Lacto-fermented carrots with fennel and garlic
The crunch of the carrot, the aniseed scent of the fennel, the warmth of the garlic. A simple lacto-fermentation that brings sunshine to the winter plate.
The universal method of brine lacto-fermentation: raw vegetables are plunged into 3% salted water, and you wait for the vegetable's lactic bacteria to do their work. Three weeks later, you have living, slightly tart vegetables. With the carrot (sweet), the fennel (aniseed) and the garlic (warm), you get a particularly successful trio, where the fennel also brings its traditional digestive use.
Ingredients
Equipment
Steps
- 1
Prepare the brine
Dissolve the salt in cold water, stirring. The brine should taste distinctly salty, without being undrinkable. It is the concentration that selects the good bacteria (lactic) and blocks the bad (putrefaction).
3 min
- 2
Prepare the carrots
Wash the carrots, keep the skin (the lactic bacteria live there). Cut them into sticks (5-6 cm long, 1 cm across) or thick rounds. The larger they are, the slower the ferment and the more bite is kept.
10 min
- 3
Fill the jar
Place the fennel seeds, the coriander and the crushed garlic at the bottom. Pack in the carrots, leaving 3 cm of space at the top. Pour in the brine to 2 cm below the rim. Lay the weight (or the cabbage leaf) on the carrots: they must stay under the liquid. Close.
5 min
- 4
Ferment
Leave at room temperature (18-22 °C) for 7 to 10 days, away from direct light. In the first days, the brine may cloud, bubbles appear: that's the signature of fermentation. If liquid overflows, place the jar on a plate.
7 to 10 days
- 5
Taste and store
After 7 days, taste a carrot: it should be crunchy, salty, slightly sour and fizzy. If you find the taste right, transfer to the fridge to slow the fermentation. Otherwise, wait 2 to 3 days more.
Storage
6 months in the fridge in the brine.
How to use it
A few sticks at the start of a meal, as a digestive appetiser. Or as a side to salads. The brine itself can be drunk (1 tbsp diluted in a glass of water).
Health properties
- Living lactic bacteria
- Beta-carotene (provitamin A) preserved or even increased
- Garlic provides allicin, with antimicrobial properties observed in vitro
- Fennel seeds: a traditional use recognised by the EMA, as a herbal tea, for mild digestive complaints with bloating; here used as a flavouring
- Moderate salt (3%) more tolerable than sauerkraut (2% but often more heavily salted)
These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.
Precautions
Same rules as sauerkraut: coloured mould = discard; a white film = harmless, to remove. People with high blood pressure: count the salt added in the daily ration.
Sources & tradition
- · Marie-Claire Frédéric, Bocaux, pickles & lacto-fermentations (2014)
- · European tradition (winter pickles) and Levantine (torshi)
- · EMA/HMPC, European Union herbal monograph on Foeniculum vulgare, fructus (revision 1, 2024): traditional use for mild digestive complaints, including bloating