Re: How long should i ferment vegetables?

This is straight from "Wild Fermentation"

"The main difference between vegetables left to rot and those destined for delicious fermentation is usually salt. Vegetables ferment best under the protection of brine. Brine is simply water with salt dissolved in it. In some ferments, such as sauerkraut, the salt is used to draw the water out of the vegs, thus creating intense vegetable juice brine. In other ferments, such as cucumber pickles, a brine solution is mixed and then poured over the vegetables. Brine serves as protection against the growth of putrefying microorganisms and favors the growth of the desired strains of bacteria, lactobactilli. The more salt you use, the slower the ferment and the more acidic the results. With too much salt, however, microrganisms cannot survive and fermentation will not occur."

I can't find the exact reference as to why the vegetables need to be submerged, but they do. When you make sauerkraut, if the cabbage does not give up enough juice, you need to add brine....something to do with aerobic vs. anaerobic bacteria. The brine(anaerobic environment) protects the vegs...

Where, exactly, do the fermenting agents come from? I don't know for sure...they must be present in some form in the vegetables themselves...however, they come in waves...you're gonna like this, FF.

"The fermentation of cabbage into sauerkraut is not the work of a single microorganism. Sauerkraut, like most fermentation processes, involves the succession of several different microbial species, not unlike the life of a forest, in which a series of trees follow each other as the dominant species, each succeeeding type altering conditions to favor the next. Bacteria called coliform start the fermentation. As the coliform produces acid, the environment becomes more favorable for leuconostoc bacteria. The coliform population declines as the population of leuconostoc builds. As acids continue to be produced and the pH continues to drop, Lactobactillus succeeds the leuconostoc. The fermentation involves a succession of three different types of bacteria, determined by increasing acidity."

Now, another thing that you need to consider is that with the addition of molasses and apples, this will most likely have some alcohol content.

How do you know when it's done. I dunno, I'm a junior fermenter:) I just follow directions, kimchi takes about a week(fermented on countertop in warm kitchen),the sauerkraut took about two weeks. This is all variable, depending on...location and...who knows? I tasted during the process:) When it tasted really good... :)I suppose, with experience, you could test the pH.

& yeah, I've made kimchi 4 times now, it's great, we use it on everything! :)

& as far as too much salt? I've always followed the recipes as far as amount of salt goes...

& I guees you're really trying to grow more of those good microorganisms?

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