Brined - Northern India and Pakistan
Kanji
A drink rather than a pickle, and the only recipe in the bulletin given as a complete formula per kilogram: water, salt, mustard seed and chilli, all four quantities stated. It is also the shortest-lived thing on this site - three or four days once it is strained.
5 steps, every one quoted from FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.5. The step labels are this site's; the sentences under them are not.
The ratio, as the source wrote it
Per kg grated carrot: 7 litres water, 200 g salt, 40 g crushed mustard seed, 8 g chilli powder
Each kilogram of grated carrot is mixed with 7 litres of water, 200g of salt, 40g of crushed mustard seed and 8g of hot chilli powder.
Left as a ratio rather than converted to a percentage, and not scaled into a table. It multiplies straight up or down, but the sentence carrying the figure often carries a condition with it, and separating the two is how a number arrives here looking more certain than its source made it.
Every number the source states
- Formula
- Per kg grated carrot: 7 litres water, 200 g salt, 40 g crushed mustard seed, 8 g chilli powder
- Fermentation time
- seven to ten days
- Vessel
- A glazed earthenware vessel, almost sealed, with a hole for gas
Each kilogram of grated carrot is mixed with 7 litres of water, 200g of salt, 40g of crushed mustard seed and 8g of hot chilli powder.
The mixture is then allowed to ferment for seven to ten days.
The mixture is then placed in a glazed earthenware vessel, which is almost entirely sealed, leaving only a tiny hole for gases released during fermentation to escape.
Method
Numbered for your place in the list. Every sentence below is the source's own, verified against the page it came from when this table was last built from the sources.
Wash and grate
After thorough washing the carrots are finely grated.
Mix the formula
Each kilogram of grated carrot is mixed with 7 litres of water, 200g of salt, 40g of crushed mustard seed and 8g of hot chilli powder.
Vessel with a gas hole
The mixture is then placed in a glazed earthenware vessel, which is almost entirely sealed, leaving only a tiny hole for gases released during fermentation to escape.
Ferment
The mixture is then allowed to ferment for seven to ten days.
Strain and drink
After fermentation the drink is strained through fine muslin and has to be consumed within 3 or 4 days after which it goes bad.
What else the source says
- Yield
- Each kg of grated carrot yields just over 7 litres of kanji (Berry, 1998), (Shah, 1986).
- Why it must be anaerobic
- The type of fermentation that takes place is known as a lactic fermentation, which must be carried out in the absence of air.
Before you make this
This site is a reference and not a food safety authority. It reports what named sources published and does not certify that any preparation is safe. The safety page sets out what the sources themselves say about acidity, about surface growth and about when to throw something away, and equipment lists the instruments the numbers above cannot be checked without.
The full record for this pickle, including every source consulted and the ones that disagree, is on its tradition page.
Other brined recipes
- Fermented dill pickles, USDA home method
- Green mango pickle
- Lime pickle, brined
- Black olives
- Brined vegetables, the general method
- Green olives, Spanish style
- Kimchi
- Brined cucumber pickles
Method and asides from FAO 134 Battcock, M. and Azam-Ali, S. (1998) Fermented fruits and vegetables: A global perspective. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 134. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Numbers from the same source, extracted separately and listed on methodology.