r/fermentation

Just proud of how these turned out!

I've made successful sauerkraut, kimchi, and a fermented hot sauce in the past, so I'm not a stranger to fermenting.

But I've never actually made pickles (cucumbers) before! I got these while in Niagara and thought I'd finally try it. I also now have a kitchen scale, so I can be more accurate with the brine.

I loved seeing the progress over time of how the ferment changes! And all the little indicators that tell you it's doing well (colour, garlic, bubbles, smell) just excited me (I'm a bio nerd).

I'll post a brief recipe in the comments

Peach, lemon and ginger bug made for a great fizz, tastes awesome!

I’ve never made fermented lemons and limes but wanted to try. fingers crossed!

Should I remove these floaters or let it ride, day 5 of my hot sauce ferment, and these mango bits snuck past the weight. It is producing a lot of co2 so I don’t want to risk opening the lid and removing them. I do have an airlock as well and the brine level is near the top of the jar. This is my first ferment. Any advice would help appreciated ! Thanks!

First time fermenting pickles this year. First jar is working out great (seven days in and they taste great) so went ahead and got two more jars rolling. We used maple leaves in the first, oak leaves in the second, and maple again in the third jar. Is anyone else out there using leaves in their pickle ferment? If so, what kinds?

Hey everyone, I am a total beginner in fermentation but I wanted to share my first two ferments with you all! I want to incorporate more probiotic rich foods in my diet but I am trying to first get to like sour things... yeah, I usually don't like them so I decided to start off by fermenting something simple like... carrots! I didn't do much here, just what my mom uses to make pickles which is 1L of water, 40g of salt and some spices of my choice (peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves). It's been two days and I think I am on the right track, the brime is turning cloudy and bubbles are appearing. I put a little glass weight to keep the carrots from ascending to the top. Should the bay leaves also be submerged or are they fine floating like that?

Second ferment was supposed to be yogurt but something went wrong(?) on the way... I heated 500ml of UHT milk to 40 degrees celsius and I added two tablespoons of store bought yogurt with activate cultures. I mixed it and put it into my airfryer (also 40 degrees celsius) for 8,5 hours. It was very watery and really sour after those 8,5 hours so I put it in the fridge overnight and checked on it today. The consistency is way better but it's still really sour and it has some little, soft pieces (last two photos). I ate few teaspoons of it and I was fine so I think or rather PRAY that it's safe to eat because I don't want it to go to waste. I have seen some people heat up the milk to 85 degrees celsius but I thought they were using unpasteurized milk and since my was already "sterile" I skipped that step. Was this step neccesarry? What went wrong here? Should have I used something else as a starter or used different temps?

I am open to any criticism and feedback 😅, I only watched a couple of vidoes about fermenting veggies and only a couple YT shorts about making yogurt and went on with it... But the world of fermentation is so vast and interesting that I got really excited to make some of my own ferments! It's not an excuse, I know... Thanks in advance!

First time fermenting carrots. Added peppercorns. It's day 3 now, and that's happening. It's even entertaining somehow.

Trying lacto fermented pickles with black pepper corn, fresh garlic, and dried dill. It’s on day 3 so I tried one. It’s tasty, but I followed a video that said “slime free okra” and mine is still a little slimy in the middle. Will that go away the longer I ferment? Did I do something wrong? I picked the smallest okras in the basket. It tastes good, just want that slimy texture gone!

It has been about 10 days since I started this batch. One day just decided to start as soon as possible. Bought a plastic container, washed it in the dishwasher, and threw it all together. Weight the salt / cabbage ratios out with a scale. Plastic bag with water just for the first attempt.

Now I know the container is probably too big, too much brine, and too much air. I will use a glass jar or something better than a plastic bag for a weight next time. I added the brine because it was hard keeping everything down (container too wide), even with the big leaves on top… later found I obviously added way too much.

Given my known problems I will address next time here is where I am at:
- smells like wet salty cabbage, not bad or rotten. I read this can happen because the brine can “mask” the fermenting smell
- tastes fine, like salty cabbage (lol) with maybe a slight fermented sour taste
- have not seen any mold or other bad signs
- there weren’t many bubbles, but a few days ago there were bubbles. They have since dissipated.
- the color in the top/middle is because I used pink salt

Advice would be appreciate — Is this worth finishing / will it just take way more time to get more sour? Or should I just re-attempt with fixing the mistakes?

From what I find online, as long as there are no bad signs, the internet and Gemini says it will just take longer but looking for an experienced take. Thanks!

Im trying fermentation for the first time on a small jar of hot sauce. I have layered electrical tape at the top with a plastic straw going into a cup of water for the air lock. When I first tested it, it didnt hold a perfect air tight seal (I blew into the straw and saw the tape rise, then fall again after I stopped blowing) but the air seemed to escape fairly slowly. Inside the jar is various peppers and some seasonings and i tried to make the brine approximately 2% salt by weight. Any advice welcome!

Plum, mango nectar, and cherry cider vinegar. The mango and plum finished up in 10 days, and the cider still has some time (and may not finish up due to the mistake described by the label).
Both the plum and mango are very nice with the plum being the front runner in terms of clarity and flavor. One of the benefits of the single stage production outlined in the Noma guides is the ability to retain a high amount of original sweetness.

Before doing some more experimental liquids, my next go will be refining a malt vinegar (malt tea vs ferment, malt comparison, single malt vs blends, etc.) and converting some Samuel Smith fruit beers into dry vinegars.
Thinking of doing a pectic drop in the next batches to increase transparency.

I just started it because I had a few apples about to go bad but imnot sure what to use it for, any suggestions?

I was inspired to try fermented cherry tomatoes over the weekend. I have an abundance of them and I threw some of my sungold tomatoes along with a few tiny cherry tomatoes into a jar with some black peppercorns, frozen garlic cloves and basil from my garden. I apparently misunderstood the instructions because I added 2% (7g) salt to the jar because I was basing the requirement of salt on the weight of the vegetables (370g) in the jar and I did not include the water that I added in the total weight. Long story short, the tomatoes and all accompaniments weigh 370 g. I added 8 g of kosher salt to that and then filled the jar with water. Everything’s been bubbling away and smell smells terrific, but I just learned that my salinity was extremely low. I just tested the pH and it’s at 5. I just re-weighed everything and the weight of all of the water, the salt that I added, and the vegetables is 736g. I just added 8 g of salt to the brine. If I can get the pH to a safe level, will these be safe to eat, or is the risk of botulism or some other terrifying toxin too high at this point for these to be safe? Started them on Sunday and today is day 2.