Zarzavat: Romanian Fermented Vegetable Soup Base

Zarzavat: Romanian Fermented Vegetable Soup Base

Give your soups, stews and braises a flavor boost this winter with this Romanian lacto-fermented soup starter called zarzavat.

This recipe is enough to make 8 jars of bags of about 450 grams (1 lb) each. Each bag or jar is enough for one soup (6-8 servings). It can be stored in jars in the fridge or in zip bags in the freezer. To use just pour contents into pot. See other ideas in recipe post.

Course Soup, stew

Cuisine Eastern European, Romanian

Keyword Soup

Prep Time 1

Ferment Time 2

Total Time 2 1

Servings jars

Calories 130kcal

Equipment

8 500ml jars / US pint jar (16 fl oz)
kitchen scale necessary for proper salt concentration

Ingredients

12 tomatoes medium-sized
8 carrots medium-sized
1 bunch flat leaf parsley large bunch, equivalent to about 2 cups finely diced (stems removed)
1 parsnip
1 celeriac
3 red peppers
3 green peppers
25 grams salt

Instructions

cut the vegetables

Slice the tomatoes into thin strips.
Cut the peppers and root vegetables into very small cubes.
Grate the carrots.
Remove the stems and finely dice the parsley.

salt

Add 25 grams of salt for every kg of vegetable weight (0.88 oz or ¾–1 tablespoon salt per 2.2 lb vegetables).
Mix well to ensure even salt distribution.

countertop ferment

Cover lightly with a clean cloth and leave on the countertop to ferment for 48 hours. Stir every so often. After 24 hours you will notice a lot of liquid (this is the brine forming). After 48 hours there will be bubbles - this is the fermentation.

store

Put about 450 grams (1lb) of mix into 500 ml / US pint jars to store in the fridge or in ziploc bags to store in the freezer.

Nutrition