Kisla repa

Overview

Kisla repa is Slovenian sour turnip. Slovenian sources describe two household forms, grated turnip and whole roots, which should not be merged into one formula. The name does not establish the Friulian Brovada PDO, which uses a locally specified turnip with red-grape marc, or the Karst preparation sometimes called repa tropinka.

Grated method salt and timing

The agricultural guide describes grating healthy, mature turnip into strands of 2 to 4 millimetres, salting it at 2 percent of its weight, packing it down under the liquid it releases and weighting it. Naturally present vegetable microorganisms drive the lactic fermentation. The household guide gives about three weeks at 18 °C, with a stated range of 10 to 18 °C and a longer time at the lower end. Those figures come from household guidance, not from a validated process.

Harvest and winter use

The Slovenian agricultural guide places the harvest of stubble turnip in late October and the first half of November, and it cautions against frost for roots intended for souring. This describes the raw crop, not storage for the finished pickle. A farm-stay association's recipe documents one cooked use, bujta repa, which combines sour turnip with pork and millet. The household guide also mentions raw salad, stewed or boiled turnip and jota.

The 2023 grated batch

Alenka Kociper's 2023 guide in Delo gives a grated batch of 1 kg turnip with 20 g salt and peppercorns. The mixture is rested, packed into jars under its liquid, covered with mesh and a tray, and then covered with dark cloth. The author suggests checking after three days. The source does not report the finished yield or jar capacity, and its timing is not an objective safety endpoint.

The 2019 guide describes the naturally present plant lactic fermentation and separate grated and whole-root approaches. It gives broad guidance for cabbage and turnip but no controlled study or validated endpoint for kisla repa.

What remains open

No inspected source establishes an objective endpoint, a food-safety validation, a maximum storage life or after-opening guidance. Advice to keep vegetables covered, skim foam or refrigerate a finished batch does not prove safety. The whole-root method's salt basis and full procedure are not established here, and the earliest attestation and origin of kisla repa remain unknown.

Whole-root variant

A second variant leaves the roots whole and covers them with salt water. The Slovenian tourism-farm source describes it as a distinct process. Its salt basis is not the same as the percentage used for the grated method, so the two should not be combined.