The Complete Beginner's Guide to Fermenting Foods at Home

[00:00] Things are starting to shift in the food world actually shift back in time because people

[00:23] are really starting to get the taste for fermentation, they are craving the funkiness. And like I've said many times before, things like refrigerator technology to preserve food, to extend the life of your food, that is brand new in the grand scheme of human beings.

[00:39] We have been preserving food using different preservation techniques for food, for millennium. And that is the way we survive. So what happened was human beings actually adapted to preserve food.

[00:52] So now the research is out that things like fermented food is actually good for digestion because that's the way we've been eating forever. But over time we slowly started pushing a lot of that stuff out of our diets, at least

[01:07] in certain cultures like US culture. But it's coming back and it seems like you guys are really enjoying it. A lot of these fermentation videos have done really well. And that is an amazing sign that you are out there cooking up a storm and fermenting stuff.

[01:24] Not just cook, you can call it cooking, but it's like a magic cooking. It's a different type of cooking. And once you get a feel for it, everything changes and you start to really understand and take advantage of fermentation.

[01:38] I'm going to give you the complete guide to lactic acid anaerobic fermentation. We're going to be covering sauerkraut, some kimchi, a little bit of sriracha. Just plain old vegetable for ments.

[01:52] But first we got to go to the market because when it comes to fermenting stuff, I always get the freshest thing because this is a big investment. You're putting a lot of time to this stuff so you want fresh ingredients.

[02:04] So let's get to the market. Every Wednesday, there's a farmer's market right by my house, which is my favorite one because

[02:20] there's only a few farmers so you can really get to know the farmers. And today, I cooked up some fresh sourdough bread. So I'm going to give it to one of the farmers and we'll see what he has in stock for fermentation.

[02:44] So I just want to cover a little bit of the science first so you get a general understanding of what's happening with fermentation, at least in these specific products. So we've got lactic acid that's being produced and that's what really gives it the sourness.

[02:59] So when you're used to eating sauerkraut, it's called sauerkraut, it's super sour. That is because of the lactic acid, specifically lactobacillacus. So lactic acid bacteria is present on all vegetables but when you're preserving it, you want

[03:15] it beating out the other bacteria because there's a lot of bad bacteria that cause spoilage in food. So we need to create the perfect environment for the lactic acid to flourish and all of

[03:27] the other bacteria to not grow because once those start growing, that's when you got mold, that's when you got spoilage and you don't want that stuff. Now it turns out that lactic acid bacteria likes an anaerobic environment.

[03:41] So you have aerobic environment with air, you have anaerobic without air. So lactic acid bacteria flourishes in the environment without air. So all of these fermentations that we're doing today, we're going to do them submerged

[03:56] underwater. And what that does is create an anaerobic environment so no air gets in because once the food touches the air, that's when you get the spoilage, that's when you get those weird moldy gross

[04:09] happening. When you pull something out of your fridge and it's spoiling and it's growing mold, we don't want that. And the other thing is we're going to be adding salt to all of these which also helps the preservation which helps push out all of the other bacteria.

[04:23] So between those two things, between the salt and the anaerobic environment, that's what's going to create the perfect environment for these ferments. Two more things before we get started, one, when it comes to cleanliness, when you're

[04:37] fermenting these things, you don't need a completely sterile environment, you don't have to freak out. This isn't canning, it's a little bit less intense. All you need is hot soapy water and you'll be fine. Two, when it comes to lactic acid fermentation, you'll definitely get some buildup on the

[04:53] top if you're food from time to time. You might get some like yeast buildup, that's all right, that's not the end of the world. If you get any like colorful mold, that is definitely more of a danger.

[05:06] I would probably throw away your stuff. Some people, they don't care, they just scoop it off. But there's a difference between just a little bit of yeast buildup that you can just scoop off and continue compared to a mold forming, something went wrong with the molds forming

[05:21] and I would definitely start over. Oh, number three, there is one more. When you're dealing with these types of lactic acid ferment, the temperature range should be around 60 to 75 degrees, that's when you're going to get the best result.

[05:35] Any colder, it's going to really slow down the fermentation and any hotter, you start running into a lot of issues because it's so sped up and you get a lot of weird growth. So that is a good range to have, try to create that environment or just do it seasonally

[05:50] when your house is that temperature. We're going to start off with sauerkraut, which is the most basic lactic acid fermentation. Most people know what sauerkraut is but a lot of people haven't had good homemade sauerkraut

[06:04] which is a game changer. I always have sauerkraut fermenting because I can toss it on anything and that's the thing about fermentation. It can be used as a condiment, you don't have to be using it as like the main course, just

[06:16] sprinkle it in dishes and it's going to be delicious. So an average cabbage is about five pounds. So every five pound cabbage, you're actually going to use three tablespoons of salt and if you don't have a scale in your house, you can actually just weigh it right at the market.

[06:32] Just like I did right here, throw it on the scale, oh cool, that's a four pound, that's a five pound and just adjust the ratios from there. I like taking a mandolin and slicing it up really thin, it's a lot easier to do, it goes

[06:55] quicker but you can totally use a knife. When it comes to sauerkraut, cabbage is the main ingredient but of course you can add some

[07:07] other flavorings, you can add some spices but just make sure that you don't add too much because the fermentation is really going to intensify the flavors. So if you add three cloves of garlic, you might end up with a crazy product.

[07:23] So for this, one of my favorite things to do is just a little bit of peeled carrots, so just peel the carrots and then a little bit of jalapeno, just a few slices which is really going to go a far way to add some spiciness.

[07:37] Now take some type of clean bucket or bowl, whatever you have, add all of your ingredients, your cabbage in there, I've got my carrot and my jalapeno and then we're going to add

[07:49] in our salt and remember three tablespoons per five pounds of cabbage, that is the ratio, you can go a little more, you can go a little less, not going to be a big deal. Now you're going to smash everything up, really smash everything up, you're going to start

[08:04] to release all of the juices and what's happening is you're creating a natural grind. So this is creating our anaerobic environment, so you're creating this perfect liquid solution that is going to ferment the actual cabbage in there.

[08:18] And remember when you're crushing all of this up, that's going to be the final texture of your actual sauerkraut. So make sure you get it to the point where it is nice and broken down. Now you can ferment it right in this bucket but I am going to add it to a clean jar right

[08:35] here. I like seeing the action, the bubbles form over time. And now here's a really nice trick for fermenting, you can actually add a few of the bigger cabbage leaves on top to push everything down.

[08:48] I didn't do that here but the goal is to submerge all of the cabbage under water as much as you can get. So if you take a plastic bag, fill it up half with water and you put that as a weight, this

[09:01] is going to be your best solution because what's going to happen is it's going to submerge everything under the water, keep it in that anaerobic environment. And this is perfect because it keeps everything submerged but you still have room for the gas bubbles to escape.

[09:14] You're just going to push right on out of your jar. When it comes to actual fermenting time, you can go as little as I would say five days up to five weeks.

[09:27] And the longer you go, the more lactic acid production you get, the more sourness. So some people like it really intense and that goes for all of these fermentations. It's your preference, the more you let it go, the more health benefits you usually get.

[09:43] I like to go around two weeks. That's my sweet spot of a nice sour crop that isn't too intense. Just make sure you check the sourcrout every few days just to make sure there's no buildup.

[09:55] You might get this little white yeast on top which is all right. You can just scoop that out and just let it go. And then just taste it after a week whenever, taste the sourcrout and see where you're at.

[10:08] And then after two weeks for me, perfect sourcrout. You can see there's little bubbles pushing through those of the gas bubbles. That is some tasty stuff. All right, let's switch gears a little bit to the old sriracha.

[10:26] Sriracha is one of the most popular hot sauces these days. And I don't think a lot of people know this, but one of the reasons it's so special is because the peppers are actually fermented. So it gives it an extra layer of flavor, a little bit of funkiness that people aren't used

[10:41] to, it's just like regular Tabasco sauce, but it is so easy to make at home. When it comes to the actual chili for sriracha, completely up to you, you can ferment any chili.

[10:53] I got a bunch of Fresno chilies because they are sort of medium hotness. They're very similar to jalapeno, but they're red and they are nice and sweet. So you get a good balance so I can get a lot of hot sauce without it being super, super intense.

[11:08] And that's what I'm looking for. I like sriracha as a condiment that I can really use, almost like a ketchup instead of just using a few drops of like super hot spicy stuff. I'm going to decede most of the peppers because again, I don't want it too spicy, so I deceded

[11:24] about 90% of them and just kept a few of them whole to get the actual spice ratio, right? I added that to a food processor with a little bit of ginger, a little bit of garlic, some

[11:36] salt, and some sugar, and I just let that puree for like three or four minutes until it is all crushed up. Now, you've got this mixture and this is actually an anaerobic environment.

[11:59] Even though we're not submerging it underwater, it still has no oxygen getting inside of there, so those are going to ferment, they're going to increase the lactic acid and they are going to preserve.

[12:11] Now every day because we are not submerging it, you're just going to fold this over, you're just going to kind of spoon it around, make sure it's all mixed up, so nothing harmful grows on top. And you can see as you mix it around after a few days, you're going to start to get these

[12:26] little gas bubbles popping just like that. And that is a good sign that the fermentation is happening. I let my go about five days, you can go longer, I'm actually doing another batch, I'm going

[12:39] to try maybe like 15 days and see the difference, see the difference in funkiness and how that affects the flavor. And then all you have to do is throw that in a blender as vinegar, which is an optional step

[12:52] because to be honest, I was just eating this stuff, which was incredible. More of like a rough paste, that was so good spooned on food, but I did want to try the actual Sriracha style hot sauce.

[13:04] So I pureed it with vinegar and that was it, I added it to a bottle and you've got delicious hot sauce. And let me tell you, there's nothing like homemade hot sauce. This stuff has been incredible. I think it's better in Sriracha, much fresher, got to try this.

[13:19] This is probably, I would say this is one of the easiest ones to do. Oh look how good this stuff is. Oh my goodness. Taste just like Sriracha, it is incredible.

[13:36] All right, finally you guys are getting it. You have been bugging me. It's my fault because I've been telling you about my kimchi. If you follow my Instagram life by my G, I post a lot of pictures of all my fermentation

[13:49] projects, but everyone's been bugging me about my kimchi. And I have promised for a while that I was going to teach you. And finally, the time has come. Let's get into this kimchi recipe.

[14:01] This is the perfect time for kimchi right around fall. That's traditionally when they make kimchi in Korea. They actually buried underground to ferment. That's when the Napa cabbages are in season. Luckily my trusty farmer, he had about four of them and I snatched a bunch.

[14:17] So I'm going to do a traditional kimchi, but you can use other vegetables. I think in the summer they tend to use a dikeon, a pure dikeon kimchi because it for men's better with the hotter temperatures.

[14:30] This cabbage in the summer, I've done it in the summer and it goes bad very quickly. So just be aware of that. So I'm going to chop up the cabbage, which is in traditional, usually in Korean recipes.

[14:42] They keep them whole. It's a little more difficult. It takes a little more time. So I'm giving you the simple form and then you're going to heavily solid it. It doesn't really matter how much you salt. Just make sure you get a bunch on there because you're going to wash it all the way later.

[14:56] The salt is going to pull a lot of the moisture out of the cabbage and it's going to give you a crispier final product because you don't want all that water soaked in the cabbage. Just make sure you get that in a bowl with some weight and let that sit for at least four

[15:11] hours. You can do that overnight and a lot of that moisture is going to pull out. And then we're just going to wash off all the salt.

[15:29] Make sure you get it all washed off and then just squeeze it dry, make sure it's dry. I am going to add a few other veggies. I am using a little bit of scallions, some radish and just a little bit of apple.

[15:43] I like a little bit of sweetness and it does help with the fermentation to add the extra sugar. So the scallions I like cutting them long ways into nice chunks because when you get a full piece of fermented scallion, it's just a real treat.

[15:57] And then for the radish and the apple, I'm just going to cut them into little cubes. Now we're moving on to the marinade which really makes kimchi so special because all of the other ones are super basic but we're creating this delicious flavorful marinade.

[16:11] So what we're going to do is we're going to puree ginger and garlic in a food processor until it's nice and chunky. Now we're going to make a goopy liquid with sweet rice flour which is glutinous rice

[16:23] just ground up into a flour. I used about three tablespoons to one quart of water and I just boiled that until it was super thick just like this. So add your ginger and garlic to that stuff and then I'm going to add some fish sauce which

[16:39] really gives it some nice funkiness and also increases the salt levels which you're going to need because we washed off all that salt. Traditionally with a lot of cream kimchi recipes, they also had those little fermented shrimps.

[16:52] I've gotten those before, they're not my favorite and they're much harder to find, you need to go to a Korean restaurant so you can skip the fish sauce and the little shrimps completely if you want to do this vegan.

[17:04] I've done that many times, it's totally fine. I'm also going to add just a little bit of salt again since we have the fish sauce in there that's going to be a good amount of salt but I do like adding a little extra salt to increase the flavor and then you're going in with your Korean chili flakes.

[17:20] This is the most important ingredient and you can load those in depending on if your Korean flakes are mild or spicy. Mine were more on the mild side so I went in with a ton and that's what gives it the spice

[17:33] and of course that awesome red coloring. I tasted this marinade and I thought it needed just a little bit more spice and a little bit more fish sauce so I added those just as you need.

[17:50] Now all you got to do is add your cabbage, add your vegetables, add your marinade and just mix that up and you have your delicious marinated kimchi ready to ferment.

[18:21] Put that into your jar and this is going to be a much quicker ferment than the actual sauerkraut so we're not actually going to weigh it down but every day maybe twice a day. Make sure you push all of the vegetables down under the liquid because things will still

[18:37] build and you'll see the Napa cabbage is still going to release a lot of liquid so you're going to have a ton of liquid to submerge the vegetables in. When it comes to fermenting the actual kimchi, I actually keep the lid on so what's going

[18:51] to happen is if you keep the lid on, you're going to trap in the carbon dioxide that's being released. So it's trying to be released. You saw in the sauerkraut those little bubbles, they get the shoot up right into the environment

[19:04] but if you jar it up and you capture it, you're going to get a fizzier product because you're going to have that extra gas in the ferment. Some people really like the effervescence, the fizziness of that type of product totally

[19:19] up to you. It's popular with kimchi of course when it comes to beer, when it comes to kombucha, you've seen that, that's how you get the carbonation in there. I'm going to do that for the kimchi.

[19:31] I would say this type of kimchi you can ferment for three to seven days that should be fine and just taste it and when it's super sour and super funky or it's not whatever level you like, just cut it off, throw it in the fridge, the fridge is going to totally slow

[19:47] down the fermentation. It still will age in the fridge, it will ferment just very slowly and then that's good for months in your refrigerator but again it will get funky over time if you can save it.

[20:02] If not, that's a good sign that means you're eating a lot of kimchi which is super tasty and super good for you.

[20:14] So for the last thing I wanted to show you just how to lacto ferment vegetables. Any type of vegetables with a salt brine, so all the other ones had a different process. This is simply going to be taking vegetables and adding that salt brine and letting it

[20:29] lacto ferment the same way as the other ones fermented. So we are going to use beets, beets are very much in season right now, a delicious root vegetable, a lot of people don't like them but a lot of people haven't tried them in unique ways.

[20:45] And this typically would be called kavas in Russian cuisine, they eat a lot of this stuff because it is so good for you, they drink the liquid, so let's get into it.

[20:57] So I peeled all of the beets which was definitely annoying but I got it done, I added them into a nice clean jar.

[21:23] I poured water into the jar just to get the right amount of grinding liquid I needed and then I took that water and poured it into a pot. I made sure to get the weight of that water as well because we are going to be doing a 2%

[21:38] brine so you can obviously just eyeball it, you know, just 2% and a few sprinkles of salt but that is just a good ratio for grinding any vegetables, something around 2%.

[21:50] I brought that liquid to a boil because if it was boiling and I poured that over the actual beets just like pickles, you cook the beets a little bit which gives them a nicer texture because beets are very hard if they are not cooked.

[22:04] And this is going to ferment much quicker about 2 days, you should be good, you'll start to see a little bit of foam on the top and if there is any yeast that builds up of course you can just scoop that off and you are good, you can eat those beets, they are lacto

[22:19] fermented and you can also drink that liquid. Just for all the liquids, sauerkraut, kimchi, that's good stuff for you, you can use it in dressings whenever you need a sour liquid just as a vinegar, it's going to be awesome.

[22:34] That is it, that's the complete guide to lacto fermentation right there. I'm really excited to be bringing you this video because I know a lot of you are starting to get into the fermentation game. I started like 2 years ago, I've been documenting my journeys life by mic G, make sure you

[22:50] check that out because fermentation is always happening in this house, I've got so many different products between bread and kombucha and sauerkraut, I make a lot of fermented foods

[23:03] and it's really changed my health, you almost get addicted to it, it's like when you haven't had it you don't know but when you start eating more fermented foods your body adjusts

[23:15] and it starts to actually crave more of that stuff. The best way I can explain fermented foods is it's kind of like a stomach before gets to your stomach, so it starts to digest a lot of these ingredients and break them down, release

[23:32] a lot of the nutrients so by the time it gets into your stomach you're going to have a much easier time with it. So that's it, make sure you follow life by mic G and get in the kitchen and ferment some vegetables.