Apple, Ginger, Lemon & Fennel Cultured Salad (vegan, paleo, keto)

Who loves fennel?! I do (obviously) and so does my husband and a handful of other folks I’ve met but for the most part when I explain that the key vegetable that goes into one of my favorite salads is a licorice tasting bulb I sometimes get funny looks. One must taste to believe. This is a very light & summery fennel recipe and complements both fresh and roasted dishes.

Ingredients:

3 fennel bulbs (with stalks) rinsed, bulbs quartered and cut into chunks, stalks chopped in 1/2’ – 1″ sections or sliced in a food processor
2 apples, diced or finely sliced
1-2″ piece of pureed or shredded ginger, according to taste
1/4 cup fermented onion brine from a previous batch (optional)
1 lemon, sliced
3% salt (I ended up using 3 3/4 Tbsp kosher salt)
avocado oil for the top
Fermenting weightor small jar, sanitized
68oz mason or big pickle jar

Method:

Wash all vegetables and sanitize jar, fermenting weight and lid in the oven at 175 degrees for 5 minutes.
Wash hands and prepare vegetables. With this type of ferment I like to toss them together in a large bowl before I stuff them into the jar. Weigh the empty jar if you are adding salt by percentage. Note the weight. Add non-chlorinated water or fermenting liquid if needed.
Calculate salt percentage by weight and add to the jar.
Cover with avocado oil to keep the bacteria out.
Set in the fermenting weight, close the lid and leave to ferment for 2 weeks or longer.

I very much enjoy these slightly odd tasting vegetables, especially after fermentation. Culturing always bends the flavors a bit and brings out a unique bite that is wondrously void of bitterness. Not that fennel is really bitter but I find that it comes out almost smoother in flavor. The finished cultured liquid is fantastic in place of vinegar in dressings as well. I hope you enjoy this one!

Apple, Ginger, Lemon & Fennel Cultured Salad

3 fennel bulbs (with stalks rinsed, bulbs quartered and cut into chunks, stalks chopped in 1/2€² €“ 1€³ sections or sliced in a food processor)
2 apples (diced or finely sliced)
1-2" piece pureed or shredded ginger (according to taste)
1/4 cup fermented onion brine from a previous batch (optional)
1 lemon (sliced)
3 % salt brine (I ended up using 3 3/4 Tbsp kosher salt)
avocado oil for the top

Wash all vegetables and sanitize jar, fermenting weight and lid in the oven at 175 degrees for 5 minutes.
Wash hands and prepare vegetables. With this type of ferment I like to toss them together in a large bowl before I stuff them into the jar. Weigh the empty jar if you are adding salt by percentage. Note the weight. Add non-chlorinated water or fermenting liquid if needed.
Calculate salt percentage by weight and add to the jar.
Cover with ï»¿avocado oil to keep the bacteria out.
Set in the fermenting weight, close the lid and leave to ferment for 2 weeks or longer.