Making fermented veggies

[erinhl]

Does anyone else struggle to make fermented veggies? I have been successful with saurkraut but cukes, beets, and carrots have been disastrous. I've tried several times. I usually use mason jars. Recently I used crock rocks and the perfect pickler. I'm about to give up. Grrrrr.

[elleneliza]

Hey, I'm about to try this today! Nice timing. I'm going to try these ginger carrots. I've been buying them from the co-op at $8.00 per 16oz. jar(!). I got 2lbs of organic carrots from the same co-op for $2.00. Wish me luck!

[salixisme]

I have had success with carrots, and believe it or not also with kale stalks. Cukes always seem to go mushy for me, so rather than trying to make pickles with them I turn them into a relish. salixisme.wordpress.com/?p=3043&preview=true

What was going wrong with your veggies?

[saragrambusch]

The sweet veggies can be tricky because of the sugar content. Sometimes they need more salt. I mix shredded carrots with some cabbage and that seems to help. Honestly, each batch of fermented veggies do their own thing. I feel I only have so much control, lol.

[rachelpower]

cucumbers need something with tannin in with them to keep them crunchy- use a couple grape leaves if you can find them, or an organic black teabag!

to have far better control over veg ferments (other than kraut, for which this is unnecessary) use caldwell's starter culture. also, i am not a fan or fermenting in mason jars & prefer the anaerobic method using pickl-it jars. they're expensive to buy, but greatly increase the success of your ferments, so save money in the long run.


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[rachelpower]

also make sure that you don't leave ferments out too long as the weather warms up. they might need 10-14 days in winter but only 3-7 if your kitchen is hot in summer.


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[kendra]

Has anyone had luck fermenting winter squash?