Are you sick of moldy vegetable ferments?
Are you even too scared to try
fermenting at home? I will give you the
simplest tool that you can use to
prevent mold on your ferments and make
it fermenting at home easy.
Hey! I'm Nadia of Embracing Harvest. I have
been fermenting for years and at first
when I was just getting started I would
have, you know, off and on success
sometimes it would be fine and other
times, I would take days or weeks to put
together my ferment. Maybe use my own
vegetables from my own garden and then
all of a sudden two weeks later I'd open
up the jar and see mold on top and that
was so discouraging. So, I was on a
mission to determine what I could do to
be able to still ferment at home? But
avoid this mold because it was really
not something that I was okay with I
didn't wanted to scrape it off. So, I came
across these two pieces: one is called an
airlock and the other is called a stone
or a weight. I was skeptical at first I
thought how could these two devices be
that earth-shattering because I heard a
lot of people saying they were great, but
I was like ah! really?! So, I took them home,
I got them and or I ordered them, I guess
online and I tried it out and it was
like night and day difference. So, I was
getting maybe I don't know every three
or four batches before that were had
some sort of questionable substance on
it and after that I don't even remember,
to be honest, the last time I've had mold
on a ferment.
So, how do they work? You can either by
the airlock, the stone or both.
I personally choose to use both but you
don't have to. The stone is great because
it will weigh all of the vegetables down
underneath the brine and one of the
issues that I have certainly come across,
is when things float up to the top, that
is, when i find things can go wrong. So, if
you can keep all the vegetables below
the brine, which the stone does, then you
can oftentimes prevent mold just alone
with that. The airlock itself allows the
pressure to come out of the jar while
not allowing out any
oxygen in. To made fermented food before
with a regular lid, you may have heard
the advice or you've done it yourself.
Worried they say you have to burp it. So,
you actually have to open up the lid
every, it could be every few hours if
it's really hot, but you know once or
twice a day and allow any pressure
to come out or else the jar could
explode and that's happened to me, not with
 this but with a kombucha before.
So, I know it's possible if you don't
burp it enough. What the airlock does is
it prevents you from having to do that
but if you use a coffee filter you
wouldn't have to do that anyways. My
airlock and stone, actually I couldn't find
this brand, I looked online to see if I
could link it to them, but they must, this
brand must not be in business anymore. I
just couldn't find them.
So, I've actually gone into Amazon, just
picked a couple really comparable ones.
Good price, good reviews that I've linked
down in the description below if you
want to check them out, but honestly, if
you have a good health food store nearby,
even a wine-making store might have some
airlocks for you as well. As far as the
stone, there are some other ways that you
can keep the vegetables under the brine.
I've heard of some some interesting
concepts online. I don't know if I'd
choose to use any of them, but really,
honestly, anything that you can keep that
keeps the ferment under the keeps the
vegetables under the brine does the job
but I prefer using something that I know
is food grade and it's simple and it'll
fit the jar finds. So, choose what works
for you but there are lots of options
out there. That's all I'm trying to get at.
So, there you go that's how you can
prevent mold on your ferments at home.
Making it easy and safe and effortless
to make your own vegetable ferments. Let
me know in the comments below, have you
ever tried using an airlock or using
weights? I'd love to hear your feedback.
And if there are any brands that you
love, I'm sure the other viewers might
appreciate getting that information from
you as well. And if you're looking for a
new recipe, I have just created a video
on fermented carrots, which is absolutely
delicious! So, you can check that out. I
will provide a link somewhere and if
this video was helpful for you I'd
appreciate it if you gave it a like
because that way that I know that this
is something that's helpful for you and
if you haven't already subscribed to my
channel, I am all about growing my own
food and eating with the seasons. So, come along if
you think that is of interesting and
thank you I'll see you again soon!
