(Image: Adam James) The following recipe is from Sandor Katz’s “Fermentation Journeys” by Sandor Ellix Katz (Chelsea Green Publishing, October 2021) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher. Over the course of two decades of publishing and teaching, Sandor Katz* has traveled the world, learning how different people transform food through the art of fermentation. We spoke with Katz recently about his new book and his journey as a fermentation revivalist. Part cookbook, part travel memoir, part food history, “Fermentation Journeys” includes recipes for everything from home-brewed sake to Colombian hot chocolate to Nigerian spinach stew. Here he shares a recipe with Nutritious Life from the new book for fermented turmeric paste. The creative guru behind this recipe is Adam James, a fellow fermentation expert and mastermind behind Rough Rice in Tasmania, off the coast of mainland Australia. While this recipe is really simple in its execution, it is not a quick, one-and-done task. But fermentation never is. The joy of this recipe is in waiting and watching fermentation happen. You begin by creating a pickling medium. In this case, using turmeric root, garlic, turnips, salt and water, all blended into a thick paste. The paste is then fermented in a crock for about a month. Once the paste is fermented, you have your matured pickling medium to which you then add your veggies of choice. This recipe calls for daikon, turnips, carrots and celery, but feel free to get creative with your version! Once you’ve added your vegetables to the pickling medium, they should ferment for at least a week or for as long as a month, depending on your preference and just how tangy you’d like them to taste. It’s the perfect immune-boosting salve for the long winter ahead, don’t you think? For this recipe, you’ll need the following equipment: Food processor or immersion blender Jar or crock with at least a 2-quart/2-liter capacity, with an interior and/or exterior lid The resulting recipe will yield about 1 ½ quarts of turmeric paste.
Ingredients
Directions
- Using a food processor or an immersion blender, grind the turmeric root, garlic cloves, Hakurei turnips, and salt with just enough water (roughly 2 cups) to form a thick paste.
- Ferment the paste in a jar or crock for about a month, stirring periodically. For best results, protect the surface of the paste from air with an interior lid or a layer of plastic.
- After a month or so, the paste should be active enough to start using as a fermentation medium. Simply submerge the whole vegetables. Turnips and daikons work really well since they are not too dense.
- Depending on the temperature, the size and density of the vegetables, and how vigorous the medium is, the vegetables should be fermented in about a week; however, I often leave mine for a month or even longer. The resulting pickles take on the intense yellow (another reason why white vegetables are good), shrivel slightly due to water loss, and have a wonderful acidic and earthy crunch.