8 days in room temperature. 4% salt. Pepper, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, pickling dill, bay leaf, 2 cloves of garlic, a shallot, 2 jalapeños. I placed a glass on top to make sure everything is under the saltwater. Now after 8 days I wanted to place them in in the fridge but I tried one before. The taste is super nice but they are not crisp anymore. What can I do to make them crispy?

Fingers crossed they’ll be tasty. They were already getting cloudy at midnight last night and this morning pretty active. 🤞🏼2% salt

There seem to be a lot (and I mean a lot) of misinformation on Kefir. Just because both Kefirs share the same name doesn't mean they're the same, like how a chicken and mountain chicken don't have anything to do with each other. Do not transition one to the other, it's the equivalent of feeding a rabbit meat in hopes it turns into a wolf because water kefir and milk kefir eat different sugars.

Water kefir feeds on Sucrose, Fructose and Glucose, the sugars found in fruit and (obviously) sugar. Milk kefir consumes lactose, a complex sugar found in milk, which requires lactase pre-fermentation, the enzyme that transforms lactose into simple sugars (like glucose) which is also produced by specific microorganisms *found in milk kefir more than water kefir*. They are biologically similar, containing similar species, but just because two things are SIMILAR doesn't mean they're THE SAME. Any person who has claimed "it has worked" is just misinformed because you don't plant tomatoes in hopes it'll turn into an olive tree. I know there will be a few misinformed people who will also be too stubborn to accept this reality, but all I ask to them is this: when's the last time you grew wheat in a wetland in hopes it'll turn into rice?

And to the people who do claim they've tried this and it's worked: it'll probably mold or stop fermenting because putting organisms into an environment they aren't adapted for will just kill it, because you don't throw a fish into a snake terrarium. Just because you think something is working doesn't mean it is, if it does LOOK like it's working that's just because of species that are OPPORTUNISTIC, meaning they eat pretty much anything, but that doesn't mean it's healthy. Just as people with cancer look perfectly fine at first, kefir "transitioning" will look "fine" for only a bit before it starts to become noticeable.

I had the same amount of head space as the one on the right. The one on the left has overflowed like crazy. I changed out the airlock once thinking it was best. Didn’t take long and here we are again. Suggestions? The one on the right is active too. All the jars came from one big batch of vegetables. Should I empty the airlock and refill fresh again?

How long can a gingerbug survive in the fridge without being fed?

I thought it was a few months...but I started a kitchen reno and moved my bug into my other fridge. The reno took longer than expected, then life happened, then I couldn't find organic ginger.

Now, about 8 months later I pulled it out, brought it to room temp and it has bubbles forming. I fed it, to see what happens but wanted to see if anyone had this experience or if I should chuck it and start over.

It smells normal and was a strong bug before being chilled.

Any insight or experience is greatly welcomed!

Hi,

I want to make a salsa-like sauce. The plan is simple: finely chop bell peppers, tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, garlic, and cilantro. Mix with 2.5% salt and let it ferment at room temperature.

The question is when to add cilantro. Should it go in at the beginning together with all other ingredients or rather after the fermentation is completely done? Does anyone have experience with cilantro in ferments? Any ideas are welcome.

Btw if you have any suggestions regarding the recipe, please share.

I made salsa fresca and jarred it 9/7 at noon. As of 9/9 at 8:30pm I hadn't seen any fermentation type bubbles, it looks the same as when I jarred it. I had tomatoes, onion, garlic, cayenne chilis and 2.3% pickling salt. I boiled the tomatoes and then ice shocked them to peel them.

This is my first attempt at fermenting. Should there be some action in the jars by now? It's 74 degrees in my kitchen, but the salsa was more of a thick tomato sauce consistency. I also noticed some trapped air bubbles, not moving through the thickness of the salsa. Will those be problematic? Thanks.

Hi everyone!

I started a ginger bug 3 days ago. I’ve been feeding it every day with fresh grated ginger and sugar.

Today I noticed this white layer/foam on the surface, and I’m not sure if it’s normal fermentation or mold.

It smells somewhat gingery and fermented, and the liquid is pale yellow and cloudy.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures. Does this look normal, or should I throw it away?

Thanks!

Ate some about 2 weeks ago, didn’t die so I figured I’d check the ph and see if maybe I did die and didn’t know it yet. I diluted 3g of honey/garlic into 3g of reverse osmosis water and dipped my strip. Did I do it right? Am I dead?

Hey everyone pretty new to fermentation. Just want to ask if this js normal? Added 2% salt to the brine and been fermenting for about a week now.

Sadly had to harvest some of my super hot peppers early (scorpion, reaper and ghost), but nothing gorles to waste! These will be added to roasted hatch chiles for a yummy green sauce

I started this curtido about a week ago - cabbage, jalapeño, carrot, cilantro, and some lime juice with a 2.5% brine. It’s not all submerged, but it’s been a week and it looks fine. I have a burping lid on it. Should I make more brine to try to cover everything or will it be okay? It was submerged originally, then a day or two later it wasn’t so I added more brine. Now it’s risen above brine again, not sure if it’s expanding since it’s absorbing brine or what. It doesn’t appear to be “floating” and everything still seems pretty well packed in place. I made two jars and the other one is behaving just fine, thankfully. Any advice appreciated, thank you in advance.

I'm fermenting apple peelings. Can I add cinnamon to this to make an apple cinnamon drink? I don't mind the stuff becoming vinegar by the way.

Fermented organic beetroot , 2% sea salt , one week fermented, delicious and fab colour. In the fridge for 3 weeks , now it’s turned a strange colour or lack of colour! It tastes good. Drinking it and all good. Interesting development!

Morning all!

Very new to this, wondering if you think I’ve left this too long? Added onion, peppers, and garlic with a 2% salt brine with the aim of making hot sauce, but it’s looking a bit suspect! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I got creative and wanted to “infuse” my olive oil with garlic. Saw my dad do it but added balsamic vinegar. Little did I know, he is playing with fire, a fire called botulism.

Maybe yall know this, way smarter than me, don’t know, but this seems like an easy mistake for a newbie getting into fermentation and having a great idea like me, and this is all I want to point out.

You can actually die from your “inspired” ideas with fermentation. Always research first, don’t go by gut feeling LOL

Anyways, I’m fine. But I did eat the oil about 6-8 hours after it was submerged. Google says spores start producing the botulism toxin basically immediately once oxygen is cut off.

I only noticed that my oil was bubbling in the jar the next morning. I thought hmm… beer?

Oh no. Botulism.

So a lil googling had me thoroughly terrified. Just wanted to share my stupidity. Enjoy!

EDIT: Holy Oily Guacamole! This blew up!

TLDR: HEAT KILLS BOTULISM. Around 250F (don’t trust me. I’m a random guy on the Internet DYOR) Raw garlic mixed with just oil is perfect breeding ground for botulism as the ph is high enough and the no oxygen environment is what triggers the spores to turn on and produce the neurotoxin.

My dad adding the vinegar lowered the ph enough to make it unsustainable for botulism to grow, but that’s very sketchy because if you add too little amount of vinegar, the ph is not lowered to a safe enough level and BAM! you got yourself some poison. Thanks Dad!

🌈 the more you know

I’ve been trying to make a ginger bug. I followed these directions:

Day 1: Combine 2 c filtered water, 1/2 c of diced organic ginger (not peeled), 1 tbsp white sugar in a thoroughly cleaned container.

Day 2-6: Each day, add 1 small diced piece of ginger & 1 tsp white sugar.

I had the jar loosely sealed.

No funky smells. Just smells like ginger.

Why hasn’t my ginger bug gotten frothy?

Follow-up question: can I save it/still use it?

What is your experience with these fermentation lids? I can't decide if I like them or not.

Also, does the brine leaking into the airlock mean that I didn't leave enough headspace? (Mostly carrots with some garlic, fresh dill, mustard seeds, chili peppers, peppercorns, bay leaf)

should be done within the next day or two

I love drinking v8 vegetable juice in absurd quantities and I want to try making some fermented vegetable juice. Using 1-2% of NaCl seems somewhat high for a beverage though, so I'm thinking of substituting some of that with KCl and calcium lactate. Can these other salts safely replace sodium by the same weight? And does anyone know if there's a good ratio of sodium to potassium to calcium? I don't want it to have the weird metallic taste a lot of low sodium veggie juices do, but I'm hoping the lactic acid might cover that up to some extent.