Preserve Summer’s Bounty with Traditional Fermentation

There’s something almost magical about fermentation. With just fresh vegetables, salt, water, and a little time, we can preserve the bounty of the season while transforming ordinary ingredients into wonderfully tangy foods filled with beneficial bacteria.

And that’s one of the things I love most about traditional fermentation—it accomplishes two things at once. Our ancestors used it as a practical way to preserve food long before refrigeration, but today we also appreciate fermented foods for the probiotics they can provide. Those “good bugs” help support a healthy gut microbiome, making fermented vegetables a delicious little addition to our meals.

Best of all, fermentation is one of those traditional food skills that doesn’t require complicated equipment or hours of hands-on work. Once you’ve tucked everything into the jar, nature does most of the work for you!

In this blog post, I share three of my favorite warm-weather ferments that are perfect for taking advantage of all those beautiful tomatoes and peppers that are so plentiful this time of year.

Fermented Cherry Tomatoes with Basil

If your garden—or your farmers’ market basket—is overflowing with cherry tomatoes, this recipe is such a lovely way to preserve them.

These Fermented Cherry Tomatoes with Basil are made with only tomatoes, fresh basil, salt, and water. After just a few days at room temperature, you’ll begin to see those telltale little bubbles letting you know fermentation is underway. Then the tomatoes continue their slow fermentation in the refrigerator, developing that wonderful tangy flavor along the way.

I especially love these little tomatoes because they are so versatile. You can serve them as a side dish, add them to a salad, tuck them onto a charcuterie board, or simply enjoy one straight from the jar. (Or for a tasty twist, smash the fermented cherry tomatoes and add them to your next BLT sandwich!)

Turn Fresh Tomatoes Into Fermented Salsa

Now, if you have larger tomatoes waiting to be used, let’s turn some of them into Fermented Salsa!

Next to ketchup, salsa is one of the most popular condiments in our refrigerators, but when we make it ourselves and allow it to naturally ferment, we get all that familiar flavor along with the added benefit of probiotics.

And this is such an easy ferment for beginners. Tomatoes, onion, parsley, jalapeño, lime, and sea salt come together in one jar, and in warm weather you may begin seeing active fermentation in only a couple of days.

Once it reaches the flavor you like, move it to the refrigerator and enjoy it with eggs, tacos, beans, or grilled meats, or if you’re like me, just about anything that could use a spoonful of something fresh and flavorful!

Make Your Own Fermented Hot Sauce

For those of you who like a little—or a lot!—of heat, you’ll definitely want to try my Fermented Hot Sauce.

In this recipe, I show you how to ferment both Fresno and jalapeño peppers, but you can certainly experiment with other peppers too. Once the peppers have fermented to your liking, they’re simply blended with some of their flavorful brine—which includes a secret ingredient you’ll never suspect—to create a homemade hot sauce.

This recipe is another wonderful example of how traditional fermentation can turn a handful of seasonal ingredients into a condiment that will brighten meals for weeks to come.

And homemade fermented condiments are such a nice way to add small servings of fermented foods to our daily meals. You don’t have to sit down to an enormous bowl of sauerkraut! A spoonful of fermented salsa, a few fermented vegetables, or a splash of fermented hot sauce can be an easy way to bring these traditional foods to the table.

My Mom’s Giardiniera

Whenever I talk about fermenting vegetables, I can’t help but think of my sweet mom, Gloria.

When I was a young girl, she taught me how to make giardiniera, that wonderful Italian mixture of crunchy vegetables tucked into a jar and allowed to naturally ferment. And what I remember most is that there was no vinegar involved.

My mom understood something that I wouldn’t fully appreciate until I was older: vegetables could be preserved simply with salt, water, and time. The natural fermentation process would transform them, creating that unmistakable tangy flavor while preserving the vegetables and cultivating all those wonderful beneficial bacteria.

My Dad Wasn’t So Sure

Of course, my dad was not nearly as confident about the whole thing!

I can still picture those jars sitting on the kitchen counter and my father eyeing them suspiciously.

“Gloria…are you sure that’s not going bad?”

My mother, completely unfazed, knew exactly what she was doing.

And we would laugh because no matter how many times she explained fermentation to him, I think somewhere in the back of his mind he was convinced that vegetables sitting on the counter simply had to be spoiling!

But eventually, my sweet mom did what good cooks have done for generations when words fail.

She handed him a taste. That was all it took.

My father became a convert.

He especially loved her giardiniera served alongside summer meals. It was delicious tucked into sandwiches and just as welcome on the table in place of ordinary pickles at one of our family barbecues.

Those barbecues bring back another whole collection of memories because my dad would be outside grilling hamburgers and hot dogs on the brick barbecue grill he had built himself—right alongside the patio he had built himself too!

The Old-Fashioned Wisdom of Fermentation

But that, sweet friend, really is a story for another day. 😊 What stays with me now is the simplicity of what my mother was teaching me.

She wasn’t talking about microbiomes or probiotics. She was passing along something much older—a way of preserving food that generations of home cooks had simply known how to do.

Vegetables came into the kitchen during their season of abundance. You ate some fresh. You cooked some. And you preserved some.

Nothing complicated. Nothing wasted.

And in the process, those humble vegetables became something altogether new—tangy, delicious, long-lasting, and wonderfully alive.

Passing on the Tradition

Today, every time I make fermented giardiniera, I think of my mom…and I smile, thinking about my dad standing nearby, wondering if those jars on the counter could possibly be safe to eat.

Thankfully, as the saying goes…mother knew best. ❤️

So as a little bonus, I’m sharing my Fermented Giardiniera recipe with you too. I hope you’ll tuck a jar away in your refrigerator and enjoy it with sandwiches, salads, grilled foods, or anywhere you might normally serve a pickle.

And perhaps years from now, someone in your family will remember watching you fill a jar with vegetables and brine—and they’ll carry this wonderful old-fashioned tradition into the next generation.😊

Masontops Mason Jar Fermentation Kit Discount Coupon

Although you don’t need any special equipment to start making ferments, the Masontops kit can help you simplify the process and enable you to create your ferment successfully. In my Masontops unboxing video, I show you my Masontops Complete Mason Jar Fermentation Kit and go over everything the kit includes.

• Use promo code MARYSNST for a one-time 15% off Masontops and Breadsmart products on Amazon.com. (This is not a sponsored post. Masontops provided me with a special discount code for my viewers. I like their products, and I think you will too.)

Redmond Real Salt

When it comes to using salt in my recipes, I always like to use a real salt that has not been processed and does not contain any extra added chemicals or anti-caking agents. Redmond real salt is perfect!

Start Your Traditional Foods Journey

Sharing my passion for traditional cooking goes beyond my YouTube cooking school—it also comes to life in the pages of my cookbooks. Both of my books, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook and The Modern Pioneer Pantry, are proudly published by Penguin Random House.

The first is filled with time-honored recipes to help you create a traditional foods kitchen, while the second is your complete guide to home food preservation. Order both books today to start or continue your traditional foods journey.

Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List

For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!

Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy

Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? If so, I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.

Kitchen Academy Videos

See all →

Baking Questions Answered with Ted and Mary!

Join me and my husband Ted for a Q&A filled with practical kitchen tips, helpful techniques, and answers to your baking questions.

Baking with Whole Grains: The Maslin Method, Grain Mills, and America’s Bread Basket

Explore whole grain baking with The Maslin Method, fresh-milled flour, grain mills, heritage wheats, and more.

A Sweet Season of Celebration and New Beginnings with The Maslin Method Baking School Series

Celebrate the close of a heartfelt book tour and the exciting launch of The Maslin Method Baking School for traditional baking.

Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest

1. Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
2. Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
3. Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
4. Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook - Get a hardcover book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
5. Order The Modern Pioneer Pantry - Get Mary's latest hardcover cookbook about preserving food and making delicious meals from your Four Corners Pantry. Mary's second cookbook is also published by Penguin Random House.

I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!

---

Shop for My Favorite Items

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
• Spice Grinder
• Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
• Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
• Vacuum Lids
• Whisk
• Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
• Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
• Flour Sack Towels
• pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)

Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide

• Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
• Get a 30-day Audible trial with a free audiobook
• Visit my Shopping Guide page
  Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Backwoods Home, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, and More!

Recommended Reading

• The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
• The Modern Pioneer Pantry
• Nourishing Traditions