Fermented Cherry Tomatoes Recipe
Sometimes we can’t resist all the varieties of delicious cherry tomato seeds, so we plant them ALL! And then they ripen… and we realize there are only so many cherry tomatoes we can eat fresh. This Fermented Cherry Tomatoes recipe is a great way to preserve that abundance!
These Fermented Cherry Tomatoes are like little fizzy bombs that go off in your mouth. What’s cool about these, is that the fermentation takes place INSIDE the tomatoes! So it’s like a fun, fizzy surprise when you bite into one.
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Why Ferment?
I hate seeing garden produce go to waste. We worked so hard to grow that food, that I don’t want to waste any of it if I can help it. But sometimes it’s not quite enough produce to fill up our canner.
What I love about fermenting, is it’s so simple to just do ONE JAR of something. You don’t need to haul out your big canning equipment, just a mason jar, a weight, and a fermentation lid if you have one. (If you don’t, that’s ok, I’ll give alternate directions).
Fermenting is also incredibly healthy. Since you’re not heating the food or the brine, everything stays raw, so it maintains all those beneficial nutrients.
Fermented foods are high in beneficial bacteria, which helps support good gut health.
It’s also delicious! Fermented foods have a tangy fizz that you’ll find yourself craving once you start eating them.
Ways to use Fermented Cherry Tomatoes
You can simply pop them into your mouth as a delicious, gut-healthy snack, add them to salads, or serve them as a quick, easy side for any meal. I always like to have something fermented with all my meals, to aid with digestion.
How to make Fermented Cherry Tomatoes
Fermented cherry tomatoes are so simple to make, it will only take you about 5 minutes once you have all your ingredients assembled.
All you’ll need is some FIRM, preferably slightly under-ripe, cherry tomatoes, herbs and spices of your choice, some sea salt, and filtered water.
For equipment, you’ll need a mason jar, and a fermentation weight and lid if you have them. I LOVE using the Easy Fermenter system. (If you don’t have these, I’ll share some alternate options!).
Fermented Cherry Tomatoes Recipe
First, sort through your cherry tomatoes, and use only the ones that are firm, and haven’t split. Just slightly under-ripe is best. Remove the tops if still attached, place them in a colander, and give them a rinse in the sink. (Note: avoid chlorinated water. It will kill any of the beneficial bacteria.
If you are on city water, rinse with bottled water, or water from a filter that removes chlorine).
I LOVE my Berkey water filter because it removes 99.9% of all contaminants, including chlorine).
Next, prepare your brine.
I like to do my brine at the ratio of 1 Tbsp of sea salt to 1 cup of water. Since I used a gallon-sized mason jar, my brine was 1 quart of water to 4 Tbsp sea salt. Stir it well and let it sit for a few minutes to dissolve the salt.
Gather your herbs and spices.
I used peppercorns, mustard seeds, caraway seeds, fresh basil, fresh dill, and fresh garlic. Use what you have, and what you like!
Put your dry spices at the bottom of the jar, then layer your cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs throughout.
Place your fermentation weight on top of the tomatoes, then pour your brine over top.
(I like this style of fermentation weight that has a little handle you can use to insert and remove them from the jar).
If you don’t have a fermentation weight, you can use a cabbage leaf. Just push the cabbage leaf down on top of the cherry tomatoes until the brine is on top of the leaf and everything is submerged.
You can also put rocks inside a clean zip lock bag, and put that on the top. You just want to keep your tomatoes and spices from floating up above the brine.
Place your fermentation lid on top.
I LOVE my Easy Fermenter system, because it allows gasses to escape, while keeping mold and fruit flies out. (The link above takes you to the great starter kit I got, that includes everything you need to start fermenting – except the food and jars.)
It also came with a great little fermentation recipe book!
Easy Fermenter Kit by Nourished Essentials
Buy Now →
If you don’t have a fermentation lid, just use a regular jar lid but keep it loose to allow gasses to escape. You may have to loosen the lid to ‘burp’ it from time to time.
Place the jar in a warm, dark place, for about a week. Test your tomatoes to see if they’ve reached your desired level of fizziness. Then you can move them to the fridge.
Once they’re in your fridge, if you can wait a week or two to eat them, their flavour will improve even more, but you can also eat them right away if you can’t wait.
They will keep in your fridge for 6-8 months! (This is why I love fermenting fresh food – who would have thought you could keep fresh tomatoes in your fridge that long).
Fermented Cherry Tomatoes Video
Other Fermented Recipes you Might Enjoy
Lacto-Fermented Salsa
Simple Fermented Beets
Fermented Green Beans
Fermented Red Onions
Pin it for later
Save this recipe to your fermented foods board on Pinterest!
Fermented Cherry Tomatoes
Use up your abundance of cherry tomatoes by fermenting them!
Ingredients
- 4 cups Cherry Tomatoes, Firm, slightly under-ripe. 4 cups didn't quite fill my gallon-sized jar, so you can either use more tomatoes, or a smaller jar if desired.
- 4 Tbsp Sea Salt, I like fine pink himalayan sea salt
- 1 Quart FILTERED water, Be sure there is no chlorine in your water. Use filtered or bottled.
- 2 Sprigs Fresh Basil
- 2 Sprigs Fresh Dill
- 4 Cloves Fresh Garlic
- 1/4 Tsp Peppercorns
- 1/4 Tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1/4 Tsp Caraway Seeds
Instructions
- Rinse off your cherry tomatoes with filtered water. Remove any that are soft or split
- Prepare your fresh herbs
- Make your salt brine. The ratio is 1 Tbsp salt to 1 cup water. I did 1 quart water to 4 Tbsp sea salt.
- Place your dry spices at the bottom of the jar
- Layer your cherry tomatoes and herbs throughout the jar
- Place your fermentation weight on top of your tomatoes
- Pour your brine over top until it reaches above your weight
- Place your fermentation lid or mason jar lid on the jar
- Keep in a warm, dark place for about a week, test for fizziness
- If they're fizzy enough, transfer them to the refrigerator
- They will store in your fridge for 6-8 months
Nutrition Information
Serving Size
1 gramsAmount Per Serving Unsaturated Fat 0g