A crunchy lacto-fermented vegetable that will fill your belly with good bacterias and all of carrots natural vitamins and minerals.
Ferment those Veggies
Vegetables are my preferred snack to give to my children. I love when they are crunching on celery, peppers, cucumbers or carrots. I prefer to buy organic. Less chemicals is always better, in my opinion.
Fermenting vegetables, like these carrot pickles, makes their nutrients more absorbable for our bodies and gives our guts a good healthy dose of awesome bacteria.
Practically everything in our world is full of bacteria, including our bodies. The goal is to have the good bacteria outweigh the bad. Adding good bacteria through things like fermented vegetables, helps tip the scales in our favor.
Fermentation also preserve vegetables, if you have an overabundance from your garden.
It Can Be Fast
These fermented carrots come together quickly. Chopping them is the most hands on part. I try to make them mostly similar in size but with a tapered vegetable that is a little difficult.
Do the best you can. It doesn’t really matter in the end. The thinner parts ferment more quickly but it doesn’t affect the quality of the whole batch.
Ferment for 2-7 Days
The longest part of the whole recipe is the fermentation time. My kids ask over and over for that 1-7 days if they are done yet. We try to let them ferment for at least five days but they can sit for as little as two days and as many as seven days. We prefer them a little more tangy.
You know the magic is happening when you can see bubbles, like in the picture below.
After the fermentation time is over, put them in the fridge. They do continue to ferment in the fridge though it is a much slower process in the cold.
Is Whey a Problem?
This recipe calls for whey. I buy plain, organic yogurt. Grass-fed is awesome when I can find it. Yogurt should have two ingredients – milk and culture, that’s it.
You need 1 tablespoon of whey per quart jar. I strain about a ½ cup of yogurt to get the whey I need. The strained yogurt can be stirred back into the rest of the yogurt once you have the whey you need.
Whey is a cultured dairy product. The whey in this recipe does not bother my little girl with the dairy allergy but if you are worried about it being a problem in your home you can skip the whey and add another tablespoon of salt.
Carrot Pickles
1-2 pounds of carrots
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon whey (or another tablespoon of salt)
2-3 garlic cloves
Water
Directions
Wash the carrots well. Remove the top. Chop the carrots into semi-uniform sticks. In the bottom of a quart size, very clean jar place the peeled garlic cloves. Add the salt and whey.
Add a small amount of water (2-3 tablepoons) and swirl around the whey and salt until they are dissolved in the water.
Tightly fit all the carrot sticks into the jar. Turn a couple carrot sticks sideways on the top, if need be, so none of the carrots can float. Add water to cover all the carrots. No part of the carrot should be out of the water.
Cover your jar tightly with a lid and leave at room temperature. Leave it to work its magic. You can eat as soon as two days but the beneficial bacterias develop more if it stays 4-7 days.
After 2-3 days, you may need to “burp” your jar. Untwist the lid and then twist it back on. This allows any built up gas to be released. You will often see bubbles move around in the jar when you do it.
“Burp” the jar daily until you are ready to enjoy them. We love them after 5-6 days. Store in the fridge to slow down the fermentation process. They will last months in the fridge.
