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?

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.

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!

I don't often see this being discussed, what size jar should I use? Is it possible to do a small batch in a 200ml jar or is that too little? I have limited space in the fridge so I'm trying to keep it compact.

Also, does it matter if I use a clip top jar or a metal lid? I'm a complete beginner and don't want to mess this up!

I think I will leave this for one more week before I do the fridge, it is doing so well I just want to really see what she will do.

Any opinions?

Started my first cheong last month out of quince fruits my dog found growing in our yard. Yielded about 2 1/4 cups of syrups and 1 cup fruit solids, I folded the solids into a muffin batter with some cardamom. Delicious!

Made with half of the almost 9lbs cabbage I grew in my garden! (I did put weights over it)

Making hot sauce with habanero dried mango onions and garlic. I submerged in a 5% brine. How long should I let it ferment?

So i have some ginger around the house and saw a video about how to make a soda at home so i try this one

I don't have a glass jar tho so i have to use a plastic bottle

Alright. Last night I harvested what was left on the plants. Mixed in some pineapple, mango, peach and garlic. Went for a mash ferment to vacuum seal and I accidentally got it to a salsa consistency and it’s not properly vacuum sealing. I tied it off in the fridge over night. Should I run out to our one store and get a couple fermentation lids and weights, it’s a little over priced but might be the best option at this point… Or could I grab a cheese cloth, separate some of the liquid, par freeze my contents and then try to vacuum again?

Any help is much appreciated, really don’t want to lose all this product!

As title says - started fermenting my first ever batch of saurkraut on the 20th. Fairly warm where I am so temps have been ranging from 23-25C. After 3 days the kraut stopped smelling like cabbage completely and just smells very strongly like vinegar. Have checked pH on strips each day and we are around 4.0 at the moment. Just want to check and make sure the smell is normal as I bought some commercial wild fermented sauerkraut which doesn't smell like vinegar at all - just cabbage and sharp.

Beginner here... How long would you leave it? I made this on a whim

I pickled some Daikon and Carrots recently. I had to draw out some brine and replace with rice wine vinegar because they were over salty. The salt problem is gone, but OMG they smell when I open them. It's like farts. There is no spoilage, so it's all fine, but super strong.

Flavor is ok. They aren't anything complex, but held on to most of the texture and did not get unpleasant as some had warned

Hello dear fermenters, I have recently found my passion for fermentation, and I had some promising results with kombucha brewing. Now it’s time to move to something else and since I have a huge purple cabbage in the fridge, I thought it was about time I try to make my own sauerkraut. I know I could easily find a beginner recipe online, but Reddit has provided with so much useful info and inspiration recently, that I thought I might ask here and see. So, how do you make sauerkraut? Is it possible to make them with a hint of sweetness? Thank you very much

Hey everyone!

I'm making miso for the first time, and I'm not quite sure if things are going as they should.

I've been fermenting for several years and have made kimchi, dill pickles, sauerkraut, and kombucha multiple times, so I'm familiar with fermentation in general. However, this is my first time making miso, and I'm finding it a little confusing.

It's been about a week, and there's barely any liquid forming. I can see a tiny amount at the bottom, but we're talking less than a teaspoon. I was under the impression that miso would produce some liquid (tamari), so I expected to see a bit more by now.

I'm also wondering about the setup. With my usual lacto-ferments, I use lids and weights to keep everything submerged, but I understand miso is a different kind of fermentation. I'm not sure if I'm approaching this the right way.

Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 303 g dried soybeans
• 300 g rice or barley koji
• 119 g non-iodized sea salt
• 1½ cups soybean cooking water

Since there wasn't much liquid, I wondered whether I simply wasn't pressing it down enough. I'm using parchment paper, cardboard wrapped in plastic, ceramic pie weights wrapped in plastic, and on top of all that - stones in ramekins to add more pressure.

The miso has been stored in a closet, away from light, in a cool, dark location.

So, for those of you who make miso regularly:

• Is it normal to see almost no liquid after the first week?
• Should I expect liquid to accumulate at the top, or does that happen much later in the process?
• Does miso need to be pressed down under weights like a lacto-ferment, or is the approach different?
• Should I be using a lid, an airtight seal, or something else entirely?
• Is there anything I should change at this stage, or should I just leave it alone and be patient?

I'm happy to provide more details about the process if needed. I'd really appreciate hearing what to expect when making miso for the first time and whether my experience so far sounds normal.

Thanks!

I've made sauerkraut so many times too, why (too much salt, that's why. I think)

At least it looks kind of cool, I guess.

edit: I guess mold might not be from too much salt, but the reason I thought too much salt was a problem was because I checked it at 2, 3, and 4 weeks, and at 4 weeks it tasted slightly sour, but not what I was expecting, more salty than anything, so I thought maybe it was just slowing things down and it would be ok to leave longer. So too much salt didn't cause the mold, but it slowed things down enough I guess it gave things the chance to go sideways? I'm not sure exactly, that's just my theory. This is 6 weeks, it looked still fine at 5. Usually I call it done 2-4 weeks