Fermented Carrots

Sauerkraut has been a go-to staple for me for years now, but I have a hint of hesitation making each week because of the process of preparing the cabbage. It's messy to prep ,and I haven't been able to perfect the texture and slice size. It's good but not amazing. And cabbage is pricey given all the waste involved in prepping it.

After seeing a great price for whole carrots in bulk, it dawned on me that I could use carrots instead of cabbage for fermenting. I've figured out how to make the prep so easy with a food processor. I cut the carrots to the length of my food processor shoot so they lay on the shredder blade horizontally. Then when the blade spins and cuts, it cuts perfect matchstick size strips for fermenting. The other prep benefit is that any leftover carrots can be eaten raw or shredded and frozen which can't be done with cabbage.

Once I have shredded carrots, I follow the same routine as my cabbage recipe to pack the jar, fill it with salt and water, and set it out to ferment for a few days. This turns out amazing, much like pickled carrots, but with healthier probiotics providing the tang instead of vinegar. I will now be using carrots going forward instead of cabbage as part of my fermenting routine.

Ingredients:

• 500g freshly shredded carrots (start with whole carrots, peeling optional)
• 250-300g filtered water
• 15-16g kosher or sea salt (not iodized)

Directions

• Start with whole carrots. Do not use pre-peeled carrot sticks or bagged matchstick carrots. The mechanical processing strips carrots of their ability to ferment as easily as raw whole carrots.
• Wash the carrots and peel if desired. Then cut into chunks that match a food processor shoot size.
• Feed them through the food processor using the shredding blade to create long matchstick shreds.
• Pack a quart size wide mouth jar with 500g shredded carrots. Add 10g salt to the top.
• Pour in water until the carrots are covered but leaving one inch of room at the top of the jar. See how much water that was using a before and after scale measurement or weighing as you pour. Then add 2% of the weight as additional sale. As an example, if you added 250g of water, then add 5g more salt.
• Stire the contents or cover the jar with a lid and shake the contents to evenly distribute the salt and water among the carrots.
• Press the carrots down below the water line and hold them there with weights or a silicone disc.
• Put a lid loosely on top but so air can still circulate in and out. Place the jar on a plate in case the bubbles from fermenting cause the solution to overflow.
• Let sit 2-3 days at room temp on the counter until the solution is actively bubbling and the carrots turn from bright orange to dull orange.
• Give a taste test and once you like the flavor and tang profile, remove the weights, put a lid on tight, refrigerate, and enjoy as a snack, on salads, or other ways you enjoy sauerkraut or pickled carrots.