•Clean water / juice / bok choy
•Chlorinated water can inhibit fermentation, use CLEAN source (spring, distilled, or filtered water) if you can.
It is also recommended to rinse the vegetables in un-chlorinated water rather than tap water. Chlorine and other chemical contaminants in water are designed to KILL bacteria and fungus. That is why they are there.
•Boiling the water only partially helps – chlorine tends to evaporate slowly out, but many places are adding chloramines, which do NOT evaporate.
•So the second rule of fermenting is to use clean water or …
THINK LIKE A VEGETABLE
Grandma would say “we have to think like a vegetable”
•Bok choy cabbage juice is neutral in taste, has lots of minerals and vitamins and is the perfect fresh brine for ferments like pickles, onions and other veggies, whole carrots, etc., anything that we cannot produce a natural brine / liquid through massaging / compressing.
•I hate the thought of using plain water, even filtered water to make a brine when we have plentiful bok choy in the garden. Put the leaves through a juicer – the white bok choy looks the best as the green variety may scare a few peeps. Don’t forget to ferment the bok choy stalks – a tasty addition to a cheese platter or salad.
Xxoo Lynnie
