I like making myself something nice like this from time to time. It’s good for the soul : ) It’s also a nice way to treat friends or family. For this strawberry salad with fermented strawberry juice, I wanted to bring together a few of the amazing characteristics of a strawberry: The invigorating freshness is elevated by the fruity sweetness of dark dried figs, the beautiful friendship with the tomato and sweet baked strawberry that is satisfying, comforting and sheer delightful with an almost magical texture.
For this recipe I’m using fermented strawberries. They are showing the strawberry from different point of view, giving it exciting acidity and new fruity notes.
How to Ferment Strawberries
Fermentation Time 7 days
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Weigh
Slice the strawberries thinly. Put a clean bowl on a scale and push the tare button. Place the strawberries into the jar.
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Add Salt
Calculate 2% of that weight and add that much salt to the strawberries. Combine well with a spoon.
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Ferment
Put the salted strawberries into a mason jar. Put a weight on top that submerges the strawberries fully in their own juice (it might take a little for it to come out). Close the lid without screwing it completely tight. Let sit for at least a week at room temperature to get the characteristic flavour of lacto-fermentation. You can let it sit for much longer.
After you’ve stepped into the world of fermentation, you’ll know how easy it is to enrich, preserve and simplify your home cooking with fermentation.
Strawberry Salad with Fermented Strawberry Juice
Ingredients
- 5 cups strawberries
- 4 tomato lungs the bit where the seeds are attached to
- ½ dried tomato finely chopped
- 3 tbsp fermented strawberry juice
- 7 dark dried figs soaked
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. After soaking the figs in water (reaching just a little above the figs in a bowl), place about 8 strawberries in a small bowl for each person and pour the fig juice (that we get after soaking) into the bowl. The strawberries should almost be covered or half-covered. Bake for about 20 min, until the strawberries still have a shape but are baked through.
- Marinate the chopped dried tomato in 1 ½ tbsp fermented strawberry juice.
- First plate: Slice the rest of the strawberries and add 4 tbsp of the fig juice. Combine. Serve on a plate.
- Second plate: Place two tomato lungs each in a small bowl or plate, add the marinated dried tomato ribbons and pour the rest of the fermented juice over them.
- Third plate: Serve the baked strawberries in the fig juice as is. Enjoy!