We lucked out with an extended growing season in MN last year, but this year it looks like we’re getting an early first frost tonight. So I did a quick pick and now I’m going to make some fermented salsa.
Here’s a link to the recipe (scroll down on the page past the annoying pickl-it propaganda). My wife and I made some of our own pickl-it style jars last year by buying 1 gallon bail-top jars with gaskets, then having the lids drilled to accept a rubber stopper and airlock. Truly excluding oxygen with a tightly-sealed jar majorly improved our results. Now I’m thinking about using a big-mouth bubbler as a fermenter for sauerkraut and other large-batch veggie ferments.
The veggie ferments last year turned out great. This will be our first time doing fermented salsa. Hope it’s good!
Sounds pretty good. I received a bag full of assorted red chiles today and started a fermented hot sauce. I’ve never done it before, but it seems like a good way to preserve them.
Did you use that Caldwell starter culture? I’ve always heard the veggies have enough bugs on them to start a fermentation on their own, but if I’ve learned anything from brewing, a good fermentation is the most important thing.
We didn’t use a starter culture, since all of the veggies were organic and right from our garden. Really high-quality stuff, I was pretty selective of which veggies I chose since it was going to be fermented rather than heat-processed.
It came out really tasty, with a lactic tang that almost gives the impression of slight carbonation. It was really watery though. I’m making a second batch tonight and this time I’ll drain the tomatoes. I left out the jalapenos so mine came out pretty close to pico de gallo.
I just refilled my serving jar from the 1-gallon jar and had some of this on a baked potato. I swear there is a slight carbonation - it really gives the salsa an interesting zing. Great stuff. I would highly recommend trying this if you’ve got the fermentation gear. As with other vegetable ferments, leave plenty of head space or you’ll end up with blowoff.