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?