Have you ever had a shawarma or falafel plate with those delicious purple pickles? They are actually fermented turnip pickles. Making homemade lacto fermented pickled turnips is so quick and easy.

They are a perfect condiment for adding a bit of pizzazz to all sorts of dishes:

Fermented Turnip Pickles

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Looking for a classic fermented turnip pickle that is perfect for shawarma or falafels? This quick and simple recipe is delicious and probiotic! The bright pink colour comes from the addition of beets.

Author: Emillie
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 quart jar 1x
Category: Pickles
Method: Fermented
Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups of turnips (about 5 small or 3 large)
1 small beet
1 clove of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt (non-iodized)
1/4 cup starter (see notes)
2 cups filtered water, to cover (chlorine free)

Instructions

Peel the turnips and beet and cut into thin, bite-sized sticks. If you are using fresh, young turnips and beets, then they don’t need to be peeled.
Pack the vegetables, garlic and bay into a sterilized quart jar.
Dissolve the salt in 1/2 cup of water, pour over the vegetables with the starter. Add more water to make sure the vegetables are covered.
Use a weight to keep the vegetables submerged, top with a lid, and allow to ferment somewhere cool for 1 week.
Store in the fridge and consume within 1 month.

Notes

If you are using fresh, organic vegetables then you don’t need a starter. Otherwise, use kefir whey, sauerkraut juice or a purchased vegetable starter (affiliate link) to kick start this ferment.
In the spring you can find fresh, little salad turnips, which don’t need to be peeled. However, storage turnips have a thick skin that needs to be removed.
Turnips really like to float, so use a well-fitted weight to keep them below the brine, even if you are using a fido jar (affiliate link.)

Keywords: pink, turnip pickles, gyro, shawarma, falafel, Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, spring, summer, fall, probiotic