Worth, you are correct about importance of the container used for fermenting. It has to be enamel coatet pot, glass container, or anything that that does not react with salt and changes fermenting (wood barrels used for it as well, but they have to be aged once). What ever you ferment has to have a press on the top to make sure it is submerged completely. I helped my mom fermenting hundreds of times. Did few by my self as well. I am not 100% perfect. My moms recipe is by taste not by spoons/grams. The more you ferment the better you will be at perfecting it. It is definitely considered to be healthy food.
Good luck.

Agree that a good fermenting crock is well worth the investment. I have tried all the various Pickler products and other crocks with no lids as well as various jars and such. None of them work as well as a regular fermenting crock. But they are heavy as blazes so while you need a good sized one make sure you'll be able to handle the weight of it loaded comfortably.

Dave

Do you inoculate it to get the right mix of micro organisms, like with sourdough?

Maybe I need to get that book myself and read it.

No need. It will take about 3 days to ferment some of the veggies/fruits and as long as a week with others. The temperature plays the roll as well. Once its fermented you refrigerate it.
btw people ferment small size watermelons

Some people do like to use some sort of innoculant like whey because they want to speed up the process. I prefer not to as I don't like the milky appearance or the taste as well. And it sure isn't needed. You do however need to be careful to use the correct amount of salt - that is the safety factor.

NCHFP recommends a minimum of 7 days fermenting prior to consuming to allow for sufficient bacteria to develop. And as efisakov said, ambient temperature pays a big roll in the process - too hot and it turns soft and slimey, too cold and nothing happens. 70-75 is recommended range.

As for books one of the best for all the basics is The Joy of Pickling. Breaks it all down into charts for the different ratios of salt to water for the various brines and how to do it by the weight of vegetables and includes many good recipes.

Dave

Dave, I am not disagreeing with you. I know that over fermenting is possible. Once rite point of fermentation is achieved, it can be refrigerated to keep it at the same level.

I am no expert in this. But I notice Nourishing Traditions recommends a three day ferment for pretty much everything, followed by refrigeration.

Nourishing Traditions is also big on innoculating with homemade whey, which is a by product of making fermented milk products. Apparently there are better results with fruit when using an innoculant like this (because you don't use salt with fruit). I'm sensitive to dairy products so I don't use. I had fruit mold instead of ferment when I tried without whey. I have used saurkraut brine from Bubbie's as an innoculant as well, and you can always use brine from your last batch as a starter.

There are also good starters you can purchase from Cultures for Health. But they are often just not needed as mentioned above.

Fermented foods are suddenly huge out here. My co-op now carries Beet Kvass, a fermented beet drink. There's kombucha on tap at the health food stores too. There are a ton of small raw saurkraut makers here. Even Trader Joes carries a raw fermented saurkraut now. And classes being offered all over the place.

Alton Brown did a Good Eats on making kraut and fermented pickles and he showed another crock design with a floating wooden lid. This type of crock shown above is more elegant.

The pepper mash is with hot peppers but could a be made with a blend. My husband lets the peppers get very ripe and even adds some that get dried. I don't remember the actual amount of salt, needs to be on the high side of fermenting range.
We use it as a hot sauce and it's really good added to tomatoes/cilantro/onions for fresh salsa.
I've got to try these Russian tomato pickles this year.
I think green tomato pickles fermented would be yummy,too.

Kimchee is a great learning pickle and only needs 2-3 days. Try with cabbage, or use cucumbers, garlic chives, whatever you have too much of. You can eat it at any stage, I much on it from start to finish and it's delicious at all different levels of ferment.

They do make green pickled tomatoes. I purchase them sometimes at the Brighton Beach stores. Stuffed eggplant is delicious fermented as well.

So, is the hot sauce you buy in the little bottles in the store made from fermented peppers?

Barb, it actually is. I watched a thing on how they make Tabasco and was surprised to find out it was fermented.

Holy geese I need to get serious about this pickle / fermenting stuff as

the season here ....is 4 -6 weeks ahead of My expected norm .

Not just Tomatoes this year ....but tons of cucs , Peppers...even watermelon and pumpkin ....even Popcorn ......This is not the normal west coast I know !

I even was given a Dehydrator recently ....now there are no excuses ...to

process what appears to be a "bumper crop " this year .



hey ! I have a few extra food grade 55 gallon barrels kickin around

hmmmmm blackbear ;)may have a lot of pickles this year !

ha ha ha

Hey BB, some thing is better be frozen!

[QUOTE=efisakov;483730]Hey BB, some thing is better be frozen![/QUOTE]
So should I buy an extra freezer as well this year?? ....ha ha ha