Lacto-Fermented Plums Recipe
Vacuum-seal bags provide an oxygen-free environment for lacto-bacilli to thrive for a clean and speedy fermentation
Ingredients
- 1 kg plums washed, halved and stoned
- 20 g non iodized sea-salt
Instructions
- use a fresh vacu-seal bag
preparing the fruit
- wash the plums under running water, cut in half and stone
- in a bowl toss the plums with the salt to cover evenly
vacu-seal bag
- place in a vacuum seal bag, spaced apart by a couple of inches
- remove all the air with a pump
- leave in a warm place to ferment. Depending on the temperature, this will take anything from 5 days to over a week
- when the fermentation is underway the bag will fill with CO2 gas: burp the bag by opening, resealing and pumping out all the air once again
- from this point on, taste a small portion of the fruit until it reaches a balance of sweet-fuitiness and sourness to your taste
- recipes and ideas for using fresh and dried lacto plums and their skins follw
Fermentation times
- At 25-28C this can take around 5 days. Fermentation at higher temperatures is quicker but gives a rather more acrid result. Generally, the slower the fermentation the better the taste
- As usual the degree of fermentation depends on your taste. I like them sharp but retaining some fruity sweetness. Let your tongue make the decision
storage
- the plums and their vinegar will continue to ferment. To slow this down:
- store the fresh lacto-plums in their vinegar in the refrigerator for a month to 6 weeks
- or sun-dry for 3 days and store without the vinegar in a jar or plastic wrapper. They will stay good potentially indefinitely without refrigertion
- the vinegar can be stored seperately, preferably refrigerated
- the skins can be removed and sun or oven dried until crisp, then flaked or powdered to be added as a garnish to raw salads and cooked dishes
- recipes and ideas for using fresh and dried lacto-plums, as well the vinegar and skins follow later