Fermented Eggplant (YUM!)

We tasted the fermented eggplant yesterday and it was surprisingly delicious. I first got the idea to ferment eggplant from my coworker. He is originally from the Middle East, and remembers fondly how his grandmother used to make pickled vegetables. He mentioned one day to me that his grandmother used to make pickled eggplant and that it is very very good. I was very curious and I asked what his grandmother put in it. He couldn't tell me much other than that she put hot peppers in it.

A few weeks ago, we got two eggplants from the CSA. I had let a couple from the CSA go bad and given another away in previous weeks. We are still very gingerly introducing things on full GAPS and while I have stopped peeling some vegetables, I am still removing the seeds from everything. I know I'm probably being obsessive, but since eggplant is full of many tiny little seeds, I just didn't feel right eating it. But when I got these two eggplants, I remembered what my coworker said and decided to let little probiotic critters predigest the eggplant before we eat it.

I looked around on the web for pickled eggplant recipes for inspiration. I ended up adding to the eggplant some parsley, celery, chile powder, and a bunch of garlic. I also added a few spoonfuls of brine from my homemade kim chi and a tbsp of salt to get it going. The full recipe is at:

http://www.wholetraditions.com/recipes/124-fermented-eggplant

The eggplant started bubbling and fizzing immediately when I mixed in the salt and brine. After a few minutes, the vegetables had released a lot of liquid, so I packed it into a quart sized jar. It filled up the jar with about a couple of inches head room, which was helpful since the vegetables kept trying to push its way up as it fermented over the next few days.

The fermented eggplant tastes eggplanty with that decisively tart fermented flavor. The chile powder and garlic gives it a nice kick and I really like eating it with soup. It reminds me of eating Chinese pickles with congee as a child. Definitely comfort food.

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Cucumbers Galore! and Making Lacto-fermented Pickles

Our cucumber plants are now in full production and we can barely keep up with eating them. We pick about two to three cucumbers a day. We have a large cucumber salad every night made by tossing together peeled, deseeded and diced cucumbers, sauerkraut, tomatoes, olive oil, and salt. We are also adding cucumbers to our morning vegetable juice. Even then, we just can't keep up.

Last week, I went outside after skipping just one day of cucumber picking and noticed several large green cucumbers on the vines. I also picked two of the heirloom cucumbers. There were several more on the vines that looked like they would be ready in the next couple of days, so I decided to make pickles.

Since I haven't made pickles before, I looked on the web for some recipes. However, I couldn't find any recipes for real lacto-fermented pickles, so I adapted the recipes I found for dill pickles that are normally pickled in vinegar. I ended up with 4 quarts of cucumber spears packed into two quart sized and one half gallon sized jars. Here's what I added per quart:

• Enough cucumber spears to fully pack the jar
• 2 cloves garlic, cut in half
• 1 large sprig dried dill
• 1 tbsp kefir whey
• 1 tbsp yogurt whey
• couple tsps of sauerkraut juice
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• Spring water to fill the jar

I shook up the jars really good, and then making sure all the cucumber was submerged, let them sit at room temperature for 3 days. I was really proud of myself because everything that went into the pickles except for the water and salt was sourced locally. Even the dill, which I got from the CSA a few weeks back and air dried to preserve it.

By the third day, the brine was cloudy and the jars were fizzing and bubbly with probiotic goodness. I put them in the fridge for two days before we tasted them. My husband and I each tried just a bite, since we are still introducing the fermented foods slowly and didn't want to cause too much die off. My husband's reaction was: "MMMMMM! Tastes like a pickle!" (He loves pickles.) I thought it tasted just like a pickle, but much milder. I haven't ever tasted a real lacto-fermented pickle before and this was sour but not with that harsh edgy sourness of the vinegar pickles. I missed the bold taste of conventional pickles a little bit, and I think next time I will try to add more garlic, salt, and dill to make it a bit more strong tasting.

Update: These pickles got better as they matured in the fridge. After the initial ferment, I would keep them in the fridge for three to four weeks before eating them. I no longer think I need extra salt or dill, although I'll probably add extra garlic.

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