Fermenting Sweet Potatoes by Kirsten & Christopher Shockey

Looking for unique ways to eat vegetables and herbs? Kirsten and Christopher Shockey have the book and blog for you. We carry their cook book in the Masontops store and absolutely love all of the diverse recipes in it.

The Shockeys live in the Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon where they have been growing vegetables and fermenting for the past 14+ years. They have mastered the art of fermenting vegetables on their rustic farm and, lucky for us, they have kindly imparted their knowledge. 

We would like to share with you one of our favorite recipes from Ferment Works, the Shockey's blog. We love this recipe because it's unique (as is everything the Shockeys seem to do) and the post has extra information on sweet potatoes in general, which tends to draw some confusion (yams, anyone?). 

If you love this recipe as much as we do, keep in mind you can get 80 more of Kirsten and Christopher's recipes in "Fermenting Vegetables" (it makes for a great Christmas gift!).

Fermented Sweet Potatoes 

INGREDIENTS

• 5 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 3–4 dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 tbs fresh ginger root, grated
• 1 tbs whole coriander seeds
• 2 tsp cayenne powder
• 1–2 tbs salt

TOOLS

• 2, 1-quart Mason jars 
• 2 wide mouth Mason jar bands
• 2 wide mouth Pickle Pebbles*
• 2 wide mouth Pickle Pipes*

*These tools are recommended by Masontops, but not included in Kirsten and Christopher Shockey's original recipe. 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Layer sweet potato slices in your Mason jars.
2. Add the rest of your ingredients, with the salt going last.
3. Submerge with water, leaving approximately 1.5" headspace.
4. Push the food down below the brine with a Pickle Pebble, removing all food that floats above the weight.*
5. Fasten your Pickle Pipes to the jars with a screw band.*
6. Leave to ferment for approximately 2 weeks.

*Again, the original recipe does not call for Pickle Pebbles or Pickle Pipes, but they will help you reduce the risk of mold and eliminate any manual burping. 

Kirsten recommends you eat your fermented sweet potatoes as you would fermented carrots. We also learned you can heat up fermented sweet potatoes up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit without losing any nutrients, which means you can use them as a hot dinner side dish. Enjoy!

 PRODUCTS IN THIS ARTICLE

P.S. You can save $7 on your copy of Fermenting Vegetables if bundled with our complete fermentation kit here.