Lacto-Enzyme Fruits and Vegetables in Vacuum Bags
A good marinade is a very nice thing, but avoiding pickles in the refrigerator can seem a little intimidating if you’ve never fermented anything before. But lactofermentation, which requires nothing but salt and an oxygen-free environment, is far more affordable than it sounds, especially if you have a vacuum sealer.
We’ve discussed lactic acid fermentation before when we used the process to produce amazingly delicious (and carbonated) pickled grapes . As I said then, salt is the key. It acts as a kind of body protector, killing harmful bacteria and allowing lactobacilli (beneficial bacteria) to marinate your foods:
While “milk fermentation” sounds like science (and has the potential to contain a lot of milk), it’s a fairly simple (and dairy-free) process. “Lacto” refers to the bacteria Lactobacillus, a naturally occurring bacteria that converts sugar into lactic acid when placed in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment. Lactic acid gives the marinade a pleasant aftertaste, and salt inhibits unwanted bacterial growth, allowing our beneficial bacteria to do their thing.
It worked great with grapes, but with lactose fermentation you can pickle just about any damn thing. The process can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on how moist and sweet the part of your plant is. (The sweeter it is, the faster it ferments.)
Recently a friend with a plum tree gave me a package of plums and he highly recommended pickling them that way. This recommendation turned out to be absolutely correct. The plums were good fresh but made a great marinade. They were the perfect combination of sour, salty and sweet; I ate them in salads, sliced them into rice dishes, with cheese and crackers and every experience was very enjoyable. Then there are milk pears (great for salads) and cabbage (it’s just sauerkraut). Both were made salty, funky and spicy, and both required very little work from me.
Lactofermentation isn’t really meant for canning, but it can make mediocre fruits and vegetables taste better and turn a dull, bland chunk of food into something you really want to eat. Lacto-fermented pickles often have a shelf life of at least a couple of months – and their taste will change and intensify over time – but they are unstable in storage, like canned food. Just make sure to eat lacto pickles within a few months, store them in the refrigerator, and throw them away if weird mold starts to grow or they taste bad.
To prepare lacto pickles you will need:
- Fruit or vegetables (for the former, I like plums, grapes and pears; for the latter, onions and cabbage, but feel free to experiment).
- Salt (iodine appears to interfere with fermentation, but I used table salt with no problem).
- Vacuum bag and sealant (you can use cans and jugs, but we have focused on this method, which is the easiest).
Weigh the amount of fruit or vegetables you want to ferment and note the weight. Slice, cut or chop food to the desired shape and size and place in a vacuum bag. Depending on the amount of sugar in your plant part, the bag may swell as it ferments, so don’t fill the bag more than halfway.
Next, weigh a mass of salt equal to 2% of your fruit or vegetable, add it to the bag, then shake the bag to coat your future pickles evenly. Close the bag and let it stand at room temperature. After about a day, juicy fruits will float in their own juice and bubble. Items with less moisture and less sugar can take longer and the bag will never swell. After five days, my plums looked like this:
But after two weeks, my cabbage still looked like this, although at this point it was almost ready to eat:
Once the bubbles have subsided, your pickle is likely to be ready, although keep in mind that they may not go away. When in doubt, you can always open the bag, give the pickled cucumber a flavor, then close it again and let it ferment further if the aroma does not develop as you would like.
If you’re not sure if a part of the plant is good for marinating, try a small amount and then increase the amount if you like the results. Experimentation is part of the fun of lacto fermentation; don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot pickle. Personally, I can’t wait to taste milk cranberries for the holidays.