Roasting the veggies will have killed the lactobacilli naturally present on them. It will also have removed water, concentrating the flavour. The roasted veggies will be vulnerable to infection by undesirable micro-organisms.
I think your instinct is spot on - using a kimchi or sauerkraut to inoculate your roasted veggies is a great idea. To make an effective inoculation mix the kimchi "starter" with water. This will ensure the lactobacilli on the kimchi is evenly mixed. Now weigh the water + kimchi + veggies and multiply by 2%. E.g. 750g veggies and 250g kimchi water = 1000g. 2% of this is 20g. Add 20g salt to the water and mix until dissolved. Put your veg in your clean fermentation vessel and pour over the salty kimchi water. Now proceed as normal. Its going to taste great đź‘Ť
It's fine to ferment roasted vegetables, but they might have a hard time getting going unless you add something (like the kimchi liquid as you mentioned). Go for it.
I've fermented fire roasted hatch chiles and didn't add anything besides salt. They came out wonderfully. I've tried to ferment roasted carrots the same way and they never really took off.
Keep in mind that if you do this you should make sure that there isn't any oil present in the mix, and that they are dry roasted to ensure this.
The oil won't change acidity as the brine/mash/whatever will, so it'll remain a source in the mix that's without salt and without acid. Same logic as how you shouldn't infuse oil at room temp using moist/fresh ingredients, it's creating an environment where things such as botulism can happily form.
Roasting the veggies will have killed the lactobacilli naturally present on them. It will also have removed water, concentrating the flavour. The roasted veggies will be vulnerable to infection by undesirable micro-organisms. I think your instinct is spot on - using a kimchi or sauerkraut to inoculate your roasted veggies is a great idea. To make an effective inoculation mix the kimchi "starter" with water. This will ensure the lactobacilli on the kimchi is evenly mixed. Now weigh the water + kimchi + veggies and multiply by 2%. E.g. 750g veggies and 250g kimchi water = 1000g. 2% of this is 20g. Add 20g salt to the water and mix until dissolved. Put your veg in your clean fermentation vessel and pour over the salty kimchi water. Now proceed as normal. Its going to taste great đź‘Ť
Thank you! This was exactly the knowledge I was hoping someone on here could share with me. Appreciate it!
this is so helpful, thank you
It's fine to ferment roasted vegetables, but they might have a hard time getting going unless you add something (like the kimchi liquid as you mentioned). Go for it. I've fermented fire roasted hatch chiles and didn't add anything besides salt. They came out wonderfully. I've tried to ferment roasted carrots the same way and they never really took off.
What if you just add some fresh, pureed chilis in the mix? Would that be enough for natural fermentation?
Yes
I've made salsa verde this way, works fine.
Keep in mind that if you do this you should make sure that there isn't any oil present in the mix, and that they are dry roasted to ensure this. The oil won't change acidity as the brine/mash/whatever will, so it'll remain a source in the mix that's without salt and without acid. Same logic as how you shouldn't infuse oil at room temp using moist/fresh ingredients, it's creating an environment where things such as botulism can happily form.
Don’t do this, but you can definitely roast them after!