Re: must whey be cultured?

[Guest guest]

I'm just asking this again in case anyone knows. Does the whey you use to

ferment veggies and juices need to be cultured? Or can it just be from

soured milk? Or are they the same thing???

Elaine

[Guest guest]

Elaine-

>I'm just asking this again in case anyone knows. Does the whey you use to

>ferment veggies and juices need to be cultured? Or can it just be from

>soured milk? Or are they the same thing???

They're the same thing... and not the same thing. Cultures are often

refined to have specific mixes or strains of organisms, whereas soured raw

milk is fermented by whatever lactobacteria happen to be in it. So you can

definitely use whey from soured raw milk to start a vegetable culture, but

it's all but impossible to tell in advance exactly what the results will be

until you've tried it.

-

[Guest guest]

>I'm just asking this again in case anyone knows. Does the whey you use to

>ferment veggies and juices need to be cultured? Or can it just be from

>soured milk? Or are they the same thing???

>Elaine

A lot of us don't use whey to make fermented vegies. NONE of the

traditional recipes do this. I do toss in some vineger if I think

it needs more acid, and some kimchi juice (or dill pickle juice).

The bacteria in whey are not the ones the usually ferment

vegies, and some people have had the experience of the

vegies getting soft and mushy from using whey.

OTOH, some folks use it and it's fine.

Whey from soured milk is probably ok if it was from raw milk.

If I need/want a starter though, I tend to use extra

kefir grains. Mainly becausel it's easier than straining

and using kefir whey, and I can use the same grains

for *months* to make kefir beer!

Heidi Jean