Lacto-Fermented Tomatoes
I absolutely love cultured and fermented foods. They are generally easy to make, especially these tomatoes, delicious, and good for your body. Anti-nutrients in plants are broken down, nutrition is made more bioavailable, and can even increase it in some cases. It’s a great way to help foods last longer as well. We have an abundance of tomatoes in the garden right now, so it’s a great simple way to preserve them for a bit.
Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria. It is natural created by nature and a seal of some kind, like a lid on a jar. While lacto-fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, have become super trendy these days and cost high dollar in the grocery store, they are very inexpensive to make. In general all you need is a really good sea salt. I used Jacobsen. glass storage such as mason jars are perfect, I love these air tight lid jars as well, and fermentation weights, or even washed rocks in order to submerge the veggie/fruit of choice under the water. While they are for sale you don’t need fancy lids/contraptions, but if you already have them, for sure use it.
You can watch me go through the process here on Instagram.
You’ll Need:
1 Quart of Organic Grape Tomatoes
2-3 TBSP Sea Salt ( I know this seems like a lot of salt. You can experiment with how much works for you. Don’t eliminate it though because otherwise the ferment won’t work. you can try less and see. Salt is a crucial part of fermentation. Never use table salt, it doesn’t have any minerals and contains bleach.)
Quart Size Mason Jar and plastic lid
Filtered Water (never use tap water, chlorine and other harsh chemicals can prevent fermentation)
Instructions:
Wash and rinse your tomatoes. I used white or apple cider vinegar and some salt in filtered water to sit for 10-15 minutes. Then I rinse them.
Take off all of the stems and with a toothpick poke a hole into each one. Then pop them into the mason jar.
I use a funnel, but you don’t need to in order to put the water and salt into the jar. I put in the salt and next I fill the jar with water just to ocver them. Then put a fermentation weight on top. Seal with a lid.
Let it sit in a cool dark place like a pantry or a cabinet for 3-5 days. You may want to put it inside a open plastic container like the one I show here or on a tray like the sauerkraut. Sometimes the lactic acid builds up and can leak.
Please let me know if you read the blog and ferment some tomatoes. I’m always happy to hear from you!
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