About The Dish
These fermented tomatoes are a great option in the spring and summer when your plant starts producing tomatoes in excess or if you’re doing a bit of pruning and end up with green tomatoes cut from the vine. The green tomatoes bring in enzymes that help the tomatoes to ferment, but even the green tomatoes mellow out and tenderize through the fermentation process. The resulting product is a slightly acidic and sour, effervescent and herby tomato that bursts with bubbles of mellow but well rounded flavor.
Ingredients
Brine
• 4 cups water, purified
• 3 tablespoons pickling salt
Canning Ingredients
• 4 cups green and yellow, and lightly red cherry tomatoes
• 2 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 8-12 basil leaves
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
• 1/2 teaspoons coriander
• 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
Recipe
1. Sterilize 1 fermenting quart jar per batch and a fermenting weight.
2. Heat the 4 cups water over the stove or in a microwave. It doesn’t have to boil, just be hot enough to fully dissolve in 3 tbsp salt. Usually heating the water on high for two minutes, then adding the salt and stirring is sufficient.
3. Rinse the tomatoes and remove stems, rinse parsley and basil and chop and peel the garlic.
4. Place 1/2 tsp mustard seed, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp peppercorn, and 1 bay leaf into a sterilized jar.
5. Then add to the jar, the parsley, basil, garlic, and tomatoes, adding a bit of each ingredient at a time so that everything is well mixed throughout. Fill the jar to about an inch from the top.
6. Once the jar is full of canning ingredients, add the salt brine to the tomato filled fermenting jar. You’ll want to completely cover the tomatoes, basil, and parsley with brine by about 1/2 inch then add the weight and continue filling with bring, almost to the top.
7. Remove air bubbles stuck the canning ingredients by agitating the jar, gentling shaking the jar, or rocking it back and forth. It’s important to remove air bubbles to prevent the growth of mold and other undesirables.
8. Let ferment in a cool, dark, dry, clean place for about a week then refrigerate or process for shelf storage.
