Preservation season is finally upon us and we are thrilled about it! As usual, our first preparation of the year is fermented radish. This is probably about half of the total fermented radish we’ll preserve this year, we still have a lot more on the way!
If you’re new around here, one of the things you’ll notice is we really try to focus on preservation efforts that are basically “ready to eat.” We aren’t like the preservers of the 1800’s, trying to feed a massive family and survive the depths of winter unaided. We enjoy our access to modern groceries and global logistics! Thus, we preserve very few “pure ingredients” and mostly focus on preserving food that easily fits into our more modern lifestyle.
Fermented radish is an excellent side dish that can go with just about any savory meal. We also love adding it to our charcuterie plates, fitting right at home with the diverse pickles we tend to make. This preservation will easily last many months when kept in the fridge, allowing us to enjoy our radish crop throughout the entire summer.
Fermentation has been a preservation technique we have heavily gravitated towards over the years, representing probably 20% of our total preservation efforts. We like it because it lasts a long time, is super healthy for you and it tastes absolutely wonderful. Every year, we try to add a new recipe into our repertoire which helps us build expertise in the technique.
If you’re a bit shy of radishes due to their spiciness, you should know that fermentation really knocks that spicy down a lot. In fact, we add home-ground Chili Pequin peppers (basically super hot pepper flakes) and whole peppercorns to our ferment to kick things back up a notch.
We’re glad to be back in the thick of fermenting our garden and appreciate you all coming along for the ride!
