How to prepare a raw winter pickle? It’s easy! In traditional Bulgarian cuisine, there are many recipes for making raw pickles, but they usually include autumn vegetables. Many years ago, people cultivated their own land and produced much of their food – grains and legumes, fruits and vegetables, animals for milk and meat, birds for eggs and meat. They used a part of the fruits and vegetables immediately, and stored the rest for the winter by drying them in the sun and making pickles. My grandmother and my mother made a large batch of raw pickles every fall with the fall vegetables picked from our garden without the addition of chemical preservatives, we waited for them to ferment and then stored them in a cool place in the basement. And on cold winter days, we often ate delicious raw pickles for salad. Based on family recipes and knowledge, I often prepare raw pickles with available seasonal vegetables, experimenting with flavors and aromas.

The idea of raw pickle “Snow Daikon” came to me by chance – during one of our weekly shopping in the store there was a wonderful Daikon turnip at a very good price, because it is still an unknown vegetable to many people and they often sell it at a lower price. I regularly buy in the winter and make it into fresh salads in combination with other vegetables, so we decided to buy more than we needed for the week. And so the question arose, “What to do with Daikon turnips?”, but to keep the pleasant taste and crunch. And what’s easier than making a raw pickle that you can keep longer in the fridge? But what to combine the Daikon turnip with – water and salt, a few bay leaves for flavor and ginger root for a slight spiciness, dried quince leaves for tannins and dried hawthorn fruit for sugars. I have carefully selected the ingredients to create a favorable environment for the development of only the beneficial bacteria during the wild fermentation. I then proceeded to find a suitable empty glass jar in the basement and wash it, wash and cut the vegetables, weigh and arrange the vegetables, prepare the brine and carefully record the quantities. Next was a photo shoot for a few pictures and I waited for the fermentation to take place, monitoring the room temperature and recording the data. So 10 days passed, the fermentation went through several stages and significantly subsided – it was time to close the glass jar and put it in the refrigerator for another 2 days. Finally the wait was over and it was tasting time! Wonderful aroma of turnip and bay leaf, pleasantly sour and slightly spicy taste, gently crunchy pieces of vegetables – raw pickle “Snow Daikon” is a wonderful addition to any dish. My experiment with wild fermentation of daikon turnips turned out to be super tasty and so the recipe deserves a place on the Danara site.

If you like to experiment in the kitchen, prepare Raw Pickle “Snow Daikon” and impress your loved ones with a crunchy winter pickle without added sugar and chemical preservatives!

Raw pickled “Snow Daikon”

Course: Food in jars, Recipes

Количество

850

грама

Подготовка

minutes

Готвене

minutes

Калории

219.50

ккал

Vegetable Pickle with Daikon turnip and ginger

Ingredients

790 g Daikon turnip
40 g ginger root
20 g dried hawthorn fruit
25 g Himalayan pink salt
650 ml spring water
3 bay leaves dried
you can replace them with fresh bay leaves
10 dried quince leaves
they can be replaced with medlar or sour cherry leaves
– glass jar with a capacity of 1700 ml
– metal cap for the glass jar
– weight/press disc
– gauze/ thin fabric piece
– elastic for fastening

Cooking instructions

With a kitchen scale and a measuring cup, I weigh the ingredients separately. I thoroughly wash the glass jar and the metal cap with warm water and dishwashing detergent, set aside to drain.
I wash and dry the Daikon turnip, cut lengthwise into 2 parts and cut each part into pieces about 3 mm thick. With a sharp knife, I peel the bark of the ginger roots and wash them, cut them into thin pieces about 1 mm thick. I mix the chopped vegetables in a bowl and mix them well.
At the bottom of the glass jar I put 1 bay leaf and 3-4 quince leaves, sprinkle some of the dried hawthorn fruits and on top I put some of the chopped daikon turnips and ginger root, pressing them slightly to fill the jar more tightly . Around the middle of the jar, I again put 1 bay leaf and a few quince leaves, add more of the hawthorn berries and add the rest of the chopped vegetables until the jar is full. On top I put the remaining quince leaves and a bay leaf, put a pressing disk.
In a bowl, I mix Himalayan salt and water, stir until the salt crystals are completely dissolved. I carefully pour the salt solution over the arranged vegetables in the jar and put the piece of cloth on top, fastening it with an elastic band. I leave the prepared jar in a dark and warm place to ferment. Twice a day I remove the piece of cloth and rubber band, close with the metal cap and shake the glass jar several times, turning it upside down for a few seconds.
At a constant room temperature of 20°C, fermentation takes place for about 10 days, then I close the jar tightly with the metal cap and store it in the refrigerator for another 2 days. After that, the raw pickle “Snow Daikon” prepared in this way is ready for consumption and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 30 days.
I remove the fermented vegetables in a suitable plate and serve as a salad together with another dish for lunch or dinner.

Notes

Nutritional value per 100g. product:
Energy value – 25.82 kcal
Proteins – 1.12 g
Carbohydrates – 4.99 g
Fat – 0.09 g
Fiber – 1.86 g
For the proper wild fermentation of raw pickle ”Snow Daikon” , leave the glass jar with the vegetables at a constant room temperature of 20°C for 10 days and then put the tightly closed jar in the refrigerator for another 2 days, then the raw pickle is ready to eat.