{Looking for something a little unconventional to do with summer’s last onslaught of vine-ripened tomatoes? Contributor Jesse Frost of Rough Draft Farmstead has been doing some crazy experiments in his fermentation lab that you won’t want to miss! Also, Hannah & Jesse are on the lookout for some farmland, so drop them a line if you have a lead.}
My wife and I enjoy canning our extra tomatoes for winter soups and sauces, but read almost any canning publication and they will often be surprisingly frank with you about how much canning negates a fruit or vegetable’s nutritional properties. We boil the canned tomatoes for a long time in order to avoid things like botulism (and rightfully so), but in so doing, we destroy a whole layer of beneficial nutrients. Essentially, we pasteurize it. Fermentation, however, not only retains a food’s nutritional value but boosts it, and often preserves vegetables for at least as long as canning, if not longer. Also, due to the acidic environment created by fermentation, and its natural ability to detoxify foods, bacteria like botulism cannot thrive and are not an issue. As Sandor Katz puts it in his newest book, The Art of Fermentation, “…it is improperly canned foods, not ferments, that can harbor botulism.”
So in light of preserving a healthier, safer form of tomato this year, I decided to try fermenting some. Since I’d never fermented tomatoes for anything other than tomato wine or to save seed, I did two batches to be sure of the results, and wound up with 8 quarts of fresh tomato sauce.
What you’ll need:
(makes 4 quarts)
-6-8 lbs of fresh tomatoes––preferably organic or non-sprayed
-2 tablespoons sea salt
-1 cup water (avoid tap water as it typically contains ingredients like chlorides which will slow or stop the fermentation. I get water from our local nutrition center for .39¢ a gallon)
-2 gallon, wide-mouthed clay crock or glass jar (avoid plastic or coated ceramic)
-Cloth to cover fermentation container
-String to tie cloth onto fermentation container
-4 1qt mason jars
-Olive Oil
-A spirit of adventure
Recipe:
Remove the core from tomatoes and cut into medium-sized chunks, slightly larger than bite-size. You do not need to remove the skin. Place in large crock or jar––fill no more than three-quarters full, less is fine. Add any garlic or peppers you would like––ferments are like soups––be liberal, they’re fairly forgiving. Me? I threw in a couple jalapeños. Combine salt with water and pour overtop. Massage tomato mass with hands until juicy, about one minute. Tie cloth over vessel to keep bugs out and stir at least three times a day, though more is better.
I recommend keeping this particular ferment away from your daily life––in a basement or mudroom or anywhere with good airflow––as part of they way you know it’s working is the unearthly smell it produces, just warning you. Here’s where you’ll need that spirit of adventure as the smell lasts for about 12 to 24 hours and you have to stir straight through it. It will soon be replaced with the lovely aroma of fresh tomato sauce, however––I promise, so be brave.
Once the odd smell is gone and it begins to smell fresh again, and the bubbling subsides almost entirely, you are now ready to can (about 3-5 days altogether, at least 1 1/2 full days after the odd smell dissipates). Ladle the finished ferment into four clean mason jars, leaving an inch before the top of each jar. Wipe the rim clean and gently pour a thin layer of olive oil overtop to keep oxygen off and mold from forming (not my invention, but a pretty nifty trick!) then place the lid on the jar. If it’s still bubbling when you have to can, don’t sweat it. Just make sure to release the pressure every few days for a week by unscrewing the lid of each jar until it makes a hissing sound. Otherwise, it could explode the jar––seriously––but this is a common reality with fermentation.
If you follow these guidelines and find mold or growth at any point before or after fermentation, simply scrape it off as soon as you see it. I found a light white film in my first batch because I had forgotten to stir for twelve hours but scraped it off, no problem. Mold can happen in nearly any ferment. Don’t be afraid of it unless it’s anything but white (which I’ve never ran into), but which you can also just remove. My understanding is colored molds are proceeded by the white molds, and white molds (in this case) result from too little stirring. Just check your ferment often and be diligent about stirring or removing any unwanted growth.
And that’s it. It takes longer than canning but less attention, less work, less energy, and the tomatoes are preserved healthier than when they started. I’ve been really pleased with the immediate results. If the ferment holds, as it seems to be doing perfectly, you can bet we will likely be fermenting much of our tomato sauces every year, and I feel confident we’ll be getting more nutrients this winter than ever, if it makes it to winter that is. We’ve already eaten nearly 2 quarts. Oops.
How to Use:
Employ your fermented tomatoes to marinade meats or vegetables; blend with fresh celery and drink a little as a tomato juice (or add some vodka and you’ve got yourself a Bloody Mary!); make a creamy tomato soup, or use it in place of wine in certain pan sauces. Today I reduced some by half and poured it over fried rice. It was absurdly good. I also made a makeshift barbecue sauce—lots of potential there. Feel free to share your own fermented tomato recipes or ideas you have for its uses!
You can post your questions and comments here, at roughdraftfarmstead.blogspot.com, or contact me at roughdraftfarmstead@gmail.com.
Behind on your fermentation reading? Catch up by reading Jesse’s introduction post.
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Sounds great! I was looking for something unique to do with the glut of tomatoes I have remaining. Do you see any issues in using a 10 gallon crock (its all we have)?
Thanks,
Todd
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Another question, how exactly does fermented tomatoes seal in the quart jars?
Thanks,
Todd
Hey Todd,
The 10 gallon crock would work just fine, even if you only do two gallons-worth. As for the sealing, it doesn’t seal. True ferments do not require a sealed container because, in lieu of trying to prevent bacteria from spoiling food, you’re encouraging bacteria to protect it. What I would do, and what has worked really well for me in this case, is fill a mason jar most of the way full and pour a little olive oil over top to keep the oxygen off the ferment. Or, since this recipe bears a lot of similarities to making wine, you could simply pour it into a wine bottle and put a cork in it. The objective is to keep the oxygen off as much as possible as oxygen encourages mold.
Let me know how it goes and if you have any more questions!
I would never have thought to do this – wow, so fascinating, and I really love the idea of preserving without canning. Do you know the science behind the odor it gives off? What causes that I wonder? Also, is it more tangy than regular tomato sauce, and do you think it would be good with some basil added to eat with spaghetti? Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and making the concept accessible!
-Jaime
Hey Jaime!
I did try to do some research on the odor, but since few people really ferment tomatoes this way I couldn’t find any info on it. I looked in Ashworth’s “Seed to Seed” because this method is almost identical to saving tomato seed (in fact, if you did all the same heirloom tomato, you could literally just pull the seeds out, dry them, and plant them the next year!), and though she comments on the odor, she doesn’t say what it is. I’m still looking, though! As per the basil, I’m sure it would work but I’m skeptical about adding softer herbs––basil, cilantro––as I’m not convinced the flavor would remain for a long period of time. I added peppers, rosemary and garlic and would also consider trying onions, but herbs like basil I might freeze and add later. The results of this are definitely more “fermenty” and acidic than canning, and I find myself reducing each jar down a little before adding to pastas, but we are loving the flavor! Good luck if you try it and let me know how it goes!
Best,
Jesse
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Canned the maters on Monday. Boy did we ever mess up the salt needed. We grossly miscalculated the entire volume of our maters, we thought we had 10 gallons (long story on how we arrived at this conclusion), adjusted the recipe to add enough salt for 10 gallons. In reality we only had 4.5 gallons of maters…
Amazingly the maters turned out alright, with the exception that every bite taste like one of the kids dumped over the salt shaker when no one was looking. We are in the process of ACTUALLY doing another batch and we have correctly measure the quantity of our maters. Expecting better results!
Thanks for providing this to the world to utilize.
Todd
Hey Todd,
Glad to see you gave it a whirl! If you wanted, you could make a batch with very little salt and blend the two. Just a thought so as not to have to waste too many tomatoes. I’ve also heard soaking a raw potato in something too salty will help absorb some of the salt, though I’ve never tried it myself. Let us know how it goes!
Jesse
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How long will these last? I am getting mixed reviews from the research I have been doing. Some say weeks, others say a year. I am confused!
Hey Julianna,
Kept in a cool place, I’m confident these jars could last several months, likely until next year’s tomatoes! I just opened a month-and-a-half-old jar and it literally bubbled out and onto my counter, alive, tasty and perfectly healthy. It’s hard to say for sure, but keep it in a cooler place like you would a wine it should last several months. My last batch shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. Thanks for your comment!
Jesse
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Thanks for the thoroughgoing information! I spent yesterday afternoon sluicing seeds to ferment and save, and tossed all the meaty remains in a pot and hid it in the oven with the intention of making proper canning sauce when I returned home from work. Well, I forgot, and the next morning I pulled it out to find a gently frothing mass! I unnaturally feared I had whipped up botulism soup, but I quickly found your article here and am now on my way to my first batch of fermented tomato sauce. One question: do you think a nonreactive metal pot (stainless steel) would be OK for the initial fermentation?
Hey Adam,
I love this story, and I don’t foresee any issues with the stainless steel – they do wine in it all the time! Should be fine, and good luck. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Jesse
I have been experimenting with fermented tomato sauce here in the UK. Most recipes seem to strain the tomatoes to get rid of the seeds and skins, you don’t bother – is it still good? Seems a lot less work so I hope so! Also can you tell me if you heat the sauce have you killed the good bacteria in it? Should we be using this raw like a salsa?
Many thanks
Katie
Hey Katie,
Thanks for the comment! No, I didn’t bother to strain and I suppose you could but I like a chunkier tomato sauce and after fermentation and a little time in the jar the seeds are broken down enough to not be much of a nuisance. As for cooking vs. eating it raw, I would definitely recommend eating raw––in salsa’s or juices––for the most beneficial bacteria because yes, you are killing bacteria by cooking it. But the general thinking is that cooking fermented foods is still going to be considerably better for you than canned, plus, some of the beneficial bacteria might still live, or at least continue to be beneficial. I hope that helps!
Jesse
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Jesse – I know you recommend using fresh tomatoes, but I just froze up several gallon bags of tomatoes a few weeks ago (did not blanch, just cored and froze). Could I still use these tomatoes for fermenting like you describe, or did the freezing diminish the results I would expect. Thanks – Al
Hey Al,
Thanks for the comment! Although I have never frozen and then fermented tomatoes, I would like to think––so long as they were fresh and healthy tomatoes when you froze them––they would still have plenty of life left in ‘em, and would thus be ok for fermenting. Again, though, since I’ve never done it that way I can’t vouch for the results, but I might also say that frozen veggies are often far more nutritious than canned anyway, so you’re already doing it right! Let us know how it goes if you do try and ferment some––would be interesting to hear how it went.
Best,
Jesse
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When I was in Kiev, Ukraine, the family I stayed with fermented tons of tomatoes from their dacha. They did it with beautiful whole yellow tomatoes. I ate them at every meal. Slightly tangy but not too sour, they were great. Does anyone know how to ferment them whole?