Sour-fermented beets in kefir

02 Jul Sour-fermented beets in kefir

Home-made fermented foods are not only fun to prepare but they bring lots of interesting flavours, vitamins and god gut bacteria onto  the table. So introducing them into the diet can improve your gut health as well as increase overall immunity. You most probably heard of kombucha or kimchi, but I am sharing yith you recipe for quite unusual beets that are fermented in kefir or buttermilk, not in traditional salt brine. These beets will save your life during scorching heat waves, because their taste is very refreshing. They are also the main ingredient of delicious and refreshing beet cold soup.

This recipe was inspired by Dominika Wójciak “Jarzynova” recipe. Feel free to experiment with proportions of the main ingredients. You can play around them a little bit.

Ingredients (for 1L jar)

3 beets – peeled and cubed (the smaller cubes, the faster fermentation process)

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

3 slices of ginger or fresh horseradish

approximately 0,5 L of kefir or buttermilk (you may need more depending on the size of the jar) preferably bio and eco version that contains cultured bacteria

1 teaspoon of salt

1L jar

Recipe

1. Place beets in a 1L jar. They should take up to 2/3 of the volume of the jar.
2. Add garlic and ginger or horseradish –  it would be smart to cut these into different shapes. Be advised that after fermentation is done, everything will be purple, so you will be able to distinguish beets and the rest only by shapes.
3. Add salt.
4. Pour kefir over the beets. Make sure that everything in the jar is well covered with kefir.
5. Twist the lid on tightly and set aside in warm place for approximately 7-10 days. Duration of the fermentation process depends on the temperature. If it is really hot, beets will be ready after 4-5 days. If it’s a bit colder you will have to wait 10 or even 11 days.
6. Starting from the day two of the fermentation process twist off the lid once a day for a few minutes to release all fermentation gases.
7. Once or twice per day delicately mix the content of the jar.
8. After fermentation has reached the desired level, refrigerate sour fermented beets, to slow down the fermentation process.You can also prepare beet cold soup straight away.