I have a pile of green tomatoes I want to make LF pickles with. In the veggie category, I've only ever made fermented cabbage things like sauerkraut and kimchee that are shredded and pounded, haven't done any that are whole or chunks floating in brine (except for vinegar pickles, but I want to LF these, no vinegar). I only have NT, not Wild Fermentation, and I want to do these without whey, salt only. Can someone tell me if the brine (salt to water ratio) in the NT recipe for cucumber pickles is the same as WF, with the exception of adding whey? NT calls for 1 Tbsp. salt to 1 cup water if using whey, and 1 more Tbsp. salt if leaving out the whey. If it's a different ratio in WF, what is it? I'm thinking of adding sauerkraut juice to the brine for these to give it a boost. In which case, would that affect how salty to make the brine? I'll likely only have a few Tbsp. of sauerkraut juice available, with enough tomatoes to fill probably 6 or 8 quart jars. (I'll be using juice from Gold Mine raw, organic sauerkraut, which is traditionally fermented.)
Also, I'm thinking I might boil the brine, pour it over the tomatoes while it's still hot, let it cool, then add the sauerkraut juice, to reduce the amount of bacteria on the tomatoes and give the good bugs in the sauerkraut juice less competition. Does that sound like a good or bad idea to any of you experienced veggie fermenters? With cool brine, I'd still have all the native beasties on the tomatoes, which could be either good or bad depending on what proliferated.
If any of you have made successful LF pickled green tomatoes, I'd love it if you'd share your recipe and process.
Also, I'm thinking I might boil the brine, pour it over the tomatoes while it's still hot, let it cool, then add the sauerkraut juice, to reduce the amount of bacteria on the tomatoes and give the good bugs in the sauerkraut juice less competition. Does that sound like a good or bad idea to any of you experienced veggie fermenters? With cool brine, I'd still have all the native beasties on the tomatoes, which could be either good or bad depending on what proliferated.
If any of you have made successful LF pickled green tomatoes, I'd love it if you'd share your recipe and process.
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