Fermenting.

[Karrr_Luda]

Originally Posted by NewWestGardener

Thanks, I will give that a try. I imagine the near ripe ones are more flavorful than the little ones, more sugar in them.

BTW, fermented turnips are great, the best way to eat it anyways, as they have a nice firm texture.
I grew up in a remote Chinese farm near the Russian border, our winters are never without pickled turnips. Actually I suspect the Chinese term for "turnip"is actually borrowed from Russian language. They are always pickled, usually whole, never used fresh. Once ready, they will be julienned, then spiced with chili oil, and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

Chili oil: pure boiling hot oil directly into a bowl of chili flakes.

Thank you!! I shall make some fermented turnips (after my next trip to the grocery store). I tried to ferment some of white long radish by itself, an that was pretty good to my opinion, didn't go too well with my family though, so I ended up eating it by myself, when no one was around. I made round slices and just stuffed them in a narrow jar with some spices and brine. Perfect sandwich topper if you can handle the smell.

[Salsacharley]

My first fermenting attempts are somewhat successful so far. I fermented over 100 Aji Amarillo and Caribbean Seasoning peppers (they are small peppers) in a 1 qt canning jar that I drilled a hole in and set up an airlock. I mixed in about 2 T of white vinegar, cummin, oregano and salt. The jar blew out the airlock 3 times and I had to keep taking out peppers to try and get some head space. Today was the 25th day of fermenting so I went ahead and ran the brew (or whatever you call the fermented peppers) through an old Oster blender and liquified it pretty well. I then strained that slurry and bottled the sauce in squeeze bottles. I put some on my lunch meat loaf and it was pretty good. I put a bit too much salt in it, but it had a pretty good flavor. It is runny since I didn't use any thickener. It has a flavor aspect similar to Tabasco. Come to think of it, Tabasco is runny, too. The heat of the sauce is considerably less than the raw peppers.

[Salsacharley]

Here's another fermenting attempt. This is about 3 pounds of superhots chopped in a Ninja blender. I added garlic and salt and that's it. This stuff is dangerous. I has Reapers, 7 Pots, Chocolate Ghosts, Apocalypse Scorpions, Orange Long Tail Scorpions, and Chocolate Naga Brains in it. I just blew out its airlock today so I stirred it back down, cleaned the airlock and put it back together. I guess I need one of those weights to hold the fruit in the brine.

[Worth1]

Toxic blend.
Worth

[Worth1]

Picked up 5 rubber stoppers with wholes for airlocks for my ever growing collection of gallon wine bottles.
I put off ordering them and waited till I was working in the area where the brew store is in Austin.
My route took me right by the place.

[Father'sDaughter]

My Calabrese peppers apparently crossed with something last year. Instead of short, fat, cone shaped peppers that could be pickled and stuffed (with provolone and prosciutto), I ended up with elongated, skinny peppers that are pretty darn hot. A lot of them!

I stemmed, halved and cleaned out the seeds, and they have been fermenting with some onions and herbs for the past week and a half. This weekend they will go to the fridge for storage. A pint at a time, prior to serving, they will be drained and marinated in a oil, vinegar, garlic, basil and oregano mixture for a week. I did this last year with all the extras after pickling and stuffing enough to keep and share, and they came out great.

[Worth1]

I almost have enough red Ghost peppers to ferment.
I wish I had enough to ferment 15 liters of them in the big crock.

Worth

[Worth1]

Ran across a guy on YouTube that seems to think you can ferment cabbage without salt.
The he says he has read somewhere you can substitute celery for salt.

Don't believe everything you see on YouTube.

Worth

[Hunt-Grow-Cook]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Ran across a guy on YouTube that seems to think you can ferment cabbage without salt.
The he says he has read somewhere you can substitute celery for salt.

Don't believe everything you see on YouTube.

Worth

Lacto-Fermentation does work without salt. Whey or Kefir starter is used.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Hunt-Grow-Cook

Lacto-Fermentation does work without salt. Whey or Kefir starter is used.

Yeah but not just cabbage and water.

[coronabarb]

From UC Davis - "Lacto-Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, and/or alcohol. Lactic acid bacteria breaks down a food and in the process lowers the pH of the food making it more acidic. Examples of this are cucumbers turned into pickles and milk turned into yogurt."

Since we are talking about fermenting cabbage, you would need to use salt to prevent bad bacteria from taking over before the acid is formed. Typically, you don't add acid first. If some kind of acidic starter is added, that would be a different process (although I've not heard of that method before).

[Hunt-Grow-Cook]

Originally Posted by coronabarb

From UC Davis - Lactic acid bacteria breaks down a food and in the process lowers the pH of the food making it more acidic."

Since we are talking about fermenting cabbage, you would need to use salt to prevent bad bacteria from taking over before the acid is formed. Typically, you don't add acid first. If some kind of acidic starter is added, that would be a different process (although I've not heard of that method before).

Most certainly would be lactic acid bacteria present in a starter, correct? What am I missing? Typically when using a starter, the produce is chopped smaller to allow more surface contact with the starter liquid, slightly lower fermentation temps to slow the process, and air tight containers. Don't see how its a different process, its essentially a jumpstart to the same thing. Salt can be used in addition to a starter, but is absolutely not necessary. At least for certain types of ferments.

[oakley]

Nothing is needed. Vegetables have enough lactic acid bacteria to initiate fermentation.

Starters are used, brine/salt, whey, kefir, or even better, mature juice from an older batch of kraut,
to speed up fermentation and have some control as well as temperature etc.

Celery has more natural occurring salts as well as some other veg.
Cutting your cabbage or any fermented veggie small/thin breaks up the cell
walls and releases the naturally occurring bacteria as a sort of 'head start' to
give the good bacteria a chance to overwhelm the bad bacteria. Hence the first
step in fermentation is the bubble war forming. Then any oxygen is forced out
using air-locks, etc.

Cooler temps helps also. Slows down fermentation and gives that bacteria
battle more time. Good bacteria wins as the bad stuff needs oxygen.

Maybe I just made all that up, , but I have read The Art of Fermentation
recently, cover to cover. Refer to it often.

I use a light salt brine soak, then rinse. It gets all the veg a head start by
drawing out some moisture and activating the bacteria. Salt also adds flavor.
I don't like most ferments that are overly salty. Not necessary at all if using
some celery and a brine.

[Hunt-Grow-Cook]

Originally Posted by oakley

Nothing is needed. Vegetables have enough lactic acid bacteria to initiate fermentation.

Starters are used, brine/salt, whey, kefir, or even better, mature juice from an older batch of kraut,
to speed up fermentation and have some control as well as temperature etc.

Celery has more natural occurring salts as well as some other veg.
Cutting your cabbage or any fermented veggie small/thin breaks up the cell
walls and releases the naturally occurring bacteria as a sort of 'head start' to
give the good bacteria a chance to overwhelm the bad bacteria. Hence the first
step in fermentation is the bubble war forming. Then any oxygen is forced out
using air-locks, etc.

Cooler temps helps also. Slows down fermentation and gives that bacteria
battle more time. Good bacteria wins as the bad stuff needs oxygen.

Maybe I just made all that up, , but I have read The Art of Fermentation
recently, cover to cover. Refer to it often.

I use a light salt brine soak, then rinse. It gets all the veg a head start by
drawing out some moisture and activating the bacteria. Salt also adds flavor.
I don't like most ferments that are overly salty. Not necessary at all if using
some celery and a brine.

Pretty spot on and thorough from my understanding as well. Great post Oakley.

I've done it with salt and without, and lots of times it's just a whey starter. Like Oakley, I don't prefer overly salty pickles but sometimes a little salt is good! My daughter loves the brined turnips (well, so do I ) but some others not so much.