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Do you love pickled veggies like Mexican carrots? Learn how to make lacto fermented spicy carrots with jalapenos and garlic in our easy recipe.
Fermentation is a wonderful way to preserve many foods like carrots, jalapenos and onions. They won’t store as long as canned foods, but they do store long enough for you to be able to save the produce from your garden.
If you’re new to fermented foods, you can ferment many foods by simply putting them in a brine of 3 tablespoons of unrefined sea salt and 1 quart of filtered, chlorine-free water. Then you just let them sit on the counter for several days.
One of my favorite things to ferment is carrots, onions and jalapeños. While I give you quantities in this recipe, the ratio isn’t important, as long as it looks like the right ratio for your taste buds. If you don’t like things really spicy, you can de-seed the jalapenos, but I leave the seeds.
Fermented Spicy Carrots with Jalapenos, Onions and Garlic
Ingredients
- 6 carrots
- 6 jalapenos
- 1 onion
- 12 garlic cloves
- 2 quarts filtered water
- 6 tablespoons sea salt
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Quart sized mason jars
Instructions
- To start, slice up carrots (at an angle is best), jalapeños and an onion and place them in a bowl. I recommend wearing gloves to slice jalapeños. Mix until ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Distribute the carrots, onions, jalapeños and garlic cloves evenly in pint or quart jars (you can also use a fermenting crock). Then you mix a ratio of 1 quart of filtered water (it needs to be chlorine free for fermentation to work) with 3 tablespoons of sea salt. Pour it over the vegetables until they are covered. Be sure to leave some headspace in the jar. It’s best to weight down the veggies in the jar so they stay below the water line. You can use plastic or ceramic, but do not use metal as it will interrupt the fermentation process. I like to use onion skins.
- Then put a lid and ring on the jars, but not too tight. I save my used lids from canning and reuse them for fermenting since the seal doesn’t need to be tight. Move the jars to somewhere that they won’t be disturbed. It’s best to put them on a towel as sometimes fermentation can get a little bubbly if the jar is too full.
- How long it takes for them to ferment is going to depend on your climate, altitude and a variety of other factors. They could be done in 5 days or it could take 2 weeks. Everything will start to change color slightly and the water will look bubbly when the fermentation process is working. You can open the jar and taste one of the carrots to test it out. If it tastes salty, it’s not done. When you’re satisfied with their fermentation level, you can move them to a dark, cool cabinet, a root cellar or put them in the refrigerator. Most fermented foods should be eaten within 6 months (I have some that lasted over a year).
- I love serving these fermented spicy carrots with our favorite Mexican food meals, or just snacking on them.
Notes
Nutrition Information Per Serving
If you want to learn more about the power of fermented foods, these are 2 of my favorite resources.
- Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig
- Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
I would like to thank you for this recipe…Just what I was craving, with a healthy twist. Also, my husband who doesn’t like fermented things and doesn’t realize it’s fermented…Uh emmm…yet! Say’s it tastes better than Roberto’s and he actually is the one eating most of it…
That’s great to hear! My family prefers traditionally fermented spicy carrots over the pickled ones too!