This recipe submitted by Nashville Food Co-op Owner Michael B. He recently used his Weekly Farm Box produce to create the pickled beets in the photo.
Pickled Beets (and Other Vegetables)
What you’ll need:
- Sterile Jar, preferably some sort of mason jar. You can sterilize the jar before canning by pouring boiling water into it and letting it sit for ~5 min.
- Fermentation weight, to hold the jar contents under the brine.
- Cap for the jar with an airlock. The airlock allows gases to escape the jar but does not allow air to re-enter the sealed jar.
- Several grape leaves
- Garlic scapes or garlic cloves (scapes are garlic stems)
- Beets or other vegetables for pickling to fill jar
- Pickling brine, made of ½ tablespoon of salt per 1 cup of water
Recipe:
- Slice the beets to ~1/4 inch thick and slice the garlic scapes into ~2inch long pieces.
- Place 3-4 grape leaves on bottom of jar
- layer beets and garlic scapes (or cloves) until half way full.
- Add pickling spices (as much as it says on the packages) and more grape leaves, and then more beets and garlic.
- Really pack the jar as tightly as possible.
- When the jar is full add grape leaves to the top, add the fermentation weight, and fill with brine. Brine recipe: salt/water ratio is ½ tablespoon of salt per 1 cup of water.
- Put on the airlock jar cap and leave at room temperature for a week.
Notes:
- I have used this basic recipe for cucumbers, jalapenos, okra, garlic, and carrots. Many types of garden vegetables can be lacto-fermented in this fashion.
- The brine will get cloudy as it ferments, but will clear in about a week. You can then remove the fermentation cap and weight, and close up and store the jar in your fridge.
- The salt brine inhibits the growth of most bacteria, but allows for the growth of Lactobacillus bacteria, which causes the fermentation.
- The grape leaves add tannins to the mix, which help the beets (or anything that’s in the brine) retain some crunchiness.