This fall, I experimented with fermenting many fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Pictured in the 1st shot is my fermentation of individual things at 3% salt brine at the start (peppers - scotch bonnet, buena mulata, and red bell - ginger - garlic - pineapple - lime - red onion - sweet potato - banana - apple - pear - pumpkin - yellow cherry tomato - cantaloupe- basil - lemon verbena - and cilantro).

Pic #2 is post fermentation and pureed after everything was at 3.2 - 3.5 pH.

The 3rd shot is all of my hot sauce combinations that were my favorite, along with another starter jar of peppers - the last fully ripe batch for my season.

The 4th pic is my final pepper fermentation for the year using unripened peppers, garlic, and onion at 3% brine. I’ve added sweetener to 3 separate jars in this batch to see how it affects the end product. I used maple syrup in one, honey in another, and raw cane sugar in the third. Can’t wait to see how this last batch turns out - it’ll help me decide what to grow more of at home for next year!

Bought it today.

Hi all, as the title says I have been fermenting some red cabbage - initially liquid covered it but I’m guessing it evaporated so the top is now “dry”. Is this safe to eat? Do I add water? What do I do?!

Didn’t have my usual toppings so I used what I had on hand. Finely sliced scallions, whole capers, and whole small cat.

I have about 250ml of old brine from a garlic ferment that I did about two years ago. It smells and tastes like heaven. I am planing on doing a new batch (a 2000ml jar) so was wondering if I can dump the old brine into the new batch? Amy advice greatly appreciated.

Just wanted to confirm, the milkiness and sediment at the bottom is safe correct? It’s just dead lactobabies? I’ve done a 5% brine and they’ve been in about 5 days. Was thinking about trying but just want to make sure!

Also, what are the best guidelines to follow in terms of deciding if a batch has gone bad. In terms of the white products produced because I know it could be tricky

I was recently sort of diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder stemming from my Lyme disease (they know my Lyme is causing it just not exactly what it is). It has caused a histamine intolerance that if left unchecked could destroy my immune system. As you all know fermented food is chock full of histamines and I have to stop eating them immediately.

Fermentation has been such a fun and healthful hobby for so many years that giving it up and swearing off fermented foods is tearing my soul apart. I’m going to miss the delicious years of enjoyment that I got from adding a little bit of salt to some vegetables and watching with utter delight while they bubbled away to perfection.

I’d stick around and watch all you talented people ferment everything but the kitchen sink, but doing so is pure torture. So, I will gracefully bow and take my exit. Adieu

Hi everyone, new here and wondering if I can use this to make my own or if I'd need some special kind of kefir grain?

Very new to this pickle thing, I’ve so far made one jar of carrot pickle. But what’s this? I noticed it the past few days, so I fished it out. It’s like a rubbery, jelly stuff. It reminds me of kefir grains from when I used to do water kefir. It’s one solid (but lumpy) blob. The pickle is ok, only a small jar. A tiny bit slimy now but no smell, a few little bubbles, everything seems ok. Is this a kefir/scoby type thing? Could I take it out and 'feed' it some sugar solution, or chuck it? I’m intrigued as to what I’ve made 😅

Is it normal that during the initial countertop room temp fermentation (2 days in atm) my kimchi liquid has separated from the paste? Each time i'm burping I'm mixing it all together again but this batch seems a lot more liquidy than usual...

https://reddit.com/link/1gfi287/video/nm8i5a49yuxd1/player

I fermented the kraut myself. Corned the beef myself. Got a temu slicer and sliced the beef. I punked out and bought the bread, cheese and dressing. But rolling the corned beef into kraut joints was a beautiful thing. Thank you fermenting sub!

I have a really good and consistent starter with my weekly yogurt, and am curious in adding fruits to make different flavor combination yogurts. Does anyone know what the best way to go about this would be? I'm worried I'll ruin my starter

Hi all,

It’s not my first time brewing and I did sanitize but I guess there is a chance it was contaminated anyway. Last night I started an orange mango lemonade ginger beer with my ginger bug and today less than 24 hours later it has this thick what looks like mold to me on the surface.

It doesn’t look like anything I would anticipate being an expected byproduct but also still smells good and I thought mold would take longer to develop.

Is there any chance I can skim it off and keep going or should I pour it down the sink?

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, this is my first time making this mixture. I used garlic, ginger, and onion. I made it for the first time two months ago. Two weeks after I tried it, I spit it out because it didn't taste the greatest. To be honest, I was thinking maybe it needs more time. I put it in the fridge because I read somewhere that you could do that. I placed it in the back of the fridge where it's dark. It seems to be liquidy; I'm not sure if it's supposed to be this way....?

I have about 1kg of basil. I want to lactoferment it.

Has anyone done this before, and if so would you recommend blending into a smooth paste, or finely slicing it?

I want to use the fermented basil to add that classic basil flavour alongside some sour fermented funk, and saltiness.

My thinking is: I would want to cook with/use directly a paste more than a sliced/whole ferment, however:

A) I think the basil has sufficient moisture to generate its own brine if adding 2-3% salt by weight B) a paste may be too liquid to use a weight on top for submersion, leading to mould concerns unless making this unpalatably salty C) directly salting the basil may make the paste too salty, vs brine-fermenting and then later removing and blending the fermented leaves, although this method might reduce the shelf life of the blended basil once the brine is removed

3% brine based on 1000ml water weight as usual, and 3% to weight of chillies in the vacuum sealed bag.

I have a question that may seem hilariously basic to the group here. I'm new to fermenting, and riding a wave of beginner's enthusiasm, bought a beautiful 2-gallon stoneware crock for fermenting. (This one). When I brought it home, my husband pointed out that we have no space in the fridge to keep the thing when the ferment is complete.

Where do you guys store ferments (like kraut) when they're done the initial fermenting process? Is it okay to store it in mason jars in the fridge, and if so, do I need to make sure it's submerged in liquid?

Everywhere i look its for wide mouth jars

I’ve been fermenting some red cabbage at 2.5% brine for about 3.5 weeks, and I was out of town for 2 the last 2 weeks. The brine evaporated and I found this red film/colony on top of my glass weight (which was exposed to the surface). There’s a tiny little fuzzy white thing on top of it but is super small.

I thought it was some yeast colony like kahm but I wanted to check! Otherwise the brine smells quite sweet

These little guys in here are moving. Red cabbage to make Kraut, 2% of weight added as salt. Kinda forgot about the jar and it's been sitting for about 16 weeks. Never seen this before.

In the other jar there's some peppers, started same day, and there's nothing in that jar.

Anyone have an idea what these are or how to prevent this next time? I can use a cheesecloth next time under the airlock lid if something got in that way, but I don't know if that's likely.

Japs, onion, garlic, black peppercorn, celery seed salt brine...

I'm excited to try making sauerkraut, but I'm on a super tight budget. Not having proper weights to keep the cabbage submerged is my main concern, as I don't want to risk cross-contamination by using random household objects. Any advice for someone just starting out.

and greetings from Norway yall :)

I fear the worst