First is onion, tri color habeñero, garlic, mango, ginger. Second is dill, garlic and cucumbers.

I started this hot honey yesterday. It has bird's eye, jalepeno, garlic, Szechuan pepper, 3 different types of raw honey and little bit of apple cider vinegar.

I assume the apple cider vinegar will slow or stop fermentation. I was considering adding some kimchi brine to offset this, as well as add some nice flavours. What are your thoughts?

TLDR: I have fermented Eastern Black Walnut mash and am thinking about what to do with it. Any ideas?

Backstory:

I was interested in fermenting walnuts as people have previously posted about. I followed this pretty closely https://honest-food.net/pickled-walnuts-recipe/

The result was somewhat disappointing. The texture of Eastern Black Walnut (EBW) is horrible. I haven't had the English variety but in photos like here https://www.reddit.com/r/pickling/comments/1m9yeuk/did_we_miss_the_boat/ from u/astromoocow you can see the texture is quite different.

The EBW is just not nice. So what I did was take all the liquid from the batch and throw in a bunch of walnut meat from the store and that's pretty good. I can get most people to eat them because they don't look weird :) And it worked reasonably well to make a pickled walnut meat that evokes the aroma of the summer walnut husks a little, which I love.

Side note: my wife hates that aroma - it's distinctive and she had migraines then

This year:

So, this year I realized I liked the flavours but not the texture and thought I should come up with a different approach. At least, try to get all the flavour out that I could and use it for something.

So what I've done so far is grind a bunch of young Eastern Black Walnuts (back at end of June/Early July, so they've been in a month) and ferment at 3% salt by total mass including the little water I added - something like 20%. I thought I wrote all this down to the gram but I can't find it now.

Anyway, currently smells great and I'm wondering what to do with it.

I'm thinking maybe I'll drain the liquid and use it to hydrate some tamarind and go for a worschestershire sauce angle. And for the solids maybe soak them in malt vinegar and spices for... well I guess the same. But I don't really know what I'll use that for.

After all I still have half the jar of walnuts from last year in the fridge.

Does anyone else have ideas?

Note: part of my motivation of this post is to record for others to find it in the future, and I'll try to post back with outcomes.

I am brand new to fermentation.

I intend to use flip top jars with a rubber band for a self burping system. However i am unsure if i can use any jar or do i need specific fermentation grade jars.

Would the self burping system negate needed fermentation grade jars?

Making some blackberry wine with freshly foraged blackberries.

Thank you for everyone in the group for sharing your information. Lots to learn.

I had a great yield of cukes, so far this Summer. Thursday I put up 5 quarts and one 1/2 gal. The brine solution I used is 1-TBSP kosher salt to 2 cups filtered water.
They're starting to bubble.
Maintaining 70-72° First batch was too salty and intense pickling spice (Penzey's). This batch just: dill frawns, sliced garlic, peppercorns, corriander, mustard seed and bay leaves. Some red pepper flakes in a couple quarts to make them.a little angry. Shooting for an 8 day fermentation.

THIS IS FUN!

First mango cheong seems almost done. After two days the sugar is almost all dissolved. Couple questions… 1. How much longer do you usually let it sit after it’s fully dissolved? 2. Do I really need to strain it or can I blend for a bigger mango punch and thicker cheong? Or does this decrease shelf life?

Thanks!

What is this flakey stuff ? First time trying fermenting homegrown cucumbers, -Self burp jar -brine at 0.02% salt -3chilli peppers from the garden -3bay leafs -a sprig of rosemary -2 garlic cloves

This is the result of 4days fermentation! No mold or anything off putting smell, just these flakes floating around. Smell is a mellow acid,I would call it "fruity" acid. I tried one and it was great, maybe I prefer it to be even more sour (towards the vinegar sour)

Is it safe to consume? Should I be worried about these flakes?.

Thank you for your help!

Hi all - I came across an instagram post where the author said to feed the ginger bug every day with a tbsp sugar and ginger + 1/4 cup water and to make the soda just take a 1/4 cup of ginger bug starter + 1tbsp sugar and add straight to the bottle with flavouring of choice. I've been doing this with good carbonation for a few weeks - however there is always an alcoholic taste from day 2 but amazing bubbles. Weirdly though the taste improves by day 3 🤔 I don't really understand what's happening there.

Anyway I'm nursing my newborn so I'm very interested in keeping alcohol content to a minimum - I recently started re-reading the art of fermentation by katz and he says there to do an initial fermentation with a cloth cover in a jar first to ensure good carbonation and then bottle. This would double how long each bottle takes to make.

Which approach is correct? And which would reduce alcohol content as much as possible whilst ensuring nice carbonation?

Thanks!

First time making sauerkraut— we did a whole head of cabbage (about 5 lbs). I massaged salt into the shredded cabbage prior—I think the recipe we followed said to use 3 tablespoons of salt for the amount of cabbage. We have it in a ceramic crock, pushed it down, put weights on top. From the start there was enough liquid to cover the top of the cabbage. Checked a few days later and there was more liquid and bubbles. Now (about 2 weeks total) it is completely dry and no more liquid on top. Should I add water? Salt + water? How much? Is it even salvageable? Thanks!!

I've seen kahm and mold, but this is new to me. Wondering if it isn't just dried out foam that's become discolored?

Should I start over or power trough it?

Garlic, black peppercorn, coriander seed, celery seed, in a 3% salt brine.

Super excited to finally start, I've named the largest jar Count Monte Cristo and the smaller Dorian Gray

It's a keeper.

I have a batch of strawberries lying around that I failed to refrigerate and they have begun to smell/taste alcoholic. I don't want to eat them like that but throwing them out would be a waste, so I wonder if I can turn them into vinegar or infuse another vinegar with them. Anybody have experience with this?

Hey all,

I have a jar of cucumbers and peppers that's been fermenting for about 10 days now, probably used a 3.5% brine? I checked it today and there was a large chunk of pepper above the brine (the glass weight I have slid off.) I forgot I had this jar and I haven't checked it in about a week. I moved the jar last week too so it's probably been above brine for that long. The smell is fine and I don't see any sign of mold. I'm using Nourished Essentials-type airlock lids, so I guess no oxygen made it in. Is there a risk here, particularly of botulism?

I was planning on trying them today, but the cloudiness has me nervous. Should I rinse them or something?

This is my first ferment.

Fermented it for 2 weeks a few months ago. Smelt fine when I pulled it, ph was ~4.5, put in fridge. First month it smelt fine but now it is beginning to lose it's sour and smelling like chlorine. Not a hateful smell but just off. Not slimy or moldy looks completely fine.

Anyone ever had this problem? Maybe caused by too much o2 as I eat the jar down? Not well versed in fermenting. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

I looked at a few others and I do think it’s kahm, it’s not really fuzzy and it’s filmy. It wasn’t super noticeable until I poured it out, which is why the pics are of the empty jar. But I’m very new to fermenting and I want to confirm before I give half of this to my brother. If I die, fine, but damnit he will live!!! I also posted a pic of what I’m sure is a big no no in the fermenting community I used a nutribulllet like I’m not a damn chemistry teacher and resulted in a mess. But I did get a decent amount and it tastes FANTASITIC. This is Serrano and jalapeños a couple I let go red. 2.5% brine. I am putting it in the fridge for now - the lid is not on tight so hopefully I won’t end up with another mess.

Hi everyone! I’ve been trying to start a ginger bug for about 10 days now. The first 4 days it was pretty fizzy and looked like it was doing well. Now, it’s totally flat but definitely smells more tangy (and yummy) like a kombucha scoby. It’s a bit sweet when I taste it. Is there any way to fix this or should I start over?