Cabbage, Carrot and Kale Raw Cultured Vegetables By:Donna Gates- The Body Ecology Diet

Adapted by: Louise McGill RHN

One important secret to making really delicious cultured veggies is to use freshly harvested, organic, well-cleaned vegetables. After washing the veggies, spin them dry. It's essential that you scald your equipment in boiling water before you use it!

Ingredients

1 head green cabbage, shredded in a food processor. Save some of the outside leaves for the top of the jars.

½ medium to large red cabbage, shredded in a food processor

4-5 leaves of kale, chopped very finely by hand

2 to 3 carrots, shredded in a food processor

1 stalk of celery, chopped (this is blended with the brine)

2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Wedge of fresh ginger, finely shredded

Begin preparing vegetable mixture.

1. Combine all veggies, and herbs in a very large bowl.

2. Remove several cups of the above mixture and put into a food processor or blender along with the celery.   

3. Add enough filtered water to blender to create”brine" the consistency of thick juice. Blend well then add brine back into veggies, and herbs from above. Mix together well. Note: If your blender is small you may have to do in two batches

4. Pack mixture down into as many pint or quart/litre sized glass jars as necessary to hold all the mixture. Use a potato masher or your pestle/dowel or wooden spoon to pack veggies very tightly. You want to force out most of the air.

5. Fill container almost full, but leave about 2 inches of room at the top for veggies to expand.

6. Roll up several outer cabbage leaves into a tight "log" and place them on top to fill the remaining 2-inch space. Clamp jar closed, or screw on lid very tightly.

7. Let veggies sit at approx 70 degrees F or room temperature for at least a week. Two weeks may be even better. After a few days, you will see the vegetables ferment with bubbles in the jar.  Putting the jars in a small cooler will keep the temperatures more consistent.  Line the cooler with paper towel to soak up any seepage. Refrigerate to slow down fermentation.

Veggies will keep in the fridge for many weeks, becoming softer and more delicious as time passes!

Eat at least 1/3 cup of cultured veggies with every meal. One way to enjoy them is in a wrap.  Spread hummus on a wrap, add fermented vegetables, add sprouts and other raw vegetables, like cucumber of zucchini and roll.  Enjoy!!

Note: place in fridge to cool down before opening to avoid vegetable from exploding.