Fermenting vegetables with a starter makes things easier. I’ve tried many good and bad culture starters and after trying Mercola Kinetic Culture, I think it is among the best. This recipe shows how using a starter makes fermenting vegetables simple.
Why fermenting vegetables using a starter is better
Kinetic Culture is for fermenting vegetables. So if you are preparing yogurt, kefir or some other mild product, then you need another starter, as Body Ecology Kefir Starter.
Kinetic Culture contains 10 different probiotic bacteria strains, all suitable for vegetable fermentation. But why do you need a starter?
A good starter has many advantages
- More hydrogen peroxide, lactic acid, ketones, and other potent substances are produced during fermentation
- Stable and predictable fermentation, even if home conditions are not perfect
- More probiotic bacteria
- Lessen risk of unwanted microorganisms
- More vitamin K2 formed
- Crunchier veggies
Recipe
The following recipe is great both if you’re a beginner or more experienced. It contains the following ingredients (amounts approximate):
- green cabbage (50%)
- red cabbage (25%)
- carrots (20%)
- ginger (5%)
- Celery juice
- Himalayan or sea salt
1. Prepare celery juice for brine
With Mercola Kinetic Culture you add about one gram for each quart (1 kg) of vegetables. Mix the starter in a vegetable juice and let it sit for 20 minutes or so.
When fermentation is complete, the celery taste is integrated with the vegetables. You won’t feel like you are eating celery. Celery juice has great properties that help preserve the veggies. If you absolutely don’t want celery, try cabbage juice.
If you don’t have a juicer, here’s another way to prepare brine:
- Dissolve the starter in 1/2 a cup lukewarm water (not hot). Let the juice sit for 20-30 minutes to allow bacteria to activate.
- Put a few cups of the shredded vegetables into a blender. Add a little water to create a thick, smoothie-like porridge. Add the 1/2 cup of starter. This will be the brine to add later in the recipe.
2. Shred the vegetables
I prefer finely shredded vegetables, but you can do it as you like. I think shredding finer makes the final product a bit easier to consume, mainly because cabbage could become chewy if shredded too thick.
When you have shredded all veggies, mix them thoroughly in a big bowl as seen below.
3. Add the celery juice
Now you can add the celery juice with the starter into the veggies. Mix the starter thoroughly with the vegetables so that the probiotic bacteria is evenly distributed. Add salt. How much? It’s a matter of taste, but one or two tablespoon per quart is fine.
4. Pack the jars
Pack the jars as tight as you can. You can use your fist to press the veggies together in the jar. But don’t fill the jars completely full, but leave 25-30% empty. Pour all the liquid left in the bowl into the jars. There should be enough liquid to cover all the vegetables. If not, add water until vegetables are completely covered.
Put a cabbage leaf on top in each jar. This is a simple way to keep the vegetables submerged in the brine. Oxygen is a main enemy that can spoil fermentation.
Don’t screw the lids on too tight for the first few day. The pressure will build and gas needs to escape.
5. Ferment for ≈ 7 days
Keep the jars for around seven days at room temperature (around 68 to 72 F; or 20 to 22 C). A little warmer or cooler than this might not make a big difference. However, the higher the temperature, the greater the risk of mould and mushy vegetables.
Taste the vegetables from day 3 to see when you think they are ready.
Fermenting in a cool temperature: Try leaving the jars to ferment longer. I’ve left my jars for up to 15 days and it worked fine.
Fermenting in a hot climate: check this post for suggestions.
Storing fermented vegetables
When fermentation is complete, store the jars in the fridge or in some other cool place. Fermentation will continue, but at a much slower pace. In a cool place the fermented vegetables will stay fresh for many months. In fact, I think that the taste slowly improves with time and becomes more complex.
When consuming the fermented vegetables, discard the cabbage leave on top. If it has been in contact with air it might have a foul taste.
As you can see, fermenting vegetables with a starter culture is simple, but the fermented product can be complex in taste.
Hello could you give me some idea about the Dr Mercola kinetic culture , the amount needed into the celery juice per litre of veg, UK I am going to make 6 caning jars which hold 1 litre each thank you John
Hello John.
Dr Mercola recommends to use 1/2 teaspoon per quart of vegetables you’re fermenting. So if you’re making 6 litres of vegetable, then you could add about three teaspoons of Kinetic Culture to the celery juice. I usually follow this recipe myself and it seems to work well. Sometimes I’ve tried to ecomonize and uses less starter, but it’s safer to use the full amount. For 6 litres of vegetables you might need 1/5-1 litre of celery juice. We enjoy the veggies more if there’s about 25% juice in each jar. But that’s just a matter of taste. However, if you plan on storing the jars for several months, then more brine might help preserve the veggies.
Enjoy!
Very good review. I new to the world of fermentation. I am fermenting for a family of four. Using a packet per batch isn’t really cost effective, considering I’m going through a quart a week myself. Is it worth splitting the packet between two quarts, or can I use juice from the previous batch as my starter?
Thanks in advance
Hello Candy.
Nice to hear you’re consuming a lot of fermented vegetables. Dr Mercola recommends using about 1 gram of Kinetic Culture starter for every quart of vegetables. The Kinetic Culture box contains 20 grams (10 packets with 2 grams each). So if you consume 1 quart per week one box would get you through 20 weeks. Some have tried to use less starter and have still had very good results. Fermentation might take a few days longer depending on your circumstances, but the result can still be great. A box with 10 packets of Kinetic Culture costs about $33 which means that the cost per quart is $1.65. Using the packets is very convenient compared to the bottle.
However, when is comes to cost, please remember that a few tablespoons of fermented vegetables can contain trillions of beneficial bacteria. That’s more than in an entire probiotic supplement bottle. Therefore, your returns you get from the starter are very good. Using juice from an old batch may not work that well with vegetables. It’s much better to use a starter each time. The result is normally better.
“Much more vitamin K2”
Are you sure about that?
To produce vitamin K2, a specific strain of Bacillus subtilis, formerly known as Bacillus natto, is needed.
And Mercola’s starter culture does not seem to contain this strain.
Hello Tyrker.
It’s true that Bacillus subtilis is a very good producer of vitamin K2 and used to produce natto that contains very high levels if K2. Natto is one of the best sources of vitamin K2. However, several other lactic acid producing species are known to produce K2 as well. In fact, studies show that bacteria residing in the digestive tract are also able to produce K2 as seen in this study. Other studies show how human intestinal bacteria also produce K2.
A few examples of vitamin K2 producing bacteria are Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc lactis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus and several Lactobacillus strains. This is not a complete list and new species are regularly found to produce vitamin K2. Composing a good culture starter involves DNA sequencing and determining what specific bacteria strains are involved in the production of K2. Such work is done by qualified microbiologists. The only way to know for sure how much K2 is produced is to test the fermented food to determine the level of vitamin K2. Dr. Mercola reports that tests showed that the new formula contained many times more K2. I have no reason to doubt this.
Hello,
I used celery juice to activate the starter and made sure the packed jars were full with juice, then folded cabbage leaves. It was my own homegrown celery so possibly darker in colour than store celery. The juice is very dark green and is making the contents of the jar look totally green. It is not very appealing to look at. Not at all like your photos which show the colour as being paler and mostly pink.
Will the final result still be really green, or will it change to pink? I used 60% red cabbage and 40% green cabbage.
Thank you.
Hello Sita Belle
How nice that you can use your own homegrown cabbage; that’s ideal. Homegrown and organic vegetables often have deeper, richer colors and stronger taste than store veggies. This is a sign of quality. As a general rule – the stronger the color, the more nutrients they contain. The color usually becomes lighter after fermentation is complete.
But I can understand how you feel; I’ve had exactly the same feeling. However, the taste is not affected at all. Cabbage is a storehouse of phyto-chemicals, vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll that makes the cabbage green. Chlorophyll is considered highly beneficial. But it’s very hard to say which color the final product will have. The interaction between the different vegetables and the bacteria is very complex. In my case the pink color became very pretty. But each time the color is different. This is nothing to worry about! Hope you can enjoy your batch!
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate the advice!
It is day 2 now and the jars have built up an incredible amount of pressure, it is bubbling and overflowing with frothy juice, and YES the colour is already changing! It is now looking more purple rather than green. How interesting!
In order to keep the cabbage submerged, do I need to top up with more celery juice or brine water? Is it safe to open the jars to the air again?
Thank you
Hello.
Nice to hear that your batch seems to be getting on very well. In most cases there’s no need to add more brine before fermentation is complete. After that if you plan to consume the veggies fairly quickly, then you don’t need to add more brine. However, if you will store the jars for more than a few weeks, then you can add a little more celery juice. Sometimes, though, it is enough to open the jar and press the vegetables down in the brine using some instrument; press hard. You can also add more cabbage leaves on the top to keep the fermented veggies submerged. Cabbage leaves on top is a very good protection. To open the lid for a short while is OK without ruining the veggies. Just store them in a cool place and use clean tools to avoid contaminating the jars.
Hello! I live in Brazil and here is very difficult to find organic vegetqables. I make with no-organic, is it a matter? And this new packet of Mercola Kinetic Culture the product became more diluted. The other packet contained 100 billion of probiotic per 1 gram. Now, it’s 100 billion per 2g.
Hello Marcelo
Nice to hear that you’re fermenting vegetables. Now about your questions.
1. Even though organic veggies are superior, there is no problem in using non-organic. The amazing fermentation process can transform some chemicals and toxins and makes them harmless. However, rinse the veggies thoroughly. But don’t use bleach or similar That destroys the microorganisms naturally occurring on the veggies.
2. The quality of culture starters are not determined only by the number of bacteria per gram, even though this has some importance. Even more important is the quality and level of activity of the microorganisms in the starter. High-quality starters like Mercola contain bacteria that are highly active an dwill produce fexcellent ermented vegetables. A few tablespoons of fermented veggies can contain trillions of probiotc bacteria. That’s similar to an entire probiotic supplement bottle.
Ok, thank you! Sorry, but i have another doubt: After a few days in the fridge, my vegetables are low in brine, could i complete the level? what can i add to complete it? Thanks!!!
I”m more than hoppy to assist. You can top up with celery juice or water and a little salt.
I bought a bottle of the Kinetic Culture about 9 months ago before it was discontinued (had it sent to my daughter visiting the USA and she bought it home to me in Australia). It’s been refrigerated since opening BUT has gone past it’s “Best Before” date(March 2016). Do you think it will still be effective to use? (I only manage to eat fermented veg about 3-4 x per week and don’t get to make it as often as I would like to, so the Probiotic Culture is only being used slowly!) I primarily take it for K2 benefit for bone densitet.
Hello Sue.
Usually this is not a problem. In fact, I just prepared a batch using an outdated Mercola Starter bottle I had saved in the fridge. Fermentation worked well and it tastes great. It seems that the bacteria are active longer than the expiration date, which is a sign of good quality. But exactly how much longer it would stay active is hard to know. Mercola Starter seems to produce high levels of K2, so it is a good choice.
I am only seeing people using the starter culture with shredded vegetables. Can I also use it to make fermented pickles with whole cucumbers? I jarred them yesterday with salt brine, but then realized I meant to use the bottle of kinetic culture I have in my cabinet. I was thinking of just adding a half tsp to each quart and giving it a shake. Thoughts?
Hello Nancy.
Yes, you can ferment almost any vegetables this way. Some people think it is easier to ferment sliced cucumber. But it can also be done with whole cucumber. For best result use pickling cucumber that are short and stout. Some excellent recipes add chopped garlic, fresh dill, a little horseradish, black currant and cherry leaves, and sometimes cloves and coriander. Salt is always used. Ferment for 7 days or longer in room temperature.
Is there any reason I cannot use a traditional salt brine rather than celery juice? Does it impact the amount of K2 produced?
Hello Beth
You can skip the celery juice and use traditional salt brine, no problem. It does not seem to affect K2 levels produced.
Hi Ken
Beth asked a great question regarding the salt brine instead of the celery juice. Can I ask how is the salt brine solution actually made? How much salt to water? Pink Himalayan salt ok? I’ve not done this before. Also how many much salt salt brine solution is needed per quart (kg) of vegetables?
Hi Danel
This is a common question. The brine is very simple. Just mix salt and water, that’s it! Himalayan it fine as is sea salt. However, when it comes to the salt concentration, there are several possibilities. If you buy a starter, then you might get some instructions about this with the starter; follow those. Otherwise mixing 2-3 tablespoons salt in one quart water is normal. A little more or less is also OK. It’s a matter of taste. Some people ferment without adding any salt at all. But I recommend the use of salt since it enhances the taste and texture. If you do wild fermentation (without a starter), then traditionally more salt is used (2-2,5% solution).
The brine should cover all the vegetables. I usually fill the jar with about 70% vegetables and the rest with brine.