Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

By : | 9 Comments | On : November 9, 2015 | Category : Fermentation, Food, Lacto-fermentation, Probiotic, Recipes

Lacto - Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

Lacto-Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

There were 4 varieties of cherry tomatoes in my garden last year. Everyday I’d head out to collect a bowl of them, and by the time I got back to the house, it was closer to half a bowl.

I did not think they could get any tastier than straight from the garden – but I was wrong.

I don’t say this lightly – mainly because I never use this phrase – fermented cherry tomatoes are the bomb!

You don’t have to chop anything and it can be considered a finished ferment within a week, which makes this super quick and simple.

Once it’s done fermenting, you are left with a jar of fizzy bite-sized bursts of fermented flavor in every cherry tomato, infused with garlic and spices.

It was my first attempt at them so I only made a 1/2 pint to test them out. My mistake – now I have to start another batch.

Lacto - Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

You can easily scale this up (or down) to make as many as you want. The important bit is the salt percentage in the brine to create a safe ferment. For tomatoes you need at least a 2% brine, I used 4%~.

To make a 2% brine, use 5 grams salt per cup of water. I used 10 grams per cup of water.

Fermented Cherry Tomato Recipe

This is from my ‘test-sized’ 1/2 pint recipe. Keep the salt:water ratio the same to scale it up for a larger batch.

Add 10 grams coarse sea saltcoarse sea salt (or other non-iodized salt) to 1 cup water. Stir to dissolve completely and set aside.

To a sanitized jar add:

2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
1/4 tsp. celery seedcelery seed
1/4 tsp. whole peppercornspeppercorns
1/2 tsp. pickling spicepickling spice (I used a mixture of mustard seed, coriander, bay leaves, dill seed, fenugreek, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, red pepper, black pepper, and cloves)

Fill jar with cherry tomatoes leaving 1″~ headspace.

Add enough brine to cover tomatoes.

Use a fermentation weightfermentation weights to keep the tomatoes under the brine – I used a drinking glass.

Lacto-fermented cherry tomatoes

Cover with a tea towel or coffee filter held on with an elastic and leave at room temperature for 3 – 5 days.

Cover with a lid and let tomatoes chill in fridge for another 2 days – 6 weeks, whenever you can no longer resist eating them all.
I fermented them 4 days on the counter and a week in the fridge before eating them like bonbons.

Lacto - Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

Next: start a bigger batch and wonder why you only made 1/2 pint jar the first time.

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Comments (9)

  1. posted by alicia szemon on December 3, 2015

    how cool! i would love to try this!

      Reply
  2. posted by Lynette Barton on June 26, 2017

    Have made this twice now. Super tasty! A firm favourite. ??

      Reply
    • posted by YogurtHydro on June 26, 2017

      I’m glad you enjoy them! And, I agree, they are one of my favorites as well!

        Reply
  3. posted by Billy on July 11, 2017

    I think this is going to have to be one of the tricky ways I get the kids to eat vegetables! They love pickles but that’s about it. I need to start pickling / fermenting more things to get that tangy sourness to more veggies. Thank you for sharing this! I’ll report back once I’ve given it a shot.

      Reply
  4. posted by Tami Baker on April 7, 2018

    I read that you must pierce each tomato several times so the ferment can reach the insides. Otherwise the inside of the tomato is unaffected.

      Reply
    • posted by YogurtHydro on June 17, 2018

      Many people do pierce the tomatoes, I never have and find they still ferment right through.

        Reply
  5. posted by Diana Howe on August 8, 2021

    I want to make this but am unsure of the pickling spice mentioned! How much of each of the different spices combined to make the pickling spice? I don’t want to mess up.

      Reply
    • posted by seoforfun2014 on August 9, 2021

      I use Club House pickling spice, it has all the spices listed and is the best store bought mix I’ve found

        Reply

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