Hi friends,
This is my first post!
I am wondering if anybody has suggestions for the process for fermenting batches of vegetables for pigs.
The majority (75%+) of our 5 pigs' diet is very high quality kitchen waste from an organic restaurant in our community, in the summer we see a lot of boxes of broccoli stems and brassicas scraps (outer leaves, stems of cabbages and cauliflower, etc.), which our pigs don't like. The fusspots. I'd like to try fermenting these to make them more digestible. This is what I'm thinking of doing, I'd love to hear some suggestions:
Place the veggies in a large rubbermaid tote.
Inoculate with a starter culture (I'm thinking a half cup or so of yogurt or cheese-making starter culture that I'd keep growing in the house so I always have some)
Add water, mix thoroughly
Seal
Wait a few days
Do you think I can get away with leaving the stems whole? I really don't think this will be a worthwhile endeavour if I have to chop them up. Too much time!
Should I add molasses to feed the starter culture in there while the fermentation gets going?
Do I need to add salt?
Does ACV kickstart the fermentation, or would it kill the bacteria? I have heard both.
Finally, should the water cover the level of the vegetables, in making kimchi etc. you need the water to cover the veg so that it remains anaerobic, but on looking online I see different ways of doing it.
Thanks in advance for any ideas!!
