Recipe: Lacto-Fermented Pickled Vegetables

Name: Recipe: Lacto-Fermented Pickled Vegetables
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons iodine-free sea salt, pickling salt, or kosher salt (see Recipe Notes); 1 quart water (see Recipe Notes); 1 cup small cauliflower florets; 1 cup carrot chunks or slices; 1 cup red bell pepper chunks or slices; 1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled; 1 bay leaf; 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds; 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns; 1 to 2 grape leaves (optional, to help keep pickles crisp)

Instructions

Prep:10min

To the uninitiated, lacto-fermentation often sounds at best confusing and at worst frightening. Before I got elbow-deep into the world of kimchi, sauerkraut, and other fermented foods, I had vague notions of lacto-fermentation involving milk, bacteria, and jars of mysterious contents bubbling away in dark cupboards. Some of this is true, some of it isn’t, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

Updated at: Thu, 25 Dec 2025 19:03:29 GMT