Hi , I've been fermenting birch leaves for a green seafood sauce, preserving lemon with fir tips and making thimble berry leaf + purple cabbage kraut for fun flavours to play with on my upcoming forest pop-up restaurant on June 11.  Fermenting adds depth to sauces and is super healthy for your digestion, here is a simple recipe you can try for any vegetable or leaf you harvest (or buy).

 

Lacto fermentation 101:

When you add salt to food (2-3% is good) and limit oxygen contact an environment is created that makes it impossible for mold and harmful bacteria to live, while allowing the beneficial microbes to flourish.  Keep vegetable/leaf ferments at 20-22C around room temp for 3 days, then taste them to see if you like the flavour or want to keep fermenting longer.

During the fermentation time, the yeast starts to break down the vegetables, turning them into acid and CO2.  The acid is what gives fermented food tart, tangy flavors, in addition to protecting against harmful bacteria. 

 

Preserved lemons & spruce tip recipe

Slice lemons thinly and remove seeds, place a few slices of lemon in a mason jar and 1/2 tsp kosher salt, layer more lemons with another shake of salt. Optionally, pick spruce tips and layer that in with the lemons.  Once the jar is full, fill with lemon juice and leave on the counter for 3 days to ferment, then pop in the fridge and use to accent fish, veg dishes or roast pork.  So easy!