Fermentation 2023.

[tp4tissue]

If ne1's thinkn bout pickln' 2023

Tp4 highly recommends, the White Radish.

Similar to craut, it only requires salt.


- Cut into 0.5 - 1 cm slices

- Massage with 0.015%  salt,  1.5g per 100g of radish.

- No added water necessary, massaged properly, the radish should release enough water to cover itself. if you don't get enough juices, keep massaging.

- Pack tightly in jar.

- Use smaller jar filled with water as counterweight inside big jar.

Buy pickle jars for reuse, they're $7 with the pickles,  lot better value than buying fermentation jugs, which are much smaller, and honestly don't work any better.

21 days to develop (full sour) in 68* Fahrenheit. 12-15 days @ 70* F+

[fohat.digs]

Carrots, Bok choi, and peppers play well with daikon in vegetable ferments.
And some garlic and ginger can really brighten up the flavor.

[PlayBox]

i only eat pickled cucumbers from the pickled foods but i like them very much i also recccomend pickling if you ask me

[Findecanor]

I pickled some daikon in regular "pickle juice" (vinegar, sugar, water) a few weeks ago.
When I opened the jar, it tasted OK but smelled horrible: I think it was the combination of daikon, vinegar and the ginger I had used for spice.

Hmm. Just salt, you say?

[noisyturtle]

If I could, I'd put pickled red onions and giardiniera on everything!

[tp4tissue]

Radish Configuration to keep them BELOW the water line.

[fohat.digs]

"pickle juice" (vinegar, sugar, water)

"Pickling" and fermentation are completely different processes. Humans have been using fermentation for millennia, and that is: using naturally-occurring microbes to change the fresh food material into another (and sometimes considered "partially digested") form. There are numerous reasons that LIVE cultures are so beneficial to the digestive system. Cannot be recommended highly enough:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/109800.Wild_Fermentation

When you buy a jar of "pickles" (cucumber, okra, peppers, etc) you are buying vegetables that were dunked in a brine of vinegar, salt, etc, and almost surely includes a cocktail of preservatives designed to ensure that there are no live organisms at work inside the jar. They are just sour-tasting vegetables with little health benefit.

[tp4tissue]

The primary difference between  ferment vs non-ferment,  is the LIVE bacterial culture which rebuilds/ strengthens one's gut-microbiom.

Store bought fermented foods and prebiotic pills, etc, are typically depleted or even pasteurized to prevent spoilage.

[fohat.digs]

Recently I made a ferment that worked very well. Daikon, bok choy, and carrots in roughly equal parts - nothing else except salt.

I grate the root vegetables rather fine and dice the bok choy whites into small cubes and the greens into quarter-sized pieces.

[tp4tissue]

bokchoy is good, it releases alot of water right away so you get good coverage.

[noisyturtle]

I made a cornish hen yesterday that I let marinade in leftover pickle juice for a night. Really good, the dill tang really came through and it was super moist.

[tp4tissue]

Just put in a new batch.

3,300 milliliters net, 50g salt, Napa cabbage, cannonball cabbage, cauliflower.  coincidence all white, not racist

[pixelpusher]

how do you know it's not going to have something funky in it that will make you sick after rotting/fermenting for a while?  Do you just eat a little the first time to sample and see if you get ill?

[tp4tissue]

how do you know it's not going to have something funky in it that will make you sick after rotting/fermenting for a while?  Do you just eat a little the first time to sample and see if you get ill?

If there's something funky, you can usually see it.  The taste will be obvious.

Fermentation is different from (Rot) which is usually putrification.

What meat does in a human stomach is Putrification. A primary contributor to colon cancer.


What bacteria do TO the veggies is Fermentation, the most typical fermentation tech is using leuconostoc species and  lactobacilli (which exists naturally on most veggies, it converts the sugars to acid and CO2.

The acid is what prevents Spoilage. The fermentation process and added 1.5% salt is essentially a battleground which selects for the "good" bacteria, the anaerobic bacteria to survive. These are the same dudes living in your gut. 98% of which are anaerobes.   The bacteria creates its own environment, which only it can survive in, the acidity and outgas.  A layer of co2 will float above the inside of the jar, preventing aerobic bacteria and mold from growing.

Setup properly the lactobacilli eventually out competes all the other bacteria.


Overall, do it a few times, you'll get the hang of it, don't worry about failure, start with small batches and experiment.

[fohat.digs]

how do you know it's not going to have something funky in it that will make you sick

What bacteria do TO the veggies is Fermentation

a battleground which selects for the "good" bacteria, the anaerobic bacteria to survive. These are the same dudes living in your gut.

Setup properly the lactobacilli eventually out competes all the other bacteria.

TL;DR  - keep the solids submerged at all times and you should be OK, hence the multitude of "weighting" techniques

[tp4tissue]

how do you know it's not going to have something funky in it that will make you sick

What bacteria do TO the veggies is Fermentation

a battleground which selects for the "good" bacteria, the anaerobic bacteria to survive. These are the same dudes living in your gut.

Setup properly the lactobacilli eventually out competes all the other bacteria.

TL;DR  - keep the solids submerged at all times and you should be OK, hence the multitude of "weighting" techniques

It's a combination of weighting and CO2.

The CO2 is heavier than air, it rests right above the ferment creating a moderate oxygen barrier. You want a decent seal on the jar, vent every 2-3 days to relieve pressure,  while venting, minimize lateral motion which disturbs the liquid, too much rocking causes excess loss of CO2.

That liquid is full of nutrients especially in no-water-added ferments, where it's all from the vegetable itself. it's a very sweet liquid.  that sugar liquid can spoil if exposed to too much oxygen.

The acidity has to rise quickly enough to stave off spoilage,  it's a partial Timed Race.

[fohat.digs]

it's a very sweet liquid.  that sugar liquid can spoil if exposed to too much oxygen.

The acidity has to rise quickly enough to stave off spoilage

My ferments always seem to be plenty salty and acidic to protect them.

I usually let them work at room temperature (covered with salt water in "casserole" dishes with upside-down lids, not exposed to open air) for about a week or less, then move them to the refigerator in loosely-capped jars. Within a couple of days they are noticably acidic, and as long as I keep the vegetables under water, I have never had a problem with spoilage.

Remember, people have done this for thousands of years, and refrigeration has only been around for 150 or so.

 

[tp4tissue]

I usually let them work at room temperature for about a week or less, then move them to the refigerator in loosely-capped jars. Within a couple

Refrigeration after 1 week seems a good strategy for summer ferments where there isn't a cool enough basement.

Tp4's recent batch just completed 3 weeks in basement.  Successfully.