Fermented onions and radishes!

I had some spare onions and radishes the other week, and, inspired by my lacto-fermenting fiend of a friend, decided to pickle them via fermentation. Yum!

These are the jars before fermentation

 A few notes about lacto-fermented pickles:
1) fermenting things is so easy
2) they taste amazing
3) they are super good for you and your digestive system

No matter what you are going to ferment, you will need a brine mixture of this ratio:
2 c. water to 1 1/2 T sea salt - or - 1 quart water to 3 T sea salt.
Be sure to use the fine grained sea salt and not the rocky stuff. I heated a portion of the water so the the salt would dissolve better, and than topped it off with cool water to the appropriate ratio. (You want the brine to be room temp or cool when you add it to the veggies, not warm.)

Your big decision is what to ferment! Some things may require a quick blanching first (green beans, brussel sprouts) or cooking (beets), but many things just can be fermented in their raw state (onions, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower). You do want to be careful to use veggies that are in good shape and not bruised. Whatever you choose, the basic idea is to put some spices in a jar (peppercorns, dill, garlic, hot peppers, mustard seeds, etc) and than fill the rest of the jar with your chosen item or blend. Pour the cooled brine over the top and make sure that all veggies/herbs/spices are submerged. Note: Keeping everything submerged can be challenging, but tuck beans under or pack radishes down and fill the jar all the way to the brim. Screw the lid on the jar tightly.

Now comes the part where you leave the jar out for several days to weeks for it to ferment. You will need to "burp" the jars each day to release the pressure - mine often end up spilling over the counter, leaking from the jar lid because of the fermenting process inside (I perhaps don't screw mine tightly enough, but just as well so the jars don't break!) This is all good and means the pickles are getting really tasty, just wipe it up and watch all the bubbles rise to the top in the jar. The best way to tell that your pickles are done is to taste them. You want to taste for nice pickle flavor - and there is no going wrong here. Some people like a mild ferment, others want it really strong. There will be a point where the active fermentation process ends - there will no longer be bubbling or overflow from the jar, so you can also use that as your done meter. Once you decide your pickles are ready, move them to cold storage (I put mine in the fridge) and eat them or store them for a long while. A year or more, so long as it is airtight and covered with the brine.

For my radishes:
I chopped them in half and had just enough to fill a pint jar. I have lots of dill going to seed in the garden, so I plucked several of the seed "heads" to stick in the jar. I also tossed in some black peppercorns, and would have put in mustard seed if I had any. Garlic and a hot pepper would have been great too, but I was out. My radishes were ready after 4 days, and they turned a nice pink color. These were great with a burger, in salad, or just plain for a snack.




For the onions:
I used red onions because that is what I had, and I thought they would look really pretty. I am a little sensitive to raw onions, so I was excited to ferment some to put in stuff without needing to cook them or soak them in vinegar first. This worked out great - they were still onion-y, but less sharp. They were perfect in salad and on burgers - really you could eat them on anything. I didn't use any spices with these, just the brine, and they also turned pink. The onions took longer and the juice kept spilling over the jar - it was about a week or 8 days when I liked the flavor best and called them done!