Spicy Pickled (Fermented) Carrots

Denise just recently made some "Pickled Spicy Carrots." These yummy, crunchy, tangy, and hot (from jalapeno peppers) treats are not made with vinegar. They are fermented (similar in process to making sauerkraut or kosher pickles), therefore they have the same probiotics (beneficial bacteria) as sauerkraut and yogurt, and maybe some extras.

We grew the onions and peppers in these jars, but we purchased the carrots. Time involved: the time it takes to cut up the veggies; put them in jars; add water, salt, optional herbs and spices, and if you have it, whey.  Two or three days days on the counter, two weeks in the fridge and these will be ready to enjoy.

The Recipe

 The veggies in this recipe should be organic. The goal is to grow the lacto-bacteria to ferment (pickle) the carrots, etc. These friendly bacteria are ever-present in and on the veggies. Pecticides and chemical fertilizers kill them, as does chlorinated water--so use filtered, unchlorinated water.

• 3 cups of peeled and sliced carrots (slice on the diagonal to increase surface area)
• half of a medium onion peeled, quartered and sliced
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper (whole, pierced with a fork; halved length-wise; or sliced--if you slice, only include the seeds of you want it really hot. Wear gloves)
• fresh cilantro (to taste)
• garlic cloves (to taste) whole, crushed, or sliced
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 4 tablespoons of whey (see below how to make whey; if not available use an additional tablespoon of salt)
• 1/2 cup of filtered water

Mix the vegetables and pack them into a wide-mouthed quart mason jar. Mix water with salt and whey and pour over the vegetables adding more water if necessary to cover the carrot mixture. The top of the vegetables should be at least one inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to the fridge.

 

Making Whey

Use homemade yogurt or quality commercial yogurt--be sure the label says "live" or "active" cultures, or "cultured in the cup." Line a large strainer with a dish towel and set it over a bowl. Pour in a quart or more of yogurt and let stand at room temperature for several hours. The whey will run out of the yogurt into the bowl. What you have left in the strainer is thicker yogurt (Greek Style). If you tie up the towel (careful, don't squeeze the yogurt!) and suspend it over a container and let it continue to drip, soon you'll have something close to sour cream (we use it just like sour cream), if you let the bag drip until it stops dripping, you'll have cream cheese. In the fridge, the cheese will keep for a month and the whey will keep for six months. We always eat it up long before that.

April in the Garden

• Give flowers and vegetables a foliar feeding of liquid seaweed or compost tea; spray the liquid nutrients on foliage early in the day before it gets too hot.
• Plant black-eyed, purple hull and crowder peas, okra, peanuts, sweet potatoes, squash, melons, cucumbers, and corn—all can withstand the heat that will arrive in less than 2 months.
• Keep planting basil—it loves the warm weather.
• Keep adding kitchen scraps and grass clippings to your compost pile.
• Replenish your mulch!
• If slugs and snails are decimating your plants, collect them in the evening, when you're most likely to spot them.
• Plant pumpkins, summer squash, melons, and other vegetables that thrive in heat.
• Every 2 weeks from now until late summer, plant small blocks of bush beans and sweet corn to extend the harvest until frost.
• Thin fruits on fruit trees to increase their size and keep branches from breaking.
• Sow seeds of nasturtiums, marigolds, portulaca, amaranthus, salvias, vinca (Catharanthus roseus), sunflowers, and zinnias.
• Attract beneficial insects to your garden: provide them with their chosen  foods and habitats. Umbelliferae family members such as anise, carrot, caraway, coriander, dill, fennel and parsley, with many tiny flowers arranged in tight umbels, and those in the Asteraceae (Compositae) family, such as black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, and strawflower, with a central disc flowers surrounded by many ray petals, attract many beneficials. Mustard flowers attract lacewings that control aphids and parasitic wasps that keep down cabbage caterpillars and coddling moths.