Pickled Dill Carrots – Intro to Fermented Veggies
After purchasing a local, traditional fermentation vessel, I have been looking forward to putting it into use. The design of the pot is such that the lid and moat make an airlock similar to what you would use when brewing beer – air pressure built up inside pushes bubbles out without allowing any air or foreign yeast or other bacteria back in. As with all fermentation processes, carbon dioxide is a by-product of the reaction; however, the conditions for these microorganisms to function is anaerobic (meaning no oxygen is required for growth; oftentimes, oxygen is harmful to the process). It is this carbon dioxide that builds up and bubbles out of the pot in a steady, “bloop”.
I was surprised of the simplicity needed to start the fermentation process. There are some sources that recommend adding whey, the by-product of cheese production. This is an odd recommendation as whey contains microbes that can consume lactose; there is no lactose in vegetables. Know there are organisms in vegetable fermentation that also produce lactic acid (output similar to the microbes that consume lactose), but they are not related. My guess is that whey is used as a way to lower the pH (i.e., increase acidity), which is beneficial to kill off harmful bacteria. One can also use a bit of vinegar. However, the acidity will naturally build up as the fermentation continues. Interestingly enough, the active microorganisms change over time as the acidity changes, the flavor being influenced by this activity; this would be an interesting future experiment.
The start of the pickled carrots is prepping the brine.
Salt is a major inhibitor of bad bacteria. It is important, however, to understand the salt and the water used to make the brine. Stay away from salt with iodine in it. Iodine is impartial to the bacteria it kills; this includes the microorganisms that you want to flourish in your ferment. Also, city water may include chlorine or fluoride, which is added for public health. To rid your water of these ions, you may let your water sit out uncovered for 24 hours, or you could boil it. Unaware of any additives in the German tap water I am using, I simply boiled the water, adding the salt after the water was at a rolling boil. The goal is to create a 2 percent brine. This is done by adding a little over one tablespoon or 19 grams of salt for every quart of water. Know that one tablespoon of salt weighs approximately 17.06 grams.
As the brine cooled, I cut up the carrots into uniform sizes that would eventually fit into old jam jars and could be then refrigerated. I had enough room in my three liter pot for two layers of carrot spears. I sprinkled the bottom of the pot with dill (because I can) before filling with carrots. Know that during fermentation, the carrots need to be submerged in the brine in order to protect them from any oxygen. This can be done by using a weight that pushes all of the vegetables under the water, or by packing the carrots as such that they would not be able to float to the surface. Not having a weight or a plate of the right size, I chose to tightly pack the carrots before adding the cooled brine.
Putting a bit of brine into the moat, although regular water would have also sufficed, I put on the lid and waited for signs of activity. About four hours later, I heard the first “bloop”; four days later, the escaping air is quite regular every five minutes. I expect the fermentation to slow and stop in a week. This post will be updated with the results.
UPDATED: April 2, 2017
Even with the best intentions of packing in the carrots extremely tight in order to keep them in place, the carrots softened and freed themselves. Luckily, the top of the pot is narrower and only allowed a dozen or so carrot sticks to rest on the surface. As you can see in the picture, I had a nice fuzzy white mold growing on some of the dill and the exposed carrots. I carefully removed all contaminated material, even the free-floating fuzz, before removing the carrots from the pot and transferring them to old jam jars. I topped off the jars with brine from the pot and stored them in the fridge. There was a handful of extras that I attempted to consume, but I found that the carrot sticks went from crunchy to soft quite quickly if left out of the brine.
I will be considering this first veggie ferment a success. The carrots are still crunchy and are oddly sweet. There are nice complementing sour notes, which are going to make this a fantastic snack for the weeks to come. I had considered starting another batch immediately with an addition of mustard seed, but, alas, I have run out of jars. Although, with this make under my hat, I now have quite a few more pickling ideas percolating. Stay tuned!
