How to Make Easy Lacto-Fermented Shredded Carrots
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Click HERE to read my policies & disclaimers if you're interested. I will only link products I use and personally recommend. Thank you for your support, friends!
If you’ve read anything I’ve shared in my stories, I’ve been searching for ways to help with my migraines I’ve been experiencing for a very long time that I have finally taken enough time to pin down that they HAVE to be hormone related as they occur the same time during my cycle. I’ve been reading about how carrots help remove excess estrogen and figured… heck, that’s worth a try. Problem is, I really hate raw carrots. I can’t even force feed myself them… I get stuck in this perpetual chewing motion and I can’t swallow them because my body just heaves them. Believe me… I’ve been choking them down for days while I waited for these guys to ferment. In the study I read, the recommendation was for RAW carrots and it specifically said not to use cooked as you lose the benefits you need that are available in the carrots raw form that are to be eaten every morning first thing. So, I figured okay… let’s try fermented. They’re not cooked but basically rotted for a few days in a controlled, salted environment and maybe we can find a happy medium. I do really like pickled carrots!
Lacto-fermented carrots is such an easy way to preserve a bountiful carrot harvest for later that tastes great and preserves all the goodness of a raw carrot. Fermented carrots still have a pretty good crunch to them but they also soften just ever so slightly to get rid of that “chewing on wood pulp” mouth feel that just about turns me sideways. Fermentation cultivates the beneficial good bacteria while the added salt keeps the bad bacteria at bay. What you have when they’re fermented to you liking is a delicious snack that’s briny and tart but still has a bit of the sweetness of the carrots as if they were fresh, great for carrot salad, pasta salads, sandwiches, or just plain eating that is beneficial to your gut and healing to your body. FOOD IS MEDICINE.
This last batch of fermented shredded carrots I made yielded me 1 gallon of fermented carrots out of 5 pounds of whole carrots. You certainly don’t have to make a batch that big, but as long as you put them in cold storage (whether it be your cold room or a fridge), these fermented carrots will keep well over a year. I actually have some fermented dill pickles from 2021 I’m still working through and they’re crunchy and amazing still! Learning multiple skills and broadening your horizons of preservation knowledge allows you to learn many different skills to yield many different food products and fuel your bodies without putting all your eggs in one preserving method’s basket. Aka… don’t freeze dry, freeze, can, or whatever else everything you have. Variety is good!
Advice For Making Your Favorite Ferments
- Use a wide-mouth jar. You’re not going to easily fit your fist into a small mouth jar, even if you have baby hands.
- Taste your ferments as they go to learn the art of fermentation and how good ferments taste.
- Use glass weights to weight food down. I knowwwww they can be expensive, but just splurge and buy the pack of 4. You’ll have them for the rest of your life.
- Sanitize your jars & glass weights. Wash them with soap and hot water and rinse well and thoroughly. Running through the dishwasher isn’t desirable if you use tabs or a rinse aid since they can leave a residue and that will flavor your ferment. Nothing better than some chopped carrots seasoned with cascade!
- You don’t’ need the fancy air lock lids or special fermenting lids like a pickle pipe. But, if you’re a forgetful person like me, they come in handy because a busted jar or foamy fermentation mess on your counters is a pain in the rear. They’re an investment but they’re worth it!
- Read about the ratios of different fresh vegetables and fruits to salt. There’s actually a certain percentage of salt to weight of vegetables which does change between different veggie types. This makes fermenting more exact and easier than relying on a tablespoon measure (which I’ll admit is sometimes easier than math-ing and figuring out the weight of salt okkkkkk).
- Don’t be afraid of lacto-fermented foods. If your ferment went wrong, you’re gonna know it! You don’t really need to worry about botulism here because lacto-fermentation produces an acidic environment that botulinum does not thrive in. The more you know!
Let’s make some easy fermented carrots!
Equipment You Might Want:
- Wide mouth quart canning jar or 2 wide mouth pint jar
- Fermentation lid
- Fermentation Air Locks
- Glass fermentation weights
- Large glass bowl
- Food processor with shredding blade
- Kilner fermentation kit
Ingredients:
- 1 pound carrots (washed, peeled if desired)
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 cups filtered water
Step 1: Prep
Start by washing carrots and scrubbing well. Peel if desired. If they’re carrots I grew, I don’t peel them but rather make sure they’re very clean. Anything from the store or another farm gets peeled. You can size up or down this recipe just fine; just be sure you keep the salt to carrots by weight ratio the same so you have a salt brine that supports proper fermentation.
Shred carrots using a food processor fitted with a shredding blade or a box grater. Whatever works for ya.
Add shredded carrots to a large bowl and sprinkle the salt over top.
Mix and massage with your CLEAN hands for a few minutes, then let the carrots sit for about 5 minutes or until moisture is drawn out and you notice liquid in the bottom of your bowl.
Step 2: Fill Jar(s)
Make sure glass jar that you are fermenting in has been sanitized. Add carrots into jar, mashing them down with your fist to press them tightly and cover with moisture. This is identical to the sauerkraut making process. Continue doing this and filling that jar until you have about 2 inches of headspace. Press again to make sure the liquid covers the carrots and there are no air pockets. If it doesn’t, we can add a bit of water.
Add the glass fermenting weight to the top and if the carrots aren’t completely submerged in liquid. add filtered water just until they are. More liquid will be released as they ferment so you don’t need tons. Do be sure to use non-chlorinated water as chlorine will affect the bacteria.
Wipe the jar rim with a clean cloth, add your fermenting lid and air lock, or even an old canning lid secured with a screw band. If you use a canning lid, just be sure to burp the ferment a couple of times a day so your jar doesn’t explode.
Step 3: Ferment
Place jar somewhere away from direct sunlight. I keep them on my kitchen counter where it’s warm room temperature (ideal temperature is around 70 degrees F; ferments will go faster in warmer than that and much slower in colder). and in a place I see them because I’m prone to forgetting about my ferments otherwise. I know my weaknesses :D
Ferment carrots for about 3 days before you start tasting to see if they’re fermented to the flavor of your liking. Mine take about 4 days to be where I like them flavor-wise, but every home is different. If you add a little liquid from a previous ferment, they’ll go faster, so start tasting soon.
Don’t be afraid to taste your ferments. If they go bad, you’ll know. A ferment gone bad will mold, turn a cloudy unappetizing color, or even smell bad. A good ferment gets a nice briny sour pickled smell and tastes the same. The best advice I can give you is to smell and taste them every day so you know what they taste and smell like during normal conditions. Be sure to you a sanitized tool to pull out some of the carrots so you don’t infect your ferment with unwanted bacteria. This helps you learn how quickly the lacto-fermentation process will go in your house and also if you prefer a stronger fermented flavor or not.
Step 4: Storage
After the carrots are fermented to your liking, remove the air lock and lid and weight. Add an airtight lid and store the jars in cold storage or your refrigerator. I prefer to vacuum seal the lids on just to help them keep longer. This may be illegal… I don’t know, but I don’t care enough to ask.
Shelf life of your ferments depends on your storage conditions, but they don’t really go bad unless they mold. I prefer to eat all my ferments within 1-2 years, but I do have some pickles remaining from 2022 and I just ate one the other day and it was fabulous and crunchy!
Notes:
You can add herbs like dill weed, ginger, coriander seeds, or even caraway or black peppercorns or garlic cloves to your carrots depending on what flavor you’d enjoy.
Save some liquid from a great ferment and add some to this to jump start and get you headed in the right direction. 1-2 Tablespoons is a sufficient amount!
Research and look at pictures of kahm yeast. This is a very frequent message I get with pictures of folks unsure of the white film on the top of their ferments. Kahm yeast is common and doesn’t affect the quality and rarely effects the taste. If you have kahm yeast, don’t use the liquid from that ferment to culture a new ferment. It’s not dangerous, but it’s also not overly desirable.
Stay tuned because my next carrot ferment I’m going to try out carrot sticks just for ease of grabbing and eating them every morning versus the shredded carrots since these had the best flavor. We will see! I still have a small raised bed of carrots I haven’t harvested and I’m praying the freezes and thaws haven’t affected them.
Equipment
- Wide mouth quart canning jar
- Fermenting lids
- Fermentation Air Locks
- Large glass bowl
- Food processor with shredding blade
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots washed, peeled if desired
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 cups filtered water
Instructions
- Start by washing carrots and scrubbing well. Peel if desired. If they’re carrots I grew, I don’t peel them but rather make sure they’re very clean. Anything from the store or another farm gets peeled. You can size up or down this recipe just fine; just be sure you keep the salt to carrots by weight ratio the same so you have a salt brine that supports proper fermentation.
- Shred carrots using a food processor fitted with a shredding blade or a box grater. Whatever works for ya.
- Add shredded carrots to a large bowl and sprinkle the salt over top.
- Mix and massage with your CLEAN hands for a few minutes, then let the carrots sit for about 5-10 minutes or until moisture is drawn out and you notice liquid in the bottom of your bowl.
- Make sure glass jar that you are fermenting in has been sanitized. Add carrots into jar, mashing them down with your fist to press them tightly and cover with moisture. This is identical to the sauerkraut making process. Continue doing this and filling that jar until you have about 2 inches of headspace. Press again to make sure the liquid covers the carrots and there are no air pockets. If it doesn’t, we can add a bit of water in a minute.
- Add the glass fermenting weight to the top and if the carrots aren’t completely submerged in liquid. add filtered water just until they are. More liquid will be released as they ferment so you don’t need tons. Do be sure to use non-chlorinated water as chlorine will affect the bacteria.
- Wipe the jar rim with a clean cloth, add your fermenting lid and air lock, or even an old canning lid secured with a screw band. If you use a canning lid, just be sure to burp the ferment a couple of times a day so your jar doesn’t explode.
- Place jar somewhere away from direct sunlight. I keep them on my kitchen counter where it’s warm room temperature (ideal temperature is around 70 degrees F; ferments will go faster in warmer than that and much slower in colder) and in a place I see them because I’m prone to forgetting about my ferments otherwise.
- Ferment carrots for about 3 days before you start tasting to see if they’re fermented to the flavor of your liking. Mine take about 4 days to be where I like them flavor-wise, but every home is different. If you add a little liquid from a previous ferment, they’ll go faster, so start tasting sooner.
- Don’t be afraid to taste your ferments. If they go bad, you’ll know. A ferment gone bad will mold, turn a cloudy unappetizing color, or even smell bad. A good ferment gets a nice briny sour pickled smell and tastes the same.
- After the carrots are fermented to your liking, remove the air lock and lid and weight. Add an airtight lid and store the jars in cold storage or your refrigerator. I prefer to vacuum seal the lids on just to help them keep longer. This may be illegal… I don’t know, but I don’t care enough to ask.
- Shelf life of your ferments depends on your storage conditions, but they don’t really go bad unless they mold. I prefer to eat all my ferments within 1-2 years.
