Fermenting Vegetables

For months and months I have been reading about the various health benefits of lacto-fermented vegetables.  A couple of months ago, I actually tried to make my own.  I bought the yogurt and strained out the whey.  I sliced up the cabbage.  I watched youtube video after video.  But YUCK. Something went wrong.  Way wrong.  So I gave up for a while.  Then I took Jake to his biofeedback appointment and his doctor said he really needs more probiotics.  So off to Whole Foods I went.  I found a purple bag of goodness in the refrigerated raw food section.  

Using this as my inspiration, I tried again.  I chopped my cabbage, beets, and ginger.  I added several heaping tablespoons of sea salt AND some of the juice and veggie from the purple bag of goodness.  I put it all in my glass jar, set the top with the cabbage leaves, added the bag of water as weight, and held my breathe.  Almost a week.  And today I was rewarded with 3 jars of my own purple goodness.

A closer look.

I will use some of the juice and veggies from one of these three jars to start my next batch.  It's so tangy and tart.  It reminds me of pickles, but without the dill.  I will add it to sandwiches and meals.  Maybe I'll even sneak it into a smoothie.  Shhhhh don't tell the boys.