Fermented Beet and Cabbage: a Natural Probiotic for a Healthy Gut
This is a simple recipe, and the red coloring from the purple cabbage and red beets is just beautiful!
I prefer not to “cook” out the nutrition in my food, so when I prepare food for fermentation, I let the natural juices and the salt do the fermenting for me.
This recipe is super flexible, and can be changed-up to reflect what ingredients you have on hand. For example, replace the purple cabbage with green, add more carrots if you don’t have enought beets, omit the beets entirely if you dont love them as much as I do, and so on.
You can also add herbs for additional flavoring. Dill or ginger are delicous additions to any fermentation recipe.
This recipe makes about 3 quart jars (depending on the size of vegetables used). Remember, you are packing the ingredients into the jars tightly.
Ingredients:
1 head purple cabbage, finely chopped
4 beets, peeled and grated
2 carrots, grated
3 tsp Himalayan sea salt
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix together well with your hands. Squeezing the ingredients together firmly as you mix, until a juice begins to form.
Scoop the ingredients into glass jars and press down firmly with the end of a rolling pin until the juices rise to the top–really pack the mix tightly into the jar. Make sure the juice covers the vegetables, leaving about 1/2 space at the top of the jar.
ProTip: If you dont have enough “juice” to cover the veg in the jars, then add a salt-water mix: mix 1 tsp salt for every 1 cup water, and top off the jars with this.
Cover jars loosely with a lid and let sit at room temperature for 4-7 days, until the taste becomes sour. “Burp” the jar lid daily–remove the lid and allow the trapped gases to escape– then replace the lid loosely.
Once it sours, store it in the fridge.
Enjoy 1/4 c of this natural probiotic with your meals daily to support a healthy gut.
I love to eat this plain, or as a delicious addition for baked sweet potatoes, salads, or as a topping for flax crackers or flat herb bread.
Live Life Optimally,
Kristie
