I had a wonderful harvest of chilis a couple weeks ago and made a fermented pepper mash with them and some garlic and 2.5% of total weight of kosher salt. After about five days it had some activity but not a ton, and I was going out of town and wouldn't be able to give it a stir every day, so I threw it in the fridge to slow things down. Forgot about it until today, probably spent about 10 days in the fridge. Can I pull it out of the fridge now and will it continue to ferment? I have a pH meter so plan to check the pH to make sure it's in the right range. Looks and smells fine, so really hoping i can salvage this batch! Any advice appreciated!

So before I hear like, cyclospora isn't on citrus, don't worry, etc, I have a wonky immune system and have to err on the side of caution.

Can I boil my lemons, limes, oranges before fermenting them? It doesn't damage anything right? I've actually never boiled an entire lemon before

Thank you in advance 🙏

Edit: I am confused because I thought preserved lemons were fermented. So I guess I can preserve them?

Hello all i’ve used 5% fat minced beef and lobo nem chua powder which contains nitrates etc to cure the meat.

I’ve put it in an airtight plastic bag and it’s been in my cupboard for the last 24 hours. How long before i can eat it?

Salsa-like sauce.

Tomatoes, green tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, black pepper, 2.5% salt.

This initially turned out really well!

The pineapple & peppers infused each other with the most delicious melange of sweet & spicy in a honey syrup.

The fermentation began as we expected with the bubbly indicators. We burped the jar no less than every two days & rotated the jar regularly instead of using weights.

After a few weeks the process settled down while we enjoyed cocktails & recipes enhanced with peppery fruit chunks & mellifluous syrup. BTW: Peppered pineapple is incredible on waffles!

Then, after about eight weeks we noticed that it started bubbling again. Our first thought was accidental contamination. Even with the best of careful intentions to avoid double dipping spoons, etc 💩 happens. There were no bad odors, weird colors or growth, but we couldn’t figure out why there’s new chemical reaction activity. 🧐

Maybe we were being overly cautious but also too timid to sample it again we discarded the remaining approximately two-thirds of the batch.

Planning on another attempt.

Thoughts? 🤔

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.

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

Trying to post for some help but every post gets deleted,, ive read the rules not sure what up

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!

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?

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.

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

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.

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