AT HOME FERMENTED SALSA + BRUSCHETTA
FERMENTATION: WHAT IS IT?
If there is one thing I have been obsessed with lately it’s fermented foods. I’ve talked about them already on my Instagram page so I’ll keep it short and sweet on the blog.
Fermentation: noun
the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms, typically involving effervescence and the giving off of heat
Basically, fermenting foods is the process of retaining the naturally occurring GOOD bacteria or probiotics in foods while simultaneously killing the BAD bacteria that naturally occurs in foods. We need all the probiotics that are in food to help our immune system, our microbiome, our gut health, our skin health, to help our digestive system stay flowin, and they actually can boost your vaginal health… sorry had to say it.
Fermenting foods is a simple process, that doesn’t require a bunch of tools or ingredients at all. All you need is the food you’re fermenting, a jar or container of some sort, and ingredients to make your brine. Brine is what activates the fermentation process, or more specifically it’s SALT that kickstarts this process. The salt is what keeps the bad bacteria from growing.
OPTIONAL TOOLS
You will need something to keep your vegetables submerged under your brine so that the fermentation process occurs to its full ability. I bought these fermentation weights off amazon along with these fermentation lids. The lids have a little hole at the top allowing the gases to escape while also keeping anything from getting into my jars. Links and photos to these tools are at the end of this post.
HOWEVER, this process is 100% do-able with just a mason jar and a regular wide mouth lid. If you don’t have a weight, no problem just use half of a bell pepper, tomato, or onion skin to wedge it in there and keep your veggies under your brine.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
Mason Jar
Salt (about 2 tablespoons)
3 small tomatoes
1 bell pepper, any color
1 tsp garlic powder
1 hot pepper (optional), finely chopped or chopped in a food processor
1 small onion, finely chopped or chopped in a food processor
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
2-3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice
METHOD
Chop up your tomatoes, peppers, onions (although I had to grind mine up in a food processor because my eyes would not stop crying) and cilantro and stir it up in a bowl. It is important that when you are chopping up your tomatoes, you retain as much of the liquid as you can and all the liquid that gets on your cutting board should be salvaged and used as the brine. So make sure when you put everything in your bowl, all the liquid comes with it.
Next, add your garlic, salt, and lime juice.
Stir all together in your bowl and add it to your mason jar. Pack it all in, pushing your salsa down to let the liquid rise to the top. Add a ferment weight, or like I mentioned the head of one of your bell peppers or tomatoes.
TIP: if you find you don’t have enough liquid from your tomatoes and other veggies, add a few tablespoons of water to help submerge all the veggies under the liquid.
Lastly, cap your jaw loosely if you don’t have a fermenting lid and leave it at room temperature, out of sunlight, for 2 days.
BRUSCHETTA
I decided to just add this little recipe in here since they go hand in hand! This is perfect for an appetizer at dinner parties or just to have as a nice little snack. It’s also PACKED with probiotics! You’ll notice I didn’t use a gluten free bread in this recipe. I try my best to eat gluten free as gluten is an inflammatory, but if I do eat any bread that contains gluten it will most likely be sourdough! I am obsessed with sourdough and I’ll tell ya why.
Sourdough is actually fermented! Given its sour taste, you are actually tasting the good bacteria in it and it’s another great way to get your probiotics in. Sourdough is also much easier to digest than other breads given its pre-biotic content and pro-biotic properties.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
A few slices of sourdough bread
fermented salsa
balsamic vinegar
METHOD
Heat up a pan on your stove top with a few tablespoons of the balsamic vinegar on medium heat. You’ll begin to notice a glaze forming after about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once it becomes a nice thick glaze, set it aside and toast your sourdough. After you toast the bread, drizzle a bit of the glaze on your bread first, and then add a couple spoonfuls of your fermented salsa. I recommend doing the glaze first so it doesn’t turn your tomatoes brown!!
And now you have a delicious homemade salsa and bruschetta, full of probiotics! Below are the photos of and links to my favorite fermenting tools.
LIDS
