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Fruits & Roots

How to Make Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe makes the most flavorful, healthy fermented cherry tomatoes. In just 24 hours, you’ll have absolutely delicious probiotic pickled cherry tomatoes!

Prep: 15 minutes
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Ferment | Fruits & Roots

How to Make Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe makes the most flavorful, healthy fermented cherry tomatoes. In just 24 hours, you’ll have absolutely delicious probiotic pickled cherry tomatoes!

Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

Making fermented cherry tomatoes requires a wild heirloom culturing process, which differs from wild fermentation. Sometimes, vine-growing vegetables, like cherry tomatoes, contain higher amounts of fermentable sugars. They are called cherry tomatoes because they are sweet and small.

This method employs using sauerkraut brine and apple cider vinegar to ferment fresh vegetables, using wild bacteria found in sauerkraut brine. You can use any extra fermented vegetable brine you have, like pickle brine or fermented pepper brine.

This method of fermentation is quite similar to yogurt fermentation, but here we are culturing vegetables with natural sauerkraut brine and ACV instead of using industrially manufactured starter cultures. This method is somewhat similar to refrigerator pickling but with microbes.

Orange, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half in a jar with brine. The jar sits on a white plate.

Lacto Fermented Tomatoes

So can you ferment tomatoes? If you’d like to stick to a true wild fermentation method for fermenting cherry tomatoes, be my guest. But I do not suggest it. Cherry tomatoes are more like fruit, they contain a good bit of fructose, so they are more prone to alcohol fermentation. I know a lot of people love to experiment though, and I always encourage it. Just use a 4% total salt concentration and see what happens. Through my own experience and through microbiological testing of my results, I cannot guarantee that traditional wild fermentation of cherry tomatoes is the healthiest option.

To read more about salt concentrations in fermented vegetables you can reference our Complete Guide to Safely Using Salt in Vegetable Fermentation.

Yellow, orange and red fermented cherry tomatoes in a jar with brine. One cherry tomatoes is speared with a fork.

Fermented Tomatoes

You are welcome to test out other types of tomatoes with this recipe. We also have a How to Ferment Green Tomatoes recipe blog you should try! For this recipe, you will need some naturally fermented sauerkraut brine (or any fermented vegetable brine), apple cider vinegar, and a bit of salt. We, of course, utilized some of our leftover sauerkraut brine and regular unrefined sea salt for this recipe. If you’ve fermented pickles or sauerkraut at home, either brine will work great!

Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

This is a different kind of vegetable fermentation: You are culturing the tomatoes using sauerkraut brine, so you only need to ferment them for 24 hours, then place them in the fridge.

Always Trust your sense of smell: Fermented tomatoes should smell pleasantly sour and similar to a brined olive. Never eat anything that smells repulsive. 

Never eat anything that had mold growing on it: By following the recipe you should not encounter this problem. 

Taste test at 24 hours: If you prefer the tomatoes to be more tart and sour, let them sit in the refrigerator for a few days before eating. After 24 hours they should taste similar to brined olives.

Probiotic Pickled Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe for making fermented cherry tomato pickles is very easy, but there are some things you will need to remember:

  • Keep your fermenting tomatoes at a temperature between 70-80 degrees F for 24 hours.
  • Keep out of direct sunlight
  • Since this is a fermentation with added cultures from the fermented vegetable brine, you should only ferment the Tomatoes at room temperature for 24 hours max. Then place the tomatoes in the refrigerator.
  • Consume within 6 months for full probiotic benefits!

Supplies You Need to Make Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

  • 16 oz Wide Mouth Mason Jar
  • Fermentation Weight to fit your mason jar
  • Standard Metal Mason Jar Lid (this can rust in the presence of salt)
  • OR Rust Free Plastic Lid
  • Unrefined Sea Salt
  • Scale
  • Mixing Bowl 
  • or you can use a Weck Jar (which is what is pictured here)
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Fruits & Roots

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How to Make Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe makes the most flavorful, healthy fermented cherry tomatoes. In just 24 hours, you’ll have absolutely delicious probiotic pickled cherry tomatoes!

  • Prep: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 200 Grams Cherry Tomatoes, sliced
  • 5 Grams of Unrefined Sea Salt
  • 175 Grams of Fermented Sauerkraut Brine
  • 75 Grams of Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

Instructions

  1. Wash your fermentation equipment (jar, weight and lid). I like to sterilize my jars by pouring a little vodka in them, and shaking it around, then emptying it and letting it air dry.
  2. Wash your cherry tomatoes in cool water.
  3. Place your kitchen scale on the counter. Turn it on and set it to weigh in grams.
  4. Place a mixing bowl on your kitchen scale and tare/zero the scale.*
  5. Add tomatoes into the bowl on your scale until the scale reads 200 grams.
  6. Remove the bowl from your scale.
  7. Place your empty, clean mason jar on the scale, and tare/zero the scale. Make sure your scale is still set to grams and add 175 grams of sauerkraut brine (or any fermented vegetable brine) and 75 grams of apple cider vinegar to the jar.
  8. Add the 200 grams of tomatoes, into the mason jar.
  9. Place a small bowl on your scale and tare/zero the scale. weigh out 5 grams of salt. Then add the 5 grams of salt to the jar.
  10. Place your standard mason jar lid on the jar, and secure. shake the jar vigorously for 2 minutes. (if you do not have a fermentation weight, simply stop here and place the jar in the fridge! Otherwise, move on to step 11)
  11. Remove the silver standard mason jar lid. Place your fermentation weight in the jar making sure to submerge the tomatoes and weight fully in the liquid.
  12. Secure the lid on your jar
  13. Ferment for 24 hours.
  14. Then remove the weight, secure a lid to the jar, and store in the fridge.

Notes

Once you eat all the tomatoes, use the brine for salad dressing! It’s delicious.

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. Elspeth
    10|24|2020

    I’m an absolute beginner here and I’ve got a handful of homegrown cherry tomatoes and little cayenne peppers along with the notion that I’d like to ferment them in a jar together. I read that I need sauerkraut brine to follow this recipe and that takes a month! Can you suggest a recipe for my precious tiny harvest that I can begin now?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      10|24|2020

      This is the only way I ferment cherry tomatoes. You can also slice the tomatoes and add them to our sauerkraut recipe. They ferment so well when combined with cabbage.

      If you want to try someone else’s recipe, you can check out a blog called “Grow Forage Cook Ferment” I think she has a recipe for cherry tomatoes using just salt and water. They will be yeasty and effervescent for the reasons I explained in my post, but feel free to try it.

      Reply
      1. Elspeth
        10|25|2020

        Thanks, Kaitlynn, I’ll nab some cabbage and put them in. Should I include the cayenne peppers, too? That would be pretty tasty… I’m not to sure about effervescent tomatoes!

        Reply
  2. Smoofy
    02|05|2021

    Does it have to be brine from sauerkraut? Would another brine work?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      02|05|2021

      Sauerkraut brine works best, but you can try other fermented vegetable brine. Depending on the quality of the fermented vegetable brine you are using, you may have different results with this recipe.

      Reply
  3. Allan
    06|10|2022

    Do you add extra salt to the brine to keep the concentration right since you are adding vinegar and thus diluting the sourkraut brine? Or is the addition of salt something to do with the fermentation process? Thanks

    Reply
  4. Taylor
    08|07|2022

    Making these tonight! My 16 ounce jar (which is actually an old cultured guru kimchi jar) doesn’t fit my fermentation weight. All the tomatoes are under the brine. Is this okay as long as the brine is covering them?

    Reply
  5. Dana
    09|10|2022

    Tried this reicipe and its amazing. After all tomatoes vere eaten we used leftover brine to drop in other vegitables (and kept them in fridge overnight) – they too tasted great next day 🙂

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      09|12|2022

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I use the leftover brine to make more tomatoes too 🙂

      Reply
  6. Liis
    10|20|2022

    Hey! I have a question regarding the use of vinegar in ferments. 1/3 of the brine in your tomato (both green tomatoes and red cherry) recipes is apple cider vinegar. I have always thought that you cannot ferment with vinegar as you are creating a rather different environment (introducing acetic acid bacteria in to the mix and I assumed they will inhibit the proliferation of lactic acid bacteria?). Could you elaborate on this a bit? Since you are an expert 🙂 I have found little information on this topic. Thank you in advance!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      10|20|2022

      Yes, that’s correct. I call this method wild heirloom culturing. This is more similar to culturing yogurt than it is to wild fermentation. While vinegar fermentation and vegetable lacto-fermentation are two completely different processes, the byproducts (brine and vinegar) can be combined to “pickle” vegetables with live active cultures.

      Acetic acid bacteria and lactic acid bacteria can reside in the same mixture. Some bacteria, Leuconostoc species, in wild fermented vegetables produce lactic acid AND acetic acid. They do not inhibit one another, and acetic acid does not kill Lactobacillus species. There are also Lactobacillus species naturally present in all raw apple cider vinegars.

      If you look at sourdough starters, for instance, starters naturally always contain yeast, acetic acid bacteria, and lactic acid bacteria. They can all live in one environment.

      Acetic acid bacteria do require oxygen to thrive though, while Lactic acid bacteria thrive in anaerobic conditions. So in a recipe like this, the acetic acid bacteria are more dormant, and the lactic acid bacteria are more active.

      Reply
  7. Erin
    07|18|2023

    I love your idea for heirloom fermentation. I used this recipe for salsa (tomatoes, onion and cilantro). Instead of sourkraut brine, I used brine from Carolina reaper peppers I’d fermented last fall. Turned out amazing!!!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      07|19|2023

      oh wow! that sounds amazing.

      Reply
  8. Eva
    09|18|2023

    Great recipe!
    Would they keep fermenting if we leave them out longer than 24h? I have TONS of cherry tomatoes and loads of brine from fermented cucumbers- I would like to keep them for winter – so actually out of the fridge as there is no space left really for this quantity;D Could this work?
    Of course once opened- they would move into smaller jars and fridge.
    Thanks a lot!

    Reply

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sourdough discard 🤝 cottage cheese combined tw sourdough discard 🤝 cottage cheese

combined two of the best fermented foods to make the best pancakes. And yes, you can ferment the batter overnight in the fridge for easier digestion. 

My recipe makes 15 pancakes and each serving of 3 pancakes had 17 grams of protein! 

Get the recipe from my recipe index, linked in my profile✨

#sourdough #cottagecheese #pancakes #fermentation
It can suppress overgrowth of Candida albicans, wh It can suppress overgrowth of Candida albicans, while boosting good bacteria in your gut! 

Roasting garlic increases beneficial garlic compounds like diallyl sulfide and diallyl disulfide — or DADS, for short. Both of these compounds have been studied for their anti-inflammatory (anti-cancer), antioxidant, and antifungal properties.

It’s definitely a sauerkraut you should keep in your rotation.

To get the recipe google “garlic sauerkraut.” and you’ll see mine it’s the first one.

Sources:
PMC8777027 (Diallyl Disulfide (DADS) Ameliorates Intestinal Candida albicansInfection by Modulating the Gut microbiota and Metabolites and Providing Intestinal Protection)

https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9100401 (diallyl disulfide (DADS) shows a substantial increase, with concentrations rising from 1.6 mg/g in non-fermented garlic to 4.8 mg/g in its fermented counterpart, suggesting enhanced bioactivity through fermentation)
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If you love ice cream and cheesecake-like flavor, you’ll love this recipe. it’s high in protein, requires only four simple ingredients, and does not require churning. So, you do not need an ice cream maker!

A half-cup serving of this ice cream has 12 grams of protein, making it a healthy and balanced sweet snack. Get the recipe from the recipe index linked in my profile. 

#cottagecheese #icecream
Baked ✨Cottage Cheese✨ Queso Dip It’s crea Baked ✨Cottage Cheese✨ Queso Dip 

It’s creamy, cheesy, and packed with protein, but with fewer calories thanks to the cottage cheese base. And it’s only 6 ingredients +toppings! 

I love it topped with cilantro, diced tomatoes, onions and fresh jalapeños! 

Get the full recipe from my recipe index, linked in my bio. 

#queso #cheese #cottagecheese
Why do you add water to sauerkraut? To that I as Why do you add water to sauerkraut? 

To that I ask: who told y’all you can’t add water to sauerkraut? 

Adding water standardizes my recipes, making sure everyone gets enough brine, regardless of cabbage variability. 

Google “cultured guru sauerkraut” and you’ll see my recipes! 

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Google fermented bok choy and you’ll see my recipe, it’s the first one. ☝🏼 #cabbage #fermentation #homestead 

Ps. I used some tiny weck jar lids for weights in my bigger weck jar and it worked great!
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