Fermented tomatoes in honey

Lactofermentation in brine is great for preserving food. But sometimes I don't want to use salt, but still want to preserve fresh fruit or vegetables without using energy. Then I ferment in honey. And I really appreciate this method for tomatoes in particular, because fermented tomatoes in honey taste so much better than lacto tomatoes!

How does fermentation with honey work?

When water or another liquid is added to honey, the natural, wild yeasts and bacteria in the honey become active and begin to ferment. With a lot of water, mead, i.e. honey wine, is produced. With just a little liquid or fresh fruit and vegetables, which bring their own moisture, the result is not only delicious fermented honey, but also preserved products. And all of that without added salt!

This fermentation method produces little or no lactic acid, but carbon dioxide and ethanol. The ferment is therefore more or less alcoholic, depending on the fermentation time, sugar content and quantity and quality of the wild yeasts. These wild yeasts mainly come from honey. They are so-called nectar yeasts from plants and flowers, which are ingested by the bees during collection.

Fermented tomatoes in honey

Course: Side dish, Snack, AppetizerCuisine: mediterraneanDifficulty: medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Fermentation time

21

minutes

Equipment

• 0.6-liter bail jar

Ingredients

• 300 grams small round tomatoes

• 350 grams liquid honey

Instructions

• Prick the tomatoes with a thin stick, for example a cabbage roll needle. Unpierced tomatoes burst during fermentation and the seeds come out. This is not a bad thing, but it is not nice either and can be avoided.
• Place the tomatoes in the jar, cover with the honey and keep warm. Around 20° C is good. With this ferment, the space above the tomatoes and honey should be larger than with other ferments, because the fermentation can become quite vigorous and needs space to expand. 4/5 -1/4 of the vessel is a good guideline.
• Move the jar 1-2 times a day so that all the tomatoes remain coated in honey. Do this until fermentation begins. Some honey will probably leak from the rubber, so wipe it off carefully with a damp cloth. You can also open the jar and stir it, which is not quite as sticky.
  
  If the fermentation becomes very stormy, please check whether your vessel can release enough gas. You can also remove the rubber ring for a few days until it has calmed down. Then please open and stir daily.
• After 21 days you can try the tomatoes.
• The opened jar will keep in the fridge for at least a few weeks, usually much longer. Make sure you stir it every now and then to prevent it from going moldy.

Notes

• I like the honey tomatoes best after 3 weeks at the latest. Then they are still slightly crunchy and wonderfully sweet and sour. A longer fermentation time makes them softer and more alcoholic, which I don't like quite as much on their own. However, they are still great for cooking and baking!

Did you try this ferment?

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How much alcohol is produced when tomatoes are fermented in honey?

When raw honey is diluted with water, vegetables or fruit, the natural yeasts begin to process the sugar. Yeasts always ferment sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol, so all honey ferments contain some alcohol. Without additional sugar or yeast, the alcohol content of fermented tomatoes in honey is somewhere between 0.5% and 7%. The alcohol content depends on the amount of sugar in the ferment, which is made up of the sugars in the honey and those in the fruit and vegetables. When fermenting fruit with honey, you basically get a slightly alcoholic mead.

In the case of fermented tomatoes in honey, it is the small tomatoes with their high sugar content in relation to other vegetables that can increase the alcohol content.

For a lower alcohol content, ferment the tomatoes for a shorter time or refrigerate them as soon as they ferment. Cold fermentation slows down the activity of the yeasts. You can also add salt to slow down the yeasts and give the lactobacilli an advantage. Then, of course, the ferment is no longer salt-free.

And what about botulism?

Honey has a naturally low pH value, so it is acidic, and the Clostridium botulinum bacterium cannot produce toxins in an acidic environment. It also needs an oxygen-free environment, so if you stir the ferment at the beginning, you are creating another hurdle.

Honey also has antibacterial properties that protect your ferments from being spoiled by other microbes.

Ideas how to eat tomatoes in honey

And how do the tomatoes taste best, you might ask? They are delicious on their own, perhaps with a buttered sandwich. They go fabulously with cheese, and children especially like them when pureed as a spread. The honey is great in dressings and marinades or as a base for vegetable ferments.

I also love a quiche with fermented honey tomatoes; I wrote the recipe down in my book »Die Fermenteküche«. For me, it's a perfect summer dish for those summer nights outdoors.

Sources

• Manisha Deb Mandal und Shyamapada Mandal: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166
• Chemie.de: https://www.chemie.de/lexikon/Alkoholische_G%C3%A4rung.html