Fermented Greens

We went out of town for 3 days, and came home to a garden full of “greens”.  Swiss Chard, Rapini, Radish tops and Lambs Quarters. 

I picked a basket full!  The sink was full!  And that’s not counting the cilantro.  More about that tomorrow.

I chopped off the stems of the chard, and set the rapini and radish tops aside for tonight’s dinner.  The remaining leaves were washed well and dumped into this large bowl.  I sprinkled a tablespoon of pickling salt over the top and then used my hands to massage the salt into the greens, bruising them as I worked.  they quickly shrunk.

Then I “match-sticked” an inch of ginger-root and added it, as well as a teaspoon of ground chili peppers.

Can you see the liquid coming out of the greens?

Mix that all together and stuff into an appropriately sized jar.

(My sink-full shrunk down to a 500 ml jar)

Use another jar to hold the greens under the brine, and let it sit in a comfortably warm spot for a few days.  Mine generally  go for 3 days.  Watch out for fruit flies, I have no idea where they came from, but they found it.  Yuk!!!!!

I taste my ferments every day, and can always tell when they’re ready by the taste.   Full, salty, mmmmmmmm.

Do you ferment?