-Amanda
Lacto-Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa
- 2 ripe mangos
- 1 pint of strawberries
- 6-8 basil leaves
- 1/4 cup of finely diced red onion
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup of whey*
- 1-2 tbsp of chopped fermented jalapeno or 1 jalapeno finely chopped
Dice up the mangos and strawberries and place them in a medium size bowl. Finely chop the red onion and add it in. Add the jalapenos, salt and pepper. With your hands, gently mash the fruit to bring out some of the juices (this helps with the fermentation.) Add 1/4 cup of whey and the basil leaves. Stir until everything is well mixed. Place inside a quart mason jar. If there doesn't seem to be enough liquid to cover the salsa, add just enough filtered water to cover. Cover the jar and let sit until you start to see small bubbles form (3-4 days usually.)
*One easy way to get whey is by draining plain whole milk yogurt. I put a coffee filter in a fine mesh strainer and put the yogurt in the strainer. I then let it sit over a bowl until the whey collects in the bottom of the bowl. Return yogurt to the container and you have extra thick yogurt to use in another dish. If you collect more than 1/4 cup of whey, save the extra whey in your refridgerator. It'll keep for months.
Ohhh! Let me know how this turns out! I would love to make something like this. Thanks for explaining how to get the whey! How does the Lacto-fermentation change the taste?
ReplyDeleteIt adds a sour taste sort of like lemon would. It also will give sort of an effervescence or bubbly aspect to a dish.
ReplyDeleteI tasted it again this morning and I think I'm going to chop up some more strawberries. I had more mango than strawberry and I'd rather it be more equal.
Can you do this without the whey? What could you replace the whey with, any ideas?
ReplyDeleteYou can open a probiotic capsule into the mixture for a probiotic starter. The purpose of the whey is to be a probiotic starter - You could also strain the whey from plain organic whole milk keifer (I make my own keifer every day which separates into curds and whey) or use the brine from fermented vegetables, like the brine from sauerkraut.
ReplyDelete