Fermented Salsa--Mad Scientist Salsa

[cluckk]

I make a salsa recipe that I think would be appreciated on HBT. It is made with tomatoes that have been fermented with lactobacillus.

Dice about 6 tomatoes
Sprinkle tomatoes with about 1.5 tablespoons of sea salt.

Pack tomatoes into a sanitized crock or large mouth jar and the salt will draw out liquid for a brine. Many get a straight fermentation with this, but I jump start it by dipping a sanitized spoon into my sauerkraut crock and then stirring the tomatoes with the spoon.

Let it sit for about three to five days depending on how acidic you want it.

Once done, place in a food processor:
1 Onion
1 Serano chili with the seeds removed
1 Jalapeno chili with the seeds removed
4-5 cloves of garlic
About a tablespoon of chopped shallots
a handful of celantro

Mince these in the processor

Add the tomatoes and brine, along with chili powder and cumin to taste. You can mince these or simply blend them in depending on whether you want it chunky or not. If needed add a bit of sea salt.

The lacto gives it a nice acidic twang at the end. I made two pints and it didn't last more than two days.

An old friend heard about it and called it mad scientist salsa. I like the name.

 

[boydster]

I have to try this. I was just reading about fermented foods the other day after watching a Basic Brewing episode on sauerkraut, and saw something similar that sounded intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[cluckk]

They gave me the idea for the sauerkraut and now I am looking at other things to ferment. My wife is Korean so many of her native foods are fermented, so now I am looking into our own history of preserving foods through fermentation.

 

[boydster]

Here's a hot pepper sauce I bookmarked that I want to make, or at least something like it:
http://www.wildfermentation.com/fermented-hot-pepper-sauce/

 

[hunter_le five]

They gave me the idea for the sauerkraut and now I am looking at other things to ferment. My wife is Korean so many of her native foods are fermented, so now I am looking into our own history of preserving foods through fermentation.

I've never done sauerkraut (yet), but I've made kimchi before (similar in that it's also fermented cabbage), and it's pretty darn tasty. Super easy to make too.

 

[terrapinj]

awesome - SWMBO eats this stuff like candy and it's not cheap to buy in the store

 

[cluckk]

I've never done sauerkraut (yet), but I've made kimchi before (similar in that it's also fermented cabbage), and it's pretty darn tasty. Super easy to make too.

My wife is Korean, so we always seem to have a crock of homemade kimchi around the house.

I have three quarts of white cabbage sauerkraut in the fridge, a crock of red sauerkraut about a week into fermentation, a dozen tomatoes going next to it for some more salsa and my wife wife made a fresh large jar of kimchi tonight.

 

[Gutpunch]

Thanks to beer and bread, I've been bitten pretty hard by the fermentation bug of late. I've been making sour pickles for a while, and I recently made my first sauerkraut. I've also been playing with four different kinds of fermented hot sauce, mostly trying to get a handle on salt concentration. Now I have to add salsa to the list. Thanks for sharing!