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Fermenting Radishes: This is How You Preserve Them

Fermenting radishes is a quick and healthy way to preserve the tubers for a few months. You also benefit from their healthy nutrients in winter. We’ll give you a simple recipe to make yourself.

If you ferment radishes, you can enjoy them all year round. Root vegetables are usually in season from May to October. That’s when the little red bulbs taste best.

By fermenting you can preserve their taste and the valuable ingredients for the other months. Radishes owe their hot note to their mustard oils. They are good for the immune system and make radishes so healthy.

Radishes originally come from Asia. However, they are also available from regional cultivation. When buying, make sure that they come from organic farming. This protects your health and the environment, since no chemical-synthetic pesticides are used.

Tip: Prefer radishes and plant radishes yourself. This can be done in the garden or on the balcony.

Fermenting radishes: How to do it

Ferment radishes quickly with this easy recipe. You need for this:

  • Cutting board and knife
  • Sterile mason jar with a capacity of 1.5 l (tip: this is how you can sterilize jars)
  • Fermentation weight: the weight is important to keep the radishes covered in liquid. Purchase special glass or ceramic weights from specialty retailers. Alternatively, use acid-resistant items. It is important that you can take the weight off easily. For example, place the weights in a reusable freezer bag. There are also weights that come with a handle so you can take them out easily.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of radishes
20 grams of salt
1 liter of water
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp mustard seeds

Directions:

Mix the salt with the water and stir until the salt is completely dissolved. Here’s how to make 2% brine.
Remove the leaves from the radishes and wash the radishes thoroughly. Tip: reuse the radish leaves to avoid wasting food.
Cut off the tops of the radishes. Optional: Halve or quarter your radishes so you can enjoy them as a snack afterwards. Of course, you can also ferment them whole.

Now put the pepper and mustard seeds in the glass. Add the radishes to weigh the spices down.
Place a fermentation weight on the radishes and top up the jar with the brine. Leave a small rim of about an inch so the jar doesn’t overflow when fermentation begins. Close your jar and label it with the contents and the date.
Store the radishes at room temperature for the first week to allow fermentation to begin. Then put them in a cool place or in the fridge for at least two weeks.
After three weeks, the radishes are fully fermented. Keep them cool and make sure they are always covered by the brine. Then the radishes will keep for a few months.
The fermented radishes taste delicious as a snack between meals and go great as a side dish with bread or in fresh salads.

Fermenting: why does it make sense?

Fermenting radishes and other foods is a traditional way of preserving fresh produce longer. As a result, important nutrients and vitamins are retained. This was particularly important in the past, when there was no imported food from the south in winter.

Fermented radishes are probiotic. This means that they contain living microorganisms that have a positive effect on the stomach and intestinal flora. The fermentation process is called lactic acid fermentation. Don’t let the name put you off. Lactic acid is formed when food begins to ferment. The product remains completely vegan. Also read: Is lactic acid vegan? You should know that.

If you want to ferment your radishes, use the right helpers. This allows you to ferment quickly and safely.

By the way: If you store your radishes properly, they will stay crisp longer. Freeze radishes to make them last longer.

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Fermenting – More Than Just Preserving

Fresh vegetables in the dark winter when supplies from the garden are dwindling and colds are on the rise? How do we save the harvest surpluses in this time? In addition to preserving, drying and freezing, we have (re)discovered fermentation and would like to invite you into the world of sparkling, spicy and crispy fresh vegetables from the jar.

The process of “living preservation” through fermentation is uncomplicated, resource-saving and the result is always a tasty, crispy, fresh surprise. The advantage for your health: The fermentation creates healthy lactic acid bacteria, which offer a cure for the intestinal flora and thus strengthen your immune system.

What is fermentation and what foods are fermented?

What sauerkraut is to the Germans, kimchi to the Koreans, soy sauce to the Japanese, kefir to the Russians and surströmming, which smells unpleasant to our noses, to the Swedes – all these products are fermented foods.

Fermentation refers to the microbial conversion of organic substances by probiotic bacteria and fungi. Acid, gases or alcohol are produced during this natural process.

Buy fermented products or make them yourself?

Many industrially fermented foods are pasteurized after the fermentation process, i.e. heated to high temperatures. This pasteurization enables a hygienically and tastefully standardized process.

What is practical and efficient for industrial processing, however, also destroys beneficial bacteria produced during fermentation, including cultures of lactic acid bacteria that can be beneficial for your intestinal flora.

When you make your own fermented vegetables (also called ferments), you can be sure that nutrients, enzymes and lactic acid bacteria will be preserved. You can vary your fermented vegetables with many different spices and herbs and thus have a new taste variation in the glass every time.

The own fermentation of vegetables brings you a spicy variety on your plate and is worth trying out!

The advantages of fermentation at a glance

It promotes a favorable intestinal flora through the proliferation of healthy intestinal bacteria. This improves digestion and absorption of nutrients.
During fermentation, vitamins are created that are only found in a few non-fermented foods. Among them the important vitamin K. This vitamin is essential for your bone and heart health. It also has a reputation for preventing some types of cancer.
A good three quarters of the immune system takes place in the intestines. They strengthen the immune system. If the intestinal flora is weak, the susceptibility to various diseases increases.

The wild fermentation

Fermenting vegetables at home is called wild fermentation. You can compare the fermentation with a cure for your vegetables. The vegetables enjoy a bubbling salt bath for a few days and emerge strengthened. In the wild fermentation of vegetables, you take advantage of naturally occurring bacteria. These are mainly found on the (organic) vegetables themselves or have previously come into contact with the vegetables through the air, soil, water or your hands.

The right accessories for fermentation

You only need a few accessories to ferment your vegetables. In addition to your favorite vegetables, the most important utensils and ingredients are:

Salt
Glasses or other suitable vessels
pounder
weights / smaller glasses
grater

The best vegetables to ferment

The best veggies to ferment are clearly your favorite veggies! Through the fermentation you will rediscover this taste in a completely new way. Organically grown vegetables are particularly suitable for fermentation, because the low level of treatment with pesticides and fungicides results in fewer pollutants but a greater variety of microorganisms.

Classic vegetables for fermenting are cabbage such as red or white cabbage, but also carrots, beetroot and radishes. Vegetables with a high water content such as tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce can also be fermented, but they quickly become very soft as a result of the fermentation – it is important to explore your own taste there.

The fermentation process depends on the size of the pieces and the water content of the vegetables, as well as the salt content and the ambient temperature.

Salt when fermenting

The vegetables are either whole or chopped up in a jar and covered with salt. The vegetables are now swimming in a salty environment that is as airtight as possible. Many bacteria that are naturally found on the vegetables cannot survive in this and their growth is restricted. Others, such as the lactic acid bacteria, which are beneficial for us humans, begin to live and multiply in this salt water. The breakdown of macronutrients creates acids, which you can perceive as a sour taste and smell.

A salinity of 2% is ideal for wild fermentation. For example, 1 kilogram of cabbage requires around 20 grams of salt to ferment.

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