I'm new to fermenting, but have made a few sauces that I *think* have been fermented, though there were few clear signs of it happening.
In my uninformed past, I've successfully made 2 jars of half-sour garlic pickles and 2 unsuccessful jars. The goods ones remained crisp and green, and the bad ones were dark green and soggy. I've got another jar going now (overnight, frankly) with Bay Leaves, and the brine is still clear. I'm optimistic, though I see no bubbles. They are in a large glass container with a flip-lid (the ones with the latch and orange seal.) and sitting on the counter. Do those jars have a name? I feel a bit silly calling them “flip-top jars with the orange seal."
I've also made Kimchi, following a very popular Korean YouTube channel's recipe, and it has been fine. I've made a few jars and have always been happy and healthy, though I’m not sure they have been fermented. That recipe’s process was straightforward. The cabbage was soaked in salt water, mixed with my kimchi paste (flakes, sugar, salt, fish sauce, green opinions and garlic) and jarred. The cabbage let its water out, shrunk in size, created a brine and remained crunchy. While it was on the counter (though I’m not sure it actually fermented) I would rotate and spin the jar to distribute the brine. I would begin eating it almost right away, and continued doing so for weeks.
But it's the hot pepper mash that has me a bit confused. I've made a pepper sauce (not fermented) with peppers, salt, garlic, sugar, and rice-wine vinegar that went immediately into a jar and onto my plate. It's been fine in the fridge for months. But over the past few months I've been exposed to the notion of fermenting, so I'm giving it a try.
The peppers were mashed up in a food processor with garlic, a couple tablespoons of sea salt and a large pinch of sugar. It then went into a small mason jar with a plastic fermenting lid that has a little pop-up valve. Herein lies the question: I’ve seen videos and read reports of both seeing bubbles and having an expanded mash in as little as 24 hours. That has not been the case with me. It is important to note the I have not weighed any of my ingredients. Given the wildly variable recommendations for salt-to-weight ratios, and the notion that the digital scales were not available to millions of fermenters over the past thousand years, my idea was to simply use a reasonable amount and expect a variable length ferment time.
Should I expect all successful ferments to expand and fizz? If the little expanding nub on my fermenting lid doesn’t pop up, is that a sure sign of failure? My plan, like always, is to let this sit on the counter for a week, stir occasionally, and then mix with some vinegar before putting it in the fridge. While I’m sure that this should be safe, I’d like to think that I’m getting all the flavour and pro-biotic benefits of fermenting. Am I?
In my uninformed past, I've successfully made 2 jars of half-sour garlic pickles and 2 unsuccessful jars. The goods ones remained crisp and green, and the bad ones were dark green and soggy. I've got another jar going now (overnight, frankly) with Bay Leaves, and the brine is still clear. I'm optimistic, though I see no bubbles. They are in a large glass container with a flip-lid (the ones with the latch and orange seal.) and sitting on the counter. Do those jars have a name? I feel a bit silly calling them “flip-top jars with the orange seal."
I've also made Kimchi, following a very popular Korean YouTube channel's recipe, and it has been fine. I've made a few jars and have always been happy and healthy, though I’m not sure they have been fermented. That recipe’s process was straightforward. The cabbage was soaked in salt water, mixed with my kimchi paste (flakes, sugar, salt, fish sauce, green opinions and garlic) and jarred. The cabbage let its water out, shrunk in size, created a brine and remained crunchy. While it was on the counter (though I’m not sure it actually fermented) I would rotate and spin the jar to distribute the brine. I would begin eating it almost right away, and continued doing so for weeks.
But it's the hot pepper mash that has me a bit confused. I've made a pepper sauce (not fermented) with peppers, salt, garlic, sugar, and rice-wine vinegar that went immediately into a jar and onto my plate. It's been fine in the fridge for months. But over the past few months I've been exposed to the notion of fermenting, so I'm giving it a try.
The peppers were mashed up in a food processor with garlic, a couple tablespoons of sea salt and a large pinch of sugar. It then went into a small mason jar with a plastic fermenting lid that has a little pop-up valve. Herein lies the question: I’ve seen videos and read reports of both seeing bubbles and having an expanded mash in as little as 24 hours. That has not been the case with me. It is important to note the I have not weighed any of my ingredients. Given the wildly variable recommendations for salt-to-weight ratios, and the notion that the digital scales were not available to millions of fermenters over the past thousand years, my idea was to simply use a reasonable amount and expect a variable length ferment time.
Should I expect all successful ferments to expand and fizz? If the little expanding nub on my fermenting lid doesn’t pop up, is that a sure sign of failure? My plan, like always, is to let this sit on the counter for a week, stir occasionally, and then mix with some vinegar before putting it in the fridge. While I’m sure that this should be safe, I’d like to think that I’m getting all the flavour and pro-biotic benefits of fermenting. Am I?