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–+ servings
Ebonie Garnica

Fermented Italian-Style Vegetables For Full GAPS

A garlicky, peppery Full GAPS vegetable ferment with cauliflower, red pepper, onion, carrots and celery. Uses Katz’s weighed salt-brine method and ordinary screw-lid jars with pressure release. Makes one preparation batch; jar yield and fermentation time vary.
Print Recipe
First Flavor Check 3 days
Servings: 1 preparation batch
Course: Condiment, Ferment, Full GAPS
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 head cauliflower Cut into small florets.
  • 1 red bell pepper Remove stem and seeds; coarsely chop.
  • 1 red onion Peel and slice thinly.
  • 2 carrots Scrub, trim and slice thinly.
  • 2 stalks celery Rinse and slice thinly.
  • 10 large cloves garlic Peel. This is a distinctly garlicky batch.
  • 2 jalapeño peppers Remove stems and seeds, then coarsely chop.
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme Keep the herbs under the brine with the vegetables.
  • 1000 grams dechlorinated water Starting brine water; actual amount needed varies with packing.
  • 50 grams natural sea salt For the displayed water amount: five percent of the water weight. Make more brine at the same proportion if needed.

Equipment

  • Clean glass quart jars, ordinary screw lids and food-safe glass fermentation weights Number of jars varies; leave space above the brine and keep all vegetables submerged.
  • Kitchen scale and brine-mixing container Use the displayed salt and water amounts, keeping the same proportion for more brine.
  • Cutting board, knife and clean packing/sampling utensil Small florets, thin root-vegetable slices and coarsely chopped peppers.
  • Tray and refrigerator space Watch early gas pressure; refrigerate after sourness develops to taste.

Method
 

  1. Wash the produce. Cut the cauliflower into small florets. Seed and coarsely chop the bell pepper and jalapeños, peel and thinly slice the onion, thinly slice the carrots and celery, and peel the garlic.
  2. Dissolve the weighed sea salt completely in the weighed dechlorinated water. This makes a five-percent brine relative to water weight: fifty grams of salt for each thousand grams of water. Prepare more at the same proportion if the vegetables need it.
  3. Pack the vegetables, garlic and thyme firmly into clean glass quart jars, distributing the mixture among them. Leave room for a glass fermentation weight, covering brine and space above the liquid for expansion; do not fill to the brim.
  4. Pour in enough brine to cover all the vegetables. Work out trapped air pockets with a clean utensil, then fit the food-safe glass weight so vegetables and herbs remain below the liquid. Add more of the same brine as needed to maintain coverage.
  5. Close with ordinary screw lids and set the jars on a tray in a cool spot out of direct sunlight. Keep the vegetables submerged throughout fermentation. With this ordinary sealed-jar method, briefly loosen the lid daily during the first few days to release built-up gas, then close it again. Continue watching for pressure and release it as needed; do not leave the jars tightly sealed and unattended.
  6. Begin checking the flavor after about three days. Using a clean utensil, take a small sample only from a normal-looking, normal-smelling batch, then restore the weight and brine coverage. Continue fermenting until pleasantly sour while the vegetables retain the texture you want. Cooler conditions take longer; three or five days is not a guaranteed finish.
  7. Refrigerate when the flavor suits you. Keep the jars covered and the remaining vegetables below their brine. Use clean utensils when serving, remove woody thyme stems from the portion, and keep the batch refrigerated.

Notes

This recipe makes one batch of vegetables. The number of quart jars and portions varies with the size of the vegetables and how they are packed. The starting brine uses 1,000 grams water and 50 grams sea salt. This is five percent salt relative to water weight, not a dry-salt percentage for vegetable weight. Make more at the same proportion if needed; use enough to keep everything submerged.
This method follows Katz’s brining and ordinary sealed-jar guidance. Close ordinary screw lids, briefly release gas daily during the first few days and as needed afterward, and maintain brine coverage. Do not combine it with instructions to keep an ordinary jar sealed without pressure release.
First Flavor Check is three days, not a completion time. Taste a normal-looking, normal-smelling ferment after a few days and continue until pleasantly sour. Cooler conditions take longer. There is no fixed five-minute preparation or five-day finish promised, and no whole-recipe total is stated.
Refrigerate when the flavor suits you, keep jars covered and vegetables under brine, and serve with clean utensils. If the vegetables become unexpectedly slimy, develop a disagreeable odor or growth you cannot identify, discard without tasting. No shelf-stable canning method or fixed refrigerator expiry is supplied.
Full GAPS once the actual vegetables and heat fit introduced foods. Intro distinguishes fermented liquid from solids; fermented solids begin at Stage 3 in the protocol, but a spicy mixed jar need not be the first choice. Dairy-, egg- and nut-free as written, without whey or a starter.

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