Lacto-fermented Vegetables - Sauerkraut & Ginger Carrots - Trying Them after 2 1/2 Months

Back in the old days people didn't have refrigeration or pressure cookers, but they still managed to figure out how to preserve things.  One method they used is called Lacto-fermentation.  That sounds like a scary word, I know, but we learned all about it from the Weston A. Price Foundation, and it is merely the use of lactic acid to preserve foods by stopping the growth of 'bad' bacteria.  This is a conversion process whereby lactobacilli turns starches and sugars in vegetables into lactic acid.

It is so very simple to do.  All you need is fresh vegetables that you crush, a little salt, a little homemade whey, a mason jar or two, and time.  You can click on the two links below where we showed how to use the process of lacto-fermentation to make sauerkraut and ginger carrots.

Making Sauerkraut

Making Ginger Carrots

As the above posts indicate, you leave the jars at room temperature for a few days and then place them in a cool, dark place for long term preservation.  You must be patient, and the longer you wait, the better it gets. After sufficient time has passed, it is time to try out the product. It has been a couple of months, so we took a jar of each out of the back of the fridge and opened them up.  I've read where sauerkraut takes 6 months to mature.

Homemade Sauerkraut and Ginger Carrots

There are some additional benefits of lactofermentation.  Eating lacto-fermented vegetables aids in digestion by populating your gut with good flora that will assist your body in digesting food.  It also increases the vitamin levels able to be used by your body.  We will typically open both jars and eat a few forkfuls to begin the meal, sort of like a relish or condiment.  One of the first things you notice is the cool, bubbly, effervescence of lacto-fermented vegetables.  It is tangy and delicious.  I can't say I would've been excited about trying this as a kid, but I really like it now.

 Here is a fork view of our homemade sauerkraut:

Sauerkraut

And here is a fork view of our ginger carrots:

Ginger Carrots

After we harvest our cabbage and carrots and eat all we can fresh, we'll put some in the freezer and the rest we'll preserve this way.  It extends the harvest in such a way that we'll enjoy carrots and cabbage right up until it's time to harvest the next crop. Those ginger carrots have my mouth watering.  I wish I could explain in words how good it tastes!