Sunday, June 17, 2018

No non-sense Lacto-fermented Asparagus Pickles





In the last few months I have made and consumed, certainly, a few gallons of Asparagus Pickles. Asparagus is a pre-biotic food to begin with, meaning that it feeds the good bacteria in your guts and so making pickles with it seems to be doubly beneficial. I certainly notice a difference when I eat asparagus pickles compared to any other pickles.
Since I am on an pickle kick, it's a good time to add the recipe to the long forgotten blog!







I add the juice of an old batch of pickles to the next pickle to ensure the establishment of the good bacteria and hopefully preventing your pickle jar from getting attacked my molds. if you do not have juice from your previous pickle/sauerkraut, then you use the whey from yogurt. Strain your yogurt and use the whey (the water that runs out) instead of the old pickle juice. In the absence of either, just use more salt, as indicated in the recipe, to prevent bad bacteria and molds from growing.

I have  noticed that 2 average bundles of asparagus, as found in the US markets sufficiently fills my 1/2  gallon mason jars. these have a wide mouth and for these jars I use these glass weight to put on top of the vegetables so they  don't come floating to the top of the brine. you want your vegetables to be submerged in the brine so that they don't attract mold s and are happily underwater in the sea of brine.


Amazon.com link for the Fermentation Weights


I close the lid with these special fermentation lids that only allow the air from inside (the CO2 produced during fermentation) to escape out but do not let the fresh oxygen to reach inside which may lead to molds growing. Though I have also made the pickles with a cloth cover tied around the mouth of the jar. Go figure and experiment!


Amazon.com link for the Fermentation Lids

No non-sense Lacto-Fermented Aaparagus Pickles

2 bundles of fresh Asparagus

Brine (2 Tbsp. salt dissolved in 1 quart / 1litre of water. 3 Tbsp. salt if not using old pickle juice/whey)

pickling spiced of your choice (fresh garlic, jalapeƱos, coriander seeds, whole black pepper, bay leaves, fresh dill) whatever is accessible and available, or none if you want them just plain

one half gallon mason jar washed in hot soapy water (or any other odd jar you might have.

a weight that would keep your vegetables submerged

a lid or just a cloth to tie around the mouth of the jar

around 1 cup old pickle juice or whey

You can scale your recipe depending on how much you want to make, of course.







Add, if using, your choice of picking spices at the bottom of your jar.
















Trim off the bottom hard woody parts of your asparagus shoots, and pack them as tightly as you can in your jar. making sure to leave a couple inches of space above in the jar. break of the tall asparagus stems if you need to and stuff these on the sides to ensure enough space on top.













Now add about a cup of your old left over pickle juice, if you have it, or whey to the jar. If not make your brine with a higher percentage of salt as described above.
Put your fermentation weight above the asparagus and just fill your jar with brine. Make sure that the brine goes above your weight and all the vegetables are submerged and below the brine. You may have to mix some more brine if you don't have enough.

















Put the lid on the jar and leave them on your kitchen to ferment for 3 days or so, depending on the weather. Taste and see if they have started to sour in 3 days. Put them in the fried if done. They will continue to sour outside the fridge as long as you want.








When the pickles are done the brine will be milkier and they will smell sour-ish. if they smell rotten then certainly something went wrong, but if your vegetables are under the brine the whole time and the brine is salty enough it should all go well. Sometimes it takes time to get used to the characteristic smell of the lacto-fermented pickles. You may see while specks of mold floating on top. Usually you can just fish them out and it will be all ok.

These lacto-fermented pickles (called so because of the lactic acid bacteria, like lactobacillus) are packed with  "good-guys" good for, ah, so much.  Good for detoxing, digestion, repairing your guts, absorbing and assimilating food. The list goes on and on.... There is a huge imbalance of good and bad bacteria in our guts today and so all the more important to add fermented foods to your diet. And what a fummy way to do it! Enjoy!


1 comment:

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