Fermented Spicy Brussels Sprouts

I have been a fan of fermented foods for my entire life and in the last few years I have been reading some very promising research into their health benefits. An average healthy human gut contains upwards of 100 trillion microorganisms that play a huge role in health that we are only now beginning to understand. By eating fermented foods, you can dramatically increase the beneficial microbiota in your body. I eat fermented foods with every meal and I wholeheartedly believe that they really do provide a huge benefit to my health. (This is fairly easy to do since I eat OMAD or One Meal A Day. There is a catch though…

The fermented foods that one buys in the store are pasteurized and the probiotic benefits drastically reduced, if not eliminated entirely. Fortunately, it is incredibly easy to make them at home and enjoy the amazing flavors, fun science and health benefits!
Like I said above I have always loved fermented foods like sauerkraut, sauerruben, dill pickles etc. but for a period of time I wasn’t fermenting at home. Then, I saw something online that I knew I had to have!

Home fermented Spicy Brussels Sprouts…

Brussels sprouts are my favorite vegetable and this immediately intrigued me. I had them pickled before but never properly fermented.
Thus, a new chapter was launched ending up not only with me being very happy with the end result but also fermenting all the things!  I have been making home fermented Brussels sprouts, dill pickles, ginger carrots, spicy carrots, sauerruben (fermented turnips,) sauerkraut, garlic, onions, and… The list goes on!

I will be sharing more recipes for fermented foods in an entire series on them.

Many people think that they cannot do fermenting because they believe that it is like home canning and they need a pressure cooker, pressure canner, etc.
-or-
They need to sterilize their jars and equipment…
They think that they need to buy a bunch of equipment…
They worry about food safety…

Fortunately, none of these is actually the case.

There is no need to sterilize containers using a pressure cooker or pressure canner. All that is required is washing them in water and dish soap just like any other dishes or food prep equipment since we aren’t actually canning them. That is an entirely different topic entirely. A dishwasher works great for this too if you are worried.

I use regular canning jars like Mason or Ball jars that can be purchased at any large retailer like Walmart or hardware store even. You can get the lids and rings there as well if you want. I have even re-purposed a half gallon, glass pickle jar for it.

The natural lactobacilli in the vegetables break down many of the components and turn them into more easily digested materials. A wonderful side effect of this is the production of lactic acid and acetic acid which lower the pH making the environment inhospitable to pathogens. The salty brine that we start with enables the good bacteria to thrive and inhibits the bad until it is acidic enough.
As for food safety, according to the scientific literature, no case of food poisoning has ever been documented from properly fermenting raw vegetables at home. Two words are key here… Properly, you need enough salt etc. Vegetables is the other. Meat fermentation is an entirely different thing that we won’t discuss in this post. Wash your vegetables, use clean equipment and use common sense food handling technique and you will be fine. If it turns slimy and stinks, throw it out. Produce is cheap.
Here is a nice document by Londa Nwadike, PhD, Kansas State University/ University of Missouri Extension Consumer Food Safety Specialist – Safely Fermenting Food at Home
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You will need a few things to start the fermenting process…

Equipment:

• Jars – I like to use quart jars for this (I use these)
• Lids – You want to use something that is non-reactive since we are making a salty and acidic environment. Canning lids and rings work great or even plastic ones
• Pickle Pipes or airlocks (Optional) (I use these)
• Fermentation Weights (Optional) (I use these)

Ingredients:

• 2% Brine (Approximately 2 cups per jar)
• In each quart jar:
  • 3 cloves of garlic cut in half
  • 1 Jalapeno sliced
  • 2 teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes (approximately, I really just dump it in)
  • 1/2 sweet yellow or Vidalia onion sliced
  • 1 Teaspoon Pickling Spice
  • 2 Bay Leaves (The tannins help keep them crisp)

Method:

• Wash the sprouts and remove any questionable leaves
• Trim the bottoms/stems from sprouts if desired
• Cut any large sprouts in two
• Add Pepper flakes, bay leaves and pickling spice to the jar
• Add some Brussels sprouts to the jar
• Add jalapeno slices
• add some onions
• Repeat until about 1 inch from the top of the jar
• Weigh them down to make sure that everything is below the waterline. You can use cabbage leaves, celery, grape leaves
  (With the added benefit of tannins,) plastic baggies filled with brine or weights like the ones Masontops makes

Ferment them for 10 days to 2 weeks in a cool place.
I use the kitchen counter part of the time to start them then I move them to a cupboard. You will need to use a pickle pipe, airlock, vent lid, or burp/vent the jars at least twice a day when they get going well. (I guess we know why Brussels sprouts make some people gassy!) These are the ones that I love Masontops – Pickle Pipes

Once they are done to your liking, put a non reactive lid like a plastic one (Super cheap at Walmart, I pay $2.98 for a pack of Mainstays 8 wide-mouth ones) Place them in a refrigerator where they will stay good for up to a year theoretically. I have never had them last that long though!

I hope this sparks your interest… They really are amazing and make me so, so happy!
These are the reason that I got back into fermenting but the bug is strong and I ferment all the things now.

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