Cooking Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [fermentation]

Desired chemical breakdown of a food by a microorganism (bacteria or yeast), and occurs when making foods such as bread, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, or wine.

Fermentation is the term for yeast and bacteria converting sugar in foods to acid, gas, or alcohol. This process is used for a number of kinds of foods, such as:

  • bread
  • yogurt
  • sauerkraut and kimchi
  • wine and beer

One key characteristic about fermentation is that it is microorganism activity that does not render food unsafe to eat. Any questions about an undesired or dangerous change in foods due to microorganisms should be tagged with .

321 questions
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Why is it hard to ferment fennel?

Fennel seemed like a natural for lacto-fermentation. There are many recipes with fennel as an ingredient (especially in cabbage kraut), but no one seemed to talk about just fermenting up a big ol' batch of fennel. So I gave it a spin using my…
Andy Giesler
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Possible dangers of home fermentation of vegetables

I bought this FARMcurious Fermentation kit on Kickstarter. Once I got it and started making it I found their claims of it being "super easy" were a little exaggerated. When looking around online I found that other people recommended weighing your…
cmcculloh
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How to create very slimy natto?

Natto makers - I'm looking to make natto with plenty of "neba-neba". This is natto's characterist slime/string/goo. I read somewhere online that adding some japanese yam during the inoculation stage helps, and if true, I wonder if this provides…
user2911290
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Do I really need fermentation weights for making sauerkraut?

I am reading about fermentation weights, and some sites seem to say I need some, and some others say I don't. It seems so this site, has a consensus that I need one. Eg. I have set some sauerkraut without weights to ferment today in a glass jar,…
tryst with freedom
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Can we ferment cellulose (outside of our body) to turn it into food?

I recently read about (wild) fermentation of vegetables. I learned that: By adding salt and water and keeping out the oxygen, we create a biome that favours cetain types of bacteria/yeast. The bacteria/yeast metabolize certain molecules of the…
Kjara
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Making miso in a jar too big for the amount of paste. Is it a problem?

we want to make miso and we have some koji ready. It's not that much though and we are wondering if using a 5L jar for about 1.5kg of miso might be a problem. Are there issues with air circulation or surface exposed to the air? Thank you
Chobeat
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Ideal condition to make injera

I'm trying to make Injera traditionally, without any starter, just teff flour (the white one) and water (tap water). I mixed it and left in a bowl, covered by dish towel, in my kitchen. After 60 hours I noticed the surface (just the surface) was…
rok
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Does Worcestershire Sauce go Bad?

I really like Worcestershire sauce on a few things, but I never use it that often. My question is simply, does it ever go bad, and should I try to use it up quickly?
That One Actor
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Warm vegetable fermentation (at ~30C / 85F) - when is it used and what are the microbial mechanisms behind it?

I come from a Polish family and a constant of every christmas is a spicy fermented beet soup. My family has been fermenting the beets exclusively in a terracota vessel on a hot radiator when the heating is on for the winter. That's the way my mum…
KubaFYI
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Can I further ferment store-bought kim-chi?

I find that store bought kim-chi is not very fermented. Real kim-chi, as I understand it, is pickled and then buried in the ground for a year. Can I just bury store bought kim-chi in my back yard for a year to improve it, or will that not work?…
Drisheen Colcannon
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Can I add to lacto-ferment jars as I harvest?

Last year I made lacto-fermented jalapenos from my garden and they were great! I took what was left at the end of the season plus I added some local peppers from the farmer's market in a mason jar and added my brine. This year my jalapeno plants are…
kurtzmarc
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Why is the salt washed off the cabbage in kimchi but not on sauerkraut?

All the videos I have seen always wash the salt off the Napa cabbage in kimchi but they never do in sauerkraut? How come? Is the brine necessary for fermentation?
johnny
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Is there a definitive measure of completed lacto fermentation?

In brewing, as the yeast consume the sugars from solution, the density of the medium is measurably reduced. When the yeast stop converting sugars, the density of the medium, as measured by a hydrometer or refractometer, stops changing, indicating…
Dale
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What are safe temperature ranges for fermenting miso paste?

I'd like to make some miso paste. The recipes I've seen recommend keeping the miso in a cool, dark place. Unfortunately my house gets hot in summertime and there is no cool place like a cellar or air-conditioned room to store the miso during the…
Shannon Matthews
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Can you tell if a food is fermented (in a "good" way) or rancid?

The other day I took out a cubed pineapple from the fridge, and when I tasted it it tasted like it started to go "bad." But it actually tasted pretty good and I figured that kimchi and other foods are fermented and they are considered edible and…
Esteban
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