Springy Carrot Krautchi

Give your carrots a scrub. Coarsely grate. Add to a large bowl.

Finely grate the ginger. Chop the chilies. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Muddle everything together to make a rough paste. Add it to the grated carrots.

Gather a handful fo garden herbs like chives, thyme, oregano, rosemary, lemon balm or even wild garlic. Roughly chop the herbs and add it to the mix, then weigh up the entire mix.

You want to add 2% salt per weight so if it’s 500g you’ll need 10g salt. You can round the number down or up, as needed - i.e. if it’s 525g stick with 10g salt until it hits 550g, then you’ll go up to 11g salt, etc - it’s good to know the ratios so you can scale the recipe up or down. With the spice paste, you can reduce it down or up as well - it’s there for flavour so if you want it feisty, add more, more tame, add less.

Once you’ve got everything in the bowl, give it a good mix through. Pack tightly into a clean, dry jar - it doesn’t need to be sterilised. You’ll want a jar that holds the same weight as you veg - or several smaller ones that you can fill right to the top or as near to the brim as possible.

Once the veg is packed in, use a few leaves like lemon balm, wild garlic or bay leaves to cap the top. Add a pinch and a drop of water to come right to the top. Seal the jar. Leave at room temperature to ferment for at least 5 days, or up to 1 month. The longer you leave it, the more ferment-y and funky it will taste. Eat when you’re happy with the flavour or store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. It will keep for months.