Recipe: Fermented apples and butternut squash
Made: 2022-10-30
Made with apples I got from my colleague and neighbour Kerstin. It’s a mix of two different apple trees, one of which is more for cooking/baking and the other one more for direct eating. I used about 8 small to medium-sized apples.
To test addition of lactobacillus starter cultures, I divided the cut veggies and fruits into four jars:
- no additional starter culture
-
- Acidophilus starter culture
-
- Vege092 starter culture
-
- Vege011 starter culture
2022-10-31: 24h, no cloudiness visible
2022-11-06 (7 days):
- Looks clear, but when stirred it actually becomes a little bit cloudy. Squash has a nice softer but still slightly crunchy texture. Apples are borderline too soft. Not very acidic at all yet, leave a bit longer. Add a teaspoon full of liquid from a carrot ferment that’s fermenting alongside to speed up fermentation a bit.
- Looks clear, but when stirred it actually becomes a bit cloudy. Squash has a nice softer but still slightly crunchy texture. Apples are borderline too soft. Very mild acidity and a bit of a fermented apple cider taste. Quite pleasant, and I think shouldn’t be out for much longer. Transfer to fresh jar, then transfer to fridge.
- Looks clear, but when stirred it actually becomes a bit cloudy. Squash has a nice softer but still slightly crunchy texture. Apples are borderline too soft and a bit fizzy. Very mild acidity and a bit of a fermented apple cider taste. Quite pleasant, and I think shouldn’t be out for much longer. Transfer to fresh jar, then transfer to fridge.
- Looks clear, but when stirred it actually becomes a bit cloudy. Squash has a nice softer but still slightly crunchy texture. Apples are borderline too soft and a bit fizzy. Very mild acidity and a bit of a fermented apple cider taste. Quite pleasant, and I think shouldn’t be out for much longer. Transfer to fresh jar, then transfer to fridge.
Conclusion: After a few days in the fridge, the acidity has become better and the ferment is very good. Butternut squash pieces are firm and almost crunchy, while the apple pieces are very fizzy, slightly crunchy and very refreshing. The saltiness of the ferment is not very high or obvious when eating it, it’s more the fruity acidity that’s predominant.
Great addition to any “boring” lunchbox to add acidity and some fruitiness.
The best of the four are number 3 and 4. The apples retained the most crunch, while still being nicely fermented. For the butternut squash, there is not really any difference between the four jars (and starter cultures). In general, the one with Acidophilus is probably my least favourite, because the apples became a bit mushy and everything tastes a bit more “rotten”-fermented than in the others (which are more fresh and acidic-fermented). That was also the sample where yeast grew most while standing in the fridge.
