Nice Job! I'm from Bulgaria, and we do ferment veggies as far as anyone can remember. You should definetely try some of the Balkan combinations, I am sure you will love them. The most classic recipe is a mix of Cauliflower, Carrots and Sweet Peppers (a fleshier variety, we use a sort that is round and almost looks like a tomato) as for flavoring, a few straws of Celery are a must (Or maybe a piece of celery root), a few pieces of onion 1-2 cloves of Garlic, and eventually coriander or allspice if you like it. A lot of people add green tomatoes to the mix, but I really hate those, so I prefer to keep them out of the mix. Others like adding gherkins, but they don't fement quite right in this mixture, I prefer them when they are fermented separately (just gherkins and some spices). You can also add ocra, but make sure it is really young and tender. Old ocra sucks in pickled form. Same goes for green beans (I am actually happy they got spoiled :D) Another recipe that I really love is Sour Garlic... which is just pickled garlic. You pickle the whole garlic heads without separating the cloves. You just remove the flaky stuff from outside and proceed with the brine. I just love that. And a small trick I know from older folks, that prevents mold even if some part of the veggies is above water.... You place a tablet of aspirin on the bottom of the jar before adding the veggies, and then another one on top, after you have added the brine. With this addition fermented veggies can last for at least two years. And yet another trick. During the first stages of fermentation it is good to turn the jars upside down every day or two. There are many cool recipes that I haven't even tried. I've heard of pickled grapes, which sounds quite interresting. And also pickled baby watermelons (It turns out, that when you grow watermelons, at a certain point you have to remove some of them from the stem, to provide more nutrients for the others.... So instead of throwing them away, you picjle them) :)
@@gldistrict I'll tell you the recipe for a 3 litre jar. I hope you can adjust it to your jar size. - Step one remove roots and stems from garlic heads (younger garlic is preferred). - remove some of the loose skin around the heads. - Put them in a jar at top it up with fresh water. Place the lid on top, but do not seal the jar. After 24 hours remove the old water and fill it up again. You repeat this process 3 times! - After you remove the third batch of fresh waterm you add: - 4 table spoons of salt - 4 table spoons of sugar - 4 table spoons of vinegar (you can make it 6 or 8.. depends on your taste) - Add any herbs or spices you might want, like dill and allspice (I prefer it with no extra spices). - Top up with water. - close the lid, but again do not seal it. Leave it in a shady cool place to ferment for 3-4 days (you might use one of those valves to let CO2 excape). - After 3 to 5 days, check how things are going, the initial fermentation should be over and CO2 peoduction should be lower now. At this stage top yp with water if needed and seal the jar. Leave in a shady or dark place. After about 5 days, the brine will get murky. After about a week or so it should start to clarify, and the garlic will get a slight pink/yellow hue, this means it is ready to consumption. Enjoy :)
Did Bulgarians invent giardiniera? I thought it was the Italians, but your first paragraph sounds just like it. In general, I feel like the best pickles come from Japan, Eastern Europe and South Korea.
one of the tricks i use to keep the mold away is to invert my jars for at least an hour each day. what was out of the water...is now in the water. what might have had mold started...is not in a salty anaerobic environment. Once I started inverting my jars (after burping) daily...I've never had mold since.
Mike I just want to say Ive just spend a couple weeks fighting Covid & binge watching your videos.Im a fairly experienced cook & have taught some cooking & basic nutrition classes over the years. Cooking is one of my passions. Its an art. I am Very impressed with what you share. You're interesting,well rounded & have Great content. Thankyou
1. Wash your veggies of choice. 2. Cut them up into bite sized pieces. 3. Add the vegetables and water into a jar whose weight has been tared (zeroed out). Weigh them. 4. Pour water into separate jar and add salt equal to 2.5% of the mass. Mix up and then put back into the original jar with the vegetables in it. 5. Weigh it down so the vegetables stay submerged. A glass weight seems to be the easiest. 6. Cover loosely with the lid. 7. Enjoy at your leisure for months if stored properly. Did I miss anything?
@@jamesnesran2348 It's up to you. The flavor of the veggies continues to change as the bacteria continues to eat them. I forgot about a jar for about 3 months and they tasted more sour than usual, but they were perfectly fine to eat. Technically you don't even need a fridge, just eat the veggies out of the jar, making sure to keep them submerged under water. That's how they did it before refrigerators existed
@@jamesnesran2348 It also depends on how hot your house is. For example, my carrots ferment in two weeks in the summer, and they take a standard month in the winter. I also don't do any complicted math. I put 4 tsp of salt in a quart jar. add about a half cup of water to dissolve. add vegs. add water to the top. stir really good/shake. It has never ever failed. I never do the math and weighing he does. Just an idea.
Hello I am a Korean TH-camr who loves fermented foods. I came to TH-cam in search of fermented food from abroad. Thanks for the good video. Best wishes for a Happy New Year
For fermentation use rock salt, not iodized. It will help to start fermentation easier and can help avoid mold growing or spoiling. And for those using the Celsius scale 60F = 15C-16C and 75F = 23C-24C
@@Welsh_fpv Check on package if it is not iodized. If not you can use it. Iodine kills lactic acid bacteria responsible for the pickling process of vegetables. Therefore, the salt must be non-iodized
@@Welsh_fpv Yes, kosher salt is great for pickling, only downside being that it takes longer to dissolve. I use himalayan pink salt that I get from costco, it's too expensive anywhere else, but affordable at costco.
It’s so fun and refreshing to see someone get to do what they love and get paid for it. Clearly you have found your niche and we get to enjoy and learn. Cheers from Colorado!
Excellent vid! Unless I missed it, you failed to mention that one must NOT use table salt for fermentation. The iodine inhibits the growth of the good bacteria. Use something like Celtic, sea, Redmon, pink, or pickling/canning salt. I liked this vid because you kept it moving. Your editing kept my interest. Definitely an excellent vid for the fermenting beginner!
You can purchase table salt without iodine.People also say you shouldn't use tap water for brewing because the chlorine will kill the yeast. Yet, I have never had a problem. Does everyone use filtered water to bake bread?
Maybe that's because the clorination of tap water depends on where you live. You should definitely check for ingredients like chlorine and iodine when fermenting food or brewing beer.
The real problem is not iodine but the lack of all other trace minerals. Table salt is pure sodium chloride and no salt in nature exists like that. all natural salts have a plethora of trace minerals which quite frankly are helpful for probiotics. The iodine in iodized table salt is very evaporative and most of it will be gone before you get it home from the store. Even the government sponsored research found that it is a failure of a product. It does NOT increase iodine levels in the body. Use real Salt folks. Without salt we die. The minerals are essential micronutrients
Mistake I've made a few times without realizing what was causing the mold - if you use spices like peppercorn, or red pepper flakes, they'll float to the top above the weight and attract mold. So, I'd avoid veggies with seeds, like sliced cucumbers, and using spices that float like that.
East to fix that problem with the spices, you make a sachet of spices in cheesecloth and put it in the bottom of the jar before adding everything else.
Matt Cronin, depending on the spice, you could soak them overnight in a little water which might give them the weight they need to stay under the surface of your brine. I am not sure I would put muslin/cheesecloth in a ferment but you could use a stainless steel tea ball if the vessel you are fermenting in is big enough. I'm a fermentation crock girl so there is plenty of room. :). Good luck
I did pickling/fermenting a few years ago here in Malaysia - the challenge I had was the space needed and refrigeration required because I'm in a tropical climate. It was also hard to find the pickle weights, but will try your alternate tips! Planning to start a small pickling business connected to an organic farm that my family runs here. Will see if I can dig deeper underground and actually have a naturally cooler environment without having to use up energy on refrigeration.
Marcus, look into African or Indian non-electric refrigerators. Basically it’s a ceramic vessel used to store items and water evaporation is employed to lower the temperature a few degrees. The drop in just a few degrees might just be what you need for your application.
@@sgnguy2027 Thanks for the tip!! Will definitely look into that. I actually am also looking into using large cement half pipes and packing soil on top of that (with ventilation) and creating a sort of pickling cave, as opposed to digging underground. So I guess a large version of a non-electric fridge.
@@jauipop When you get things working please make a video on the process. Or post links here for what works. Keeping expenses down is important everywhere in these times.
We did a lot of fermentation and canning at my grandma's when I was little and enjoyed summer fruits and vegetables all winter long. I think canning is different slightly from this because you actually sterilize all your jars/lids, use hot boiling water and scald the produce before you put it in the jars. And also you completely seal the lids with a special implement to prevent air getting in. One good tip for checking if dangerous bacteria has developed in a sealed jar is press the top of the lid - if it has give and you can press it down a little, it's fine. If it feels tight and no give, you might have a problem.
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In fermentation, if you scald the veggies, you kill the good bacteria which is necessary for fermentation to take place. It's definitely different from canning.
The salt and the anaerobic conditions are the important things here, not heat sterilizing - it's two completely different processes to preserve food. Fermentation is a much older technique - it was being used long before there were canning baths and bottles to scald.
If you are wondering why he doesn't premix the brine for all the jars, it is because the water in each jar is a different salt concentration because the ratio of vege:water in each jar will be a little different. The salt amount has to take into consideration the total mass in the jar including the vegetables. A higher vege:water ratio will need saltier water to get the correct total salinity.
I was instructed a long time ago to just use a 2% brine solution for most veggies, with higher for cucumbers, without worrying about weighing the veggies. This is going to be quite a bit lower than the concentration recommended in the video, and it's always worked fine for me! You could go with 3% if you're worried about 2% being too low.
A little tip for covering your pickled vegetables during the fermentation stage is to place a coffee filter on top of the jar and use the lid ring. Set the metal lid insert to the side until it has fermented. This allows it to ferment in the jar and yet release the gas through the screwed on filter while keeping dust/dirt out. After it's fermented, you can then replace the filter with the metal lid to store it properly in the fridge.
@@lyricderbin1169 If you have it weighted down and submerged, it is not exposed to oxygen. You have to make sure your fermented ingredient is submerged. This is why even with a lid his green beans ended up with mold at 21:07. They weren't submerged. Just make sure that your ingredients are submerged in the liquid and you'll be fine to remove the metal lid and use a coffee filter. I suggest maybe that you watch again the section on Anaerobic Environment to refresh about this. :-) 16:40
Marc Christian Bruan Yes you can refrigerate it if it’s boiling hot summer. It actually increases your success if you refrigerate it than doing it at 35c for example. It will take you a little longer, like instead of 3-4 days to taste sourness it will take you 2.5 weeks until you can taste sourness. But I do fridge method every single time. The first few weeks you can eat the veggies too, it’s just salted brined veggies and it’s not bad. After few weeks in the fridge you can start to slowly taste the sourness. If you’re in a very hot area do it in the fridge. As long as not in a freezer it will make beautiful pickles more successfully as putting it in a too hot area will sometimes encourage bad bacteria growth causing you to fail. People in up north like parts of Korea and parts of Japan (I’m in Japan), we store them outside and it is like 2-3 c throughout the coldest month and it’s the best time to make fermented vegetables. We don’t make it in summer ever as it’s prone to a failure.
Since the beginning of this year, I've had the idea of fermenting fruits and vegetables; but I had no knowledge about the process. I've been doing research for the past month on fermentation, and everyone seemed to have a drastically different process from the last. Recently, I stumbled across this channel, and I wish I would've found it sooner (because this channel is life-changing). Today, I can proudly say I learned something useful from TH-cam, I can also say I know how to ferment (almost anything) like a pro. I love the visuals and how you go into depth about the dos and don'ts of fermentation. I'm gonna subscribe now, and then start fermenting all the vegetables I can find in the pantry.
I'm obsessed with all things fermented too! My dream is to open a shop developing, selling, & teaching about fermented products. I'll call it "Cultured" 😁
May I add a couple of things. Keep your fermenting mass in the dark, light inhibits fermentation. Also don't be afraid to ferment for 4 weeks. I just did that with Fresno peppers, I am making rooster sauce. Fermenting for more than 2 or 3 weeks adds more flavor.
First time fermenter here, I added the weight of the jar into the salt equation. So my carrots will probably be over salty. Thank you for all the info. Super helpful!
C to F: Multiply the temperature by 2 and then add 30 (actual formula is multiply by 1.8, add 32) ex: 22 C is roughly equal to 74 degrees using my method, actual conversion is 71.6 F to C: Now just work it backwards, subtract 30 from the temp. and then divide by 2
your actual formula is wrong but you are correct in the approximation of conversion. The true formula is C times 9 then divided by 5 add 32 or (C9) \ 5 + 32 F to C is F minus 32 multiplied by 5 divided by 9 or (F-32) x 5 \ 9
Suggestion: weight the empty jar. Fill it with your vegetables and water. Weight it again, subtract the weight of the jar and you will have the total weight of the vegetables. Make the calculation and add the salt required. The salt will dissolve in the water anyway. If you feel better, shake it a little. You don't need to pour out the water to mix it with the salt.
As a science student, I'd like to say that I am genuinely impressed with how well you communicate the process behind fermentation. Interesting, yet not intimidating for people without background knowledge. I wish I saw this more on TH-cam. Thank you! :)
idk how this channel always gets dislikes. I really enjoy all of these videos and learn a ton. Just because someone does it different from how you do it, doesn't mean that it is wrong
I ferment cabbage in large chunks, adding garlic and hot peppers into the fermentation process. The result is fantastic. I have 3 questions though: What does it mean when the garlic begins to turn greenish blue? Is it healthy to drink a little of the fermented juice? Can I re-use the fermented juice for the next batch?
Even though I had helped my Bavarian great grandmother do our kraut as a child, my very first batch on my own in half gallon canning jars in college in 1965 BLEW UP! In my eagerness, I screwed the lids too tight and they couldn't burp...lesson learned. Never did that again! All the right info. Thanks for the reminders!
Such a straight forward explanation of the process; exactly what I needed. I've been wanting to try fermentation when I have a small harvest from the garden that doesn't warrant the full canning process and to try some new flavor combinations.
So.... I blame you! You got me into sourdough, I am baking every other day. Now I also make a starter pancakes with chives, garlic, sesame seeds, salt and pepper and eat it along side of fried smoked tofu and grilled tomatoes! Now wait.... I blame you even more! Because I just finished setting up radishes of various colours and red cabbage that were going a little softer in the fridge, to ferment the heck out of them! You are the king of home cooking and I bow to your knowledge!
Knowledge is key to many things!.... The old ways are always better as they are tried and true, this knowledge can carry many people through many generations and if tradition is passed down.
@@70washington so true about traditions. I have been making my grandma's recipes for years. I had to change some of the ways she canned to be safer, but love my grandma.
@@on_my_own_two_feet we used our sourdough starter with almond milk, little vanilla sugar, an egg, and a little flour for crepes that taste like fortune cookies
@@profilepicture828 his point wasn't that he couldn't do it himself with a bit of research, he was saying it would be nicer to have them already on screen in the video
This guy makes great videos! The only thing I don't understand is why go through the process of adding water to veges, pouring out, and weighing, and then adding salt and pouring back in again. I just use a half gallon or gallon jar of water and add my salt to that to the desired weight/percentage...then fill a few mason jars with my veges and pour into each of them from my already prepared salt water. Hey, I am not an expert, but it seems to be much easier for me this way. In any event, I greatly appreciate the videos for fermenting veges and those he did on making vinegar...all are a fantastic help!!!!!
Hi, Do not forget the most important part of Mold growth, some of it is penicillium, which is the stage before it is change to penicillin. To change it to penicillin is easy, just add lemon juice to it to consume naturally. It is an acquired taste, and an outback way of getting penicillin when a doctor is not available. Since September o3, 1928, Fleming discovery dots in his petri dish and it was "Penicillium Notatum". You See the good mold secreted something that inhibited the bad mold. Almost all mold is penicillium based and it easily grown on bread with just some drop of water on in in a mason jar capped, but not sealed. You can also get with in moldy bread Blue cheese mold, This is highly tasty and can be added in any cheese making process that excites the mold. I love using mold in all process in the kitchen and just because mold grow on top of veggies, it does not mean it is bad mold. Penicillin take up to 2 weeks or more to appear, so you could have it in a batch you decided to eat in 3 days. good luck, and learn to use mold, rather than avoid them. Lazaro Michael
Quantum-Entanglement in Magnet Great educational information, thank you. Fleury (part of Fleming's team), had lived in the outback among the Australian Aborigines and learnt how they used mould for healing. So without that knowledge they came up with antibiotics.
@@alinedeleandro123 Yes, I eat bread with mold all the time and use sour dough as it has penicillium in it too, Yeast and penicillium co-exist together. We have been indoctrinated to get and use only fresh fruit, for it is best for us, when if we use fruit the ripens on the tree, then falls, then you use it as God intended. Oh, there also was no refrigerators back then, so we at plenty of fermented food, now we do not. Such a shame the direction we are heading on this planet, we want to extinguish all forms of bacteria as if it our enemy. Happy Holidays, and News Year. Lazaro Michael
@@quantum-entanglementinmagn6728 Thank you so much for your very informative reply. I have a friend who once told me that back in the old country, in the village, people allowed their bread to become mouldy in order to use as a healing tool. I believed her, but I must admit, I imagined it would have done more harm than good. That could be the secret for longevity and good health that these people seemed to achieve. So do you just leave the bread out of the fridge, allow it to become mouldy and then just tuck into it as you would with a fresh piece of bread? I'm interested, as I gave up on allopathic medicine a decade ago. I take Diatomaceous Earth as a cleanser. What are your thoughts on that? I give it to my cat too. Merry Christmas and many blessings for a Happy New Year.
I’m obsessed with fermentation. My recipe that worked for me perfectly, (especially fermented cucumber)….fill the jar with veggies, pour and weigh water. Use 3.5-4% salt ( non iodine) of the water weight. The flavor is perfect. Add dill, horseradish root, bay leaf, spices of course… When I have leftover brine I use it to make salad dressing.
Thank you so much for this video. I have been so intimidated about starting fermenting, and even though I pretty much knew the basics about it, watching you go through every little step just helped me wrap my head around it better.
This was absolutely enjoyable, you made it easy and you clearly explained everything, which is important for those of us who are new to fermenting. I have one question regarding the salt, what options are available if your a diabetic, any suggestions is greatly appreciated thank you🥰
while planning this years garden and reviewing the process, just had toasted home made bread, slice of mozz, slice of ham topped with fermented tomatoes from august, side of spicy fermented green beans, also from august, delicious, thank you for the insight.
I made my first batch of sauerkraut (video on my channel) and I love it. I've made my second batch and have made a couple small batches with celery in one, and in the other I added celery, finely shredded carrots and a clove of garlic, (which tasted amazing on the first day). I'm not planning to go out and ferment a bunch of veggies, but it's so nice to know I can do this. I often buy fresh veggies and can't cook it all up and end up blanching and freezing. Now I can just save it by fermenting. Thanks for the in depth video.
Another good fermented vegetable mix is really green tomatoes, kohlrabi's, celery, cauliflower, and carrots. I really liked your videos. I totally agree with you about once you have sauerkraut you will not want it in the store again. Pickled asparagus also rocks. I didn't make my kimchi right, so I am going to be attempting it again in the next couple of days. Have you ever fermented store-bought vegetables?
What's has not been really mentioned but is important is the fact that some veggies let out water (salt breakes down cells) so do leave some space for the water level changes. if you ferment cabbage eastern eurpean kind ( lactofermened insted of sauerkraut), you do not use water but just salt, white cabbage, carrots, peppercorns, bayleaves, no addition of water nesessary, but the mix nedds to be kneaded a bit before putting into jars. For the georgian kind of "red cabbage" (beetroots, cabbage, chilis, garlic, sellery) sellery sticks with leafs are obligatory, otherwise the taste is much blander.
On Facebook follow a page called wild fermentation uncensored its the best people are great their and answer questions about anything in real time very great group i advise anyone new or even veteran fermenters too follow because its a treasure trove of knowledge
I am recovering from a bad case of Ulcerative Colitis. One thing I don't think you emphasize enough is that fermenting foods produces good bacteria (probiotics) that is necessary for gut health. I eat kimchi every day to keep up the good flora to fight off the bad invaders in my gut. Even though you don't even mention digestive problems, I link your youtube on my site because of all the healthy foods you make that is great for gut health. Thank you!
The fermentation process produces the good bacteria in food. Thus, they are a good source of probiotics. Prebiotics would be something like blueberries, dates, bananas, flax seed... foods that feed the probiotics. This is why they should be eaten at the same time.
I’m glad I found your channel; I’ve been interested in getting into fermentation because I love sauerkraut but I also love cauliflower and it’s a veg I really want to try and this video just really took the process down to its simplest explanation. You should be a teacher.
Before this video, 'fermented' had a negative connotation in my brain. Then I started growing tomatoes and didn't want to waste them. I tried them and it 100% changed my mind
10:45 Serious question: I have never seen anyone calculate brine salt percentages with the veggies included in the weight. I did the math, and with your 86g vegetables + 253g water (339g total), 8.5g of salt would give you a 3.2% brine (8/253). Is this correct? I know that using higher brine percentages is fine for lacto-fermentation, I'm just confused about why you are teaching it this way.
@Michael Natrin.....You are absolutely right! This guy did not know what he was doing😣...you’re not supposed to include the veggies in the weight to figure how much salt to add...that would give you a waaay too salty solution.....only the weight of the water should have been used to calculate the amount of salt.
Usually 30grams to a liter of filtered,brought to a boiling point and let to cool water is fine. It is better to filter and bring it to boil point water, because of the tap water having Chrolide in it.. People with sensitive stomachs should keep this in mind.. Im having an extreme severe leaky gut form, this is why I've done more research tho.. ^^
This is SO valuable to this newby Kim Chee Daikon lover! I've made 6 batches, all different, and now dialing it in for my taste. Mahalo and Aloha from Maui!
Thanks for making this video. I’m returning to fermenting after a sabbatical and just needed a quick brush up. After watching several other videos yours is the most useful for me. Thanks! Boun Appetito.
I'm form Poland mate :D this was annually routine in my family since I remember. few months ago I started work on this suff on my own, now is time for kombucha! ;)
Ha! I have been lacto fermenting all my life, without really knowing what I was doing. My gma and mother made sauerkraut and fermented veggies, so I learned from them in the 1960s. I moved away from home in 1968 and immediately started my own fermenting. This was extremely interesting and now I have a guideline for how much salt. LOL, I use a saucer weighted with rocks picked up in my yard, in the late 60s, early 70s; this fits exactly into my sauerkraut jar. For the mason jars, I have always used the bag with brine in it. Loved your video and will go find some more to watch and learn from. Thanks.
Your videos are super informative - I enjoy your delivery of the “why” behind what’s going on. Keep up the great work - Hardest part of trying all these recipes is finding organic vegetables- I live up at 8600’ in the Rockies - I’ve followed your recipes I’m currently fermenting 4 quarts of red wine - hoping for red wine vinegar in 29 more days.
I am originally from Ukraine, the way we measure is: per one liter of water 1 tablespoon of salt. Some vegetables like cabbage or tomatoes we also add 1 tablespoon of sugar. To all vegetables, excluding cabbage we add dill and garlick.
Somehow I got from your fermenting to living soil! Its so crazy how much we benefit from micro organisms! and how the two are the same! It all revolves around microbes and the "soil food web". Bought a microscope and started a channel on capturing the life in our soil that feeds our plants and us! Just like the microbes in fermented food make it healthier for us microbes in the soil do more than I ever imagined!
I have an idea. You can just make a huge jug of salt water (2.5%) and top off the vegetables with the salt water. So you can use 200ml water and 5g of salt, or even 2L water and 50g of salt.
@@Jimmy-pe5hj No, it's not really an issue. I've always used a 2% brine solution without weighing the veggies, and it's worked great. 2.5% would be even higher salt concentration. Sourkraut and leafy greens are a bit different--you add the salt directly to the shredded leaves and massage them/weight them to let them express their own liquid, then pack down the leaves to try to submerge. You only top it up with more (2.5%) brine if the kraut isn't quite covered all the way after that, but often it is.
So helpful! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge. I’m just starting my fermentation journey. I’ve always loved sauerkraut and other fermented veggies, but I’ve never tried making them myself. I’m really excited to see how they turn out.
I want a backyard porch for fermentation, and as an auxiliary kitchen. When the weather is nice, why stay inside? Fermentation *creates* vitamins , not just "unlocks". It is more of a process than decay.
The way you take your time to explain I truly appreciate it !! some show u what to do but not with the total real life application because they assume you know the rest of the equation or information but this video made me not feel like I was supposed to know something and addressed all that I should know!! you are so great for beginners and also advanced viewers ..you teach so any and everyone can learn both beginner and advanced all in one place .. you are great and unique with what u do and make it your style and not another’s with your wonderful personality ! You communicate so well .. thank you !! Blessings
There is a much easier formula which I learnt from all the women in my family (it's tradition to pickle all sorts of vegetables in Romania, where I come from). Basically, for every litre (1000 ml) of water, you add one rounded tablespoon of sea salt. To avoid wastage of salt (like, who cares about that now, right? But in the olden days, salt was extremely valuable! Roman soldiers were paid in salt, hence the word "salary", from "sal" = salt, e.g., Salisbury = the town of salt), one trick you could do is first fit in all the veggies you want in the jars WITHOUT THE CONDIMENTS (!) and fill in the empty spaces with normal tap water, then pour back all the water into a measuring jug to see how much you need for all your jars, then round up to the nearest whole number of litres to figure out how many tablespoons of salt you need to use. Depending on your recipe, you could either leave the veggies in the jars and just top up with the brine or take everything out, put your condiments/spices in first, then your veggies, then hot, boiling brine, seal the tops on and let it cool down. The next day you could put all the jars in a bain marie for 15 to 30 minutes from the point of boiling to properly sterilise them. If you do it this way, your pickles can last even 3 years! It works every time:)
I appreciated the visual explanation! Exactly the video I needed to help me learn how to ferment foods and what’s actually happening during the fermentation process that is beneficial to my health. Thanks!
For your gut microbiome you need to eat 30 different plants a week. This is contributing to the 30 plants a week, is processing the plants leading to extra complexity, and is adding microbes.
Fermenting is such fun. I started with Kombucha years ago. Then i tried making Dill pickles because I like the Bubbies but not the price. Last year, i fermented green tomatoes with garlic, cilantro & jalapeno. Those are incredible! Then a friend gave me some kefir. Next up is wine making. I'm addicted to fermenting.
Great info instructional video! 2-3 days after covering it, I’ve noticed that the veggies started to come up to the surface, so I’ve pushed them back down again, but I’ve noticed the brine got a bit “slimy”, contrary to the regular fluid brine. I’ve had previously added the contents of couple small capsules of regular probiotics (although I’ve done the same in the past and never came across this). I left it for the regular 2 or so weeks, but the slimy brine remains. It tastes very strong, as if “peppery” strong. Should I dispose it and make a new one? Thanks a lot in advance for your details when replying!
Thank you for simplifying the brine formula. I received a fermentation kit for father's day from the coolest son in the world. Thanks to you I have a starting point. I foresee a future with kimchee, peppers of all kinds and tomatoes (maybe with basil)' which I hadn't considered. Thanks again!
Hey there , I would love yr openion , sorry but i've searched up the internet and couldn't find anything conclusive , is adding vinger stops the fermentation of the veggies ? I made a patch of onions yesterday but i added vinegar ( one cup to 4/5 cups of water ) but read later that that's pickling not fermenting , so my question is the onions gonna ferment ? If not should i keep it in the fridge ?
Also you can stuff them once they are fermented with nuts like walnuts are great and one more thing you put in the salt then every day you turn the jar upside down then back upright you have to check them to see how they are doing refrigerate after the process is complete and the way you like them to taste
The COMPLETE guide to fermenting vegetables. No mention of air locks, the $1 device that allows you to ferment without worrying about all that submerging with weights.
Thank you so much for the information and teaching to us newbies! Because of you I’m inspired to start fermenting my veggies to help preserve food and reduce waste! 😁
@@GilGaladofNoldor basicly moving the 600g to another equation. Correct would be 400g+200g=600g 600g*0.025=15g salt. Otherwise if you do all the multiplication and addition you have 600g=15g=15g. And yes everyone understands what he wanted to say with his equation, its just math nerds complaint xD
@@LifebyMikeG It went really well thanks I used to buy Kits or pick my own fruit when in season my best one ever was Elderflower Champagne I made a batch and when it was ready I tasted some and it really was horrible I meant to throw it away but somehow forgot probs a year later I tried it again and it was amazing crystal clear and just the right amount of sparkle''
Fermenting is great ive got fermented eggs saurkraut and girdania going right now soo simple and easy join a page on Facebook called wild fermentation uncensored it is the holy grail of knowledge and questions being answered in real time dm if u need any help
1. Yes, I've done it a few times and it was lovely. 2. Many people use the word "pickling" only in reference to vegetables preserved in vinegar. Some of us use that word in reference to any soured vegetables, whether they've been lacto-fermented or preserved in vinegar.
@@sonjawright518 oh yeah someone had mentioned that, I'm officially switching over to the fermenstatioin... Hope to get brad in there one day to collab
Pro Home Cooks that would definitely be a video I’d watch of y’all collaborating. Just be prepared for his high energy 😄. Some say Brad is the human embodiment of a golden retriever 😂
DUDE please collab with Brad from BA. He has the most entertaining food show on TH-cam! *Make sure you get Matt (his editor) to edit the video though!!
Wooow now your cuisine is more comfortable and warm. White is versatile but it s like a hospital. I love beige, cream and light pink, aaaah and light grey and brown too.
Nice Job!
I'm from Bulgaria, and we do ferment veggies as far as anyone can remember.
You should definetely try some of the Balkan combinations, I am sure you will love them.
The most classic recipe is a mix of Cauliflower, Carrots and Sweet Peppers (a fleshier variety, we use a sort that is round and almost looks like a tomato) as for flavoring, a few straws of Celery are a must (Or maybe a piece of celery root), a few pieces of onion 1-2 cloves of Garlic, and eventually coriander or allspice if you like it. A lot of people add green tomatoes to the mix, but I really hate those, so I prefer to keep them out of the mix. Others like adding gherkins, but they don't fement quite right in this mixture, I prefer them when they are fermented separately (just gherkins and some spices). You can also add ocra, but make sure it is really young and tender. Old ocra sucks in pickled form. Same goes for green beans (I am actually happy they got spoiled :D)
Another recipe that I really love is Sour Garlic... which is just pickled garlic. You pickle the whole garlic heads without separating the cloves. You just remove the flaky stuff from outside and proceed with the brine. I just love that.
And a small trick I know from older folks, that prevents mold even if some part of the veggies is above water.... You place a tablet of aspirin on the bottom of the jar before adding the veggies, and then another one on top, after you have added the brine. With this addition fermented veggies can last for at least two years.
And yet another trick. During the first stages of fermentation it is good to turn the jars upside down every day or two.
There are many cool recipes that I haven't even tried. I've heard of pickled grapes, which sounds quite interresting. And also pickled baby watermelons (It turns out, that when you grow watermelons, at a certain point you have to remove some of them from the stem, to provide more nutrients for the others.... So instead of throwing them away, you picjle them) :)
zeoxbg thank you so much I am excited to try a few of your suggestions!
Thanks a lot sharing, I'm interested in making Sour Garlic, but what is the Brine?😊
@@gldistrict I'll tell you the recipe for a 3 litre jar. I hope you can adjust it to your jar size.
- Step one remove roots and stems from garlic heads (younger garlic is preferred).
- remove some of the loose skin around the heads.
- Put them in a jar at top it up with fresh water. Place the lid on top, but do not seal the jar. After 24 hours remove the old water and fill it up again. You repeat this process 3 times!
- After you remove the third batch of fresh waterm you add:
- 4 table spoons of salt
- 4 table spoons of sugar
- 4 table spoons of vinegar (you can make it 6 or 8.. depends on your taste)
- Add any herbs or spices you might want, like dill and allspice (I prefer it with no extra spices).
- Top up with water.
- close the lid, but again do not seal it. Leave it in a shady cool place to ferment for 3-4 days (you might use one of those valves to let CO2 excape).
- After 3 to 5 days, check how things are going, the initial fermentation should be over and CO2 peoduction should be lower now.
At this stage top yp with water if needed and seal the jar. Leave in a shady or dark place. After about 5 days, the brine will get murky. After about a week or so it should start to clarify, and the garlic will get a slight pink/yellow hue, this means it is ready to consumption.
Enjoy :)
@@zeoxbg awesome! Thank you so much!
Did Bulgarians invent giardiniera? I thought it was the Italians, but your first paragraph sounds just like it. In general, I feel like the best pickles come from Japan, Eastern Europe and South Korea.
one of the tricks i use to keep the mold away is to invert my jars for at least an hour each day. what was out of the water...is now in the water. what might have had mold started...is not in a salty anaerobic environment. Once I started inverting my jars (after burping) daily...I've never had mold since.
Needs good seals though.
@@akhadmea.2937 Burping means opening the lid for a brief time to allow air to escape, and then tightening it again.
Mike I just want to say Ive just spend a couple weeks fighting Covid & binge watching your videos.Im a fairly experienced cook & have taught some cooking & basic nutrition classes over the years. Cooking is one of my passions. Its an art. I am Very impressed with what you share. You're interesting,well rounded & have Great content. Thankyou
1. Wash your veggies of choice.
2. Cut them up into bite sized pieces.
3. Add the vegetables and water into a jar whose weight has been tared (zeroed out). Weigh them.
4. Pour water into separate jar and add salt equal to 2.5% of the mass. Mix up and then put back into the original jar with the vegetables in it.
5. Weigh it down so the vegetables stay submerged. A glass weight seems to be the easiest.
6. Cover loosely with the lid.
7. Enjoy at your leisure for months if stored properly.
Did I miss anything?
Excellent
yes, how long to let ferment before refrigerating
@@jamesnesran2348 It's up to you. The flavor of the veggies continues to change as the bacteria continues to eat them. I forgot about a jar for about 3 months and they tasted more sour than usual, but they were perfectly fine to eat. Technically you don't even need a fridge, just eat the veggies out of the jar, making sure to keep them submerged under water. That's how they did it before refrigerators existed
@@jamesnesran2348 It also depends on how hot your house is. For example, my carrots ferment in two weeks in the summer, and they take a standard month in the winter. I also don't do any complicted math. I put 4 tsp of salt in a quart jar. add about a half cup of water to dissolve. add vegs. add water to the top. stir really good/shake. It has never ever failed. I never do the math and weighing he does. Just an idea.
Should the water ideally be chlorine free
Hello
I am a Korean TH-camr who loves fermented foods.
I came to TH-cam in search of fermented food from abroad.
Thanks for the good video.
Best wishes for a Happy New Year
Thanks for your comment, Koreans are some of the best fermenters in the world!! So happy to be able to gain knowledge from your wonderful culture
For fermentation use rock salt, not iodized. It will help to start fermentation easier and can help avoid mold growing or spoiling. And for those using the Celsius scale 60F = 15C-16C and 75F = 23C-24C
Use pickling salt, it is pure salt with no additives. Rock salt can have minerals in it as well as some heavy metals depending upon the source.
Would Kosher salt work?
@@Welsh_fpv Check on package if it is not iodized. If not you can use it. Iodine kills lactic acid bacteria responsible for the pickling process of vegetables. Therefore, the salt must be non-iodized
@@Welsh_fpv Yes, kosher salt is great for pickling, only downside being that it takes longer to dissolve. I use himalayan pink salt that I get from costco, it's too expensive anywhere else, but affordable at costco.
It’s so fun and refreshing to see someone get to do what they love and get paid for it. Clearly you have found your niche and we get to enjoy and learn. Cheers from Colorado!
Excellent vid! Unless I missed it, you failed to mention that one must NOT use table salt for fermentation. The iodine inhibits the growth of the good bacteria. Use something like Celtic, sea, Redmon, pink, or pickling/canning salt. I liked this vid because you kept it moving. Your editing kept my interest. Definitely an excellent vid for the fermenting beginner!
You can purchase table salt without iodine.People also say you shouldn't use tap water for brewing because the chlorine will kill the yeast. Yet, I have never had a problem. Does everyone use filtered water to bake bread?
Maybe that's because the clorination of tap water depends on where you live. You should definitely check for ingredients like chlorine and iodine when fermenting food or brewing beer.
To get rid of chlorine, just leave the water in a bottle for one hours, it will evaporate
The real problem is not iodine but the lack of all other trace minerals. Table salt is pure sodium chloride and no salt in nature exists like that. all natural salts have a plethora of trace minerals which quite frankly are helpful for probiotics.
The iodine in iodized table salt is very evaporative and most of it will be gone before you get it home from the store. Even the government sponsored research found that it is a failure of a product. It does NOT increase iodine levels in the body. Use real Salt folks. Without salt we die. The minerals are essential micronutrients
@@fishntyme8495 nope filtered water doesn't even belong as boiled water the only real bottled water comes from Mt Shasta
Mistake I've made a few times without realizing what was causing the mold - if you use spices like peppercorn, or red pepper flakes, they'll float to the top above the weight and attract mold. So, I'd avoid veggies with seeds, like sliced cucumbers, and using spices that float like that.
East to fix that problem with the spices, you make a sachet of spices in cheesecloth and put it in the bottom of the jar before adding everything else.
UH OH!!! I just did that today making my first fermentation batch. ugh
@@sarahjoost How did that work out?
Matt Cronin, depending on the spice, you could soak them overnight in a little water which might give them the weight they need to stay under the surface of your brine. I am not sure I would put muslin/cheesecloth in a ferment but you could use a stainless steel tea ball if the vessel you are fermenting in is big enough. I'm a fermentation crock girl so there is plenty of room. :). Good luck
Thanks for posting this! I've always wondered why my cut cucumbers tend to mold but when they are whole they don't.
06:05 Understanding the process
12:18 key tips for fermenting
18:27 Pickling timeline
u welcome folks
Thank you 👍
Thank you, kind sir! 👍
Tremendous. Well done.
Mike, you should try pickling your own tea leafs and make a Burmese Tea Leaf salad (la phet thok)
Thanks
Let's resume 23min of video in a sentence and a half : Add 2.5% of salt to the weight of your veggies + water. Keep your stuff submerged.
But what kind of salt
Not enoug of info, your comment truly is.... pointless, tadaa
@@russianbot1339 non iodine seems to come up in a lot of other videos.
Wrong. It's supposed to be 2.5% salt to water ratio. He screwed it up.
Freddie, slow down and smell the roses
I did pickling/fermenting a few years ago here in Malaysia - the challenge I had was the space needed and refrigeration required because I'm in a tropical climate. It was also hard to find the pickle weights, but will try your alternate tips!
Planning to start a small pickling business connected to an organic farm that my family runs here. Will see if I can dig deeper underground and actually have a naturally cooler environment without having to use up energy on refrigeration.
Marcus, look into African or Indian non-electric refrigerators. Basically it’s a ceramic vessel used to store items and water evaporation is employed to lower the temperature a few degrees. The drop in just a few degrees might just be what you need for your application.
@@sgnguy2027 Thanks for the tip!! Will definitely look into that. I actually am also looking into using large cement half pipes and packing soil on top of that (with ventilation) and creating a sort of pickling cave, as opposed to digging underground. So I guess a large version of a non-electric fridge.
@@jauipop When you get things working please make a video on the process. Or post links here for what works. Keeping expenses down is important everywhere in these times.
@@jauipopSounds great did you make it? Any videos or pictures on how you did it?
How did it go?
We did a lot of fermentation and canning at my grandma's when I was little and enjoyed summer fruits and vegetables all winter long. I think canning is different slightly from this because you actually sterilize all your jars/lids, use hot boiling water and scald the produce before you put it in the jars. And also you completely seal the lids with a special implement to prevent air getting in. One good tip for checking if dangerous bacteria has developed in a sealed jar is press the top of the lid - if it has give and you can press it down a little, it's fine. If it feels tight and no give, you might have a problem.
In fermentation, if you scald the veggies, you kill the good bacteria which is necessary for fermentation to take place. It's definitely different from canning.
The salt and the anaerobic conditions are the important things here, not heat sterilizing - it's two completely different processes to preserve food. Fermentation is a much older technique - it was being used long before there were canning baths and bottles to scald.
If you are wondering why he doesn't premix the brine for all the jars, it is because the water in each jar is a different salt concentration because the ratio of vege:water in each jar will be a little different. The salt amount has to take into consideration the total mass in the jar including the vegetables. A higher vege:water ratio will need saltier water to get the correct total salinity.
I just wondered why he didn't weigh the veg and water separately and add the numbers rather than pouring back and forth.
I was instructed a long time ago to just use a 2% brine solution for most veggies, with higher for cucumbers, without worrying about weighing the veggies. This is going to be quite a bit lower than the concentration recommended in the video, and it's always worked fine for me! You could go with 3% if you're worried about 2% being too low.
A little tip for covering your pickled vegetables during the fermentation stage is to place a coffee filter on top of the jar and use the lid ring. Set the metal lid insert to the side until it has fermented. This allows it to ferment in the jar and yet release the gas through the screwed on filter while keeping dust/dirt out. After it's fermented, you can then replace the filter with the metal lid to store it properly in the fridge.
8:47
@@lyricderbin1169 If you have it weighted down and submerged, it is not exposed to oxygen. You have to make sure your fermented ingredient is submerged. This is why even with a lid his green beans ended up with mold at 21:07. They weren't submerged. Just make sure that your ingredients are submerged in the liquid and you'll be fine to remove the metal lid and use a coffee filter. I suggest maybe that you watch again the section on Anaerobic Environment to refresh about this. :-) 16:40
Screenshot! Thanks, I'm keeping pics of certain things as I'm learning
Great idea, Thanks!!!
I have never fermented before. So excited to begin.
Ideal temperature 15 - 24°C for anyone interested
Can i refrigerate it?
Marc Christian Bruan no u fridge temperature is around + 3* Celsius approximately
Freezer-18 * but don’t know the exact number
Marc Christian Bruan Yes you can refrigerate it if it’s boiling hot summer. It actually increases your success if you refrigerate it than doing it at 35c for example. It will take you a little longer, like instead of 3-4 days to taste sourness it will take you 2.5 weeks until you can taste sourness. But I do fridge method every single time. The first few weeks you can eat the veggies too, it’s just salted brined veggies and it’s not bad. After few weeks in the fridge you can start to slowly taste the sourness.
If you’re in a very hot area do it in the fridge. As long as not in a freezer it will make beautiful pickles more successfully as putting it in a too hot area will sometimes encourage bad bacteria growth causing you to fail.
People in up north like parts of Korea and parts of Japan (I’m in Japan), we store them outside and it is like 2-3 c throughout the coldest month and it’s the best time to make fermented vegetables. We don’t make it in summer ever as it’s prone to a failure.
@April Hudson what? 😂
What is this in freedom degrees?
Fermentation discussion starts around 6 minute point. This is an excellent tool for measuring salt and starting to ferment anything. Great video.
Oh man, get to the damn point!
Since the beginning of this year, I've had the idea of fermenting fruits and vegetables; but I had no knowledge about the process. I've been doing research for the past month on fermentation, and everyone seemed to have a drastically different process from the last. Recently, I stumbled across this channel, and I wish I would've found it sooner (because this channel is life-changing).
Today, I can proudly say I learned something useful from TH-cam, I can also say I know how to ferment (almost anything) like a pro. I love the visuals and how you go into depth about the dos and don'ts of fermentation. I'm gonna subscribe now, and then start fermenting all the vegetables I can find in the pantry.
I am so glad to see the proper way to ferment vegetables (using weight) and shown in a simple way to do it. Bravo!
I'm obsessed with all things fermented too! My dream is to open a shop developing, selling, & teaching about fermented products. I'll call it "Cultured" 😁
ah i see you're a woman of culture as well 😋
Necessary for stomach, but anaerobic products creates dangerous release of Methane.
@@BaliFoodTreePlanter why didn't you just say fermenting makes you fart more?!😂
May I add a couple of things. Keep your fermenting mass in the dark, light inhibits fermentation. Also don't be afraid to ferment for 4 weeks. I just did that with Fresno peppers, I am making rooster sauce. Fermenting for more than 2 or 3 weeks adds more flavor.
thank you!So for 4 weeks outside and then in the fridge?
@@antonellarusso4747 yes!
First time fermenter here, I added the weight of the jar into the salt equation. So my carrots will probably be over salty. Thank you for all the info. Super helpful!
C to F: Multiply the temperature by 2 and then add 30
(actual formula is multiply by 1.8, add 32)
ex: 22 C is roughly equal to 74 degrees using my method, actual conversion is 71.6
F to C: Now just work it backwards, subtract 30 from the temp. and then divide by 2
your actual formula is wrong but you are correct in the approximation of conversion. The true formula is C times 9 then divided by 5 add 32 or (C9) \ 5 + 32 F to C is F minus 32 multiplied by 5 divided by 9 or (F-32) x 5 \ 9
@@williscooper7750 1.8 = 9/5; both equations are correct as they're equivalent.
Suggestion: weight the empty jar. Fill it with your vegetables and water. Weight it again, subtract the weight of the jar and you will have the total weight of the vegetables. Make the calculation and add the salt required. The salt will dissolve in the water anyway. If you feel better, shake it a little.
You don't need to pour out the water to mix it with the salt.
As a science student, I'd like to say that I am genuinely impressed with how well you communicate the process behind fermentation. Interesting, yet not intimidating for people without background knowledge. I wish I saw this more on TH-cam. Thank you! :)
idk how this channel always gets dislikes. I really enjoy all of these videos and learn a ton. Just because someone does it different from how you do it, doesn't mean that it is wrong
I ferment cabbage in large chunks, adding garlic and hot peppers into the fermentation process. The result is fantastic. I have 3 questions though:
What does it mean when the garlic begins to turn greenish blue?
Is it healthy to drink a little of the fermented juice?
Can I re-use the fermented juice for the next batch?
Thanks for adding the “why’s”
Very helpful to not only understanding, but also remembering. Really great content as usual. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Even though I had helped my Bavarian great grandmother do our kraut as a child, my very first batch on my own in half gallon canning jars in college in 1965 BLEW UP! In my eagerness, I screwed the lids too tight and they couldn't burp...lesson learned. Never did that again! All the right info. Thanks for the reminders!
Oops! It makes a great story, though! You were lucky to have memories of kraut making with your Great Grandmother.
Such a straight forward explanation of the process; exactly what I needed. I've been wanting to try fermentation when I have a small harvest from the garden that doesn't warrant the full canning process and to try some new flavor combinations.
I totally agree! I'm going to give it a go myself. Now that it's been a year since you posted this, do you have anything to share?
So.... I blame you! You got me into sourdough, I am baking every other day. Now I also make a starter pancakes with chives, garlic, sesame seeds, salt and pepper and eat it along side of fried smoked tofu and grilled tomatoes! Now wait.... I blame you even more! Because I just finished setting up radishes of various colours and red cabbage that were going a little softer in the fridge, to ferment the heck out of them! You are the king of home cooking and I bow to your knowledge!
Knowledge is key to many things!.... The old ways are always better as they are tried and true, this knowledge can carry many people through many generations and if tradition is passed down.
@@70washington so true about traditions. I have been making my grandma's recipes for years. I had to change some of the ways she canned to be safer, but love my grandma.
wow, those pancakes sound amazing. Can I have the link to the video in which he makes them?
@@on_my_own_two_feet we used our sourdough starter with almond milk, little vanilla sugar, an egg, and a little flour for crepes that taste like fortune cookies
It might be good to include the Celsius conversion for the international audience.
I'm frothing this format. The studio is so cool.
RileysFilms what do you need converted?
@@profilepicture828 fahrenheit to celsius
@@skilllessbeast7416 ik but what temperatures
@@profilepicture828 his point wasn't that he couldn't do it himself with a bit of research, he was saying it would be nicer to have them already on screen in the video
Thats something I also thought about. Good EP though!
This guy makes great videos! The only thing I don't understand is why go through the process of adding water to veges, pouring out, and weighing, and then adding salt and pouring back in again. I just use a half gallon or gallon jar of water and add my salt to that to the desired weight/percentage...then fill a few mason jars with my veges and pour into each of them from my already prepared salt water. Hey, I am not an expert, but it seems to be much easier for me this way. In any event, I greatly appreciate the videos for fermenting veges and those he did on making vinegar...all are a fantastic help!!!!!
Hi, Do not forget the most important part of Mold growth, some of it is penicillium, which is the stage before it is change to penicillin. To change it to penicillin is easy, just add lemon juice to it to consume naturally. It is an acquired taste, and an outback way of getting penicillin when a doctor is not available. Since September o3, 1928, Fleming discovery dots in his petri dish and it was "Penicillium Notatum". You See the good mold secreted something that inhibited the bad mold. Almost all mold is penicillium based and it easily grown on bread with just some drop of water on in in a mason jar capped, but not sealed. You can also get with in moldy bread Blue cheese mold, This is highly tasty and can be added in any cheese making process that excites the mold. I love using mold in all process in the kitchen and just because mold grow on top of veggies, it does not mean it is bad mold. Penicillin take up to 2 weeks or more to appear, so you could have it in a batch you decided to eat in 3 days. good luck, and learn to use mold, rather than avoid them. Lazaro Michael
Quantum-Entanglement in Magnet Great educational information, thank you. Fleury (part of Fleming's team), had lived in the outback among the Australian Aborigines and learnt how they used mould for healing. So without that knowledge they came up with antibiotics.
@@alinedeleandro123 Yes, I eat bread with mold all the time and use sour dough as it has penicillium in it too, Yeast and penicillium co-exist together. We have been indoctrinated to get and use only fresh fruit, for it is best for us, when if we use fruit the ripens on the tree, then falls, then you use it as God intended. Oh, there also was no refrigerators back then, so we at plenty of fermented food, now we do not. Such a shame the direction we are heading on this planet, we want to extinguish all forms of bacteria as if it our enemy. Happy Holidays, and News Year. Lazaro Michael
@@quantum-entanglementinmagn6728 Thank you so much for your very informative reply. I have a friend who once told me that back in the old country, in the village, people allowed their bread to become mouldy in order to use as a healing tool. I believed her, but I must admit, I imagined it would have done more harm than good. That could be the secret for longevity and good health that these people seemed to achieve. So do you just leave the bread out of the fridge, allow it to become mouldy and then just tuck into it as you would with a fresh piece of bread? I'm interested, as I gave up on allopathic medicine a decade ago. I take Diatomaceous Earth as a cleanser. What are your thoughts on that? I give it to my cat too. Merry Christmas and many blessings for a Happy New Year.
wowwww this is so interesting, thank you!
@@quantum-entanglementinmagn6728 amazing!
Im so glad i stuck around through those months that the channel was struggling with its direction. You have your mojo back!!
I’m obsessed with fermentation. My recipe that worked for me perfectly, (especially fermented cucumber)….fill the jar with veggies, pour and weigh water. Use 3.5-4% salt ( non iodine) of the water weight. The flavor is perfect. Add dill, horseradish root, bay leaf, spices of course…
When I have leftover brine I use it to make salad dressing.
Thank you so much for this video. I have been so intimidated about starting fermenting, and even though I pretty much knew the basics about it, watching you go through every little step just helped me wrap my head around it better.
This was absolutely enjoyable, you made it easy and you clearly explained everything, which is important for those of us who are new to fermenting. I have one question regarding the salt, what options are available if your a diabetic, any suggestions is greatly appreciated thank you🥰
toy toy
Potassium salt would be your best choice, Himalaya rock salt your next best.
while planning this years garden and reviewing the process, just had toasted home made bread, slice of mozz, slice of ham topped with fermented tomatoes from august, side of spicy fermented green beans, also from august, delicious, thank you for the insight.
Hints: use natural salts (unrefined and not iodized)
Use water that is not chlorinated.
use a tea bag or pickling bag for spices
Redmond real kosher salt should be good for this.
Mike, those are great tips, thank you!
Mike, what salts do you use?
@@MustangAXF pink himalayan, real salt (Redmond brand)....from dried lake bed, sea salt (mediteranian)
These salts have retained all minerals.
@@mikeandrone1026 thank you. Appreciate the response.
You forgot about koji fermentation: Proteins and starches into amino acids and sugars. Miso, soy sauce, etc.
Ah fungal fermentation, that would be a great video
I made my first batch of sauerkraut (video on my channel) and I love it. I've made my second batch and have made a couple small batches with celery in one, and in the other I added celery, finely shredded carrots and a clove of garlic, (which tasted amazing on the first day). I'm not planning to go out and ferment a bunch of veggies, but it's so nice to know I can do this. I often buy fresh veggies and can't cook it all up and end up blanching and freezing. Now I can just save it by fermenting. Thanks for the in depth video.
I think it's so cute that he wrote on the scrap wood for demonstrating
Another good fermented vegetable mix is really green tomatoes, kohlrabi's, celery, cauliflower, and carrots. I really liked your videos. I totally agree with you about once you have sauerkraut you will not want it in the store again. Pickled asparagus also rocks. I didn't make my kimchi right, so I am going to be attempting it again in the next couple of days. Have you ever fermented store-bought vegetables?
I will definitely try this but is there anything should I avoid or must do in order to do it right?
What's has not been really mentioned but is important is the fact that some veggies let out water (salt breakes down cells) so do leave some space for the water level changes. if you ferment cabbage eastern eurpean kind ( lactofermened insted of sauerkraut), you do not use water but just salt, white cabbage, carrots, peppercorns, bayleaves, no addition of water nesessary, but the mix nedds to be kneaded a bit before putting into jars. For the georgian kind of "red cabbage" (beetroots, cabbage, chilis, garlic, sellery) sellery sticks with leafs are obligatory, otherwise the taste is much blander.
Best breakdown of basic veggie fermentation I've seen. Thanks so much!
Thank you for laying out the process clearly, especially with how you add your salt to your ferments.
I am trying my first fermentation project EVER!!! Thank you for these videos. Cannot wait for trying my results.
This video came along just when I wanted to start getting into fermenting! Yes!
On Facebook follow a page called wild fermentation uncensored its the best people are great their and answer questions about anything in real time very great group i advise anyone new or even veteran fermenters too follow because its a treasure trove of knowledge
I am recovering from a bad case of Ulcerative Colitis. One thing I don't think you emphasize enough is that fermenting foods produces good bacteria (probiotics) that is necessary for gut health. I eat kimchi every day to keep up the good flora to fight off the bad invaders in my gut. Even though you don't even mention digestive problems, I link your youtube on my site because of all the healthy foods you make that is great for gut health. Thank you!
Aren't the fermented veggys a pre biotic? A food to feed the probiotics?
The fermentation process produces the good bacteria in food. Thus, they are a good source of probiotics. Prebiotics would be something like blueberries, dates, bananas, flax seed... foods that feed the probiotics. This is why they should be eaten at the same time.
Food preservation, fermentation so integral to solving the food crisis we face. Love this - Going back to how we used to do things!
Thanks for making this whole process much less daunting. I appreciate your content. Much love.
Thank you for putting this out! We put up several quarts of tomatoes and okra from our garden today using your video as our guide. So excited!! ☺️
Thank you so much! I’ve been using your fermentation technique for over 5 years! That .025 is the key!!! ❤
I'm from Eastern Europe. I can smell the jars just by looking at the video :))
I need help
I’m glad I found your channel; I’ve been interested in getting into fermentation because I love sauerkraut but I also love cauliflower and it’s a veg I really want to try and this video just really took the process down to its simplest explanation. You should be a teacher.
Before this video, 'fermented' had a negative connotation in my brain. Then I started growing tomatoes and didn't want to waste them. I tried them and it 100% changed my mind
We need a category of youtube for videos just like this.
10:45 Serious question: I have never seen anyone calculate brine salt percentages with the veggies included in the weight. I did the math, and with your 86g vegetables + 253g water (339g total), 8.5g of salt would give you a 3.2% brine (8/253). Is this correct? I know that using higher brine percentages is fine for lacto-fermentation, I'm just confused about why you are teaching it this way.
All the brine solutions I've seen are salt to water weight only. Those vegetables have to be sooo salty!
@Michael Natrin.....You are absolutely right! This guy did not know what he was doing😣...you’re not supposed to include the veggies in the weight to figure how much salt to add...that would give you a waaay too salty solution.....only the weight of the water should have been used to calculate the amount of salt.
Is in it more easy 1l water + 1 Spoon salt?
Doesn't he take into account the fact that the salt will pull out the water from the veggies therefore diluting the mix ?
Usually 30grams to a liter of filtered,brought to a boiling point and let to cool water is fine. It is better to filter and bring it to boil point water, because of the tap water having Chrolide in it.. People with sensitive stomachs should keep this in mind.. Im having an extreme severe leaky gut form, this is why I've done more research tho.. ^^
This is SO valuable to this newby Kim Chee Daikon lover! I've made 6 batches, all different, and now dialing it in for my taste. Mahalo and Aloha from Maui!
How to ferment vegetables after you remodel your home
Hire contractors, hire great kitchen staff, kick back and play the stock market!
I'm so delighted you showed the mouldy green beans. So we can know what that looks like. Great video.
Thanks for making this video. I’m returning to fermenting after a sabbatical and just needed a quick brush up. After watching several other videos yours is the most useful for me. Thanks!
Boun Appetito.
I'm form Poland mate :D this was annually routine in my family since I remember. few months ago I started work on this suff on my own, now is time for kombucha! ;)
Ha! I have been lacto fermenting all my life, without really knowing what I was doing. My gma and mother made sauerkraut and fermented veggies, so I learned from them in the 1960s. I moved away from home in 1968 and immediately started my own fermenting. This was extremely interesting and now I have a guideline for how much salt. LOL, I use a saucer weighted with rocks picked up in my yard, in the late 60s, early 70s; this fits exactly into my sauerkraut jar. For the mason jars, I have always used the bag with brine in it. Loved your video and will go find some more to watch and learn from. Thanks.
Your videos are super informative - I enjoy your delivery of the “why” behind what’s going on. Keep up the great work - Hardest part of trying all these recipes is finding organic vegetables- I live up at 8600’ in the Rockies -
I’ve followed your recipes
I’m currently fermenting 4 quarts of red wine - hoping for red wine vinegar in 29 more days.
can you show us some recipies where you use the veggies please? :)
You can google it up
Love the new channel format! I was sad to see brothers green go but this is such an awesome evolution!
I am originally from Ukraine, the way we measure is: per one liter of water 1 tablespoon of salt. Some vegetables like cabbage or tomatoes we also add 1 tablespoon of sugar. To all vegetables, excluding cabbage we add dill and garlick.
Great video, but repetitive piano chords drove me crazy lol. Maybe I'm the only one though.
Thanks! Loving your videos.
I've given in to the gram. I'm old and set in my ways but I have to admit, grams make it so much easier.
Same here! Started a few batches tonight- so easy to figure this way :)
Somehow I got from your fermenting to living soil! Its so crazy how much we benefit from micro organisms! and how the two are the same! It all revolves around microbes and the "soil food web". Bought a microscope and started a channel on capturing the life in our soil that feeds our plants and us! Just like the microbes in fermented food make it healthier for us microbes in the soil do more than I ever imagined!
I have an idea. You can just make a huge jug of salt water (2.5%) and top off the vegetables with the salt water. So you can use 200ml water and 5g of salt, or even 2L water and 50g of salt.
The salt concentration will be too low as you are not increasing the salt based on the weight of the vegetables
@@Jimmy-pe5hj negligible for most vegetables. Pretty much only cabbage will release enough water to fuck it up.
@@Jimmy-pe5hj No, it's not really an issue. I've always used a 2% brine solution without weighing the veggies, and it's worked great. 2.5% would be even higher salt concentration. Sourkraut and leafy greens are a bit different--you add the salt directly to the shredded leaves and massage them/weight them to let them express their own liquid, then pack down the leaves to try to submerge. You only top it up with more (2.5%) brine if the kraut isn't quite covered all the way after that, but often it is.
So helpful! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge. I’m just starting my fermentation journey. I’ve always loved sauerkraut and other fermented veggies, but I’ve never tried making them myself. I’m really excited to see how they turn out.
Is there anything you’re bad at?! You make making that station look easy. Binge watching all your fermentation videos!!
I get my jars from thrift stores, they are beautiful, unique, and they tell stories.
That's such a good idea how much do they cost ?
I want a backyard porch for fermentation, and as an auxiliary kitchen. When the weather is nice, why stay inside?
Fermentation *creates* vitamins , not just "unlocks". It is more of a process than decay.
The way you take your time to explain I truly appreciate it !! some show u what to do but not with the total real life application because they assume you know the rest of the equation or information but this video made me not feel like I was supposed to know something and addressed all that I should know!! you are so great for beginners and also advanced viewers ..you teach so any and everyone can learn both beginner and advanced all in one place .. you are great and unique with what u do and make it your style and not another’s with your wonderful personality ! You communicate so well .. thank you !! Blessings
I enjoyed seeing the DIY on the fermentation station. I feel very excited to try this, and much less afraid now knowing the major keys
There is a much easier formula which I learnt from all the women in my family (it's tradition to pickle all sorts of vegetables in Romania, where I come from). Basically, for every litre (1000 ml) of water, you add one rounded tablespoon of sea salt.
To avoid wastage of salt (like, who cares about that now, right? But in the olden days, salt was extremely valuable! Roman soldiers were paid in salt, hence the word "salary", from "sal" = salt, e.g., Salisbury = the town of salt), one trick you could do is first fit in all the veggies you want in the jars WITHOUT THE CONDIMENTS (!) and fill in the empty spaces with normal tap water, then pour back all the water into a measuring jug to see how much you need for all your jars, then round up to the nearest whole number of litres to figure out how many tablespoons of salt you need to use.
Depending on your recipe, you could either leave the veggies in the jars and just top up with the brine or take everything out, put your condiments/spices in first, then your veggies, then hot, boiling brine, seal the tops on and let it cool down. The next day you could put all the jars in a bain marie for 15 to 30 minutes from the point of boiling to properly sterilise them. If you do it this way, your pickles can last even 3 years! It works every time:)
Wow, I learned so much from this comment
Love this content! It helps me a ton when I only get one day off every 1-2 weeks to prep food for a month and it worry about it going bad. Thank you!
I love that you showed what can go wrong too! Putting this on my Save list to refer back to later to try each recipe you shared :)
I appreciated the visual explanation! Exactly the video I needed to help me learn how to ferment foods and what’s actually happening during the fermentation process that is beneficial to my health. Thanks!
For your gut microbiome you need to eat 30 different plants a week.
This is contributing to the 30 plants a week, is processing the plants leading to extra complexity, and is adding microbes.
Fermenting is such fun. I started with Kombucha years ago. Then i tried making Dill pickles because I like the Bubbies but not the price.
Last year, i fermented green tomatoes with garlic, cilantro & jalapeno. Those are incredible!
Then a friend gave me some kefir.
Next up is wine making. I'm addicted to fermenting.
Great info instructional video! 2-3 days after covering it, I’ve noticed that the veggies started to come up to the surface, so I’ve pushed them back down again, but I’ve noticed the brine got a bit “slimy”, contrary to the regular fluid brine.
I’ve had previously added the contents of couple small capsules of regular probiotics (although I’ve done the same in the past and never came across this).
I left it for the regular 2 or so weeks, but the slimy brine remains.
It tastes very strong, as if “peppery” strong.
Should I dispose it and make a new one?
Thanks a lot in advance for your details when replying!
Oh goodness, SO helpful and everything looks so delicious! Ready to grab stuff from the garden and get them fermenting! Thanks, Mike 💚
any reason why you peel the carrots? I don't believe they have a negative effect on the fermentation, what do you think?
That green bean was the first on the vid and I was wondering why you didn't submerge it fully when you told us to. :p
I hope you found out later in the video.
@@nyrick999 I sure did and that's why I left this comment too hehe
dawn for life in Switzerland I noticed that too and was gonna comment on it even if it hadn’t molded.
@@albertledesma5173 heheh or maybe he did it by "accident" to show us :p
Omg I thought of the same thing lol
Love that you found other ways to utilize your lazed writer thingy☺️.... on your explanation of “Fermentation” boards/visual aids. 🥰
Thank you for simplifying the brine formula. I received a fermentation kit for father's day from the coolest son in the world. Thanks to you I have a starting point.
I foresee a future with kimchee, peppers of all kinds and tomatoes (maybe with basil)' which I hadn't considered.
Thanks again!
Fabulous! I've been fermenting for over 8 years and learned so much. Would love to see you do olives.
Hey there , I would love yr openion , sorry but i've searched up the internet and couldn't find anything conclusive , is adding vinger stops the fermentation of the veggies ? I made a patch of onions yesterday but i added vinegar ( one cup to 4/5 cups of water ) but read later that that's pickling not fermenting , so my question is the onions gonna ferment ? If not should i keep it in the fridge ?
Olives can be done in salt or olive oil too you have to cut or smash them to open them then put them in salt ... I don’t add water but some people do
Also you can stuff them once they are fermented with nuts like walnuts are great and one more thing you put in the salt then every day you turn the jar upside down then back upright you have to check them to see how they are doing refrigerate after the process is complete and the way you like them to taste
The COMPLETE guide to fermenting vegetables.
No mention of air locks, the $1 device that allows you to ferment without worrying about all that submerging with weights.
J White what are air locks?
Thank you so much for the information and teaching to us newbies! Because of you I’m inspired to start fermenting my veggies to help preserve food and reduce waste! 😁
every mathematician cries when seeing his
equation xD
omg this cant be real xD
Cooking math isa far far different from your typical math MDAS or 1: to basics thingy!
Glad I wasn't the only one who caught that
what would be the correct equation?
@@GilGaladofNoldor basicly moving the 600g to another equation. Correct would be 400g+200g=600g 600g*0.025=15g salt. Otherwise if you do all the multiplication and addition you have 600g=15g=15g. And yes everyone understands what he wanted to say with his equation, its just math nerds complaint xD
I have made wine and beer in the past never tried anything like this though, I might just have a go myself..
havent made wine yet, how did that go?
Have you ever made rice wine? I love it but it's no where to be found in Switzerland and hope to make some :)
@@LifebyMikeG It went really well thanks I used to buy Kits or pick my own fruit when in season
my best one ever was Elderflower Champagne I made a batch and when it was ready I tasted some and it really was horrible I meant to throw it away but somehow forgot probs a year later I tried it again and it was amazing crystal clear and just the right amount of sparkle''
@@dawnforlife No I am afraid I haven't perhaps you could buy a kit online or look up a recipe
Fermenting is great ive got fermented eggs saurkraut and girdania going right now soo simple and easy join a page on Facebook called wild fermentation uncensored it is the holy grail of knowledge and questions being answered in real time dm if u need any help
Thank you so much for this video. 1. Can broccoli be done? 2. What’s the difference between fermentation and pickling?
1. Yes, I've done it a few times and it was lovely.
2. Many people use the word "pickling" only in reference to vegetables preserved in vinegar. Some of us use that word in reference to any soured vegetables, whether they've been lacto-fermented or preserved in vinegar.
😲 does Brad know you using his catch phrase??
what's his catch phrase exactly? Is it fermentation station because I'm liking the #fermenstation as per @lifebymikeg instagram request
Pro Home Cooks yeah, Brad over at Bon Appetit on the “it’s alive” videos calls it the fermentation station.
@@sonjawright518 oh yeah someone had mentioned that, I'm officially switching over to the fermenstatioin... Hope to get brad in there one day to collab
Pro Home Cooks that would definitely be a video I’d watch of y’all collaborating. Just be prepared for his high energy 😄. Some say Brad is the human embodiment of a golden retriever 😂
DUDE please collab with Brad from BA. He has the most entertaining food show on TH-cam! *Make sure you get Matt (his editor) to edit the video though!!
The first time I tried making sauerkraut I multiplied by .25. At least I think that’s what happened because it sure tasted like 25% salt….
Wooow now your cuisine is more comfortable and warm. White is versatile but it s like a hospital. I love beige, cream and light pink, aaaah and light grey and brown too.
Ohhh....now I get it!! You incorporated building the "fermentation station" so that it was a viable expense deduction. Smart move!😉🖒