Fermented green tomato salsa
Fermented green tomato salsa
In my garden the tomatoes are my pride and joy. I grow them from seed. It always amazes me to see a single seed go from a tiny sprout to a 6-foot vine, packed with fruit in a few months. There is nothing like biting into a vine ripened tomato, but green tomatoes also have their place. They are firm and a little sour. I usually make this ferment early or late in the season, when green tomatoes are plentiful.
Yields: 1 ½ cups
Ingredients
3 cups green tomatoes or tomatillos – rough chop
4 large garlic cloves – sliced in half
2 jalapeño peppers sliced or ½ dried habanero – rough chop
1 cup onion – rough chop
1 cup of cilantro – rough chop
2.5 % brine with pink Himalayan salt and non- chlorinated water
Steps
Basic fermenting formula: vegetable in grams + water in grams x 2.5% = how much salt in grams
Example 600 grams of vegetable and water x .025 (2.5%) = 15 grams salt
Using a digital scale, weigh a clean, 1000 ml wide-mouth mason jar. Tare the scale to zero. Place all the ingredients except the salt in the jar. Fill the jar with non-chlorinated water until the vegetables are completely submerged – about an inch below the rim. Weigh the filled jar in grams. Multiply the number by .025 to determine how many grams of salt to add. Pour the liquid into a glass measuring cup, add the salt and stir to dissolve. Pour the brine back into the jar.
Use a water bag or fermenting weight to press down the veggie mix. All the veggies need to be submerged to reduce the chance of bad bacteria growing.
Ferment for 5 days. Reserve about ¾ of the liquid. Empty the remaining contents of the jar into a high-speed blender. Blend until it is the consistency you like – add reserved liquid if needed. Pour into a clean glass jar, seal it and place it in the fridge. Save the remaining juice to make a dressing or add it to a soup.
