Culture Club
by Maria Reidelbach
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| Eggplants of all colors. |
So even if you don't grow your own, this is a great time of
year to take advantage of our local bounty. Lately, I've been experimenting
with pickling—especially with the simple, ancient method used to make
delicious, crunchy, kosher dill pickles. This summer, I've been making pickles
from other vegetables too: baby zucchini, pattypan squash, green, yellow and
purple beans, Brussels sprouts, beets, carrots, and all kinds and colors of
eggplant and peppers. Sauerkraut is made this way, too. It is amazing that you
need only two ingredients to produce a major transformation: salt and water—and
no cooking in a hot summer kitchen, either! The vegetables will be preserved
for months.
This amazing alchemy is a process called lacto-fermentation.
It all happens on a microscopic level with our friends, bacteria, which you'll
be growing right on your counter top, yes, on purpose! When you submerge a
vegetable in brine it creates an anaerobic environment—the vegetables are
sealed off from the germy air of the outside world and protected from
undesirable microbes that would spoil them. The benign bacteria that create
yummy fermentation are already living inside the vegetables. Safe in their
salty environment, these bacteria chow down on the vegetable's sugars and
produce a bunch of antimicrobial substances: lactic acid (it's sour), carbon
dioxide, alcohol, and a few other chemicals. All this happens without damaging
the plant material or most of its vitamins, plus lacto-fermentation creates
lots of B vitamins and natural chemicals that enhance the flavor of the
vegetables.
And we're learning now that there's all kinds of good
probiotic effects—these pickles are great for digestion and for the health of
all the good biota that live inside of us. Nicci Cagan, a Stone Ridge healthy
food advocate, says, “Fermentation is about creating healthy cultures. It's
something we can do together.” I'm not sure if by “together” she means her and
you and me, or me and my bacteria.
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| Pickled items including beans, celery, broccoli, beets & carrots. |
It's kind of creepy and kind of magical. I have to admit
that culturing bacteria on my food didn't feel comfortable at first, even after
I reminded myself that some of my favorite foods are the result of bacteria and
fermentation: cheese, yogurt, beer, wine, miso, soy sauce, kimchi, and cider
just for starters. But after I made my first batch of cucumber pickles and
tasted how good they were, I've gotten braver—and more hungry.
Here is a basic recipe for lacto-fermented pickles. You can
make great pickles with these simple instructions, as long as you pay attention
to the important details.
Lacto-fermented Pickled Vegetables
1/3 cup kosher salt, or 1/4 cup plain or sea salt (don't use
iodized)
1 cup boiling water
2 lbs. fresh vegetables, cut up as you wish
crushed garlic cloves or sliced onions, if you like
a handful of fresh herbs, as desired
Mix the salt and water until
dissolved, and let cool to room temperature (you can add a couple of ice
cubes). Put the vegetables and herbs into a glass or plastic container that's
wide enough for a weight (see below) and pour the brine over, adding enough
water to just cover the vegetables, which will tend to float.
Put a small plate on top of
the vegetables to push them down. If necessary, put another weight on the
plate—you want those veggies to be below the surface of the brine, even if the
plate is submerged too. Cover with a clean tea towel.
Begin sampling after several
hours and refrigerate the pickles when they're as sour as you like. If any mold
is floating on the surface, just skim it off. Top off the brine with water if
you need to.
Keep your pickles very cool
or in the fridge. They'll continue to ferment, but more slowly.
If your pickles smell bad or
get slimy, don't eat them—they might have gotten contaminated somehow or some veggies,
like garlic scapes, just don't pickle well.
Nicci's expert tip: she
likes to start with chopped or shredded cabbage, then add other vegetables like
cucumbers, peppers and onions.
There are plenty of
resources about fermenting pickles with history, more detail about pickling
containers, types of salt, effects of water, and many ways to tweak your
pickle-fermenting practice. Here are a few that I find most helpful:
• Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, the
lacto-fermentation bible (thanks Lisa Jessup!).
• Keeping Food Fresh: Old World Techniques and Recipes
by the Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivante, a fascinating source of
traditional European recipes.
• Put 'em Up by Sherri Brooks Vinton. A fun source of
all kinds of food preservation techniques.
• If you really want to cheat, you can buy locally grown and
pickled vegetables from Perry's Pickles, a multigenerational family company
based in Woodstock. Perry's sells pickles at farmers markets and local outlets.
• Nicci Cagan, pickler extraordinaire, is Director of From
the Ground Up, a farm-to-school organization in Stone Ridge.
When she's not
pickling, Maria Reidelbach is an author, artist and serves as a board member of
the Rondout Valley Growers Association.
Posted by Chris Hewitt
on 7:23 PM.
Filed under
Feature,
locavore,
wild edibles,
Yardavore
.
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