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Home / Ferment Blog / Ferment your own vegetables! Part 2: Developing Your Own Fermentation Recipes

Posted September 9, 2020 by Katie Korby

Ferment your own vegetables! Part 2: Developing Your Own Fermentation Recipes

Now that you’ve experimented with the basic recipes we shared in part 1, here are some ways to get creative and wow folks at your next neighborhood potluck!

Herbs and Spices

For both the brined and dry-salted method, a good guide is to use 1 Tbsp of fresh herbs or spices or 1 tsp of dried herbs or spices. For example, if you want to use fresh garlic and fresh ginger use a 1/2 Tbsp of each, for a total of 1 Tbsp fresh spices in the jar. Same goes for powdered spices or dried herbs: mix up as many spices as you like adding up to a total of 1 tsp/pint jar. Salt will stay the same at 1 1/2 tsp/pint jar.

Mix it Up!

For the brined method, consider adding whole fresh herbs to your jar, like flowering dill or whole peeled cloves of garlic. These flavors will infuse in the brine even if they aren’t chopped up. Plus, they look amazing! A mixed pickle with different vegetables, herbs, and spices is so easy and creates beautiful colors and fresh flavors.

For the dry-salted method, you can blend a wide variety of herbs and spices and vegetables. Try mixing chopped wild greens like dandelion or nettles (wear gloves!) into your krauts. Or experiment with making your own kimchi-style ferment with any number of ingredients like Napa cabbage, green cabbage, carrots, radishes, chives, scallions, garlic, ginger, or chile peppers.

Taste it!

Don’t wait until your ferments get going to taste them – you should taste your recipe when you are mixing all your ingredients together before packing it into the jar. Do you like the flavor? Could it use a little more of something? Add it! The flavors will meld and mellow during fermentation, but if you like how it tastes before it’s fermented then there’s a good chance you’ll like it when it’s finished too! Don’t worry if it tastes saltier than you’d like because the salty flavor will mellow too.

 
Extra Tips for Experimentation

Most veggies lend themselves quite well to fermenting, however there are a few we’d recommend taking extra care with. Onions and mushrooms don’t naturally have enough lactic acid bacteria to ferment well on their own. They are delicious when fermented with other veggies, like cucumbers with onions, or shredded cabbage with some thinly sliced mushrooms. You might also encounter veggies that seem like they would be delicious fermented but end up smelling so funky it’ll clear the room (asparagus!). Try mixing these in with other veggies for a more delicious result. Consider also that sometimes the smell of ferments is very different from the taste. If you are discouraged, say, by the sulfury smell from fermented onions, don’t give up on the ferment. Open it out on the porch and take a forkful – despite the smell, the taste could be delightful! Discovering what works and what you like to eat is part of the fun of home fermentation!

Pint-Size Kraut Recipe Ideas

1) Red & Green: 8 oz. red cabbage, 8 oz. green cabbage, 1 1/2 tsp salt

2) Golden Kraut: 10 oz. green cabbage, 3 oz. carrot, 3 oz. beet, 1 1/2 tsp salt

3) Ginger Pink: 12 oz. green cabbage, 4 oz. beet, 1 Tbsp ginger, 1 1/2 tsp salt

4) What’s that Smell?: 12 oz. green cabbage, 2 oz. onion, 2 oz. carrot, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt

5) Simple Kraut: 16 oz. green cabbage, 1 tsp caraway, 1 1/2 tsp salt

Fermentation Resources and Inspiration

The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz (2012, Chelsea Green)

The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman (2012, Storey)

Fiery Ferments by Kirsten & Christopher Shockey (2017, Storey)

Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten & Christopher Shockey (2014, Storey)

Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen by Leda Scheintaub (2014, Rizzoli)

Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen by Brittany Wood Nickerson (2017, Storey)

How to Ferment Vegetables from CityHomesteads.com

Clay fermenting crocks:

https://www.claycrocks.com

https://www.dkaufmann.com

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Meet Lavender! Lavender joined the Real Pickles pr Meet Lavender! Lavender joined the Real Pickles production team a little over a year ago and was recently promoted to assistant production manager. Lavender's experience in commercial kitchens has cultivated a love for large kitchen appliances. Their favorite tools at Real Pickles include a “Very Big Whisk” and a “Very Big Immersion Blender”! At Real Pickles, Lavender loves learning about worker co-operatives and ferments. They bring a great sense of humor, a strong work ethic and a curiosity that makes them a source of knowledge on many subjects. When they are not at Real Pickles, Lavender is learning to be ambidextrous and nurturing their love of prime numbers. We absolutely love having Lavender as part of the Real Pickles family!
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Riverland Farm has been an important farm partner of ours since 2002! Riverland is a 40-acre certified organic, women-run farm growing a diverse array of mixed vegetables and fruits along the Connecticut River in Sunderland, MA. The farm is run by Emily Landeck (in photo) and Meghan Arquin, who combine their love of cooking and sustainable organic farming practices to make their business a standout in the community and an important part of the local food system in western Massachusetts. They grow high-quality organic produce for the community and continue the ongoing work to maintain and improve the land that they farm. Riverland Farm keeps Real Pickles well-supplied with vegetables, herbs, and spices for the Organic Kimchi, as well as the Organic Sauerkraut, Organic Beets, Organic Red Cabbage, and Organic Ginger Carrots - seen here, germinating in that fertile river bottom soil! 🥕🥕🥕 

#featuredfarm #organic #northeastgrown #carrots #gingercarrots #kimchi #realpickles #womanfarmer #springiscoming
Meet Greg! If you are local to Western Mass or Sou Meet Greg! If you are local to Western Mass or Southern Vermont, you may have seen this masked face driving around in the Real Pickles van.  As a long time supporter and fan of Real Pickles, Greg joined the production team in 2015 and says he found an incredibly supportive culture. He became a worker-owner after a couple of years and has since taken on many new roles including serving up Real Pickles at events and in-store demos. His main focus these days is helping to manage shipping and receiving and making local deliveries to area co-ops and markets. Greg's upbeat energy is infectious and he can make anyone laugh! He misses meeting pickle lovers throughout the Northeast and is looking forward to the day he is able to be at events again, giving out samples and talking about fermentation and co-ops. In Greg's spare time he likes picnics, ukuleles, and bicycles ... and especially bicycle ukulele picnics! His favorite ferment is our organic kimchi piled on top of some crispy pan-fried tofu. We love that Greg is a part of the Real Pickles family! 

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We love this Warm Winter Salad recipe and now is t We love this Warm Winter Salad recipe and now is the perfect time to enjoy it! Roasted roots and toasted pepitas mixed with warm greens and ferments. A healthy and delicious twist on comfort food. Check out the recipe on our website and show us your version of this seasonal salad!

#RealPickles #FermentedAndRaw #PackedWithAMission #Recipe #Vegan #Organic #WarmWinterSalad #Kraut 

photo by @clarebarboza tattoo by @benreigletattoos
To all of our customers, vendors, farmers, investo To all of our customers, vendors, farmers, investors, distributors, staff, owners, friends, neighbors and fellow fermenters - we love and appreciate you. Today, and everyday! 

#heartbeets #realpickles #fermented #beets #organic #love
Happy Friday! This week in our Meet the Picklers S Happy Friday! This week in our Meet the Picklers Series, we’re featuring K, who joined the production team last September. K loves the straightforward nature of working in the Real Pickles kitchen and especially the community of co-workers who K says often reveal themselves in comedic, compassionate and contemplative conversation. K is excited about the opportunity to participate in a sustainable food system and enjoys learning more about the enduring process of fermentation. When K is not at Real Pickles they are often immersed in artistic endeavors and exploring ways to develop new means of communicating shared experiences. In pre-COVID times K was involved in the world of live performance through movement and theater-based work. We love the creative energy and big heart that K brings to Real Pickles and are thrilled that they are part of our team! 

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