Throughout both my pregnancies I had a 24/7 craving for pickled vegetables with everything! I would consume jars of cornichons, gherkins, sauerkraut, kimchi, just about anything salty vinegary I was all over it. Last year I decided to try and use this obsession wisely and consume pickled veggies that were actually good for my body, this meant proper fermented veg that is good for your gut rather than vinegary/sugar rich supermarket concoctions. Although these cheapo jars tasted great with my cheese toastie they weren’t good for my body and growing baby. The real fermented stuff was hard to find at short notice so I I took a fermentation class at The Dusty Knuckle bakery and haven’t looked back. I found out it wasn’t that hard at all to make your own pickles, kimchi and sauerkraut. I just needed good quality organic veg, some scales for precision and patience to wait for the fermentation magic (over 2 weeks for the good stuff!) The taste and texture is mind-blowing if you like this sort of thing and super satisfying to have created it yourself.

Here is a simple recipe that can be modified for practically any vegetable and spice/herb combination.

You will need a jam jar, enough organic vegetables to fill it, good quality salt (Maldon for example), spices/herbs and importantly scales to help you with the salt/water ratio so everything ferments real good!

Ingredients

Red chilli sliced

Put the jar on the scale and zero the scale. Add your cut vegetables, garlic, spices to the jar until it reaches the top then pour in your water until it covers the vegetables. Note the total combined weight and work out what 2% is. You will add this number grams of salt into the jar to start the fermentation process. (My water and veg weight was 540g so 2% was 10.8) I added 10.8g of salt into the jar. Push the vegetables down a little bit, close the jar tightly and shake a little to let the salt water distribute evenly. Then leave on your kitchen counter or somewhere at room temperature for 2-4 weeks.

IMPORTANT Everyday you must ‘burp’ the jar which means opening it a little to let the air out. Some natural gases build up during fermentation and it needs to be let out! Taste after a few days to check it is building up some nice tangy flavours. Keep fermenting until you have your desired taste. Once you are happy with the flavours put it in the fridge to stop the fermentation process.

Eat with absolutely anything, it’s so good for increasing the health of your gut microbiome and digestive system and enhancing the immune system. (aswell as being delicious)