Saltless Fermented Vegetables

This month, I have had to deal with some gut issues and under my gastro intestinal doctors request, I have begun to pay much more attention to my digestive system. mong other things, I have committed to eating fermented foods every day.
The month has been extremely hectic though so I began with store bought (the jars on the right in the photo) but each jar cost around 10 dollars. Both are high quality and locally produced so in a pinch, I don't mind splurging.

However, there is nothing easier than fermenting your own foods and drinks! I bought the Body Ecology Veggie Culture Starter awhile back when my husband was put on a salt restricted diet. I was pretty sure that there was no reason to use salt at all for fermenting but everybody and their uncle were telling me I was out of luck-that salt was crucial. I remembered reading a saltless recipe for fermented greens in the Wild Fermentation book though so I knew that there was more to fermenting than than adding salt.

A little research and I uncovered the starter and couldn't be happier.


In this Kim Chi flavored batch, I only have purple cabbage, carrots and burdock root and some flavoring.
First order of business is to shred the cabbage (I used 1.5 small heads), slice the carrot (about a pound) and burdock (one thick 12 inch root).
To a blender, I added 3 very large cloves of garlic, about 3 inches of ginger and a handful of the cabbage, carrot and burdock. I added about a cup of water and blended until smooth. I then added the Korean red pepper flakes and one packet of the starter culture and blended once more.
I also had some fluids left in each storebought jar so I added that to the blend too. I have never done this so we shall see what happens. Probably nothing except a slightly salted flavor.

I then poured this brine over the vegetables and covered it for an hour. This isn't mandatory but I like to let my ferments sit before putting into jars.
When transfering to the clean (sterile) jars, I used a  handful of the vegetables at a time and a pestle to crush the vegetables down.
In this method, the jars are sealed immediately and left to sit for 2-7 days. The instructions say the longer the better. I like my ferments on the crispy side which is why I make small batches.

 I highly recommend ferments in particular and will be doing more of them soon. Some of the reasons for eating/drinking them are commonly known but there are other reasons that recent research is uncovering that I would like to delve into more-such as how these frienly bacteria colonies actually affect mood and the function of the brain.
Stay tuned!