Giardiniera is a mix of pickled vegetables in vinegar or oil in Italy, but here we used wild fermentation to create a delicious fermented Giardiniera recipe. In Italian, it is pronounced jar-din-AIR-ah, meaning “from the garden.”
Choosing the Right Vegetables for Giardiniera Fermentation
- Pickled Italian Giardiniera usually includes bell peppers, celery, carrots, cauliflower and gherkins (tiny pickles).
- Good options for sourcing quality vegetables for fermentation are your local farmers market, Whole Foods Market, sprouts market, and open-aired produce stands. Many grocery stores have a fresh produce section, the key here is to use fresh vegetables not packaged in plastic.
- Make sure the vegetables are crisp, hydrated, and fresh. They should be free of any mold spots.
- For this recipe I used yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, jalapeno, shallots and carrots.
Equipment You Need to Make Fermented Giardiniera
Here’s all the supplies and equipment you will need to make this recipe:
- 32 ounce Wide Mouth Mason Jar
- Fermentation Weight
- Standard Metal Mason Jar Lid (this can rust in the presence of salt)
- OR Rust Free Plastic Lid
- or you can use a Weck Jar (without the gasket; only use the clips to secure the lid)
- Sea Salt
- Scale
- Mixing Bowl
How Do You Eat Italian Giardiniera?
Traditionally in Italy, Giardiniera is served with antipasto, a first-course appetizer consisting of pickled vegetables, brined olives, artichokes, and cured meats. Giardiniera is also very popular in Chicago, where it is used more as a condiment.
Giardiniera is terrific on sandwiches, on pizza, in omelets, in frittatas, on veggie burgers, and in salads. You can even use it to top sourdough focaccia. I highly suggest mixing it with pasta, brined olives, red wine vinegar, and olive oil for a delicious pasta salad.
The Difference Between Pickling and Fermenting
Pickling and fermenting are very different processes. Pickling is a sterile process for preserving food. This means there are no microorganisms involved in the pickling process. This process utilizes hot acidic liquid to sterilize and preserve vegetables.
Fermentation is a living process relying on acid production by beneficial microorganisms. Fermentation takes time and requires a specific salt concentration for consistency and safety. To read more about salt and fermentation, click here.
Fermented Giardiniera Conditions
- 4 weeks of fermentation
- Approximate 3.0% total salt concentration
- Room temperature (60-78° F)
- Final pH around 3.8
- Store in refrigerator after fermentation for up to 2 years
More Fermentation Recipes to Try
- How to Make the Healthiest Naturally Fermented Garlic
- Simple Wild Fermented Shallots Recipe
- How to Ferment Sauerkraut with Orange, Sesame, and Ginger
Fermented Giardiniera with Cauliflower, Shallots and Peppers
Giardiniera is a mix of pickled vegetables in vinegar or oil in Italy, but here we used wild fermentation to create a delicious fermented Giardiniera recipe. In Italian, it is pronounced jar-din-AIR-ah, meaning “from the garden.”
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Fermentation Time: 4 weeks
- Total Time: 672 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings
- Category: Fermented Vegetables
- Method: Fermentation
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 120 grams cauliflower
- 100 grams cucumber
- 100 grams bell pepper
- 50 grams jalapeño
- 30 grams shallots
- 50 grams carrots
- 500 grams water
- 28 grams salt
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Lightly rinse all your vegetables in cool water and chop them to your desired consistency. I sliced the bell peppers in thin strips, broke apart the cauliflower, sliced the jalapeno in half, and sliced the cucumber, carrots, and shallots.
- Make sure all of your fermentation equipment has been cleaned and sanitized well.
- Dissolve the sea salt in the water to create a brine.
- In a clean mason jar add all of the vegetables and the bay leaves.
- Add all of the saltwater brine to the jar.
- Place a fermentation weight in the jar to keep all of the vegetables submerged. Place the mason jar lid on the jar and secure it in place.
- Ferment for 4 weeks at room temperature. About 2 to 3 days into fermentation, you will notice a lot of bubbles. Set the jar in a glass dish to prevent messes. Every 24 hours loosen the lid to burp the jar and let the gas out. This particular fermentation can get very bubbly. You can rinse the lid daily before replacing it to keep it clean.
- After 4 weeks of fermentation, remove the fermentation weight and check to make sure the pH is around 3.8
- Then move to refrigerated storage.
Notes
- this recipe is sized to fit a 1-quart mason jar
- You can use any ratios of vegetables you want, as long as the total weight of vegetables combined is 450 grams.
- fermented vegetables should keep for about 2 years in the fridge
Keywords: Italian, fermented, vegetables, Giardiniera
17 comments
Glad I found your site
I just made this! Do I need to check the pH after a month? If so, what kind of tester do you recommend? I’ve seen expensive digital ones and test strips.
Thanks for the recipe. Excited to try it in month!
★★★★★
You don’t need to, but you can if you are concerned about it. A lot of people can tell by smell, look and taste that it’s good. But a lot of people are also new to fermenting and testing the pH can ease any worries. pH strips work great, just make sure you get some that read on the acidic side of the pH scale, 0-7.
Turned out delicious! I’ll definitely make more. Plus it was quite easy. Thanks for the recipe!
Julie
★★★★★
Turned out delicious! I’ll definitely make more. Plus it was quite easy.
Julie
★★★★★
Just finished the fermentation process, Ph was perfect, veggies are fermented yet still nice and crisp.
I know it’s made with salt, but the the veggies are super salty, is that just the way it is or do I need to soak and rinse them before eating?
★★★★★
Have you ever fermented vegetables before trying this recipe? Some people mistake the taste of lactic acid combined with salt to be super salty, but it’s actually salt combined with lactic acid and other umami flavors. It shouldn’t be any saltier than brined olives, for instance. If you find it too salty, you can pour off half the brine, and replace it with apple cider vinegar. This will change the flavor a bit, but it’s still good.
I don’t think in grams. That just hurts my head. Any chance to add a converter to this recipe?
You don’t have to think; you just need a kitchen scale 🙂 All of my fermentation recipes are written in grams and converting them to volumetric measure will yield inconsistent results.
Hi!
I’m trying to wrap my head around the salt percentage for this recipe. Are you doing salt % by the weight of the vegetable or a pure water brine percentage? 28 grams of salt in 500 grams of water would make the brine ~5.6%. 28 grams of salt for the 450 grams of vegetable would be ~6.2%. Trying to figure out how the salt bring is calculated here. Thanks!
I do not use salinity for any of my recipes. It’s a total salt concentration… since vegetables also contribute water to the mixture, the salt is a % of the total weight of water and vegetables. so the total salt concentration is right around 3%. You can read more about how to use salt in fermentation here: https://cultured.guru/blog/the-perfect-lacto-fermentation-salt-ratio-for-fermenting-vegetables
I would like to start this recipe but will be leaving for a week – should I wait to begin? What would the consequences be? Thank you.
I’d start it afterward, so you can burp the jar and ensure everything stays submerged during the first week.
★★★★★
Hello, I assembled everything exactly as instructed however I was only able to get 400 grams of brine into the jar. With all of the vegetables and weight the jar is filled to the top. What are my options at this point? Thank you
I had the same issue AL
how much water + the weight fits in the jar depends on how you chop your vegetables. If you have bigger chunkier vegetable pieces, less will fit. Just fit what you can. The salt concentration can vary a bit and still be great.