Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Lacto-Fermented Salsa

This here is a post I wrote last summer and never posted! I have another one on Lacto-fermented pickles coming up too, so hang on to your shorts!
My friend Cindy recently posted on her lacto-fermented salsa and it reminded me of this post that I forgot to post!
Of all the lacto-fermented foods salsa is by far our favorite!


Pickles and sauerkraut are close seconds, but those are other posts waiting to happen;-)



LACTO-FERMENTED SALSA

Makes one quart, double, or quadruple if you have lots of tomatoes and peppers

4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

2 small onions, finely chopped

3/4 cup chopped chile pepper, hot or mild

6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (optional)

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

juice of 2 lemons

1 TB sea salt

4 TB whey, if not available, use an additional 1 TB salt1/4 cup filtered water.


Peel tomatoes, cut along the "equator" of the tomato, squeeze out the seeds. Dice up tomatoes, and combine with all the other ingredients, and place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. Press down lightly with a wooden pounder or large spoon, adding more water if necessary to cover the vegetables. The top of the salsa mixture should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to cold storage. Make several jars if you have plenty of tomatoes, as this salsa is wonderful. The same Salsa can be made using canned tomatoes in the winter time.
Adapted from Nourishing Traditions.


This is the recipe I sort of follow. I do add lots of red or yellow peppers to my recipe. I don't usually peel my tomatoes and I use tons of lime juice instead of lemon.


If this is all new to you, you might be wondering where in the world do I get whey!? One very simple solution is to buy some organic yogurt, Stonyfield is good, and put it in a tea towel in a strainer over a bowl and strain out the whey. The liquid that comes out is the whey and the yogurt is now like a yogurt cheese that you can use for dips or cream cheese.


Here are some links that explain the benefits of lacto-fermentation.






Here is another recipe for lacto-fermented salsa


Hopefully this inspires you to try your hand at lacto-fermentation. Salsa is one of the easiest ways to incorporate this wonderful practice into your eating.


6 comments:

Farmgirl Cyn said...

Mine was SO good! I love the little zing that the fermenting process gives it. Hmmm....I think I will try lime juice next time, too. And peppers...lots of peppers. Now, I think I better check Craigslist for another fridge to hold all the fermented salsa and other goodies coming my way!

Unknown said...

What timing! I actually made salsa to go with our dinner last night. Can I add the whey now and leave it out on the counter? Do you have to wait two days to eat the salsa? Thank you so much for posting this. I have been wanting to try this, but didn't even think about it last night when I made the salsa. Sounds tasty! :) Can't wait for your version of sauerkraut, that is on my list for this year too. :)

Michelle (She Looketh Well) said...

Hi Valerie,

I am not sure. I am usually a little paranoid about not following correct proportions when doing something like this. Like, is there enough salt or does the whey cover that issue?? I think, if it was me, I would just do this recipe next time. And when you do, you do leave it sit for the two days and then put in fridge.

Unknown said...

I did the salsa last year and we LOVED it! I am begging my tomatoes to ripen so I can make more. I was just checking out some pickle recipes as I have enough for a quart or so - I haven't don't them before so I hope they are as tasty as the salsa.I also have some cabbage for kraut to do - I better get busy!

cooperkelly4 said...

thanks for the post. I borrowed Nourishing Traditions from the library (lol, I am on my 3rd renewal so I will need to return it soon. gonna have to get my own copy!) I haven't tried fermenting yet, but we are sold on grinding and soaking grains. =0)

Anonymous said...

I make this same salsa, except I got the recipe from Urban Homemaker's site.

This year, I've got a huge jar of salsa already in the fridge, fermenting. I mean, we eat it, but not that quickly. So, as I had a glut of tomatoes I when ahead and whipped up the salsa but didn't add the salt, whey, or water. I put this up in my freezer so when we need a new batch of salsa, I can pull these out, add the whey, salt & water and let it ferment. Yay!