This post is part of Wardee’s Tuesday Twister over at Gnowfglins …..
Naturally fermented foods have been a staple at my house for years. My Mother and Grandmother taught me how to make kraut, pickles and other naturally fermented foods. We didn’t call it “Lacto-fermentation” we just said we were making kraut and pickles!
This is the first time I’ve fermented beets however, and I was very interested to see how they would turn out.
They turned out wonderfully! Naturally fermented beets are easy to make and are a great accompaniment to cold summer meals. Here are the instructions I used, they are loosely based on Sally Fallon’s instructions in Nourishing Traditions.
Wear an apron when working with beets. Their juice will stain countertops as well. It washes off hands pretty easily.
You will need:
Enough beets to fill up a quart jar when cut. I had 12 beets that were a little bigger around than a ping pong ball.
Sea salt
Water
Whey – I used kefir whey. If you don’t have whey, you can use a tablespoon more of salt.
Instructions:
Combine 3 tablespoons salt with 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon whey, stir to dissolve. Add your extra salt if you aren’t using whey.
Preheat oven to 350* F
Wash beets, leaving on the root end and about 1 inch of stems.
Drizzle with oil of choice, wrap tightly in foil. I wrapped 4-5 beets in each packet.
Bake beets in foil for about 1 hour or until the beets are tender and a sharp knife can be inserted in them easily.
Remove beets from foil. Let cool and then slip the peels off the beets. Cut off root ends and stem ends.
Slice the cooked beets and then cut into small bite sized pieces. If you leave the beet pieces too large they won’t ferment well.
Place the beet pieces in a clean, sterilized mason jar. Pour the salt and whey liquid over them to cover.
Cover loosely with a lid or cloth. Let sit on the counter top for 24-36 hours or until the beets develop a slightly sharp taste. In warm weather it won’t take long !
Cover tightly and refrigerate. They are delicious!
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
You can add vinegar, but if you want true lacto fermented beets, don’t add vinegar. You can also add some kefir that will speed up the fermentation process. Also, make sure your room temperature isn’t too cool, it should be around 72* or a little warmer.
I’m making naturally fermented beets, which is the first time I’ve tried to ferment veggies, so I’m a newbie. I made beets 5 days ago using salt only. I tasted them today. They taste like beets in salt water. I’m assuming they should have a tangy flavor but they don’t. Should I add some apple cider vinegar or some whey from my dairy kefir? Am I doing something wrong? All thoughts are welcome! Thanks….
I did the same thing you did using salt only, and at the end of 6 days all I have is really salty beets. Did your beets ever turn out?
Yes they did. There are several things you can check to see if you did and try next time:
Make sure you allow enough time.
Make sure the temperature isn’t too hot or too cool. 72* F or so is about right. Too much warmer and you can get spoilage, too much cooler and the good bacteria grows too slowly.
My beets turned out fantastic! But – I did add about a teaspoonful of whey from my dairy kefir to the mix. Then I let it sit for another 3-4 days before I heard the pop when I opened the jar. I put them in the frig and have been eating them for about a month now. They are delicious!
I’m guessing my back bedroom may have been a tad too cool.
Thanks!
How exciting! I’m so glad they turned out well. I’ve been using a little dairy kefir whey in a lot of my lacto-fermented foods too, it has always turned out very well.
Hi! I found this website because I googled making lacto fermented pickled beets. I love enveryone’s posts so far – very caring about what’s going on in other’s lives. 🙂 I’m hoping someone can give a little advice on the subject of pickled beeets. I have the book Nourishing Traditions. In Sally’s recipe as well as the one posted here, the beets are baked. I spaced out that part and boiled mine. Do you think they will still turn out ok? Also, I don’t have any quart mason jars, but have a lot of pints. I was thinking of using half of the whey/salt/water mixture. Any advice? Thanks! Jackie
Hi Jackie,
I think they will be fine if you boil them. And pints are fine! Just make up how ever much of the whey/salt/water mixture you think you’ll need and use it in the pints like you would the quarts. You won’t need to let them sit as long as quarts. Start testing them after about 16 hours and see how they do.
Thanks Sylvia! I have an abundance of beets in my garden this year. Looking forward to having some pickled! If anyone has any beet recipes they would like to share – I’m all ears! Thanks! Jackie
I made some of these yummy beets not too long ago. I put the jar in a refrigerator and they ended up freezing. Now the liquid is kind of stringy, sort of egg white like, only red. Are they still safe to eat? There isn’t an offensive odor, I did taste them and the pieces were firm and tasted like beets. Is the liquid usually kind of slimy?
Thanks!
Kelley
I don’t really know…. but I now that sometimes lacto-fermented foods do get that slimy liquid in them, kefir for example, and its ok if its slimy. I don’t know if the freezing of your beets caused that or if the bacteria itself caused it.
Sorry I forgot to check back. The eggs were fine. They tasted like regular eggs really, but I figured they were healthier with the lacto-bacteria. And I used homemade mayo and made egg salad with them. I want to try with the red beet juice when our fermented beets are gone and they should look pretty that way! 🙂
That’s good to know. Thanks!
Do you need to make your own kefir for the whey or can you drain it off of organic kefir from the store?
Well I don’t know Barb, but I think it would be worth a try.
active cultures are crucial.
I’ve made beet kvass using whey drained from store bought kefir- turns out lovely!
I’m glad to hear that, I’ve had several questions here at CHK about store bought kefir working for fermentation!
Did anyone pickle eggs using lacto-fermentation? I’m looking to make pickled eggs with lacto-fermented beets, and wonder if someone already tried a recipe without using sugar.
Silvia, I believe you can pickle eggs using the lacto-fermented beet juice. I am going to try it and I will let you know how it goes!
Love,
Sylvia
Hello, I was googling ‘lacto-fermented eggs’ and it brought me here. I was wondering if you had made them yet, and if so, how they turned out.
NO I haven’t tried it yet! Oh my, you’ve reminded me that I need to do that, so thank you. If you try it before I do, could you let me know how it turned out?? 🙂
I just put 3 in a jar with some whey, salt, water, dill and garlic. I thought I’d start out small. 🙂
I’ll check back in 3 days and let you know what we think. I also want to try it in some fermented beet juice, but I don’t want to wait until they are done. So I thought I’d try dill for now.
Ben,
It does seem to make a difference. Uncooked beets taste very earthy. My family say they taste like dirt 😀 But its a matter of taste and preference so you could try it and see!
Do you know how much the taste/texture varies when you either cook or do not cook the beets before fermenting? This sounds great, but I’d love to save the hassle of cooking the beets first.
Thanks for this! I recently made a 2qt jar of lactofermented beets but I didn’t cook them first. They turned out great and most of my family like them, but next time I will cook them. I used the NT recipe, and when we ate them, we added a splash of raw apple cider vinegar to the jar and they are deliciously crunchy, but have that slight earthy flavor because they were raw. Can’t wait to use the leftover liquid to make gorgeous pickled eggs for my husband!
Kimarie, I may try to add some vinegar to mine too… And I was thinking about eggs, too!