Lacto fermented beets

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Even though Lacto fermented beets are an easy vegetable to ferment, fermenting beets on their own can get tricky. Beet fermentation can be a tricky process especially to those new to fermenting vegetables. Beets contain relatively high sugar content which can easily convert into alcohol if you don’t keep an eye on the process.

To overcome this problem, I mix the beets with other vegetables such as cabbages or turnips. In addition, you can add bay leaf, herbs or ginger for extra flavor.

The natural sugar in the beets means that the outcome of the lacto fermented beets is salty, sour and naturally sweet, they are delicious.

Raw fermented beets are a very healthy vegetable available today since the bacteria formed during the fermentation process eliminates most of the sugar found in the vegetables without damaging other healthy ingredients.

The difference in the cutting method

Like the recipe of Lacto Fermented Carrots, I’m going to show you here a few ways to make lacto fermented beets. The difference is at the cutting method.

The first method will be fermented beets sticks. All you need to do is to peel the beets and cut them into beets sticks about to 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long. By cutting the beets into sticks you get a nice pickle style crunchy snack which is just slightly soured with a slight “funk”.

The second method of lacto fermented beets is slicing the beets as thinly as possible with a mandoline. The thinly sliced beets will give you a stronger ferment flavor than the fermented beets sticks. The more heavily chopped your beets are, the more you expose them to the fermentation process.

Another way is to make lacto fermented beets is to make them without water. This technique I use with cabbage in order to make sauerkraut. Like cabbage, beets release enough juice to make their own brine. I use this mandoline slicer with a small julienne attachment.

Spices, herbs and add vegetables that work wall with fermented beetroot are:

• Apples
• Basil
• Green beans
• Cabbage
• Caraway seeds
• Carrots
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Cumin seeds
• Dill
• Endive
• Fannel
• Fannel seeds
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Horseradish
• Mint
• Parsley
• Radish
• Rosemary
• Shallots
• Tarragon
• Thyme

Ingredients

• beets
• water
• salt

Instructions

1. Peel and chop the beets in your personal choice.
2. Transfer the chopped beets into a glass jar.
3. Place the jar (with the chopped beets inside) on the digital weight and reset the weight.
4. Add 5% kosher salt (5g of salt per 100g of water) to the jar.
5. Leave 3-5cm of space between the lip of jar and brine. Place a weighting stone on the top of the chopped beets.
6. Close the jar tightly and set aside for 10 days. In the first three days, a pressure of 2CO is created inside and it is recommended to open and release the pressure twice a day.