One important secret to making really delicious cultured veggies is to use freshly harvested, organic, well-cleaned vegetables. After washing the veggies, spin them dry. It's essential that you scald your equipment in boiling water before you use it!

Ingredients

• 1 head green cabbage, shredded in a food processor
• 1 bunch kale, chopped very finely by hand
• 5 or 6 collard leaves chopped very finely by hand
• ½ head cauliflower, broken in tiny florets, or chopped very, very small
• 2 to 3 carrots, shredded in a food processor
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 Tbsp. celery seeds
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• ½ Tbsp. dried basil

1. Using a starter culture to ensure a perfect and potent product
2. Dissolve a package of Body Ecology Veggie Starter Culture in ¼ cup warm (90 degrees F) filtered water.
3. Add Body Ecology's EcoBloom to feed the starter if desired. You might also use a ½ tsp of Rapadura sugar or a bit of honey.
4. Let this starter mixture sit for approx. 20 minutes or longer while the L. Plantarum and other bacteria wake up and begin enjoying the sugar.
5. Add this starter culture to the brine in step 3 below.
6. Begin preparing vegetable mixture.
7. Combine all veggies, seeds, and herbs in a very large bowl.
8. Remove approx ½ of the above mixture and put into a blender.
9. Add enough filtered water to blender to create a "brine" the consistency of thick juice.
10. Blend well then add starter culture above to this brine.
11. Add brine with culture back into veggies, celery seeds and herbs from step one.
12. Mix together well. Note: If your blender is small you may have to do step 3 in two batches but you only need to add the starter culture once.
13. Pack mixture down into as many pint or quart sized glass jars as necessary to hold all the mixture. Use a potato masher or your fist to pack veggies very tightly. You want to force out most of the air.
14. Fill container almost full, but leave about 2 inches of room at the top for veggies to expand.
15. Roll up several outer cabbage leaves into a tight "log" and place them on top to fill the remaining 2-inch space. Clamp jar closed, or screw on lid very tightly.
16. Let veggies sit at approx 70 degrees F or room temperature for at least a week. Two weeks may be even better. Refrigerate to slow down fermentation.
17. Veggies will keep in the fridge for many weeks, becoming softer and more delicious as time passes!
18. Eat at least ½ cup of cultured veggies with every meal and...enjoy!