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Fermenting Vegetables at Home
Last week I wrote about the benefits of including fermented foods in your daily diet. You can serve a small amount of pickle, sauerkraut, or Kimchi with each meal and that little bit goes a long way in supporting the digestive process. If it is difficult to find live, cultured vegetables in your local foods market you can easily make them at home. This allows you the peace of mind knowing that the ingredients you use are the best, plus making your own cultured vegetables keeps your costs way down.
Here are two easy recipes to try for both the beginner and the experienced chef. Kimchi is a standard Korean dish, traditionally made with Chinese Napa cabbage. It can be made mild or spicy as you prefer. The quick pickles ferment for 24 hours before serving, but last in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Kimchi (Kim Chee)
1 lb Chinese or regular cabbage
1 large carrot
1/4 lb white radishes
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 1 leek, cut into half moons
2 Tbs. sea salt
1/2 cup water
3� piece ginger, minced
2 clove garlic
2 to 4 hot red peppers, dried, 2 inches long, split or
1 Tbs. chili powder
1. Slice the cabbage lengthwise into quarters. Remove the tough core and
then slice the quarters into 1 to 2 inch-long pieces.
2. Slice the carrot and radishes lengthwise and then into 2 inch-long
sections. Slice the sections into very thin strips.
3. Toss cabbage, carrot and radishes with the scallions, salt and
water. Cover loosely and let stand overnight.
4. Drain liquid from the vegetables into a bowl. Add honey and vinegar to
the liquid and stir well until honey is dissolved.
5. Add ginger, garlic and peppers to the vegetables and pack them into
sterilized jars. Pour liquid into the jars. If more liquid is needed to
cover vegetables, add water.
6. Cover loosely with a lid and let sit at room temperature for 3 to 5 days
to ferment. (Longer winter, shorter summer) The liquid will bubble and the flavor will become sour.
7. Refrigerate the Kimchi for 3 to 4 days. The cabbage will become
translucent and will be ready to serve.
Yields 1 quart
24-Hour Pickles
1 carrot
2 radish
2 turnips
2 ½ piece ginger
½ cup Ume Plum vinegar (see note)
2 Tbs. Mirin rice wine
1. Wash the vegetables, slice in half lengthwise, then slice into thin half moon pieces.
Place in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Whisk together the vinegar and Mirin. Pour over the vegetables making sure to cover them well and add water if necessary.
3. Place vegetables and any liquid in a pickle press or if using a bowl, cover with a plate and place a heavy object on top of the vegetables to press them down.
4. Let them sit out on the counter for 24 hours.
5. Remove the weight and plate and place pickles in a sterile glass container. Cover and refrigerate. Serve pickles with meals.
NOTE: If the Ume Plum vinegar is not available locally order it on-line and use to add a delicious salty seasoning to salad dressings and other recipes.
Makes 2 cups
Delia Quigley is the Director of StillPoint Schoolhouse, where she teaches a holistic lifestyle designed to achieve optimal health and well being, based on her 28 years of study, experience and practice. She is the creator of the Body Rejuvenation Cleanse, Cooking the Basics videos and classes, and Broken Bodies Yoga. Delia’s credentials include holistic nutritional counselor, natural foods chef, yoga instructor, energy therapist and public speaker.
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12 comments
add your comment »this is interesting.. healthy as well...
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wow ... this looks good :D
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Both mouth watering recipes. While I was in living in Tokyo, I was fortunate to visit Seoul, Korea. here I fell in love again with the pickled cabbage. Growing up in Hawaii, kim-chee was a main staple with each meal. So I once again excited my palate at the taste of genuine homemade kim-chee.
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There is a guy in NY who creates extra special strains of good bacteria. We have been pouring some of his 'biojuice' into our jars of fermenting veggies and the results have been unbelievably potent!!!! You literally feel high from eating just a little bit from the energy. No joke.
chinesischer grüner Tee
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Thanks, just bookmarked this page!
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Thanks.
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my colon therapist ferments veggies and sells them. she says they are really good for your digestive tract...never tried them before (with exception of pickles!)
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Thanks for a vegetarian kimchi recipe. But it will taste quite different from the real thing which includes using squid and raw oysters in the fermentation process.
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Bennie, sorry for the misprint. I usually do not add honey or vinegar to my kimchi recipe. However, some people like the sweet/sour bite, so in this case add a tablespoon of both honey and rice vinegar to the cabbage mixture.
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Honey and vinegar were not mentioned in the Kimchi recipe but were then added later in the instructions so how much of each of these do you use?
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