Stuffed Fermented Peppers
Fermented peppers stuffed with and Italian herb & spice sauerkraut. Any type of pepper will work well with this recipe: hot, mild or sweet!
Equipment
- 1 Gallon / 4 L Jar
- 1 Spice Grinder Optional
- 1 Specialty Fermenting Lid This type of lid is optional. A regular jar lid will work just as well.
Ingredients
- 3.5 - 4 lb Cabbage
- Peppers Enough to fill the jar
- 2 - 3 bundles Fresh Basil
- 2 tbsp Whole Fennel Seeds Optionally substitute with whole dill or caraway seeds.
- 1.5 tbsp Salt Fine grain. Use a salt that does not contain anti-caking agents since these chemicals can interfere with fermentation.
- 6 c Water
Instructions
Prepare The Brine
- Add the salt to the water, then mix to incorporate them. Set the brine aside for later use.
Prepare The Cabbage
- There's no need to wash it because the outer leaves will be removed and the newly exposed inner leaves will be free from contaminants, dirt and/or bugs. However, if you do need to clean your cabbage, a quick rinse with tap water will suffice.
- Remove the outer leaves and discard them.
- Peel off 1 to 2 of the newly exposed inner leaves and keep them intact the best you can. Set them aside for later use.
- Quarter the cabbage and cut out the cores.
- Slice the cabbage into thin strips. Then cross-slice again and place in a large mixing bowl.
Prepare The Spice Seeds
- Place the seeds in a little spice-grinder and loosely grind.
- Sprinkle the ground seeds over the cabbage in the bowl.
Add The Brine & Basil
- Pour the brine over all the cabbage ingredients in the bowl. Then with fresh washed hands, toss to mix everything together.
- Slice up one of the bundles of basil and add it to the cabbage that is resting in the brine. Give it another mix to incorporate everything together.
Rest The Cabbage
- The cabbage needs to rest in the brine for at least two hours. The salty brine will work on the cabbage, softening it and extracting some of its natural juices. This will make the cabbage easily stuff-able into the peppers.Meanwhile you can prep the peppers, do some clean-up, get the jar ready, run errands, work in the office, etc. The cabbage can rest in the brine for up to 6 hours, so it’s not a problem if those errands take longer than expected.
Prepare The Peppers
- You can use any type of pepper: hot, mild, sweet, large, medium or small.
- There’s no need to wash or rinse the peppers if they are unsprayed from the garden or farmer’s market. If they’re from the grocery store, you can choose to rinse them if you wish.
- Whichever variety (or varieties) of pepper you use, select ones that have some rounding in their body and a nice wide top that will allow the cabbage to be easily stuffed. A narrow section toward the bottom of the pepper is ok so long as the upper body has girth.
- If you have a lot of large peppers, then it’s good to have lots of little ones too so that they can fill in the gaps when loading the jar later.
- Slice off the pepper tops. Then with your fingers or a paring knife, pull out the inner portion containing the heart of the seeds. Tap out any remaining seeds. Repeat the process with all the peppers.
Prepare The Equipment
- Wash the jar, lid and fermenting weight in hot soapy water, sterilization is not required. Then set the equipment on a clean kitchen towel until ready for later use.
Stuff The Peppers & Load The Jar
- Once it's been a couple of hours, the cabbage resting period is complete. With clean washed hands, massage the cabbage a bit more, taking note of the tenderness transformation.
- Take a large handful of the cabbage and place it at the bottom of the jar. Then take the other bundle(s) of basil and place at the bottom of the jar with the cabbage.
- Take up a pepper and stuff the cabbage inside. I have found using a chopstick can help with the stuffing process because it can more easily push the cabbage into the parts of the pepper that are narrow.
- Once stuffed, place the pepper into the jar and repeat with the next one.
- Stuff and place the smaller peppers in between the large ones to fill the gaps.
- Periodically along the way, add some cabbage into the gaps that even the small peppers can’t fill. Essentially what is to be avoided is large air pockets.
- Also add some scoops of brine and then keep on with the pepper process.
- Fill the container with the stuffed peppers, cabbage and brine up to the jar threads.
Make A Cabbage Leaf Topper
- With the cabbage leaves set aside from earlier, use them to create a cabbage leaf topper by layering them overtop the pepper & kraut contents below.
- Once the cabbage leaf topper is in place, use your fist to press everything down beneath the brine. It's important that all the contents are below the brine because the brine is what protects the food from oxygen exposure during the fermentation period. It's the oxygen exposure that can invite mold to form.
- You may find it helpful to set the jar on a plate to catch any brine overflow that may occur when you press down.
Add The Fermenting Weight & Lid
- Place the fermenting weight on top of the cabbage leaf topper.
- It may be a tight fit, but press the lid down hard enough to capture the jar threads and hold securely.
The Fermentation Period
- For the fermenting period, keep them on the countertop at room temperature for 7 to 10 days. An environmental temperature between 72F/22C - 80F/27C is best.
- The fermentation typically needs at least 7 days. The reason why I don’t recommend longer than 10, is because the peppers will ferment quickly due to being high in natural sugars. The quick fermentation speed can cause the peppers to become mushy if allowed to ferment too long.However, even with a short fermentation period of 7 to 10 days, the fermented peppers will be soft & tender (but not mushy). Therefore, remove expectations of crispy & crunchy.
- Tip: If you live in a hot and humid climate, then a fermentation period of 5 days may be better since the peppers will soften more quickly in that type of environment.On the other hand, if the peppers are fermenting in an environment below 70°F/21°C, then 8-10 days may be better since the peppers will soften slower in cool temps.
Ending The Fermentation
- When you decide to end the fermentation, remove the weight and cabbage leaf toppers. Next, take a smell test before a taste test. If the fermented peppers have a soury-sweet smell, you’re good to go because that's what a healthy fermentation smells like. However, if it smells foul or offensive, that means bad bacteria took over and the fermentation failed. If this is the case, do not eat it, rather throw it away.
- Don't throw out the cabbage leaf toppers. They too have fermented over the past week and are not only edible, but nutritious & delicious.
How To Store The Peppers
- If your refrigerator is like mine, a gallon size jar will not fit. Therefore, transfer the contents to smaller jars. The fermentation process will have made the peppers tender and flexible so that they can conform to small jars.
- Place the jars in the refrigerator where they will last for 6+ months.