Spicy Frog Balls!

[S-met]

Spicy Frog balls? How are the brussel sprouts pickled?

Fresher the better but any will do. This takes about 4-6 months fyi.
I trim the stem and peel off any damaged leaves, usually just the outside.
Next, dust with sea salt and let it sit for a few hours. I save the "juice" that sweats out then use to mix up a salt brine. I usually add a healthy dose of fish sauce or salted crab paste,grated ginger and garlic and hot peppers- essentially like making kimchi out of brussels instead of napa cabbage. I'll pack these into my fermenter, sprinkle with a couple Tbsp of white sugar and put them in a dark place for about a month.

If adding other veggies, I'll start after about a month since the whole brussels take so long to ferment. Below is after adding whole greenbeans. Not a great photo but you get the point. This is approx a 2.5g fermenter with a self contained inner lid (see e-jen fermenter).

I'll try and forget about it for a month at a time doing nothing other than peaking every day for the 1st month to make sire sure everything is submerged.
After 2 months, I will start sampling.1st a small one to see if its to my liking. Its a matter of preference, but I wait until the big ones are still crunchy, but kind of squishy to the bite and it no longer tastes like a brussel sprout - instead it tastes like all of the flavors.

After its to my taste preference, I put them in quart jars and enjoy.

 

[jcam222]

Very unique!!

 

[chilerelleno]

Cool, I bet they're fantastic.
I'm salivating imagining the flavors.
Dammit Man.
Like!
What's in the brine?
Specific salt?
Are they shelf stable?

What else do you make?

I'm getting excited here.
Which size E-Jen should I buy, the 1.3gal/5L?

 

[xray]

Wow, that looks pretty cool!

 

[S-met]

Correction to above, I have the 3.4L and the 8.2L e-jen fermenters. I also have a few 5gal bucket fermenters one full of chili garlic paste. Different thread posted for that.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/chili-garlic-paste.290164/

Brine is approx 2.5-3% sea salt. You don't want iodized or it won't ferment. Supposedly has a bitter aftertaste too.

I also have a great mixed bacterial culture that gives a crisp-tart bite that makes me swear I added vinegar. It started a couple years ago from a wild/spontaneous fermentation and I "infect" a new batch from my prior batch to preserve the colony. My guess is a few lacto-cultures, some acetobacter, but no clue what else.

Lacto-fermentations are not specifically shelf stable, but theres a lot of variables around it like time and temperature as well as sanitary practices. The longer it sits, the funkier it gets. Once it starts getting where I like it, I move it to the fridge. It still fermenters, but much more slowly

Food fermentation, sauerkraut, cortido, kimchi, wild mustard greens, green beans, peppers. The chili garlic paste below is over a year and has never seen the inside of a fridge. Just a mason jar and a silicone fermentation lid. No mold or kham formations.


It may not be the best process but I take an opportunist approach. If I have an abundance of something I ask myself, "will it ferment?"

Other fermentation projects: beer, cider and wine.

 

[Steve H]

Thanks for the write up.They look great. I've been thinking about fermenting cucumbers.