This recipe is an adaptation of fermented green garlic I made for the first time this spring. It blew me away and I used it in everything, burning through my pint pretty quickly. The plan was to preserve the season longer than that, so I will be making more this spring. But to make it through the winter I took the last, rather than the first, green allium of the season, leeks! And did the same.
Equipment:
Food processor
Food scale (if you don’t have one, get one!)
Ingredients:
Leeks, roots removed and cleaned well
Salt, 4% by weight of leeks (multiply the weight of the leeks, in grams, by .04, and that is how much salt to use)
Process:
Remove the outer leaves from the leek. These tend to be beaten, yellowing, and dirty.
Cut off the roots, any gross part, and cut the leek in half; long ways.
Between the layers, especially right where it changes from green to white, where the leaves come together, it will be super dirty! Wash this really well.
Then cut the leek into roughly 1 inch pieces, no need to be accurate, you just want them small enough to get blended in the food processor.
Give it all another rinse, then allow it to drip dry in a colander.
Tare a bowl on your scale and add the leeks to get their weight in grams.
Add 4% salt and transfer salted leeks to a food processor.
Pulse until the leeks are all cut into pieces smaller than a pea, like the size of a lentil. Between pulses scrape down the sides if needed to get it all chopped up nicely.
Transfer mixture to a clean Mason jar, or whatever you have to ferment them in. Ideally glass, and ideally tall and narrow.
If you have a fermentation weight, great, put that on top. But if you don’t it's okay, you’ll just have to be more attentive of your ferment.
Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature, away from direct sunlight, for a week (if you are using a weight).
If you don’t have a weight on it, everyday take a clean spoon or potato masher, and push down the leeks until liquid covers them. As they ferment they’ll release liquid and gas. Gas causes air pockets and dry spots where nasty stuff can grow and ruin the ferment. Always aim for liquid to cover the top.
It should smell oniony, garlicky, sweet, and a little farty. This is all good!
Once it’s done fermenting, place it in the fridge and it will literally keep FOREVER! I still have ramps I fermented the same way from around 2016. The flavor only builds with age!
How to Use:
A little goes a long way, this is powerful stuff! I have spread it on toast with eggs, put it in a grilled cheese, added it anytime I need (or even already added) onion and garlic in a recipe. Explore with it, use it raw or use it cooked.
To call back the seasonal vegetables above. With winter squash I’d put some on top of butternut squash soup or mixed with maple syrup on roasted squash. For chicory, throw it in the salad, into escarole stew, or put it on grilled radicchio with a drizzle of honey and a squeeze of lemon. And radishes, add it to the brown butter! Wherever it goes, you won’t regret having this in your fridge all winter.
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