Lacto-Fermentation using the EcoJarz Fermentation Kit
Sour lacto-fermented beets. Huh? Let’s break it down. Fermentation is a common term and has been a common practice for many moons. Every jar of pickles we twist open at barbecues, the sauerkraut we dump in the crockpot over pork for our New Year celebration, and let’s not forget our favorite adult beverage, beer. For beer fermentation, we can thank yeast. But for our favorite pickled treats, we can tip our hats to a good, healthy bacteria called lactobacillus.
Here’s what I know about this bacteria. Once at work, lactobacillus turns the sugars and starches of the vegetables we are fermenting into lactic acid. Hence the “lacto” in lacto-fermentation.
What’s good about fermenting foods? It acts as a natural preservative. This is great for folks that want to preserve food in general or even for an emergency preparedness kit. Another hugely important benefit is that it kills all of the harmful bacteria.
Why eat lacto-fermented foods? Let’s keep it simple. Gut health. The key is to get the bad stuff out and get the good stuff back into your gut. Eating fermented foods helps replenish the healthy enzymes, vitamins and probiotics. Lacto-fermented beets will help with that!
This summer I caught wind of a product that I had to get my hands on. A simple, easy-to-use fermentation kit made by EcoJarz (You can find this on the EcoJarz website). It came in a cute box that included a two piece lid, an airlock and an instruction/recipe book. The tools seemed simple enough. The ring is your run-of-the-mill jar ring, the lid has a rubber rim and a grommet in the center for airlock placement.
My friend had given me a beautiful basket of goodies from the farmer’s market for my birthday. The basket included a few perfectly red, healthy-sized beets. I grabbed my kit and the beets and got to work. Please be aware that the EcoJarz recipe called for a quart jar, I only had pint jars on hand so I customized it accordingly.
Following the EcoJarz recipe for the most part, here’s how this went down:
- Clean the beets
- Peel the beets
- Cut the beets into cubes
- Make a brine of sea salt and fresh filtered water
- Drop the beet(s) into the clean jar
- Pour the brine over the beets
- Place the two piece jar lid onto the jar
- Insert the airlock into the grommet
PAUSE! The EcoJarz instructions state to fill the airlock to the fill line with water. I received a tip from my brewmaster pal that they use vodka when they make sour beers at the brewery. I thought I’d mix things up and use vodka.
9. Fill the airlock to the fill line with water (or vodka)
10. Please lid onto the airlock and be patient.
The hubs and I have been tasting the beets every other week. So far, so good! But I do think we will let them continue to ferment until the 4 week mark.
Let’s take a moment to talk about EcoJarz. I really love the ease of use with the fermentation kit. It’s the first product I’ve purchased from their line. I’ve checked out some of their other items and they have some really fun stuff. I have my eye on the stainless steal straws and a few other things. I’ll keep you all posted if I get anything else, but for the meantime, if you want to try fermentation at home and you don’t want to break the bank, definitely consider the EcoJarz fermentation kit. May the beet go on!