Mistake Most Beginner Fermenters Make
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- What is kahm yeast, why does it form on ferments, is it safe, and how can we avoid it? When making homemade ferments, it's important to maintain safe practices, especially when it's something our family will be consuming.
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I lay a coffee filter on top of mine and gently press all the air out. If when I open the jar kahm is growing on top, I take out the coffee filter, wipe the mouth of the jar with a bit of dry paper towel and put on a fresh coffee filter.
You just changed my ferment game, thank you!
Great video. I've grown up doing this stuff and was in the food industry for 7 years. It blows my mind how difficult it is for people to understand these things. I've seen it go both ways in the sense of safe food getting thrown, bad food getting eaten.
Also this generally happens in my experience because the food inside was not cleaned enough or someone wasn't using clean hands or tools.
I am going to put this out there in an honest way and hope I am not sounding ridiculous. Where I have the biggest problem is not ever knowing how fermented food should taste. I can watch videos on how it may look....but mine never seem to look the same. My husband and I get confused and question, so we toss. I don't try fermenting anymore. If I knew how it should taste, and knew if we would even like it, it would be so much easier to feel good about the process. Really, it looks awful..and sometimes disgusting, and the process makes us think of rotten food. So to feel comfortable fermenting I really wish I could taste, smell, and get that confirmation from someone around me that it is being done right. I don't have anyone around me for that so until we get taste-a-vision or smell-a-vision I may not ever know. I always listen though. I enjoy hearing about the process. 😊
If you've eaten a pickle then that's about what it should taste like. At the begining it should just taste salty, after a week it's should start to turn sour like a dill pickle. If what you are fermenting is always kept under the liquid and you have put in enough salt it is very difficult to spoil.
It should taste sharp, like pickles. In fact, true sour pickles are fermented, so if you've ever had one you know what it tastes like. Many things are fermented like cheese, yogurt, and sour cream 😋. Seriously, if you know 2hat mold looks like then you'll know if it's going bad. Hoe does it smell? If it smells foul it's bad. Don't depend so much on looks other than looking for mold and keep in mind, they didn't have the tools we use to ferment today years ago when they either fermented foods or they lost them.
When I’ve had ferments go bad, it is obvious. And I do mean obvious. As in any three-year-old would know not to eat it. As in you probably couldn’t make yourself eat it even if you tried. They are absolutely disgusting when they go bad.
I agree! Ive had people tell me how good wine is. I’ve tried a lot and most smell and taste like rotten fruit to me.
@@doubles1545 you aren't kidding there at all. The mold is horrifying. I let one jar continue molding once just for curiosity's sake and all the different colors and textures of the molds were amazing and beautiful, as well as completely repulsive. I think some people struggle mentally with eating fermented foods that are perfectly fine because it's technically decomposing food you're eating there on purpose. So is your beer, bread, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, etc. They have to mentally cope with the fact that fermented foods are in fact rotting food, but the sharp flavor provided is a wonderful profile all it's own, the friendly bacteria an angel for those with leaky gut or diverticulitis, and is an ancient form of food PRODUCTION and preservation. I'm sure some starving ancient person didn't want to throw out some vegetable that turned out to be delicious and didn't make them sick when it goes sharp like it does. Then I'm sure they noticed that this food lasted a long time if kept cool, a lot longer than if not fermented, which meant they could make the harvests last longer and have more to eat in the winter. Then I bet they realized people had less gut issues, and on and on. Endless benefits it seems.
I get this mostly when I make beet kvass!
I'm fermenting half and full sour pickles and that's what they must have meant by skim off the scum from the tops. Thank you Melissa. Edit: I'll be starting cabbage ferments for sourkraut soon too.
Good morning Melissa. Looks quite useful for fermenting. Thank you for sharing. 😊😊
Sheesh, so much to learn! Thank you for this, Melissa.
All of this is good information! Thanks for sharing 😊
I am so glad you did this video. I have developed kahm yeast in every batch of ACV I’ve tried to make and I was never sure why. At least I have a few tips and can troubleshoot for the problem.
Are you sure you're not seeing the "mother"? When you make vinegar there will be a floating "blob/disc". That is the mother. Eventually it will fall to the bottom and a new one will form (so long as there is still alcohol to consume).
The “stuff” that forms at the top has never been blobby looking, always wrinkled and webbed. I have tried skimming it off, but it always comes back. I’m unsure if it’s because my house is too warm and/or it’s getting exposed to contaminates.
@@rachelthompson8611 I've been told that Kahm yeast is caused by air/oxygen getting into the ferment. Yeast is aerobic and a lacto-ferment is anaerobic so if there's air getting into the ferment, kahm will sometimes form. (That's what I've been told anyway)
I've heard that adding horseradish leaves to the brine prevents the yeast layer from growing. I also wonder if it would alter the flavor, though. Carrots are really bad for getting a yeast scum layer due to the higher sugar content. I typically avoid doing carrots by themselves for that reason.
Good tip. I was going to ferment carrots by themselves, but maybe not. I'm new to this.
@@kdavis4910 I've used the book Fermented Vegetables by Christopher Shockey as a resource for ideas and learning the process.
Great info! Beautiful colour on the brine😍
Thanks! I got kahm yeast yesterday, I think because my house is really warm.
My experience is some veg grows Kahm yeast an some don’t, when yeast on top you know you got a gold standard ferment
Yep
Hello from Virginia! I have a question regarding fruit flies and my fermentation. I made a jar with tomatoes, peppers and garlic with the 2.5% salt mixture and everything looks fine. It has the white foamy stuff on top but fruit flies got through the top and died in the brine. Can I just scoop them off the top safely? My daughter is concerned about it and grossed out but I figured it was gross but still safe. Thank you in advance.
Why not use a paper towel to wipe off the scummy spoon instead of your finger? (YUCKY) I use paper towels to collect the yeast.
use paper towel it absorbers use that one first
I have a problem with growing mold in my ferments.
Try more salt in the brine.
@@doubles1545 Make sure there's nothing floating on top or poking out of the top of the brine- that will often cause mold to form.
I fermented cabbage to make sauerkraut and canned it too (waterbath). It turned pinkish on the bottom of the jar after letting it set for a month or so. It’s been several months now and it has a little pinkish color in several places. I haven’t even opened it. I don’t know if I should just throw it out or is that normal?
I'm sorry to say, but I would toss it.
Yeah...pink is never a good sign. Sorry.
I know it's terrible after all the effort, but please don't give up. Make sure next time to throughly clean the food and the materials you are using for fermentation. I would then go on to pressure can the kraut instead of hot water bath. It just keeps things safer.