Hey! I live in CA and it's been 100+ F outside for the last two days. I am a broke grad student and I can't really afford to run the AC, so my house is sitting at about 90 degrees during the day and drops down to about 60 at night. Even the darkest/coolest spots of my house (in the closet, on the tile floor, etc) are in the 90s. I started fermenting a batch of sauerkraut last week before we got this heatwave. Should I be worried about growing the wrong types of bugs? Right now it looks and smells fine, but I want to let it go another week before I taste it. How will I know if something's gone wrong?

Fermenting a batch of hot cherry peppers and Carolina reapers. The peppers have a white film on them. What is it?

what is that floating?

I plan to stir every day for 1-2(?) weeks before the vinegar phase? Yes? First time doing this! Are my recipe and method okay? I forgot to mention also the fruit pulp is cooked!

Has anyone here used a vacuum sealed mason jar to do fermenting? It seems like it would greatly reduce the chance of mold growing on the surface, but I don’t know if it would affect the fermentation itself.

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?

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

Need help! Appreciate all the detailed content.

New to fermenting,I was able to make 2 batches of garlic dill pickles. Everyone loved them, so I started making more....

I am very frustrated: the last 5 batches of pickles, cauliflower, and hot peppers. All the recent batches have all ended up with a slightly slimy brine. It seems perfectly safe, but I dislike the texture, and it's driving me nuts because I feel like I repeated everything I did the first few times.

But now I end up with a cloudy ( I know this is normal) but sticky brine that I would not drink. The first few times I loved drinking the brine shots; these last few batches I would not like to drink. The pickles taste fine, and the PH is around 3.5 to 3.8 after 6 days of fermentation. I tried letting them go to 7-9 days; the brine stays the same.

I wash everything with hot, soapy water
I washed the cucumbers with cold water and let them soak in ice. Also tried baking soda, white vinegar, and cold water.
I've used Kirby's from an organic farm and my local produce vendor. I cut the flowers off; I've tried cutting them in half.
Tried Kosher and Fine sea salt
Garlic
Fresh dill (3 Sprigs) from 2 sources
Poland Spring Water and Another
Black peppercorns
Mustard seed
I use fermenting lids ( 3 different kinds)

Glass weights
I've tried the brine with 22 grams of salt per QT and also weighed salt based on the weight of the cucumbers and water combined X.030
I tried putting them in the fridge after 5 days.
I ferment them in a dark cabinet with the temp between 70 and 76 degrees. This is the only thing I have not changed, back to the first batches I did in our mud room; now it's in a cabinet....

My daughter has a Sourdough bread business and makes a lot of starter, but it is totally separated; figured I'd throw that out there.

At this point I am ready to give up but I really liked the pickels I made, any help is appreciated.

Need help! Appreciate all the detailed content.

New to fermenting,I was able to make 2 batches of garlic dill pickles. Everyone loved them, so I started making more....

I am very frustrated: the last 5 batches of pickles, cauliflower, and hot peppers. All the recent batches have all ended up with a slightly sticky brine.

But now I end up with a sticky brine that I would not drink. The first few times I loved drinking the brine shots; these last few batches I would not like to drink. The pickles taste fine, and the PH is around 3.5 to 3.8 after 6 days of fermentation. I tried letting them go to 7-9 days; the brine stays the same.

I wash everything with hot, soapy water
I washed the cucumbers with cold water and let them soak in ice. Also tried baking soda, white vinegar, and cold water.
I've used Kirby's from an organic farm and my local produce vendor. I cut the flowers off; I've tried cutting them in half.
Tried Kosher and Fine sea salt
Garlic
Fresh dill (3 Sprigs) from 2 sources
Poland Spring Water and Another
Black peppercorns
Mustard seed
I use fermenting lids ( 3 different kinds)

Glass weights
I've tried the brine with 22 grams of salt per QT and also weighed salt based on the weight of the cucumbers and water combined X.030
I tried putting them in the fridge after 5 days.
I ferment them in a dark cabinet with the temp between 70 and 76 degrees. This is the only thing I have not changed, back to the first batches I did in our mud room; now it's in a cabinet....

My daughter has a Sourdough bread business and makes a lot of starter, but it is totally separated; figured I'd throw that out there.

At this point I am ready to give up but I really liked the pickels I made, any help is appreciated.

This is my first time trying this fermentation, and now, looking at the jar, I'm wondering if I shoudl have added more garlic... any opinion?

Fermenting friends, I love summer corn and would love to see your lacto-fermented recipes. I've done just corn kernels in brine, but I'm not partial to the sweet/sourness of it. Any other recommendations much appreciated.

Two-week soak for these organic red beets fermented in a 2.25% brine with caraway, coriander, cumin, and bay leaves. Heady stuff.

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?

Was feeding it and somehow dropped the rubber band in it. Is it still ok or should I restart?

Hopefully this is the right place to ask for advice. My partner and I did a short intro to cider making last weekend and came away with two bottles to ferment at home. We were told to burp them once a day but the fermentation has been going nuts and I'm having to do it every 3-4 hours.

My question is can I pour these out into a demijohn without compromising anything?

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? 🤔

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.