We're about to get a ton of cabbage.
>> Oh, we got to do a video on that.
>> That'll be a good short.
>> We'll end on that.
>> Oh, 10 out of 10.
>> So fun. Hopefully, you learned a thing or two about
>> pickles are good. And you should try making them.