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THE GOOD EARTH

with Margaret Mossakowska from www.mosshouse.com.au

Some people who have you believe that fermenting veggies is something new and trendy. They’re even calling it the “Art of Fermentation.”

Ingredients for fermenting

Before stoves and refrigerators, fermenting veggies allowed people to preserve food in a nutritional and safe way.

Think foods such as cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchee, olives, salami, jerky and even bread. And think beverages such as wine and beer, not to mention coffee and hot chocolate. All of these — and many more — are examples of fermented foods.

Well, really, it’s been done for thousands of years and is just going through a revival.

Fermenting vegetables is the new ‘in’thing because it’s a “live food, because they contain “living bacteria,” that in turn helps digest other foods in the digestive tract.

Fermented foods have a natural tart flavour because the sugars and carbohydrates have been broken down and used up during fermentation.

In the case of vegetables, they’re more digestible than raw ones and just about any raw vegetable can be safely fermented at home, if done properly.

Kim Chee preserves

Why not start with cabbage, daikon radishes, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, okra, string beans and green tomatoes, as they’re good candidates for fermentation.

Margaret's Kimchee recipe

Red cabbage

Black Spanish radish

Carrot

Salt the grated  and finely sliced veggies first and leave overnight.

Next day,

add slush made from onions garlic, chilli and ginger and pulverised in a food processer.

All you need to do now is put them in a crock or sterilised jars.

If you have any questions about fermenting vegetables from your garden, why not write in to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.