Fermented Swiss Chard, Green Onions, & Garlic

5/5/2019 – We made this with swiss chard and green bunching onions from our garden. We used the white lower parts of the larger onions and only the inner small tender leaves. The red stems of the chard were included.

Rightmost jar on Day 1

The white part of the onions was cut into 3/4″ long pieces and the greens closer to 1/2″. As this time we are using only small leaves and cut shorter so hopefully, they do not turn out so chewy.

  • Swiss Chard – enough to make layers in the one-quart jar
  • Onion – Chopped up about 1 quart lose.
  • Garlic – 4 cloves smashed lightly and cut into large pieces.
  • Salt – The chard + onions weighted 276 gms. So, for a 6% brine, we added 16.6 gm pickling salt.
  1. Packed the chard, onions, and garlic in layers in the jar and weighed it to get the weight of the contents; i.e. 276 gm.
  2. Calculated the salt needed for a 6% brine.
  3. Filled the packed jar with water then poured off the water into a bowl and mixed in the salt.
  4. Poured the brine into the jar with the chard+onion+garlic.
  5. Put in a glass weight, capped it with a fermentation lid and into the small dark pantry.

6/1/2019 – We have eaten both jars and found it interesting in that the chard was NOT mushy. The flavor of the veggies was noticeable over the ferment but not a lot. The 6% salt made the veggies firm but they were not salty. This could be worth trying again and maybe with some more spices and heat.