I would like to thank those of you who joined my daughter and me at Fernbrook Farms CSA on Saturday for the “Probiotic Preservation” Class! It was a nice crowd and people asked a lot of great questions.
One of the recipes I made that day was a take on a fermented Japanese pickle called Tsukemono. I did not have copies of the recipe with me, and thought I had posted it on the blog earlier.
I have used a variety of vegetables for this ferment: Chinese (napa) cabbage (one head, shredded), regular cabbage (one head, shredded), baby bok choi (a big bowl full), collard greens (shredded), grated kohlrabi (two big bulbs, peeled), grated carrots (about 5 medium), and grated hakurei turnips (about 10 medium).
- Prepped vegetable of choice
- 2-3 finely sliced green onion
- 2 T naturally fermented soy sauce
- the juice of one lemon*
- 1 t of sea salt
- ¼ C whey (if you don’t have whey, just use an extra teaspoon of salt)
- 2 T toasted sesame oil
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients, EXCEPT the sesame oil. If you are using cabbage, collards or any of the root vegetables, use a pounder and pound until juices begin to appear. Regular cabbage may take about 5 minutes, Chinese cabbage may only take two or three.
- Pack into a clean mason jar, leaving 1 inch of head space at the top. Using the pounder, press the vegetables down until they are below the level of the liquid.
- Secure the lid and leave out on a counter for 2 – 3 days, until bubble begin to form. Before moving to cold storage, add the toasted sesame oil and stir through. Repack the jar and put in cold storage.
- Toasted sesame seeds make a nice addition to this pickle when it is served.