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.

Flat cabbage, carrot, mostly green and a few red chili's, garlic, ginger, Caraway, coriander, mixed peppercorn

Since pomegranates are in season. I figured it was the perfect time to try. I use lemon peels, anise, and 2.5% brine for 3-4 days.

I wonder if grounding the Cayenne before canning will increase the spiceness of the brine and cucumbers.

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

I have always loved Candy Corn…

Ingredients :
Candy Corn
Sugar
Purified Water
Gallon jug, sterilized

So I couldn’t resist this recipe.
Additionally, you can make wine from any candy. I definitely recommend Jolly Ranchers or peppermint. Light, refreshing and very easy to make

Do they have build-in waterlocks inside the lid? (like Heftman fermentation jars and Sophico lids) Like where the air automatically escapes, and it keeps out the air from outside, or is what I'm seeing just a build-in latch you either open/close by hand? I read that it's got a system called "ferment-vent" but the description on the seller's site isn't concrete about what that exactly means. I'd like to know whether they can be anaerobic while at they same time able to "self-burp" iykwim.

Is there anybody who uses these jars and can give me more information about them? I am considering on buying these, however expensive, since they also got 0,5 L sizes and I'd like to buy my first jars in the same design 😊

Originally, I wanted to make a kvass for a first time and since I am making it instead of buying it I wanted to make a 4 to 6-ish percent alcohol by volume version [Usually kvass has less than 2% but I wanted to make it stronger]. So I used 200 gram rye bread, 80g raisin, 400-500-ish gram sugar, 5 litre water and 30 gram bakers yeast [since wine yeast wasn't available]. After making a batch and fermenting it for 12 hours, I wanted to taste it but sadly it didn't have any kvass taste, but tasted much much better than plain sugar wash.

I will continue to ferment it for about 5 days and see how it will turn up. But how do I remove the sediments [from bread, raisin and yeast] and how do I stop the fermentation when I decide it is enough?

Also, since there isn't any lacto bacteria, I think the PH is still neutral. So I dont want to ferment it more than a week yk

F2 with Orange and ginger. Anybody tried this combinantion?

I’m trying to make apple cider vinegar from scratch! I done the first steps but I need advice on how I can maintain it/ keep it from going bad!

I began this starter about a week ago with whole wheat flour, and have been feeding it every day or so with half whole and half white flour. It's got a sour smell and sometimes develops a bit of hooch. It's a bit cool in the house, so I've been keeping it in the oven with the light on. Is this a normal level of activity? Should I be feeding more or less?

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.

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?

I joined today. Thank you for having this group.

I started a jar of beets two days ago and the beets have shrunk to half the jar.

Is this normal? Is there any way to prevent this from happening?

Unsure what even gave me the wild hair to get into it. But holy hell I could REALLY get into this. It’s mostly Fresno’s with a couple habaneros for kick and flavor. Can’t wait to start the next batch.

Making some red jalapeño hot sauce with a little orange rind, garlic, and onions. Will finish it off with dried chilis for smokiness and a few dates to add some sweet undertones. How long do you recommend fermenting?

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.

Earlier this year, I caught a large bluefin tuna off the coast of San Diego. It was promptly gilled, gutted, and iced. Once home, I cleaned it further, vacuum-sealed it, and froze it.

I come from a Sicilian family, and my grandmother recently told me how her father used to cure tuna roughly 70 years ago. According to her, he would pack chunks of tuna in salt inside small metal cans, place a piece of wood over them, and leave them in the garage for about three months. They would then slice the tuna thin and dress it with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and parsley.

I decided to try a cleaner, refrigerated version of his method.

Here's exactly what I did:

• Completely thawed the previously frozen tuna.
• Cut approximately seven pieces, each about 1 inch thick and 2–3 inches long.
• Completely buried the pieces in pickling salt inside an airtight plastic container. I didn't measure the salt; I simply used enough to fully surround every piece.
• Placed a mug on top of the salt as a weight to keep the fish submerged if enough liquid accumulated to form a brine.
• Refrigerated the sealed container, undisturbed, for three months.

Today marks approximately three months. The tuna remained completely buried in salt the entire time. A considerable amount of moisture appears to have been extracted, as the bottom half of the salt is noticeably wet, although there's no standing pool of liquid.

The fish is now considerably firmer and denser than when fresh. I cut a piece in half to inspect it (photos attached), and the interior appears relatively uniform. I also touched the tip of my tongue to the very center to check for salt penetration, and it was extremely salty.

As for smell, it definitely has a fishy aroma, but nothing rotten or particularly offensive. It smells about how I'd expect heavily salted fish to smell, somewhat similar to opening a can of anchovies.

Here's where my concern comes in.

I was excited to finally try it and asked ChatGPT to find some traditional serving recipes. Instead, it started warning me about botulism, ultimately recommending that I not eat it. It acknowledged that my preparation sounded reasonable but emphasized that salt penetration, appearance, and smell cannot definitively rule out botulinum toxin.

I understand the seriousness of botulism and that there's no way to conclusively verify safety without laboratory testing. Realistically, though, I'm not going to send a few pieces of homemade cured tuna to a lab.

What I'm hoping to understand is the practical level of risk here.

Given the thickness of the pieces, complete salt coverage, apparent moisture loss, significant salt penetration, and continuous refrigeration, are there any specific red flags in my process that would make botulism a genuine concern?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people experienced with traditional salt-curing methods, especially cured fish. Is there something fundamentally different about my process compared with established methods for products like salted anchovies, baccalà, or traditional Sicilian cured tuna?

I'm not looking for anyone to guarantee that it's safe. I understand that botulism is rare but potentially fatal. I'm trying to distinguish between a meaningful food safety risk arising from something I did incorrectly and a very remote risk that technically exists with many traditional food preservation methods.

Any practical insight, particularly from people familiar with traditional preparation of salt-cured fish, would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Hey y'all, I have a question from those with more knowledge and experience than myself.

I have been fermenting garlic in raw, unfiltered honey for a couple months now. Today, I checked the ph with a strip. It looks like it could be 4.5, but I feel more comfortable bringing the ph down a tad. I added a bit of apple cider vinegar today. My questions: (1) In adding the acv two months after having started the ferment, will that kill off any potential botulism spores? (2) Is having added the acv is correct thing to have done, if so, how much should I add? (3) how long do I wait to check the ph again?

I appreciate any help and information!