I took a page from the NOMA Guide to Fermentation to make tomato water this week. It was fun and easy, and everyone who tried it loved it. Tomato water adds this zing of freshness and acidity to your cooking in a way that’s lighter but infused with more flavor than say, vinegar would. This is a lacto-ferment that serves to save the abundance of summer tomatoes because let’s be honest…it’s not entirely possible to eat THAT many tomatoes. If you’ve ever had a thriving tomato plant you get it.
Tomato water is the liquid that is reserved from fermenting tomatoes. So, after the fermentation period, the tomatoes are strained and the leftover liquid is your tomato water! Due to the high water content of tomatoes, the salt used during the fermentation process draws out a lot of liquid that has 10 times the flavor of a single tomato.
I used to work at a restaurant that used the same process but with red peppers hence: red pepper water. You can make “___ water” of any vegetable or fruit if there is enough water to draw out. Peppers, plums, watermelons, berries, celery, zucchini, cucumbers, apples, etc.
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TOMATO WATER
Ingredients
1000g Tomatoes quartered
2% Salt (20 g)
**This recipe calls for 2% salt content. If you're adjusting the amount of tomatoes to more or less than 1000g, ensure that the salt you use amounts to 2% of the tomatoes' weight.
Equipment
Scale
Jar
bowl
Fine strainer
Cheesecloth
Directions
Place a large mixing bowl on a scale and weigh out 1000g of tomatoes. You can use more tomatoes if you have more- keep in mind the tomatoes need to fit in your vessel for when you transfer everything over.
Chop em
Zero out your scale and add the salt. Keep in mind the amount of salt should be 2% of the weight of tomatoes. That’s 20g for 1000g of tomatoes and 10g of salt for 500g of tomatoes. You can do the math you’re smart.
It doesn’t matter the order of whether you add tomatoes or salt first
Mix the tomato and salt together with your hands and transfer the mixture to your fermentation vessel
Don't be alarmed if you're breaking up some of the tomatoes. The salt works fast and pulls out a lot of liquid. It'll act as the brine that will shield the tomatoes from oxygen.
Add a fermentation weight to the mixture to ensure all the tomatoes are below the liquid brine. You can use a cabbage leaf to seal the liguid, a glass or ceramic weight, or put rocks in a bag like me. This will ensure no mold comes into play. Remember, if it’s below the brine everything is fine!
I put rocks in a bag and fill it with water. If any of you want to buy me a pack of fermentation weights I would gladly accept.
Keep the jar in a dark and cool spot for 3-5 days. Be sure to taste daily! With a tomato water ferment, the yeast works fast. The flavor on day 3 vs day 5 can vary immensely. So keep that in mind when deciding when to move on to the next step.
~ 3-5 days later ~
Day 1
No filter baby!!!
Day 4
(I took the baggie out before this pic)
Strain the tomatoes by taking large strainer lined with cheesecloth and a bowl underneath to catch the liquid. Don’t crush the tomatoes to catch more liquid. Let them sit and drain until no more drops are coming.
You can also substitute the olive juice in a martini with tomato water
🍜 Soups
For some acidity factor, use tomato water to brighten and liven up soups!! Take your favorite soup recipe and add about 1/4 cup of tomato water and you’ll see what I mean
🍅 Use the tomato pulp for sandwiches
After the straining process, the leftover pulp is beckoning for you to use it. You could technically freeze the pulp for later use but I recommend using it right after straining to reward yourself with a nice tomato treat. I like to spread the pulp over toasted sourdough bread with olive oil.
🐠 Drown your fish
Fish and acidity are a soulmate-level kind of match. Spoon some tomato water over salmon, cod, halibut, red snapper, literally any fish. You can also marinate your fish with tomato water prior to cooking for even more excitement.
ALSO If you’re in a place where you can make ceviche…do that (so you can drown the ceviche in tomato water)
Take this recipe from the NYT Cooking but instead of using sherry vinegar use tomato water!!
🥗 Vinaigrettes
Mix together in a small bowl tomato water, salt, dijon mustard, pepper, olive oil, and some oregano
Put that on salads, veggies, and anywhere else you deem necessary.
🍝 Spoon over pasta for a finishing touch to add more zing
Now THIS is my favorite. At a restaurant I used to work at the chef made this tortellini pasta with red pepper water. The tortellini would sit in this pool of red pepper gold and it would leave most diners licking their plate as if they hadn’t eaten a meal in weeks. Bread works too.
Researchers at Copenhagen University use ancient fermentation techniques with yellow pea protein gels to create a plant-based cheese that suspiciously feels and tastes like real cheese.
Believe it or not, cheese is an environmentally controversial food thanks to the insane amount of cows on the planet. Within our lifetime there’s going to be a serious overhaul of the cheese industry and fermentation will be leading the charge.
Have you ever thought that nature might have some very important lessons to teach us about solving human problems? Biomimicry is just that. This foundation seeks to learn from and mimic strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges in a regenerative way.
Humpback whales create an aerodynamic flow in water and help to inspire wind turbines
Ants mimic traffic on the highway but without the gridlock. Ants could give us the answer to solving our traffic problems but I'm not entirely sure that humans are smarter than ants.
🍄 Fungi: Web of Life Documentary
Narrated by BJÖRK and written by Merlin Sheldrake. Need I say less?
Oh my gosh yes! I made this last week and it was the best! So tasty :)