About:
A warming winter ferment with a kick. The finely grated pumpkin and carrot gives it almost like a pate texture once fermentated making it great to have on toast. It would also serve as a great side dish, notably with fish cakes. As with all ferments, adding salt helps to create the right selective environment for the lactic acid bacteria present in the veg and inhibits unwanted bacteria.
Ingredients:
- One small pumpkin
- 3-4 carrots
- 1 shallot
- 6cm of turmeric
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 4cm ginger root
- tsp Mustard seeds
- tsp Black peppercorns
- Handful of currents (optional)
- tsp Salt
Method:
The ingredients above serve only as a rough guide and are meant to be experimented with. To start, grate the pumpkin and carrots into a bowl using the finest side of a grater. Before grating the pumpkin make sure you cut off the skin. Also grate the turmeric and ginger into the bowl. Slice the shallot and garlic and add to the mix. Add the rest of the ingredients. At this stage taste the mixture to see if you want anymore salt or not. Using your hands, important that they are clean, start mixing the contents and massage it all together which will help to squeeze out the juices. Add to a sealable glass jar and submerge the contents as well as possible in the juices. By submerging it you are preventing oxygen getting to the veg that can cause them to spoil and promoting the growth of lactic acid fermenting bacteria. Leave the jar for roughly three days before refrigerating. After a day or so you should see your mixture bubbling away, exciting! Fermentation has begun. You can of course leave it longer outside the fridge, this will make a more developed fermented flavour. Enjoy!
Creative Fermentation 