Kyrgyzstan 1985, I am 6 years old and watch how my mother cleans out the large 200 litre oak barrel that was used in last season’s fermentation. In this barrel were added copious amounts of shredded cabbage and carrots to make sauerkraut. In another barrel filled with brine, tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelons were placed, and beautifully decorated with dill crowns, cherry, blackcurrant, and long horseradish leaves.

Everything was stored in the cool food cellar for a whole  year. And often, during cold winter days, I was sent down into the cellar to stick my hand in the icy water, through the thin layer of white top yeast and pick up delicious tomatoes.

The difference between pickled and lacto-fermented is that  pickled vegetables are preserved by adding something sour, such as vinegar. Lacto-fermented vegetables produce their own acid with the help of lactic acid bacteria that are found naturally in the vegetables. The salt helps the vegetables to remain crispy, slows down the fermentation process and helps keep unwanted bacteria at bay.

In Georgia and other Eastern European countries, unripe tomatoes are often used. They keep their firm consistency and are served in wedges. It is great to use tomatoes that do not have time to ripen during our short Swedish summer. But it is also possible to take ripe tomatoes. Whatever tomatoes you take, they will be transformed into a tasty delicacy with the scent of herbs and garlic. Serve them as they are, as a seasoning for salads, or to make savoury salsa.

Here is the recipe from the book “Blue mountains, green food, orange wine. Recipes and stories from Georgia ” (available in Swedish – adlink here)  written by Charlotte Dos Santos Pruth and me. We received a lot of positive feedback from our readers on this particular recipe.

This is a guest post. Any opinions expressed are the writer’s own.