Delightful Fermented Salsa Recipe with Zucchini
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What started with a basic fermented salsa recipe, has blossomed into a recipe including zucchini. A gal on instagram, XVI Acres, shared a zucchini salsa canning recipe a year or so ago that changed my life. IT IS MY FAVORITE! I do love a good tomato salsa, but adding zucchini?! Something that grows plentiful and is delicious? Gimmeeeeeee. So, after I canned a small batch and learned it was my love language, I started looking to make my own fermented salsa recipe WITH zucchini.
You guys. Fermented salsa is the best. Oh my goodness, it is. It’s tangy, salty, all the things that you just don’t get with home canned salsa. I’m not saying my home canned salsa isn’t amazing, BUT if I had to choose, I’d grab the fermented salsa first every single time. And adding zucchini?? Sign me the heck up.
I’m pretty mad at myself for putting off learning the art of fermentation for a while. It was a little overwhelming to me and I just didn’t really learn how to do it. Aside from making pickles in a crock growing up with my Mom one time… we dubbed those “meat pickles” because they tasted…. like meat. It was odd and we never did it again. But now, I see my Mom dabbled in some fancy fermentation from the old ways.
After tasting said meat pickles, I really wasn’t keen on trying that again. Understandable. LOL. But, I saw someone talking about fermented salsa on Facebook a few years ago and was all like… I could figure that out. And I did! Most of my fermentation knowledge has just come from following some folks online and some good ole trial and error. Fermentation really isn’t difficult, but being us, we’ve overcomplicated it to the point of paralysis from fear or screwing up. And if you do… you’ll know. That food will mold or spoil so dang fast.
Because fermentation is basically just a controlled rot of your food anyway. We add salt to control what bacteria are rotting our food. Cool, huh? I love me some rotten salsa… kay? That’s what we’re calling it from here on out; it’s no longer a fermented salsa recipe with zucchini.
Dry Brine Method
When fermenting with fruits and vegetables that are “wet” per se, meaning they have high water content within their fibers, you can make a dry brine. This means you’re just adding salt directly to the ingredients and encouraging the water to escape and make the brine to submerge the solids in.
This is the most desirable method for salsa, as adding a liquid brine solution with water would reallllllllyyyyyyyyyyy mellow out the flavors and make it a very sad salsa. We want a happy salsa.
Dry brine just means we sprinkle the salt overtop of the fruit and veggie mix, stir, and let it macerate for 10 minutes or so. Longer with cabbage (see my fermented sauerkraut method here). You can also stir and gently squeeze to encourage more liquid release. But, when you use very water heavy ingredients, you will have plenty of liquid, I promise.
For a dry brine method, I got my information from Melissa K. Norris’s book “Everything Worth Preserving” which I reference frequently, especially for fermenting because she has some helpful quick glance charts in there for brines, both wet and dry. Grab it if you like things in print!
In her book, she gives a chart for how much salt to add to vegetables by weight in pounds to start a dry brine. Those measurements I follow in this recipe, and with some simple math, you can find how much to add for the in-between weights.
My recipe made almost exactly 1.5 pounds of salsa, which perfectly fills a quart jar. Below I’ll give you a list of pounds of prepared vegetables (and fruits) and how many grams of salt you add. My food scale doesn’t do decimal grams, so I just round them up to the nearest whole number.
- 1 pound veggies = 5 grams salt
- 1.5 pounds veggies = 8 grams salt
- 2 pounds veggies = 10 grams salt
- 3 pounds veggies = 15 grams salt
And so on. As long as you can count by 5’s, you can figure it out. But if you can’t, you’re going to quickly run out of fingers and toes to count on. Maybe go ask your neighbor for some.
What Salt Do I Use?!
Use whatever good quality salt you use in everyday life. I will say to avoid iodized salt and stick with non-iodized, BUT if it’s all you got, it’ll be okay.
I personally stick with redmond real salt because I think it tastes delicious… not sponsored. And I can purchase it in 50 pound bags at the feed store. That’s what I personally use, but it doesn’t have to be what you use :)
Equipment You Might Want
- Quart wide mouth mason jar
- Air lock
- Glass weight
- Rotary shredder or mandolin
- Large glass mixing bowl
- Scale
Ingredients
- 6 oz zucchini
- 8 oz tomatoes
- 1/2 onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper or 1/2 bell pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- cilantro
- salt
Step 1: Prep
Start by rinsing off all ingredients under cool, running water to clean well.
Shred the zucchini using a rotary shredder with a julienne blade or a food processor or cheese grater. Whatever you have. You could even hand chop/julienne.
Dice the tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and garlic cloves. Chop up cilantro if using fresh. I don’t measure the cilantro, just throw in what feels right.
Step 2: Weigh
Add a large mixing bowl to your scale and tare the weight.
Add the remaining chopped ingredients and note the weight in pounds.
Now it’s time to add the salt. For 1 pound, add 5 grams of salt. For 1.5 pounds (which is what my recipe made in the reel I shared and filled a quart jar), add 8 grams of salt. And for 2 pounds add 10 grams of salt.
Mix the salt into the salsa mix and stir. Let sit for about 10 minutes to get the juices flowing so you have enough of its own liquid to cover the ferment while it sits. You need liquid to completely submerge the solids so they don’t mold. With these ingredients, you should NOT need to add water, as they’re very water-y on their own. Coax more liquid out by stirring and gently squeezing with your spoon.
Step 3: Ferment
Wash a wide mouth quart jar in hot, soapy water and rinse really well.
Add the ingredients to the jar, making sure to leave about 1 1/2″ headspace so you have room for the air lock and the glass weight if you’re using it.
Press the ingredients down to ensure they’re all submerged in the salty liquid. This helps encourage a good ferment and discourage mold formation. Food above the liquid may not mold, but there’s always risk of it. Once everything is submerged, I add my glass fermenting weight to the top to keep it there. You do not need a weight though, I just have them, so I may as well use them!
Top with an air lock of choice or a canning lid secured with a ring. If using an old canning lid, be sure and burp (meaning loosen the ring and let the gas out) at least once a day, maybe twice if you’re thorough.
Place the jar in a warm area away from direct sunlight. I put mine on my countertop in a corner away from a window, but by my coffeemaker so I don’t forget about it.
Allow the jar to sit on the counter for about 2 days and then begin tasting the salsa to see if its fermenting to your taste preference. I like mine tangy, so sometimes its ready in 2 days and sometimes it takes 7. Be sure when tasting to use a clean and new spoon each time :D Don’t infect your ferment!
Step 4: Storage
Once the ferment is to your liking, remove the air lock and glass weight and add an air tight lid. Store in cold storage or your refrigerator for up to 1 year (sometimes longer, but it barely lasts a week in my house). Cold temps slow to nearly pause the rotting process of your food and the fermentation allows the good bacteria to take hold and preserve your food in a gut healthy, and very delicious way!
To Use:
Spoon out what you need with a clean spoon.
If using the entire jar, strain the liquid out and save some for the next ferment, and serve! I like to add 1 Tbs of previous fermented salsa to really jump start things. It makes things go really quickly. ONLY use previous ferment liquid from successful and healthy ferments. I do not recommend back slopping previous ferment liquid from ferments with kahm yeast, mold, or bad flavors. Not worth it, since you don’t need a previous ferment or culture to lactoferment food!
And now you know how to make this delicious fermented salsa recipe with zucchini! I hope this recipe helps you dive into learning the art of fermentation and love the skill as much as I do.
Equipment
- Quart wide mouth mason jar
- Air lock
- Glass weight
- Rotary shredder or mandolin
- Large glass mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 6 oz zucchini
- 8 oz tomatoes
- 1/2 onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper or 1/2 bell pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- cilantro
- salt
Instructions
Step 1:Â Prep
- Start by rinsing off all ingredients under cool, running water to clean well.
- Shred the zucchini using a rotary shredder with a julienne blade or a food processor or cheese grater. Whatever you have. You could even hand chop/julienne.
- Dice the tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and garlic cloves. Chop up cilantro if using fresh. I don’t measure the cilantro, just throw in what feels right.
Step 2:Â Weigh
- Add a large mixing bowl to your scale and tare the weight.
- Add the remaining chopped ingredients and note the weight in pounds.
- Now it’s time to add the salt. For 1 pound, add 5 grams of salt. For 1.5 pounds (which is what my recipe made in the reel I shared and filled a quart jar), add 8 grams of salt. And for 2 pounds add 10 grams of salt.
- Mix the salt into the salsa mix and stir. Let sit for about 10 minutes to get the juices flowing so you have enough of its own liquid to cover the ferment while it sits. You need liquid to completely submerge the solids so they don’t mold. With these ingredients, you should NOT need to add water, as they’re very water-y on their own. Coax more liquid out by stirring and gently squeezing with your spoon.
Step 3:Â Ferment
- Wash a wide mouth quart jar in hot, soapy water and rinse really well.
- Add the ingredients to the jar, making sure to leave about 1 1/2″ headspace so you have room for the air lock and the glass weight if you’re using it.
- Press the ingredients down to ensure they’re all submerged in the salty liquid. This helps encourage a good ferment and discourage mold formation. Food above the liquid may not mold, but there’s always risk of it. Once everything is submerged, I add my glass fermenting weight to the top to keep it there. You do not need a weight though, I just have them, so I may as well use them!
- Top with an air lock of choice or a canning lid secured with a ring. If using an old canning lid, be sure and burp (meaning loosen the ring and let the gas out) at least once a day, maybe twice if you’re thorough.
- Place the jar in a warm area away from direct sunlight. I put mine on my countertop in a corner away from a window, but by my coffeemaker so I don’t forget about it.
- Allow the jar to sit on the counter for about 2 days and then begin tasting the salsa to see if its fermenting to your taste preference. I like mine tangy, so sometimes its ready in 2 days and sometimes it takes 7.  Be sure when tasting to use a clean and new spoon each time :D Don’t infect your ferment!
Step 4:Â Storage
- Once the ferment is to your liking, remove the air lock and glass weight and add an air tight lid. Store in cold storage or your refrigerator for up to 1 year (sometimes longer, but it barely lasts a week in my house). Cold temps slow to nearly pause the rotting process of your food and the fermentation allows the good bacteria to take hold and preserve your food in a gut healthy, and very delicious way!
