Lacto-Fermented Blueberries (2% Salt Method)
If you have an abundance of blueberries, fermenting them is a great option to preserve them and enjoy them for weeks, plus fermenting creates beneficial probiotic bacteria for a healthy gut.
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 Fermentation Vessel with Weight This can be a fermentation kit or simply a jar with something to weigh down the blueberries, such as a Ziploc bag with water in it, or a smaller jar that fits inside the fermentation jar.
Ingredients
- Blueberries
- Salt, non-iodized
Instructions
- Rinse and dry blueberries.
- Place blueberries in a bowl and weigh them. (Be sure to hit the "tare" or "zero" button before adding the blueberries to the bowl so you are weighing only the blueberries.)
- Calculate 2% of this weight and add that amount of salt. (For example, if you have 800g of blueberries, use a calculator to do 800 x 0.02, to get 16g of sat.)
- Thoroughly mix the blueberries and salt. You can slightly crush the blueberries if you'd like.
- Transfer the blueberry and salt mixture to the fermentation vessel. With a spatula, scrape out any remaining salt in the bowl so it's all in the fermentation vessel.
- Cover with a fermentation weight. Close with a lid. Fermentation kits often have an airlock built into them; if you're using a regular lid, don't close it super tight so that built-up gas can escape.
- Taste the blueberries daily until they've reached an appropriate level of fermentation for your taste (see note below); this should take three to seven days, depending on the temperature. When fermented, store the jar in the fridge. Blueberries should remain in good condition for several weeks.
Notes
I found it took four days before we felt it was fully fermented. The taste test assessment will be a bit of a trial and error because it's difficult to know what tastes ready if you haven't tasted it before. Even if you're uncertain, having the blueberries ferment for a minimum of three days means there's at least some fermentation that's occurred, so if you put them in the fridge a little too early, you'll still benefit from a partial fermentation.
We found that salt fermentation led to a bit of a salty-sour taste that isn't super appealing when eating the blueberries straight (versus in yogurt or a smoothie), so our next attempt will be fermenting using a sugar brine. (Update: here it is.)