Like carrots but not particularly when raw? Like probiotics and gut health but can’t really afford additional supplements in pill form? Try fermented vegetables like carrots.
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A healthy, delicious, and easy to make snack
Fermented carrots is fast-becoming one of my family’s favorite treats! Because they are a healthy snack, we have no snack rules around these things. I’m also finding that because they are so yummy, I’m making them very often now.
Fermented carrots is a form of lacto-fermentation, a salt based fermentation process. Fermenting foods has been a preservation method used for MANY years.
Your vegetable plus salt minus oxygen results in a fantastic environment for good bacteria like lactic acid bacteria to grow. This bacteria will repel undesirable microorganisms.
If a vegetable, like carrots, is edible in raw form, it will also be edible fermented.
Salt, the fermentation VIP
Salt is used in fermentation two ways:
- it begins the fermentation process by encouraging the development of good bacteria while discouraging bad bacteria.
- it preserves the texture of the vegetable.
What kind of salt is important. It needs to be free of iodine and any anti-caking agents. No table salt. I use Redmond Real Salt.
H20 matters!
The kind of water you use is important too. If you’re on municipal water, it may be chlorinated. Let your water sit in a jar for about 30 minutes for the chlorine to evaporate from it before using it as a brine in this recipe. Using filtered water is the best option when available.
Alternatively, you can boil your municipal water then let it sit to significantly cool before adding the salt and then the brine to your jar.
In the formula presented above earlier, (veggie + salt – oxygen), fermentation needs NO oxygen. It is very important to keep your carrots submerged in the brine for this recipe. I highly recommend using wide mouth quart jars and these ferment weights. There have been times when a small carrot piece got around the weight and I had to add a second weight to the jar. If your carrots become exposed to the air, they will mold and your entire ferment will be ruined.
This isn’t a terrible loss as fermented carrots are relatively inexpensive to make! Whenever you’re in doubt, toss it out (preferably into your compost bin).
The Fermented Carrots Recipe
As many washed and cut carrots as you can get into a wide-mouth quart jar
2-3 sprigs of fresh dill
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 tbsp salt (Redmond Real Salt)
1 quart of filtered water
How to:
Wash and cut carrots (no need to peel them. The good stuff is on the skin!) You may cut whole carrots in half then carefully slice them in half long ways.
Rinse fresh dill of any dust or little bugs if you grow it yourself. Peel and dice garlic. Place dill and garlic in the bottom of the quart jar.
Lay jar on its side and layer carrots as tightly as you can. Add pieces of carrots to fill in any gaps. Add a quart of water to a sauce pan on the stove.
Then put in salt. Let the salt dissolve. No need to boil! Carefully pour brine into your carrot jar until at the start of the rim.
Over the sink, hold the jar and add in a ferment weight. Some brine may spill out so be careful if it is still hot. Make sure all carrots are covered with brine and none have floated up around the weight.
Add a lid, I prefer these, as metal lids and rings will rust due to the salt. Set on a plate on the counter to rest for at least 2 days but I have found the carrots are most flavorful and the right amount of tangy when they’ve rested for 9 days.
A few extra notes on fermented carrots:
You may want to untwist your jar’s lid daily to let out any gases. This is “burping” the jar.
When carrots are ready, you may notice the water a little cloudy with white specks in it. This is fine. I’ve noticed my glass weights become a little slimy with it. It is just the bacteria and yeast working together.
good bacteria and yeast
There should not be any mold present. As you untwist the lid every day, look for signs of mold and any carrots who have escaped the water.
You can taste test a carrot on day 4 to see if you like the flavor. If it is super salty, it’s not ready yet. Let It sit a few more days. After it is ready, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 6 months (you’ll be lucky if it lasts more than a week before it’s eaten up, though!). Fermentation will still occur in the fridge but at a much slower rate.
Fermented carrots benefits
Your vegetable plus salt minus oxygen results in a fantastic environment for good bacteria like lactic acid bacteria to grow. This bacteria will repel undesirable microorganisms. This is lacto-fermentation or sometimes called pickling.
Basically, fermented carrots are GOOD FOR YOU! A healthy, probiotic snack.
Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of preserving foods to extend shelf life but found that the bacterias in fermented foods have big probiotic benefits for the gut. Good gut bacteria puts up a big fight with bad bacteria in the gut. Adding more good than bad bacteria to your gut is always a smart idea.
Also, see my disclosure statement on health facts.
More fermented vegetable recipes
Fermented Carrots
Equipment
- 1 wide mouth quart jar or 2 pint jars
- 1 wide mouth lid
- 1 glass ferment weight
Ingredients
- As many washed and cut carrots as you can get into a wide-mouth quart jar
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh dill
- 2 garlic cloves diced
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 quart filtered water
Instructions
- Wash and cut carrots (no need to peel them. The good stuff is on the skin!) You may cut whole carrots in half then carefully slice them in half long ways.
- Rinse fresh dill of any dust or little bugs if you grow it yourself. Peel and dice garlic. Place dill and garlic in the bottom of the quart jar.
- Lay jar on its side and layer carrots as tightly as you can. Add pieces of carrots to fill in any gaps. Add a quart of water to a sauce pan on the stove.
- Then put in salt. Let the salt dissolve. No need to boil! Carefully pour brine into your carrot jar until at the start of the rim.
- Over the sink, hold the jar and add in a ferment weight. Some brine may spill out so be careful if it is still hot. Make sure all carrots are covered with brine and none have floated up around the weight.
- Add a lid like a plastic or wooden one. Set on a plate on the counter to rest for at least 2 days but I have found the carrots are most flavorful and the right amount of tangy when they’ve rested for 9 days.
Notes
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Redmond Real Salt mined in the USA
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