Kimchi And Fermented Vegetables How To And Why

Well in the chayote jar I put some coriander seeds and cilantro stalks, along with a bit of curry powder and tumeric. I'm really not sure I added enough of the powders to do anything, but the cilantro and coriander flavours should definitely come through a bit.

I looked it up and you aren't the only one who thinks pickled ginger tastes like soap. I'm still looking for a scientific reason, but I'm sure it's similar to why you hate cilantro. (Yes I love this stuff ).

 

I don't eat the ginger but it adds an interesting heat.

 

I love the flavor and heat it adds...love the smell too.

I'm not sure if it goes to well with fermented mushrooms though. My mushrooms didn't turn out so well. Ginger was the only thing that I added that wasn't in the online recipe that I used.

They suck, but I'm eating them anyway. I hate throwing food out if it's still edible.

 

That's the way I feel about the cucumbers I have. I'm going to keep them to add to anything I'd add pickle relish or cubed pickles to.

 

I found it imparted the soapy taste to all the vegetables. I love ginger otherwise. I put it in teas, in stir fries, tons of other things and it tastes heavenly, but pickled, all I taste is soap. Keep looking Mattey, I need a cure!

 

So I went to check my jars that are fermenting today and all the garlic in one jar has turned blue! Is it mold? Nothing else looks moldy or blue.

 

It should be fine. I've read in a couple of different places that it can turn blue, green, and teal.

http://www.pickl-it.com/faq/113/why-garlic-cloves-pickles-turn-bluish-green/

 

Ooo, can you take a picture of it? I wanna see!

Nope it's not mold. It's a reaction between the sulphur in garlic and possibly copper or other compounds and it's safe to eat.

Here are a couple of links that explain it in more detail (go to the bottom of the page for the first link, after the question section).

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/bluegarlic.htm

http://www.pickl-it.com/faq/113/why-garlic-cloves-pickles-turn-bluish-green/

ETA: Expanse beat me to it. He's fast! (Dang slow mobile.)

 

I jarred my hot peppers today. I seeded most of them but left a few with seeds for more heat, and cut them into rings. The only thing I put in with them were a few garlic cloves.




I also put together the orange and green cauliflower. I finally found 2 litre jars! I added garlic and a serrano pepper.

 

I bet that cauliflower is going to be off the chain!

 

Well here is the blue garlic!



And now some updates:

The two jars of cucumber slices smell delicious and are getting moved to the fridge now. I tasted one of the dill ones and it is awesome!

The chayote on the other hand smells really weird. When I checked it today it had a creamy white film all over the top and smelled sweet instead of sour. It almost smelled like some sort of wine. Did I accidentally make booze? I skimmed all the whitish stuff off the top and put it back but I have a feeling it's a goner.

 

Don't give up on it. I've had the white scum too, it's nothing to worry about, just skim it off like you did....wine smell is good! You may have cultured a different strain of yeast that was on the chayote and if there is available sugar in the chayote, yeah, it could be making a tiny bit of alcohol. As long as it doesn't smell offensive it's probably ok.

 

Thanks for the pic, cool blue garlic. And the pickles look good!

Re the film, it's probably yeast, might be kahm yeast. Too much oxygen forms yeast. I'm not sure the wine smell is good but the film may be harmless. Here's a good link that explains it better. You might be able to decide from the pictures and descriptions whether your film is okay.

http://awakeningtoheal.com/2013/11/11/what-about-the-white-film-on-my-sauerkraut/


And a link about kahm yeast.

http://www.culturesforhealth.com/white-film-cultured-vegetables-mold

 

There are actually a few yeasts that grow in anaerobic conditions. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC95164/
"Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a petite-phenotype-positive (“petite-positive”) yeast, which can successfully grow in the absence of oxygen. On the other hand, Kluyveromyces lactis as well as many other yeasts are petite negative and cannot grow anaerobically. In this paper, we show that Saccharomyces kluyveri can grow under anaerobic conditions, but while it can generate respiration-deficient mutants, it cannot generate true petite mutants." :yikes: :mickey:

 

Get your chemistry set out, Mattey, and tell us which yeast it is!

 

I do really wish I had a microscope. Not only would I be looking at that yeast right now, but I would be able to identify mushroom spores.

 

I got a small head of cauliflower for $1.98. I'm going to ferment, of course!

 

I finally got the cauliflower into brine last night. Now, it's happy.

 

I need to start some more kimchi. I'd like to try something else out of the fermentation book I got too. Right now I'm on hf, so I'll have to ferment later.

Aerianne, I love your sig pic, hahaha!

 

Thank you!