Guest guest Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 >So here are my questions: > >1. Are these any good or should I toss them? They smell good. No comment. People on this list often eat foods that get weird if they smell good, and in the old recipes is usually says " scrape off the mold " , but mold weirds me out personally. >2. How do I keep the cukes from bobbing up on the surface? I guess I >could stuff the mason jars full so they don't have room to move... Exactly. That's what narrow mouthed mason jars are all about. You are supposed to stuff the pickles down below the " shoulder " so they can't move, then pour your brine over them. >3. I used whey in my recipe. My mom has been pickling the NT recipe >way for years, but with no whey. Instead, she places a small piece of >rye bread on top of the cucumbers for 3 days to ferment. Are her >cucumbers still considered lacto-fermented? None of the old recipes use whey, and I don't either. Whey doesn't have the same bacteria in it that normally grow on cabbage and cukes. I do use some old kimchi juice to give some bacteria (since the produce I get is older, not so fresh as it was " in the old days " ) and also to make the brine a tad acidic. The old recipes normally called for a bit of vinegar, which again, makes the brine acidic and so discourages mold and slime. Rye bread ... I'm not sure what that would do. Rye bread fermented in water makes traditional kvass, which is a tad alcoholic and so would also discourage mold, I think? Or make it less sour? However, if the rye sticks over the top of the brine it would mold, and rye is noted for producing ergot mold, which is major bad stuff. You should watch her do it: and see how she packs her cukes while you are at it. BTW I looked up a " old " recipe (actually I tried several) and the one that worked the best was to rub the cukes with salt, let them set a few hours til they get a little soft and shrivelly. Then pack them in the jars as per above. Before you pack them, add to each jar 2-3 cloves of garlic, a sprig of dill, a whole dried pepper (and any other spices you like). Boil 1 qt of water with 2 Tablespoons of salt. Let it cool, add 1 T vinegar (and 1 T of kimchi juice). Pour brine over cukes, put on the lid, sit on counter for a week or so (depending on how sour you like them). Adding a grape leaf on top is also recommended, but you can't do that unless you use a weight. Anyway, salting the cukes keeps them crispy, believe it or not. Taking out some of the water keeps the cells from bursting when they swell in the brine, so you get crispy pickles. Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 > I finally bought some pickling cucumbers and attempted the NT recipe. > Today is the 3rd and final day and last night I noticed some mold on > the pickles in one of the two jars. It looked like little black dots > suspended in spider web-type stuff on the surface. I also noticed that > the tops of cucumbers that were above the surface of the brine were > softer and skin was peeling off. I washed the cukes and put them in > upside down so the tops are now in brine that didn't used to be. > > So here are my questions: > > 1. Are these any good or should I toss them? They smell good. > > 2. How do I keep the cukes from bobbing up on the surface? I guess I > could stuff the mason jars full so they don't have room to move... > > 3. I used whey in my recipe. My mom has been pickling the NT recipe > way for years, but with no whey. Instead, she places a small piece of > rye bread on top of the cucumbers for 3 days to ferment. Are her > cucumbers still considered lacto-fermented? > > Any ideas are appreciated. > > Magda > > P.S. I actually rinsed the pickles already, cut off the soft ends and > put them in strained brine in the fridge. The cukes and the brine > tasted good (brine was a little fizzy). Hi Magda, i tried making the pickles a few years ago and they were AWFUL. in trying to ferment other things from the book, i have come to the conclusion that either my whey is almost dead, OR sally's recipes require 'whey' more whey than the usual 1/4 cup. i have pretty good results when i use mostly whey any time she requires water. i don't have trouble with mold anymore. this refers mostly to beet kvass and regular kvass, but maybe it'll help with pickles, too. HTH. laura in nj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 about making pickles... a russian friend of mine showed me how to make saurkraut and pickles. the pickles: very simple. cukes, peeled garlic cloves, fresh dill. put all in a bowl. boil water with KOSHER salt. (helps with crispiness) proportions? i checked the Joy of Cooking as i would forget what my friend told me. pour boiling water/salt over pickles. cover and let sit at room temp for a day or two. then refrigerate. they are AWESOME! but since they are sort of cooked...does that qualify as lacto fermented? laura in nj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2005 Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 Heidi, Maybe you can help answer something for me. I've been posting this to various lists for a few months and it is met with dead silence. Kahm. It's supposedly a harmless yeast that grows on fermented foods, especially visible on beets I think because of the contrast in color. Are you familiar with Kahm? The only mention of it that I can find on the net is at a raw food site: " When it's ready, take the cabbage leaves off and discard. Also spoon off any dark or off-color spots or white scum that may be on top of the sauerkraut. This is a harmless yeast called kahm. " http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?f=3 <http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?f=3 & i=4471 & t=4471> & i=4471 & t=4471 Another mention of it in a sauerkraut recipe on this site: http://www.drdavidwilliams.com/nc/dispatch_sample092704.asp So often people on NT-style lists speak of " mold " on their fermented foods and I just have to wonder how much of it is real or kahm? We'll see how long this question takes to post. I seem to have a 2-3 day lag between the time I write a post and the time it shows up and it only happens on this list. -Sharon, NH Deut 11:14 He will put grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will have plenty to eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2005 Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 >So often people on NT-style lists speak of " mold " on their fermented foods >and I just have to wonder how much of it is real or kahm? > >We'll see how long this question takes to post. I seem to have a 2-3 day >lag between the time I write a post and the time it shows up and it only >happens on this list. > >-Sharon, NH I don't know: it's a good question. The white stuff that grows on some ferments is, I hear, a kind of yeast also. The kind of mold that grows on most stuff has a certain smell, so you might be able to tell by that, but otherwise, without a microscope, how do you tell a yeast from a mold anyhow? I rarely get any floating anything on my ferments, and when I have they did smell like mold, and the ferment didn't smell " tasty " either. My one try growing EM though it got floaty stuff which is, I guess normal yeast for EM. But a lot of the old recipes talk about stuff floating on the ferment, and they say to scrape it off daily, so I guess it isn't all that harmful. I do wish we had more microbiologists on the list though, to answer these questions! Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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