Lacto Fermented Corn
How to make lacto fermented corn with some spice! Easy step by step process below.
Note: Everything needs to be exceptionally clean when making ferments. Your hands, the food, cutting board, knives etc. You do not want to introduce any unwanted bacteria or cross contamination.
Ingredients:
2 whole white corn on the cob
2 serrano peppers
1 cinnamon stick
12 peppercorns, medley type
Filtered or bottled water, about 2 qts. See procedure below
1 -2 drops fresh squeezed lemon juice
Fine sea salt, done by weight. See procedure below
Other things you will need:
Digital scale that reads in grams
2 clean, quart size mason jars with lids
Sharp chef’s knife
A weight for placing in jar to weigh the ingredients down. I found that a baby food jar works perfectly!
Procedure:
The fermentation process will take from 5 days to 2 weeks. The most important variable is the temperature that the fermentation is placed in. Fermented foods are happiest at temperatures ranging form 75-80 degrees fahrenheit. Colder will result in a ferment taking longer if it ferments at all. Foods with more natural sugars tend to ferment easier than foods that don’t. For example: corn, peppers, carrots, beets. The hotter the environment, the quicker it will ferment. Sometimes if it is too hot, it will spoil and/or mold before it has a chance to ferment. Look for the fermentation “bubbles” which are good signs everything is going as desired. Check on it everyday to make sure all ingredients stay under the water level. You can even taste after day 3 or 4. For the most part, the fermentation process will need 5 days to 2 weeks like I explained above. Fermentation works in an anaerobic environment, meaning no oxygen. Oxygen=mold. I put my fermentation projects in my pantry where is is the most consistent no matter the time of year. My temperatures in the area I live in are hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I have fermented fruits and vegetables in all months of the year with great results every time. Have fun and experiment! Tomatoes, asparagus, cabbage, carrots, garlic, green beans and pearl onions all ferment really well!
Shown above is day 1 of the fermentation process for the white corn.
Cut kernels off corn cob with a very sharp knife. I save the cobs and make a fantastic corn stock with them once I have enough!
Slice in half 2 serrano peppers, seeds and membrane removed. The peppers are optional, omit if you don’t want your corn spicy!
Place your clean mason jar on the scale and zero it out. Make sure it is set to grams.
Add corn kernels and serrano peppers to your mason jar.
Add cinnamon stick and peppercorns. These flavors all together are spectacular. I love cinnamon and spicy foods together. If you don’t like spicy, omit the peppers. Fermenting really amplifies all flavors, so go lighter on some spices if you don’t want it to be too flavorful. Combined with the natural sweetness of the corn and the fermentation process, you have a full flavor bomb!
Add enough filtered or bottled water to your jar. Add a drop or 2 of lemon juice, this helps get rid of any chloramine that may be present in the filtered water. You want the water level to be at least 1-2 inches above the ingredients. A weight will be necessary to keep the corn and other ingredients submerged. You want everything under the water level. This is called and anaerobic environment. If any pieces of corn or pepper is allowed to be exposed to air, mold will form and you will have to toss your fermentation! Leave some headroom at the mouth of the jar too as this will allow for expansion when the fermentation bubbles start.
Pour water out into another empty, clean jar. I use a mason jar lid to keep ingredients from pouring out into the other jar.
The corn, peppers, spices and water all weighed together equals 857 g. This is going to be multiplied by 2.5%. That equals 21.425 g of fine sea salt you will need. I round down as my scale doesn’t read decimal points. No worries, that really only equated to a loss of .05 percent. That is still much more accurate and consistent than measuring everything in cups or milligrams and tables spoons! Plus, it will still be more than strong enough to get a perfectly safe fermentation and it will not be too salty.
Place your jar that now has the water only in it on the scale. Zero out your scale and add the calculated amount of salt. Remember, it is the corn, spices, peppers and the water weighed together. 2.5% salt is the perfect range for my taste. You can do a 3%, but it could end up too salty. My calculation came out to 21 g of fine sea salt.
Cap tightly and shake vigorously to dissolve the salt in the water.
Pour the salty water solution back into the jar that has the corn, peppers and spices. I fill this up to the neck of the jar. Below is show me placing a baby food jar into the mason jar to weigh down all of the ingredients. The water level will rise to just under an inch below the mouth opening of the jar.
I am using a baby food jar to weigh out the ingredients. I’m checking to see if any air bubbles got trapped on the underside of the jar since it has a convex. You do NOT want any air being trapped. Air=mold!! You can also use a ramekin or a bag filled with water. Stay away from anything metallic.
Place your fermentation on a plate or anything else to help catch any spillage as the fermentation process begins. After about day 3 you will see some small bubbles developing. Sort of like lazy carbonation happening in a soda. These bubbles are tiny and sometimes hard to see. Look for kahm yeast starting to develop after day 3, maybe as far as day 5. This is a while film that forms on the surface of the water. This is perfectly normal and a good indication that your fermentation is working the way it needs to be. Mold will be fuzzy white or colored and will result in needing to start over. I let this go for around 7 days. I tasted it at day 4 and decided it wasn’t ready yet as is didn’t have a fermented taste to it quit yet. You can go longer, up to 2 weeks. It just depends on how strong you want it and how warm/cold the environment your fermentation was placed in.
