Ingredients
- 2 pounds green tomatoes (preferably medium-sized)
- 2 tablespoons unrefined salt
- 1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
- 4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 1 to 3 jalapeños, as desired, roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons dried dill weed or
- 1 cup fresh dill weed
- 6 to 8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- Large grape leaves or parchment paper, to top the ferment
- 1 to 2 cups Basic Brine (1-1/2 teaspoons unrefined salt per
- 1 cup unchlorinated water)
Directions
- Rinse the tomatoes. Starting at the top (stem end), cut 2 slits, forming a cross, down through each tomato, stopping before you reach the bottom. Sprinkle salt in each tomato and place in a small casserole dish, wedging them tightly together if you can, with the crosses facing up.
- Weight the tomatoes heavily. Cover the dish and let it sit on your counter for 8 hours or overnight. This will press out the brine, which you’ll use later for the fermentation.
- When you’re ready to stuff the tomatoes, combine the parsley, celery, jalapeños, dill weed, and garlic in a food processor and process to a paste.
- Fill each tomato with the paste, close the slits as best you can, and tuck them into a crock or widemouthed jar, pressing and wedging as you go. When all the tomatoes are in place, pour in the brine created by the initial pressing.
- Top with grape leaves, horseradish leaves, or any other aromatic herbs, such as celery leaves. Again add weight to the top of this ferment. Place on the counter and repeat the pressing for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, check the ferment. If it hasn’t released enough juice to fully cover the tomatoes and leaves, make a small batch of Basic Brine and pour in enough to submerge them.
- Follow the instructions for your fermentation vessel. For a jar, make sure there’s little headspace and seal lid tightly. Burp daily or as needed. Alternatively, top the ferment with a quart-sized zip-close bag. Press the bag down onto the top of the ferment and then fill bag with water and seal.
- Let tomatoes ferment for 10 to 20 days. You’ll know the tomatoes are ready when their color mutes, the brine becomes cloudy, and the smell and taste are pleasingly acidic.
- Store in an airtight jar in the fridge, where the tomatoes will keep for 6 to 8 months. After tomatoes have been enjoyed, use any leftover pasty brine as a pickling bed or as a flavoring in a dish.
Make a Georgian-style fermented tomatoes recipe with salt pressing for a gorgeous and delicious addition to a charcuterie board.
We absolutely love these fermented tomatoes. They’re not only delicious but also quick to make and look gorgeous on a charcuterie board. The recipe derives from a traditional Georgian one – that is, the Republic of Georgia, not the U.S. state. A long time ago, Kirsten was at a class where the instructor said, “I always name the lineage of my teachers,” and then proceeded to name the person they learned from as well as the people who had taught their teacher. This recipe, likewise, has a lineage of inspiration we’d like to credit: It comes by way of a blog post by Eva Martínez in which she credits Татьяна Пястолова (Tatyana Pyastolova) for sharing the recipe with her. When Kirsten reached out to Eva, she resonated with Eva’s thoughts when she said, “It’s important to make known the recipes so they don’t remain in oblivion.”
You can use any green tomatoes, whether small or large, but we’ve found that using 6 to 9 medium ones is better than just a few large ones, as it’s easier to pack them in a jar in a way that holds everything in place.
Learn more about Fermenting Vegetables with Salt, including How To Make Sauerkraut in a Crock.
Check out the complete guide to Making Fermented Foods at Home for tips on how to make your own yogurt or kefir at home.
Excerpted from Fermented Vegetables, 10th Anniversary Edition by Kirsten K. Shockey and Christopher Shockey, with photography by Dina Avila, and used with permission from Storey Publishing.
