Naturally Fermented Pickle Question page

[patrickh]

I am just attempting my first batch of naturally fermented pickles. They have been brining for about 48 hours now. I noticed that between last night and this morning that the water got fairly cloudy. However, nothing smells out of place yet. I am using about 6 dried chilis in their as well, so they may be partially responsible. Is this normal? I have posted a picture to help. Thanks!

[HealthyGirl]

I make my own pickles all of the time. The culprit could be the type of salt you are using. Anything other than Pickling salt will cause some cloudiness. No biggie. Never affects the taste. I am making another batch tonight using Kosher Sea salt....

[breadsauce]

Oded Shwartz wrote a book about pickling, which I have. In it, he mentions specifically that cucumbers will go cloudy when the fermentation process starts, and when it clears again the pickle is ready. I am pickling some in a ceramic crock, so I can't see if it is cloudy or not ... I reckon I'll give them 2 weeks and check them then.

Preserving: Amazon.co.uk: Oded Schwartz: Books

Preserving Through the Year - Oded Schwartz - Google Books

I don't have the second one, but it might be interesting...

[Neckhammer]

Lacto-fermented pickles are AWESOME. I do it with garlic cloves. Mine gets a little cloudy too, but no worries. Give it a whiff when your done. Long as it doesn't smell off I'd say it went fine.

[patrickh]

Thanks guys. I put them in the fridge about 24 hours later as they smelled nice and "picklely". I tried a couple and they were great. The only problem I had was that they weren't spicey at all. I am thinking that I needed to cut the stem part of the peppers off. This would have exposed the seeds and allowed the peppers to sink instead of floating up to the top.

[Neckhammer]

Thanks guys. I put them in the fridge about 24 hours later as they smelled nice and "picklely". I tried a couple and they were great. The only problem I had was that they weren't spicey at all. I am thinking that I needed to cut the stem part of the peppers off. This would have exposed the seeds and allowed the peppers to sink instead of floating up to the top.

Yikes...I let mine go for near three weeks before I moved em to the fridge . I likes em really fermented. In fact I'd recommend a week minimum.

[lendar]

I am not a fan of pickles, but I torture myself to eat them, because they are healthy.

[patrickh]

Just to be clear, they fermented for just over 3 days. The 24 hours was in reference to the amount of time I waited after noticing the cloudy brine. Next time I'll probably try about a week. I'm going to make some kimchi and cauliflower this weekend.