Jalepeno/Onion Ferment

Thanks to Megh on her blog, Yolks, Kefir & Gristle, I decided what to do with the 13 ounces of Jalapeno peppers I picked this morning. She and her husband started with nine pounds of peppers, so mine had to be a mini-version. Please hop over to her blog and see the nice tutorial and beautiful photos of her Jalapeno pickles project. Taking off from her recipe, here is what I did:

Here are the peppers, washed:



I cut off the stem ends:



I also added one large onion and sliced all of it in a food processor. Then I put them in a stainless bowl and added 2 teaspoons unrefined salt and 1 Tablespoon kefir whey:



I rode my bicycle down the road to where some wild grapes are growing. I don't have any grape vines of my own, so this was the next best thing:



While I was retrieving the wild grape leaves, the other vegetables were sitting in the bowl and I let them sit for about 1/2 hour so the juices could come out more easily. Next, I put 2 of the leaves in the bottom of a quart jar, added the vegetables, pressed them down to get the juices to cover them:



and then I put the other two leaves on top and put two clean rocks on them to hold the vegetables under the juice:



Then I added a lid with an airlock in it:



Within 2 or 3 days, I expect there will be signs of fermentation. Then I will remove the airlock, put on a lid and store it in the refrigerator. I am thinking this is going to be delightful on my homemade burritos and a bit thrown into a bowl of soup and.... oh joy!

This post is linked to Simple Lives Thursday #64.