Kvasheni Pomidory (квашені помідори, fermented tomatoes)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A clean 2-litre glass fermentation jar
• •A fermentation weight or small clean jar for weighing down
• •A digital scale
• •A skewer or small knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the jar

   Wash a 2-litre jar, lid, and fermentation weight in hot soapy water, then rinse well. You don't need hospital theatre drama, just clean hands, clean glass, and no old jam hiding under the rim.

2. 2

   Mix the brine

   Weigh the water, weigh the salt. Stir 50g salt into 1 litre water until clear. This is a five-percent brine, and it is the part that does not forgive guessing.

   If you need more brine, keep the same measure: 50g salt for every 1 litre water. The salt percentage is the safety, so here the scale gets the final word.
3. 3

   Prick the tomatoes

   Rinse the tomatoes and prick each one once near the stem with a clean skewer or knife tip. Don't stab them all over. One small opening lets the brine enter without turning the jar into tomato soup.

4. 4

   Pack the aromatics

   Put half the dill, garlic, leaves, peppercorns, hot pepper, and bay leaf in the bottom of the jar. Pack the tomatoes in snugly, not crushed, then tuck the rest of the dill and leaves around them. The tannin leaves help the skins stay firm under your teeth.

5. 5

   Cover with brine

   Pour in enough brine to cover the tomatoes completely, leaving a little headspace at the top. Add a fermentation weight, a small clean jar, or a boiled stone in a food-safe bag so nothing floats above the liquid. Set the jar on a plate because it will leak when it gets lively.

   Above the brine is where trouble starts. Under the brine, the tomatoes are protected by salt, acid, and time.
6. 6

   Ferment and listen

   Close the jar loosely, or use an airlock lid, and leave it out of direct sun at cool room temperature. Open it briefly each day if the lid is tight, just to release pressure. The brine will cloud, bubbles will cling to the tomato skins, and the smell will turn from fresh garden to sharp, garlicky pickle.

7. 7

   Taste and chill

   Start tasting after one week with a clean spoon or fork. At two weeks they are bright and lightly sour; at three they are deeper, fizzier, and the flesh relaxes inside the skin. When the taste makes you reach for another, move the jar to the fridge to slow the ferment.

8. 8

   Serve from cold

   Serve the tomatoes cold, whole or torn open into a bowl with a little of their cloudy brine. They belong beside potatoes, buckwheat, roast meat, eggs, or a thick slice of dark bread. Save the brine too; a spoonful wakes up borshch better than vinegar ever will.

Chef Tips

• •Choose small, firm tomatoes with no splits or bruises. Overripe tomatoes ferment softer and faster, still useful for brine and borshch souring, but less lovely to eat whole.
• •Use dill heads if you can find them. Mature dill stalks and flowers have the old summer-kitchen smell; soft supermarket fronds work, but they whisper.
• •A thin white film can appear on top if air gets in. Skim it and make sure everything is submerged. If you see fuzzy mold, smell rot, or the texture turns slimy, throw that batch away and begin again.
• •The hot pepper is optional. In the south some jars get one, some don't. That's not a moral question, it's what was growing by the door.
• •Once chilled, the tomatoes keep for several months as long as you use clean utensils and keep them covered with brine.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomatoes ferment at room temperature for 2 to 3 weeks, depending on warmth and your taste.
• •Put the jar on a plate from day one. The loud shelf earns its name when the brine begins to push out.
• •Make them in late summer when tomatoes are firm, ripe, and cheap. Make a big jar; there is no tradition of a small one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 285g)