Dairy-Free Fermented Root Vegetables for GAPS

These dairy-free fermented root vegetables use juice from homemade sauerkraut as the starter. Radishes, daikon, carrots, and turnips are packed with garlic, ginger, onion, mustard, coriander, and bay, then kept below their liquid while they develop a sour flavor.

There is no yogurt whey in this version. Plan for about three quart jars, with two tablespoons of raw sauerkraut juice in each intended jar. The salt is measured for the complete batch, and fermentation takes a week or longer.

Jump to the Recipe

Sauerkraut and kimchi are already part of our home-ferment routine, along with fermented kimchi hot sauce. I am still experimenting with more. Keeping the starter with its recipe name is useful when there are several jars in the kitchen. The vegetables can look similar while the ingredients used to start them are different.

Use the Juice From a Completed Sauerkraut

Start with raw juice from the homemade green sauerkraut. That recipe uses cabbage and salt, with covering brine if needed, and no dairy starter. Collect the liquid from a completed, unheated ferment.

The base amount is six tablespoons for about three jars, given as two tablespoons per quart jar. If the size of your vegetable bunches requires another jar, use the same two-tablespoon starter amount for that additional jar. The jar count determines how much starter you need.

Keep sauerkraut juice separate from vinegar-pickle liquid. A jar pickled with vinegar is a different preparation. This recipe uses the liquid from the actual fermented cabbage.

Use a clean utensil to collect the juice and leave the remaining cabbage covered by its liquid. You do not have to drain the entire sauerkraut jar to measure a few tablespoons.

The Roots and Seasonings

Colorful radishes: Trim the ends from a bunch and cut the small roots into quarters. Their colored skins can gradually tint the liquid. Large quarters can be cut smaller so they are comfortable to eat alongside the other pieces.

Daikon and carrots: Slice one large daikon and a bunch of carrots. The daikon begins pale, while the carrots give you orange pieces through the jar. Keep the cuts reasonably even so there are not a few very thick pieces among many thin ones.

Turnip: Peel and chop enough to measure one cup. This is the prepared chopped amount, not a promise that one whole turnip will always equal a cup.

Garlic, ginger, and onion: Crush six peeled garlic cloves, peel and dice a three-inch ginger piece, and thinly slice half a red or white onion. Mix these through the vegetables before packing so each jar receives some of the aromatics.

Mustard, coriander, and bay: Measure two teaspoons of pure mustard powder and two teaspoons of ground coriander. There are three bay leaves for the batch. The powders disperse through the vegetables and liquid, while the leaves are divided among the jars.

Salt and water: One tablespoon of natural sea salt is for the entire batch. Start with three cups of cool filtered water, with more as needed to cover the vegetables. Dissolve the measured salt once and divide the mixed liquid. Adding a tablespoon to every jar would change the recipe.

How to Make Dairy-Free Fermented Roots

Mix the Prepared Vegetables

Wash the roots, remove damaged parts, and prepare their different cuts. Put them in a large bowl with the onion, garlic, ginger, mustard, and coriander. Turn the mixture from the bottom until the different vegetables and seasonings are spread through it.

Have about three clean wide-mouth quart jars ready, plus another if the vegetables need it. Bunches and daikon are variable sizes. Enough jar space matters more than forcing the last pieces into a jar that is already full.

Dissolve the Batch Salt

Stir the tablespoon of salt into the starting water until dissolved. If any water is warmed to help it dissolve, cool it completely before adding it to the jars. Keep the measured salt amount for the whole batch rather than repeating it for each container.

The sauerkraut juice is added by jar so its amount is easy to follow. Measure two tablespoons into each intended quart jar. At the usual three-jar batch, that uses the six tablespoons listed in the card.

Pack, Cover, and Weight

Divide the mixed vegetables among the jars, pressing down to remove large gaps. Distribute the bay leaves. Pour the mixed salt water across the jars, then add enough extra cool filtered water to cover the vegetables.

Leave about two inches of headspace at the top. Use clean glass fermentation weights to keep every piece below the liquid, including the small onion and ginger pieces that can float past a larger radish quarter.

Stand the jars in a tray and use suitable fermentation lids. Pressure-releasing lids let gas escape according to their design. Ordinary screw lids need a brief loosening to release pressure daily during the active first few days, followed by continued checks as activity slows. Close them again after releasing gas.

Follow the Ferment as It Develops

Keep the jars at room temperature out of direct sunlight and allow a week or longer for this GAPS preparation. A cooler room slows the changes. The one-week time on the card is the minimum planning allowance, with the cutting and packing time added separately.

You may notice small bubbles, cloudy liquid, sediment, or a gradual pink tint from the radishes. Some vegetable ferments show little visible bubbling. Katz describes that variation, so watch the developing sour flavor and texture as well as the surface of the liquid.

After the planned week, check a piece with a clean utensil. It should taste distinctly sour with garlic, ginger, and mustard in the background. The roots should retain some bite. If the flavor has not developed, give the jars more time while maintaining submersion.

A short record of the start, checks, and refrigeration date helps when jars are started on different days. My planned Ferment Tracker fits that kitchen job. It gives the dates a place to go while you keep checking the actual food.

Where This Fits on GAPS

The completed medley fits Full GAPS. It is made without whey or another dairy ingredient. For comparison, the separate root vegetables fermented with cultured whey use a different starter amount and contain dairy.

Earlier Introduction Diet use distinguishes the liquid from the uncooked solids. Juice from a completed ferment is added gradually when the soup or chicken meat stock is no longer too hot for the culture.

Dr. Natasha’s 2020 book also allows fermented vegetables cooked very soft in first-stage soup. That is a cooked serving use. Uncooked fermented vegetable solids are introduced gradually at Stage 3, following the juice introduction.

This is a vegetable preparation, so it does not fit a No-Plant meal. Keep the food form alongside its stage: cooled juice, well-cooked fermented vegetables in soup, or the uncooked sour pieces served from the jar.

Storage and Serving

Refrigerate covered when the sourness and texture have developed. Keep the vegetables under their liquid and use clean utensils for serving. Repack the remaining pieces or replace the weight after taking some out.

The liquid belongs with the stored vegetables. Taking a few pieces out should not leave the remaining food above the brine. Check the small pieces around the sides of the weight, too.

On Full GAPS, a small serving goes alongside a cooked meal. Harissa chicken wings are a separate coconut-oil chicken recipe without dairy. Follow their own ingredients and GAPS notes when planning the plate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Vinegar-Pickle Liquid?

Use juice from actual unheated sauerkraut. Vinegar-pickled vegetables are a different preparation, so their liquid is not the starter listed here.

Is the Salt Amount Per Jar?

No. The tablespoon is for the whole base batch. The sauerkraut juice is the ingredient measured at two tablespoons per intended quart jar. Keep those two measurements separate.

What If There Are No Bubbles?

Visible bubbling can be slight or absent. Check the time, sourness, and texture, and keep all vegetables below the liquid. A quiet-looking jar alone does not tell you that nothing changed.

How Do I Handle Surface Growth?

Katz’s method removes surface growth promptly, along with dry, discolored, or softened top pieces. Lift the weight gently, skim rather than stirring the growth through the jar, then keep the remaining vegetables submerged with the clean weight.

Set Up the Jars Before Cutting

You need wide-mouth quart glass jars, clean glass weights, suitable lids, a tray, a mixing bowl, a measuring jug, spoons, and a stable cutting board and knife. Use enough jar space to keep the headroom clear. No cooking pan or blender is part of this packing method.

The planned Crock & Jar: Ferments for GAPS Families course and Kid-Friendly Ferments Recipe Card Deck are part of the WFLI course and cookbook catalog. Have the sauerkraut juice and clean jars ready before preparing the roots, then keep the start date with the batch.