Lacto-Fermented Zucchini

When it comes to having an excess of any vegetable, pickling is always an option. Zucchini would probably taste amazing pickled as spears – who doesn’t have eating spears as is or with their sandwiches at lunch?

But think about it for a second – why not lacto-ferment instead of pickling? Lacto-fermenting veggies is much more nutritious and just as tasty (if not more). 

Not to mention .. lacto-fermenting is just easier. Pickling can be much more complicated than lacto-fermenting so when you are short on time, choose to lacto-ferment over pickling and you may find your gut a little happier in the end.  Pickling requires me to make brine, heat brine, and pour that brine over whatever it is I am pickling – which destroys the vitamins and nutrients of that particular item – so while it might taste good, it has little to no nutritional benefit.

So what is the difference between pickling and fermenting?

Fermentation results in a more nutritious outcome – unlike pickling, time and organisms have been working on the food to create beneficial acids that can help break down hard to digest food substances.

Food that is heated for canning or pasteurization has lost all vitamins, enzymes, and beneficial organisms – not to mention that canning uses vinegar, and vinegar is much more of an acidic food that has little to no nutritional benefit.

Fermented vegetables are not cooked, enzymes are not destroyed, and it doesn’t require that you break a sweat in the kitchen as you would if you were canning.

Making these lacto-fermented zucchini sticks is so incredibly simple – the hardest part might just be waiting 3-5 days for the ferment to finish.  

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Lacto-Fermented Zucchini Sticks

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 1 Quart Canning Jar

Instead of pickling zucchini, opt to ferment. Lacto-fermented zucchini sticks are healthy, nutritious and great for the gut. They are incredibly simple to make!

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• optional: 2 tsp dry red pepper
• 1 large zucchini or 2 medium, cut into sticks or rounds
• 4 C. filtered water
• 3 Tbsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Cut the zucchini squash into sticks or rounds that will fit into your wide mouth quart size canning jar, leaving 2" of space at the top.
2. Add the garlic and optional dry red pepper. Push down on the vegetables as necessary.
3. Mix the brine - 3 Tbsp sea salt with 4 C. of filtered water (avoid chlorinated water). Ensure that the salt is completely dissolved.
4. Pour the brine over the zucchini squash in the jar, leaving at least an inch of headspace at the top.
5. Place a weight on your squash to keep everything submerged, or, make your own weight by filling a ziploc bag with a little brine and stuffing that in the top of the jar (add more brine as necessary).
6. Cover with an airlock and put in a dark spot (pantry, spare room). Allow to ferment, 3-5 days. After that time, remove the airlock, place a regular canning lid and band on the squash and refrigerate.
7. The fermented veggies will keep for several months in the refrigerator.

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Looking to try more lacto-fermented veggies? If so, you might like these Lacto-Fermented Turmeric Carrot Sticks.

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