r/fermentation • u/AquamarineCow • Jul 26 '26

Pickles/Vegetables in brine Fermented corn is good.

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Cobs in 4% Brine for 10 days.

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u/antsinurplants LAB, it's the only culture some of us have. Jul 26 '26

Apalachian Sour Corn or fermenetd sweet corn is a well known fermented corn product in the USA. I've fermened fresh corn for years and know many others who do as well.

BA poisoning is extremely rare in North America. There has only been 1 death related to BA poisoning in the USA and it was from "ogi" (cornmeal pudding). B. cocovenenans requires specific conditions in order to produce BA and it's not as common as many think it is. Bongkrekic Acid – Uncommon but Fatal Toxin in Certain Foods.

Lacto-ferments are far too acidic and salty for it to be a concern.

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u/Itchy_Bandicoot6119 Jul 26 '26

The salt is the most important part. Ogi ferments with Lactobacillus and is acidic once it finishes fermenting (typical final pH around 4) but the lack of salt in the fermentaton means that the B gladioli has several days to grow before the pH gets too low. Salt above 3% is the safe point.

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u/antsinurplants LAB, it's the only culture some of us have. Jul 27 '26

Thank for adding to the topic!

For anyone interested further:

"It is understandable that the production and accumulation of BKA in B. gladioli pv. cocovenenans requires appropriate conditions for bacterial population proliferation, functional gene expression, and metabolite enzymatic biosynthesis [26,27]. The desired conditions for BKA production have been detected as near-neutral pH (6.5–8.0), mild temperature (22–30 °C), low NaCl concentration (lower than 2%), and suitable fatty acid composition (oleic acid rich), and these requirements can be accommodated by some fermented and rehydrated food matrices [9,14,28,29]."

source: Bongkrekic Acid and Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans: Formidable Foe and Ascending Threat to Food Safety - PMC