The Peach ferment
I have been playing with peach ferments for a while and this particular one is spectacular
It is rich and succulent. It is sweet, tangy and fizzy and, in my view, it is best eaten within a few days of refrigerating. We have it spooned into milk kefir and into yoghurt. It is also quite tasty as a cake filling and it has been known to find its way into the odd cocktail. This is a work in progress though; like any ferment, there are so many possible iterations. You can try it without the honey. You can change up the herbs you add to it. You can even try it without adding the slosh of water kefir. I add this to ensure there is a plentiful supply of lactic acid bacteria from day one so that fermentation gets going promptly, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t have any water kefir.
As for which type of peaches to use - this can lead to heated debate! I have tried this recipe both with flat peaches and with round yellow peaches. Follow your own heart’s desire on this one.
The Peach Ferment recipe
Ingredients
500g (approx) ripe peaches
2 tbsp fresh lemon balm
A slosh of water kefir
1.75% salt
Equipment
500ml Kilner jar
Washed in hot water or that has been through the dishwasherChopping board
Knife
Spoon
Weighing scales
Method
Finely chop the peaches.
Cut up the lemon balm nice and finely.
Put a clean bowl on a set of scales and tare the scales.
Put the peaches and lemon balm into the bowl.
Add a slosh of water kefir.
Make a note of the weight of all these ingredients.
Take a separate bowl and weigh the salt out into it. You need 1.75% the weight of your other ingredients in salt. So if your ingredients weighs 525g, you will want approx 9.5g salt
Mix the salt into the other ingredients so that it is fully combined.
Leave it all to sit for 10 minutes or so.
Spoon the ingredients into a 500ml rubber top kilner jar, pressing it down as you go to exclude air bubbles.
Leave at room temperature for approximately 36hrs. Make sure you put the kilner jar on a plate or in a bowl as it is very likely that peach juice will spill out of the jar as fermentation gets going.
Taste after 36 hrs. If you don’t eat it all right there and then, refrigerate and consume at will.
