Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Begin with collected cultured whey from completed homemade 24-hour GAPS yogurt. Wash the vegetables. Quarter trimmed small radishes, slice the daikon and carrots, peel and chop the turnips, crush peeled garlic, peel and dice ginger, and thinly slice the onion.
- Mix the prepared vegetables and aromatics with the mustard and coriander in a large bowl. Turn from the bottom to distribute the different roots and seasonings. Set the bay leaves ready to divide among the jars.
- Dissolve the measured batch salt in the starting water. Keep the water cool before stirring in all the measured whey. If any water was heated to dissolve salt, cool it completely first. These salt and starter amounts are for the entire batch.
- Divide the mixed vegetables among clean wide-mouth quart glass jars as needed, packing down to remove large gaps. Distribute the bay leaves and divide the prepared starter liquid across the jars. Add more cool filtered water only as needed to cover. Leave about two inches of headspace.
- Use clean glass fermentation weights to keep all vegetables below the liquid, including small onion and ginger pieces. Stand the jars in a tray and fit pressure-releasing fermentation lids according to their instructions, or ordinary screw lids with brief pressure-release checks.
- Keep at room temperature out of direct sunlight. With ordinary screw lids, briefly loosen to release pressure daily in the active first few days, reseal, and continue checking as activity slows. Keep the pieces submerged. This is gas release, not airing out the vegetables.
- Allow a week or longer. After the planned week, use a clean utensil to check developing sourness and texture. The roots should be distinctly sour and retain bite; visible bubbling may be slight or absent. Allow longer if the flavor has not developed.
- When ready, refrigerate covered with the vegetables still beneath the liquid. Use clean utensils for serving, then repack or return the weight to maintain submersion. Keep the liquid with the remaining vegetables.
Notes
Batch: All ingredients are for the complete batch, intended for about three quart jars at 1×. Bunches and daikon vary in size. Use enough jars to maintain about two inches of headroom; this is not a fixed three quarts of packed food.
Starter: Use collected whey from completed homemade 24-hour GAPS yogurt. Its separate fermentation and draining are not included in preparation time. This version contains dairy. Do not use whey protein powder or substitute an unmeasured starter.
Salt and water: Dissolve the displayed salt amount once in the starting water and divide the mixed liquid across the batch. Do not add the whole batch amount to each jar. The displayed water is the starting amount; add more cool filtered water as needed for coverage.
Timing: Thirty minutes preparation is a planning estimate. Allow a week or longer for fermentation, with a week shown as the approximate minimum. Cooler rooms slow the changes. Check sourness and texture rather than expecting every batch to finish on the same day.
Submersion and pressure: Keep every piece below liquid with clean glass weights. Follow the fermentation lid instructions. Ordinary screw lids need brief pressure release daily during the active first few days, followed by continued checks as activity slows; reseal after release.
GAPS forms: Full GAPS after whey is introduced. Earlier Intro uses juice from completed vegetable ferments added to cooled food. The 2020 book also permits fermented vegetables cooked very soft in first-stage soup. Uncooked fermented solids begin gradually at Stage 3. These are distinct uses of the finished preparation.
Storage: Refrigerate when ready, keep vegetables below their liquid, and use clean utensils. Return the weight or repack after serving.
Scaling: 2× doubles all thirteen ingredient amounts and plans about six quart jars, with actual jar count varying. Use enough jar space and keep the same headspace, submersion, pressure checks, and readiness cues. Do not double the fermentation time automatically.