Fermented carrots, doesn’t that sound like a strange thing?! I thought so when I first saw the idea but tried them and they were great and the kids loved them!

Fermenting is so simple and an easy way to get lots of probiotics into our diet in a delicious way! Many fermented foods take on a rather “pickled” flavor and is just amazing. Sauerkraut is a great example that most people are familiar with. If you have only had store bought sauerkraut you are SERIOUSLY missing out! Both flavor and texture wise but also nutrition wise as well.

Fermenting is part of the process for making lots of things like yogurt, cheese, cider, vinegar, wine and even bread!

Links in this post may be affiliated links where, if you make a purchase after using them I may make a small commission (very small) which helps keep this blog going as well as help our family meet our goals … so thank you very much for using them 😉

I use to be scared of the idea of fermenting food as I was afraid I’d mess it up but once I realized the process of the yeast growing for bread …. IS fermenting! So then I started learning more …. and this is SO not scary! Lol.

First, let’s talk a bit about WHY fermented foods are so great for us.

Most of us don’t put much thought into how we digest our food once it is swallowed but there is a LOT happening to get food digested and nutrients taken out for us to use! Most of this happens in our intestines with the help of bacteria, these are not the “scary” bacteria that make you sick, don’t worry! We are supposed to have a balance of many different bacteria in our gut, unfortunately our diets of processed foods, lots of breads, pastas etc and lack of fresh REAL foods, lead to dying off of some kinds while causing others, namely candida albicans(a yeast) to grow out of control .. digesting only junk(causing us to crave junk). Along with making us crave junk foods(including carb heavy breads, pastas even potatoes and rice fall in here) it also causes things like headaches, joint pain, anxiety, diarrhea or constipation, gas and LOTS more! Do some googling if you’d like to know more 😉. Now it isnt that candida is bad, although it definitely gets that reputation…. it o ly has these effects when there is TOO MUCH by COMPARISON with the “good bacteria “, remember this is a balance thing! So, since fermentation is done by creating an environment for those “good” bacteria to grow, eating lots of fermented foods then reintroduces these probiotics back to your gut bringing back balance and helping you get better use from your food! Bringing back balance can also help get rid of SO many health issues!

You can of course go buy probiotics in a pill form and it will help too although personally I never notice a big difference with the pills. I do feel a big difference when eating fermented foods though!

A few weeks ago our daughter had oral thrush, my momma gut had been telling me to pick up some baby probiotics drops but I hadnt yet 😕 until she woke up with a white mouth one morning. I felt terrible for not listening to my gut. However I had Joe pick up some probiotics as he was already in town and began treating her! Each day for about 10 days I gave her probiotics as well as 1/2 ounce of my Apple cider vinegar and water. After 3 maybe 4 days the thrush was visibly going away without any harsh medicines causing other side effects! Granted this wasn’t done with fermented foods(other than the ACV of course, which was to help kill down some of the candida and find balance faster) … as the baby is too young for foods, but similar concept 😉

Ok ok so how do I make the fermented carrots?

I have used matchstick cut carrots, coined, sliced in the past but this time I had baby carrots in the fridge that no one was eating and I didnt want to go bad, so I used those! If you have young kids the matchstick or coined would be more fun!

I asked my 12 year old daughter to put the baby carrots into 1 pint canning jars.

I then followed along for the hard work (ha) I put about 1tsp of Himalayan salt per jar … typically I use sea salt but I have only bought Himalayan lately so used it instead just fine! IMPORTANT do NOT use iodized table salt, it wont work right!

Next I filled the jars with water to the bottom of the mouth, leave space for bubbling! I put a lid and ring on to shake up the jar then took the lid off and covered with a square of paper towel. You can also use cheese cloth or other fabric as long as the jar can “breath” … air is needed for the probiotics/good bacteria to grow!

Finally, put the jars out of the way and walk away! 🙂

In 1-2days you’ll see bubbles forming along the carrots, it will sort if look like you’d put Sprite in the jar 🤷‍♀️.

After 3-5 days you may notice a slight film to the too if the water, that’s ok, you can take it out later when ready to eat the carrots. At this point you can begin tasting to see how long you want yours fermenting … it’s about taste at this point… we seem to like them best in the 5-7 day range!

Once you find your “happy place” flavor wise, just take the paper towel off and put your lid on and put the jar or jars in the refrigerator! Putting the lid on will stop the fermentation process and the refrigerator will preserve it for several weeks … good luck keeping them long enough to go bad though!

If you would like to learn more and try fermenting here are a couple great books to get you started!

If you try making these be sure to come back and leave a comment and let us know what you thought!

Just to be clear, I’m not a doctor so health related information should be researched yourself or ask your Dr. Health results shared and how are my results and I make no claim that yours would be the same.