by CHULCH on Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:50 am
Hello everyone! I am new to the world of fermentation as I have traditionally made only cucumber pickles in a vinegar brine and heat processed them. However, my family has been making sour kraut, quite well I might add, for as long as I can remember. I have recently made some half sour pickles via lacto-fermentation. I made four 1 quart jars. They are beautiful and I let them work on the counter at 74 degrees for 3 days. Strangely, two of the jars were cloudy and two were not. I know the cloudiness is normal and I tasted the pickles from the cloudy jar and it was delicious. I then placed all four jars in the fridge. I recently tasted a pickle from one of the jars that was not cloudy when I placed it in the fridge and it tasted like a salty cucumber. My first thought was that the lactobacillus was not active enough before I "cold crashed it", and therefore never had the chance to work its magic on the cucumbers. I have since pulled one jar out of the fridge and place it back on the counter. I saw bubbles almost immediately upon the jar warming up and now the mixture is cloudy. I am a little concerned that the cucumbers do not appear to be changing in appearance like they would normally. There is not a translucent darker green ring like you would expect. There is also a lot of white sediment in the bottom which I understand to be spent lactobacillus. Are these safe to eat if they smell OK. Will the cucumbers turn color like normal. I would appreciate any thoughts you have. Thanks for helping the new guy.