Homemade Fermented Pickles: 300 Recipes

Author: Zhou Fanlin, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Pickled vegetables, salted vegetables, fermented vegetables, (fermented), and braised vegetables are indispensable foods in daily life. They are not only easy to make, with abundant ingredients, cost-effective, time-saving, and convenient to store, but also crisp, fresh, fragrant, diverse in variety, refreshing, nutritious, and appetizing. Therefore, they are deeply loved by people. Pickled vegetables are made from various fresh vegetables soaked in a brine solution containing a variety of seasonings and spices, fermented through fermentation. The fermentation of vegetables in the brine primarily occurs under the action of lactic acid bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria ferment the sugar in the raw materials to produce lactic acid, which inhibits the activity of harmful microorganisms, thereby preserving the pickled vegetables, and gives them a sour taste, crispness, coolness, clear texture, rich aroma, and a sweet and sour, slightly spicy flavor, making them easy to store. Salted vegetables are made by pickling fresh vegetables with refined salt or brine. Through processing, salt penetrates into the vegetables, creating a high osmotic pressure environment, which removes some moisture and inhibits the reproduction of microorganisms, achieving the purpose of preservation and storage. Salted vegetables are a universally popular side dish, enjoyed by people of all ages and genders. They are characterized by easy preparation, low cost, crispness, delicious taste, and a long shelf life. Fermented vegetables are made by pickling fresh vegetables with salt to create salted vegetable blocks, then using pressing or soaking in clean water to remove excess salt from the blocks, reducing their salt content. The blocks are then fermented with different types of paste (such as yellow paste, sweet bean paste) or soy sauce, allowing the sugar, amino acids, and aromatic compounds in the paste to permeate the blocks, resulting in delicious, nutritious, appetite-stimulating, and easily preserved fermented vegetables. Fermented products are foods made by (fermented) or braising with wine or (fermented), refined salt, and seasonings. With the continuous improvement of people's lives and gradual changes in family structures, dietary structures are also evolving. Due to the delicious taste, rich (fermented) aroma, appetite-stimulating properties, and nutritional hygiene of (fermented) and braised foods, they have quietly replaced other prepared foods in recent years, becoming delicacies on the tables of hotels, restaurants, and households. The Chinese-style Fermented Sauce Vegetable Series includes four books: "300 Homemade Flavorful Pickled Vegetables," "300 Homemade Flavorful Salted Vegetables," "300 Homemade Flavorful Fermented Sauce Vegetables," and "300 Homemade Flavorful Fermented Braised Vegetables." The content is comprehensive, the recipes are simple, and the series is highly practical. The readership of this series is very broad, suitable not only for families in urban and rural areas and staff in small and large restaurants but also for cooking enthusiasts and students of various culinary programs. Additionally, vegetable farmers can use the methods in this series to make flavorful fermented sauce vegetables, which are sure to sell well in the market during off-seasons when vegetables are scarce. The ingredients and various seasonings introduced in this series are not fixed and can be chosen based on personal preferences, adjusted as needed. The quantity of ingredients should be determined according to actual needs and the capacity of available containers to avoid waste. This series is edited by Zhou Fanlin, with contributions from Zhou Hao, Tong Qin, Zhou Debinyin, Tang Ximei, Tang Lihua, and Tang Liqin, among others. During the compilation of this series, reference was made to numerous literature sources, which, due to space limitations, could not be listed individually. The authors express their sincere gratitude!