what to start with

What are some of the simpler veggies to start fermenting with to have some success?

Cabbage in any of its variations, and root vegetables (any of them) are probably the easiest. But really you can ferment any vegetables with ease.

Excellent. Thanks for posting.

good question..with spring vegetables coming on soon..would be good to have some more information.

Got my first batch going today! Cabbage onions pepper and carrots. After massaging it for some time and letting it sit, the is still not enough liquid to cover it. Should I wait a bit longer or add water to cover? And if it tastes this good already, I can only imagine how good it will be in a week.

Holy cow! What a taste. My first fermentation tastes awesome! Tried it last night, crunchy, sour, salty...its delicious! One more thing to love abbout this site.

John, I have found after years of doing this that I only get the cabbage to release enough liquid to cover itself if it's within about 24 hours of being picked, any older and it's too dry. not a problem, i just top up the container with weak salt water. I have found it works better the thinner you can slice the cabbage.

I've enjoyed various permutations of cabbage. I like to include jalapenos and garlic, dill pickles, carrots and ginger, red onions (a killer condiment for Mexican food) and lemons.

Julie

Do you put ginger slices in or ground up? That sound good either way.

chile peppers ferment very easily in my experience. simply chop them coarsely, then fill a jar, and cover with brine. after a few weeks, drain off the liquid, and blend up the peppers. while blending, add back in enough of the brining liquid to get the consistency where you like it . the skin of the peppers, like grapes, has the correct lacto bacteria to quickly begin the fermentation process. result- classic hot sauce. there should be enough residual salt from the fermenting process, so nothing to add. this is the traditional way to make hot sauce, like tabasco, beliezian hot sauce, tapatio, etc. you can also put garlic cloves in with the peppers to ferment if you like, but that is not my personal preference.