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A person holding a jar of fermented giardiniera.
Fruits & Roots

Fermented Giardiniera: Probiotic Italian Pickled Vegetables

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. 

Prep: 30 minutes
Total: 672 hours 30 minutes
Jump to Recipe Rate Recipe
Recipe Index | Ferment | Fruits & Roots

Fermented Giardiniera: Probiotic Italian Pickled Vegetables

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. 

A person holding a jar of fermented giardiniera.

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-air 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.
  • I used Brussels sprouts, jalapeno peppers, cauliflower, shallots, and carrots for this fermented giardiniera recipe.
A bowl of vegetables for fermented giardiniera including carrots, celery and onions.

Equipment You Need to Make Fermented Giardiniera

A kitchen scale top down showing the dual scale platforms and digital measurement screen

Kitchenaid Dual Platform Scale

Glass fermentation weights product picture

Wide Mouth Fermentation Weights

A blue package of unrefined sea salt with a wave image on it

Unrefined Sea Salt

a yellow, orange, blue and green plastic lid product image

Regular Mouth Rust Proof Mason Jar Lids

Plastic pH Test Strips (pH 0-14)

Plastic pH Test Strips (pH 0-14)

an empty Ball mason jar showing label

32 Oz Mason Jars

A person is putting  giardiniera vegetables in a jar.
A person using a tamper to push vegetables into a jar.
A jar filled with vegetables and water being poured into it.

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.

A person holding a jar of fermented giardiniera.

The Difference Between Pickling and Fermenting

Pickling and fermenting are very different processes that both result in “pickled” vegetables. Shelf-stable pickling is a sterile process for preserving food. This means there are no microorganisms involved. This process utilizes hot acidic liquid and hermetically sealed jars to sterilize and preserve vegetables. 

Fermentation is a living process that relies on acid production by beneficial microorganisms to preserve vegetables. It takes time and requires a specific salt concentration for consistency and safety. To read more about salt and fermentation, click here.

A person placing a fermentation weight in a jar.
A person screwing a plastic lid on a mason jar.

Fermented Giardiniera Conditions

  • 4 weeks of fermentation
  • Approximate 3.5% total salt concentration
  • Room temperature (60-78° F)
  • Final pH around 3.8
  • Store in refrigerator after fermentation for up to 2 years

More Variations to Try

For this recipe, you can use any variation of spring and summer vegetables you want, as long as the total weight of the vegetables combined is about 450 grams. Here are some other fun combinations I love:

  • Cucumber, cauliflower, peppers, onion, carrot (this one is also pictured above)
  • Broccoli, cauliflower, jalapeno, celery (this one smells a little funky at first, but tastes amazing)
  • Celery, bell peppers, serrano, garlic (spicy and delicious!)
Print
A person holding a jar of fermented giardiniera.
Fruits & Roots

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 6 reviews

Fermented Giardiniera: Probiotic Italian Pickled Vegetables

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: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 672 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 150 grams cauliflower
  • 50 grams fresh peppers (any kind)
  • 150 grams Brussels sprouts
  • 30 grams shallots
  • 50 grams carrots
  • 350 grams water
  • 28 grams salt

Instructions

  1. Lightly rinse all your vegetables in cool water and chop them to your desired consistency.
  2. Make sure all of your fermentation equipment has been cleaned well.
  3. Dissolve the sea salt in the water to create a brine.
  4. In a clean mason jar add all of the vegetables. (optional: add in a bay leaf)
  5. Add all of the saltwater brine to the jar.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. After 4 weeks of fermentation, remove the fermentation weight and check to make sure the pH is around 3.8
  9. 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 about 450 grams.
  • fermented vegetables should keep for about 2 years in the fridge

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a 5-star review below if you loved it! Tag @cultured.guru on Instagram

 

Nutrition information is auto-calculated and estimated as close as possible. We are not responsible for any errors. We have tested the recipe for accuracy, but your results may vary.


author avatar
Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist
Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.
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  1. Joe Tate
    07|23|2022

    Glad I found your site

    Reply
  2. Julie Heimburger
    08|21|2022

    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!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      08|22|2022

      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.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous
        09|22|2022

        Turned out delicious! I’ll definitely make more. Plus it was quite easy. Thanks for the recipe!
        Julie

        Reply
      2. Anonymous
        09|22|2022

        Turned out delicious! I’ll definitely make more. Plus it was quite easy.
        Julie

        Reply
  3. Jody
    08|22|2022

    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?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      08|22|2022

      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.

      Reply
  4. Rebecca
    01|20|2023

    I don’t think in grams. That just hurts my head. Any chance to add a converter to this recipe?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      01|20|2023

      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.

      Reply
  5. Marcos F
    05|16|2023

    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!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      05|16|2023

      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

      Reply
  6. MELISSA MARDEN-MANGIN
    06|05|2023

    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.

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      06|07|2023

      I’d start it afterward, so you can burp the jar and ensure everything stays submerged during the first week.

      Reply
  7. Al
    09|04|2023

    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

    Reply
    1. Julia
      09|19|2023

      I had the same issue AL

      Reply
      1. Kaitlynn Fenley
        09|19|2023

        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.

        Reply
  8. Al
    10|01|2023

    This was my second ferment and it turned out perfect. The taste is very good and the final PH is 3.8 or slightly lower. The only hiccup I had was that I had about 100 grams of brine remaining once I had the vegetables and weight in the quart jar. This didn’t seem to impact the final outcome.

    Reply
  9. Faigy Shapiro
    11|09|2023

    Can I use frozen cauliflower?

    Reply
  10. Pia
    10|18|2024

    Hi Kaitlynn! Wish i had stumbled on your site earlier, i searched high and low for the time i should use for fermented bell peppers. No one gave even an approximation just a taste and if you like it you’re done. I was afraid to go too long and have the peppers get mushy. I just moved them into the fridge yesterday, after 10 days. There’s still some crunch, do you recommend longer? Also moved fermented Jalapeno’s after 8 days into the fridge. (both have onions and garlic in)
    Your help is appreciated!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      11|02|2024

      Did you use my recipes to ferment the bell peppers and jalapenos? How much salt you use determines if they go mushy or not.

      Reply
  11. Charlene Patterson
    10|25|2024

    Is this recipe compatible with making 2X, in a half gallon jar?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      11|02|2024

      yes! up-scaling the recipe 2x should work great.

      Reply

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