If you love to eat fermented foods then these are the 10 fermented foods to grow in your vegetable garden!

Make your fermented foods even healthier by growing them yourself!

 

10 Fermented Foods To Grow In Your Vegetable Garden!

Are you planning your vegetable garden?

Are you trying to decide which vegetables to plant?

Plant vegetables that you can preserve by fermenting!

Fermentation

Fermentation is not new!

People have been fermenting foods and beverages for thousands of years.

Fermentation is what happens when bacteria and yeast break down sugars in foods.

This makes food more digestible and fills the food with beneficial bacteria and yeast that help to support and heal the gut.

Fermented Foods

Almost any food can be fermented.

Sourdough bread is made from fermented grains. Kombucha is made from fermented tea. Vegetables are fermented to produce common foods such as pickles and sauerkraut. Milk is fermented to make Buttermilk or Milk Kefir. Why, you can even ferment water to create water kefir!

Fermented foods should be a part of everyone’s daily diet!

And that is why you should grow a garden full of vegetables worthy of being fermented!

Make fermented veggies a part of your life:)

Self Sufficient Living

Preserving your own food is also a great way to be more self sufficient and frugal.

Provide your family with nutritious foods all year around that you grew yourself in your own garden!

Trust me, I live in south Florida and when a natural disaster such as a hurricane comes through, there’s no telling what can happen to the grocery store! I learned this lesson last year when hurricane Irma came through.

Irma made landfall where I live and it was a disaster!

You can learn more about 11 Ways To Be More Self Sufficient here. These are all things to consider when trying to live a more self sufficient lifestyle.

Best Fermented Vegetables To Grow In Your Vegetable Garden

These 10 veggies are excellent to ferment!

Add them to your list of seeds to buy for your garden this year.

Cabbage

Cabbage is the vegetable that comes to mind for most people when thinking about fermented foods.

With cabbage you can make sauerkraut!

Do you like sauerkraut?

If you’ve never had homemade sauerkraut then you don’t know what truly good sauerkraut tastes like!

Homemade sauerkraut is amazing!

Cabbage can also be used to make kimchi. Kimchi is a Korean fermented food.

And, from a self sufficiency standpoint, it is such a wonderful feeling when you make sauerkraut from cabbages that you have grown yourself!

I love to be able to go out to my garden, pick vegetables, and come in and prepare or preserve them. It feels very rewarding:)

Beets

Beets are excellent for fermenting!

Not only can you ferment the beets to eat, but you can also make a fermented beverage using beets call Beet Kvass.

Beet Kvass is highly nutritious. It is very hydrating and great for the blood and liver.

If you’ve never had Beet Kvass, give it a try! It’s extremely easy to make and your body will thank you for it!

Cucumbers

Fermented cucumbers, also known as pickles, are something that we are all familiar with.

However, store bought pickles that you find in the isle at your grocery store, are not fermented! They are pickled in vinegar with a bunch of unhealthy ingredients such as dyes, preservatives etc.

Fermented pickles should contain no additional ingredients other than water, salt, spices and maybe whey (this depends on the recipe). If the pickles at the store are not in the refrigerated section and if they don’t say that they are fermented and contain cultures, then don’t bother buying them!

But trust me, the best tasting pickles are not going to be found in a grocery store!

The best tasting pickles are grown in your own backyard garden and fermented right after being picked!

And talk about easy to make! It literally takes a few minutes to make a jar of fermented pickles!

Carrots

Fermented carrots are an excellent snack for kids!

Crunchy and full of probiotic goodness:)

Fermented carrot sticks make a great snack or a great addition to a healthy lunch.

Grow you own carrots and ferment away!

Jalapeños 

This is probably my favorite fermented vegetable!

I made fermented jalapeños and they were a BIG hit! My husband loved them!

They were great on burgers, as snacks by themselves, or in recipes that call for jalapeños!

Next time I’m going to use them to make Pico De Gallo! mmh mmh good!

Red Peppers

Hot peppers are not the only pepper that can be fermented! Ferment all the peppers;)

Grow your own red peppers in your garden and you will not regret it!

Make crunchy fermented red peppers to go on salads, in recipes or to crunch on for a tasty, probiotic rich treat!

Ginger

Ginger is good in so many dishes! So why not grow it in your garden?!

Grow it, and then ferment it!

I use fresh juiced ginger to make Orange & Ginger Kombucha (my favorite flavor:)!

Ginger is used in so many different dishes and recipes. So why not add some probiotics to your meal? Add fermented ginger instead of regular and no one will ever know the difference;)

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are probably found in almost every vegetable garden!

But did you know that you can ferment tomatoes too?!

Like I mentioned above, make your own fermented Pico De Gallo or salsa. You can even make fermented ketchup!

Turnips

Have you ever grown turnips in your garden?

If not, this is the year to start!

Turnips are easy to ferment and make a great side dish for dinner:)

Radishes

Like turnips, radishes are also something you should try to grow in your garden.

Then, once harvested, ferment them!

Add them to salads, recipes, or eat them as a side dish as well.

As you can see, there are many vegetables to grow in your garden that make great fermented foods!

And this isn’t all of them, the possibilities are endless!

Do you ferment your own vegetables?

Which vegetables are your favorites for fermenting? Please leave a comment below and share your experiences with me!

For additional gardening info and tips read: