Fermented Daikon

If you read my blog last year, you know how I have fallen in love with fermenting.  My experience thus far has been limited to pickles and yogurt. 

 

A few weeks ago I got 4 daikon radishes (or daikon root) in my
Bountiful Basket contribution. (click the link for info)  I was a little shocked and a lot confused.  I had never even seen a Daikon much less cooked with one. 

 

After searching a bit I found that Daikon make great pickles.  There were tons of recipes for refrigerator pickles.  I finally found a few that suggested fermenting and I was done looking!

 

The week before my sweet mother-in-law gave me an awesome birthday present.  A pickling crock!  I was so excited to use it and this seemed like the perfect chance.  

 

 I began by peeling the root. 

 

 Then I cut them into coins.
 

 Not too thick.
 

 Then I salted them.  It will pull away the little bit of bitterness that is in the root.
 

 After letting them sit for 30 minutes or so, I gave them a really good rinse to remove the salt and liquid that came off of them.

 

 My crock needed a weight to keep the root under the brine solution.  This Pirex lid fit perfectly!

 

 I put the daikon into the crock (I added a few cloves of garlic 'cause that's how I roll) and then covered them with brine.  I used the lid to weight the root down into the brine.  You don't want anything exposed to air.  That is how you get mold and grossness.  You do not want fermented grossness. 

 

 As the fermenting process began, we noticed a smell.  It could only be described as...well...smelling like another natural form of fermentation that occurs in the human body.  Say after a big bowl of beans.  Sorry, I had to go there.  Matt had the wonderful idea to cover it with this pie plate which fit perfectly and kept all of the gassy smells inside.

 

 After several weeks of fermentation, (and leaving them well alone!) it was time to test them.  They still smelled a little stinky but the taste was wonderful!  I think the Daikon just has a funky, radishy aroma.  I packed them into quart jars.

 

 Then I ladled the fermented brine to cover them.  I put the lid on and store them in the fridge where they will keep for a LONG time!  You could can them at this point but the processing would rob you of all the raw, probiotic goodness that you get from fermentation.

 



3 out of the 5 kids loved them.  I loved them.  Matt still hasn't tried them but I think he will.  They have that wonderful tangy flavor that the fermented pickles had last year.  I am so happy with the crock!  It was so much better than using glass jars.  Thank you Grandmolly!!!

 

Here is the brine recipe and the link to the site that I used for instruction.  Now go ferment something!

 

"Stir up a brine solution of 2 Tablespoons sea salt (un-iodized salt) to 1 quart water. Note that you must use salt that has no additives-check the ingredients of your salt to make sure that it contains nothing but salt. Additives in salt can prevent the lacto-fermentation process from occurring."