Fermenting Process In Photos

Posted on Friday, December 05, 2014 | By Alycia Lang |

Have you read our page on using your FARMcurious Fermenting Set but can't quite visualize how it goes? Let us walk you through it! First let's look at carrots. Any hard vegetable like cauliflower, peppers, beets, turnips, etc. should be similar. Give the veggies a rinse to get any loose dirt off.

Chop or slice the veggies into any shape you like. You can slice carrots into coins or logs or sticks, for instance.

Make the brine and pack the veggies into mason jars, along with any herbs, spices or other seasonings you like. Some ideas are garlic, small dried peppers, caraway seed, fresh oregano or dill, coriander seed and whole peppercorns.

Add the FARMcurious Fermenting Set lid (don't forget to fill the airlock halfway with water) and wait. No peeking! Taking the lid off allows mold and yeast to get in, so keep it to a minimum.

The first few days your ferment will look sparkly and clear. After a few days you'll notice it getting cloudy. That means fermentation is happening, yay!

As more time passes (in this case a few weeks) it will get more cloudy and more sour. We like our carrots at about 4 weeks, but you may need to experiment to find the right amount of time for you.

Another style of ferment is shredded vegetables or kraut. Most commonly this is made with cabbage, but shredded beets, carrots, brussels sprouts, etc make great kraut. You can remove the outside leaves of the cabbage or not. You can cut out the core or not.

Shred it on a mandoline, box grater or in a food processor and add salt. Knead the cabbage until it has released enough liquid that water drips down your hand when you squeeze a handful. To save your arm muscles, you can massage the cabbage for a few minutes, then allow it to sit for another 30. When you return, the cabbage will be much softer and easier to work with!

Pack the shredded veggies and their juice into a mason jar and press down until the juice completely covers the veggies. If there is not enough juice add a little water. Use a weight to keep them submerged. We like these Handemade Porcelain Mason Jar Fermenting Weights.

Again, the fresh ferment will look sparkly and clear.

After a few days the ferment will start to change color and you may see bubbles coming up in the jar.

The completed ferment will have a lighter color and, in this case, strong color in the fermenting liquid.

Ready for eating!