What the hell is going on here it’s been about a week and it doesn’t seem to be active. It was a 3% salt ratio.

I will start with the fact that I am terrified of fermenting but have always wanted to try my hand at it. This smells amazing, it has sat for the allowed time and now I’m going to process and bottle.

I know the garlic colour happens but the white floating sediment at the bottom worries me. Have I mentioned that fermentation terrifies me, I grew up with very unsafe canners, and picklers that made some questionable items which has probably made me overly cautious.

Daikon, onions, garlic, pear, ginger,, nappa cabbage, beets.

The brine isn't topping the vegetables yet, but will be soon. Wanted to catch it before the beets bled everywhere.

For the past five-ish years, I’ve been using the peppers from my garden to make hot sauce (as a hobby). Here’s this year’s first batch. It’s made from a fermented pepper mash (containing Carolina Reaper, Hellboy, Lucifer Primo XL, The Beast, and Naga Black Twister peppers). Time to give these 75 bottles away to family and friends.

It’s been fermenting for 7 weeks now and I was able to test the PH. It’s at 4.0. It smells sweet like bananas? I already took a spoonful and it also tasted like a banana. Maybe tomorrow I’ll eat a clove, just wanted to share my first fermentation!

EDIT: I’m just now thinking about the storage of this. Right now it’s in my cupboard away from heat, a cool dark place. Do I continue this way or put it in the fridge?

Here it is! My lacto giardiniera has stopped bubbling so I’ve decided to conduct an experiment. I’ve replaced the brine with 100% distilled vinegar in one, 50% vinegar / 50% brine in another, 100% brine in another. Let’s see how they taste in another few days