What Else Can You Pickle Besides Cucumbers? Beets, Carrots, Garlic, and Radishes

Pickled cucumbers and sauerkraut are a Polish classic, but one article reminded me that almost any vegetable can be lacto-fermented. The authors note that old recipes are coming back into fashion, and more and more people are happily experimenting with preserves.

The process is simple to describe: lactic acid bacteria, working without oxygen, convert the sugars in vegetables into lactic acid. That acid is what gives preserved vegetables their long shelf life and characteristic sourness, and ferments are also a source of probiotics that support the gut and help the absorption of minerals.

Among the unusual choices are red beets, the base of homemade beet sour, with a sweet-sour, slightly earthy taste and a beautiful ruby color. Then come carrots, whose natural sweetness comes through when fermented, and which take on a spicy finish with chili or ginger. Garlic loses its sharp bite after fermenting and becomes milder, good for sauces, pastes, and sandwiches. Finally there are radishes, which gain crunch while their heat mellows; they go well with dill, garlic, or bay leaf.

I like this approach, because it shows that pickling doesn't have to end with one jar of cucumbers. If the garden produces a generous harvest of radishes or carrots, brine is a simple way to extend their life. In autumn, when the house gets cooler, fermentation simply takes a little longer.

Source: ESKA.pl