Fermenting Tomatoes

Stop slaving over your stove to can your tomatoes… ferment them instead!

Fermented tomatoes are:

 Easy (just add salt to water and drop in your tomatoes)
 Fast (It takes seconds per container)
 Healthy (Lacto-fermented foods contain probiotics, enzymes and healthy
acids…all of which benefit digestion, immune function and overall health)
 Delicious (Just blend the fermented tomatoes up raw with some garlic and
basil for the most amazing tomato sauce ever!)

When fermenting foods be sure to always:

1. Use pure water (no chlorine or other chemicals). Distilled water is fine.
2. Use unadulterated salt. Table salt and iodized salts contain chemicals that
will interfere with proper fermentation.
3. Use a food grade fermenting vessel (glass or ceramic is preferable) and
never metal.
4. Use some method to keep the tomatoes underneath the liquid level at all
times. This can be a fermenting weight, a small plate, packing the jar in a
way that the food cannot rise, or simply filling with liquid to the brim,
capping and watching the liquid level closely.
5. Cover your fermenting vessel in a way to keep out fruit flies and dust but
still allow gasses to escape. A plastic storage lid on a jar (NOT airtight) will
work, a lid with an airlock will work, so will any other loose-fitting lid.
Alternately just burp your regularly capped jar (open it slightly) if you notice
gas build up.
6. Move your ferment to cool storage after the initial ferment (about 3 weeks
for medium sized tomatoes in a medium temperature kitchen). This could
be a refrigerator, but a cool, dark cabinet, a cellar or a basement.

FERMENTING TOMATOES

1
2018 Homesteading Family
Ingredients:
1 lb. small to medium tomatoes

3 Tbs. Salt

Water

Garlic, herbs or spices (optional)

Directions:
Pour salt and a little water into your fermenting vessel.

Stir to begin dissolving salt.

Put in several garlic cloves, herbs or spices if using.

Pack vessel full of tomatoes.

Pour water to cover.

Cap.

Leave out at room temperature for 3-4 weeks.

Move to cold storage.

Storage:

These should keep for a few months in cool temperatures and up to 12 months in
cold storage.

Scaling:

This recipe can be scaled up or down… try a pint of cherry tomatoes or a 5-gallon
bucket of paste tomatoes. Just be sure to scale the salt up as well.

2
2018 Homesteading Family
To Use:

Eat raw, in salads or blending with the fermented garlic (or fresh) and serve raw
over hot rice, pasta. Makes a great pizza sauce!

Enjoy!!!

3
2018 Homesteading Family