Fermented veggies? I failed miserably!!

I enthusiastically fermented a lot of veggies last year. I thought it would be a good idea to ferment lots of different veggies together. So that I would not have ten jars of different veggies to dip into. How wrong I was!

The mixed jars fermented nicely, but the taste was a bit... well.. not appetizing. I did realise that this is very healthy and probiotic and so on. But I did not like the taste. In the end, my chickens ate a big part of my multi-vegetable concoctions.

Sauerkrout (cabbage + carrot) is great. So was onions + beetles.  The rest were a nightmare! I was back to my childhood, told to eat something dismal "because it is healthy". I didn't want that!

Do you have other ideas? I would hate to do so much work again and end up with "health food" that I have to force myself to eat.

Do you like the various vegetables fermented when they're not mixed? I generally ferment whatever I have with garlic, ginger, and chiles and call it kimchi. I've never noticed a taste problem, but I also feel like the various vegetables are mostly present for varied texture because the garlic, ginger and chiles are so powerfully flavorful.

is there a culprit veggie that was present in all the ones you didn’t like, or was it various random mixes? maybe fermenting more homogenous ingredients would help? or maybe there’s a particular thing that you just don’t enjoy fermented?

I would love to know what combination you did not like.

There is a Giardiniera that is a mix of different vegetable.

I have not made it though it looks yummy.

https://permies.com/wiki/20/105983/pep-food-prep-preservation/Salt-brine-ferment-pickle-PEP#1196313

The trouble is I am not sure.It might have been the squash. Or tomatoes. Or maybe the herbs. Or...

I just blotched it!

I think you did well to get edible fermented vegetables. I'm still trying to get sauerkraut to work....

My suggestion would be to do the mixtures you know you liked again, and try the other vegetables fermented separately. Maybe do small amount of a hot kimchi mix as Christopher suggests too to see if that disguises the off taste.

Kaarina Kreus wrote:The trouble is I am not sure.It might have been the squash. Or tomatoes. Or maybe the herbs. Or...

I just blotched it!

Herbs could be overpowering; some recipes say to add them for just last couple days of fermentation.