Lacto-fermentation Resources
What is Lacto-fermentation?
Lacto-fermentation is when you ferment something usually in salt or salty water to encourage the growth of certain bacteria that produce lactic acid. Lactic acid has a sour taste and can be found in yogurts, sour cream and of course lacto-fermented vegetables. When done right your vegetables or fruits are protected from spoilage by mold and harmful bacteria. They can also increase the diversity of beneficial bacteria in your gut, helping you more easily digest food and reduce inflammation in the body.
Sounds great! How do I do it?
So now you've got your vegetables or fruits and your're wondering what to do with them. We've listed a few suggestions below that you can use to increase the shelf life of your goodies and the taste. Take these suggestions as the starting point to learning about safe lacto-fermenting. But don't feel you need to stop here! There are so many recipes to chose from when you know what you want out of your ferment.
The Spruce Eats - This website has numerous recipes for fermenting different kinds of vegetables and some fruits. It features a more detailed explanation of lacto fermentation, recipes that use salt and some recipes that do not use salt in order to lacto-ferment.
LiveEatLearn - This site features some great tips on how to make kombucha. It has pictures of what you may see during the process as well as what to look out for when things are going right as well as when things are going wrong.
The Splendid Table - Check this site out how to learn how to to lacto-ferment blueberries by putting puts salt on them. Yes, you can put salt on fruits! The aim to create that environment that encourages growth of that good bacteria. There are examples of what you can do with your lacto-fermented berries.
The video above includes a more detailed explanation as to what Lacto fermentation is. It also shows how to ferment cabbage, beetroot,chillies and other vegetables.
The video above is an example of lacto-fermentation without any salt. It shows the full process of making kombucha at home.