Partial Success with Fermented Pickles

 I have tried a few times to ferment pickles.  While the sauerkraut has always worked, I haven't had any success with fermenting cucumbers (or green beans, which I tried once).  My most recent failed attempt used a five percent brine, at the upper limit suggested on the Make Sauerkraut site. The pickles never took off.  They didn't go bad; they just stayed bright green and crisp and were salty when I tried them.  That was discouraging enough that I shelved further efforts for a year.

I decided to try again and to go to the lower end of the brine range.  I got some mini cucs and loaded them into a quart jar, and added dill and mustard seeds in the same proportions as in making a vinegar batch: two teaspoons of mustard seed and one tablespoon of dill seed.

On day one, the cumbers were obviously fresh.

A day later, things were starting to change. The color was dulling a bit, and bubbles were appearing.  This had never happened before.

After two days, it was obvious fermentation was happening.

I pulled the plug after three full days, because the house was getting warm and three to six days was suggested as the fermentation time on Holly's site.  As it turns out, I pulled the plug too soon.  Fermentation was underway, but they probably could've benefited from another day or two.  The pH was about 4.5.

 

My water is about 6.6 normally, slightly acidic, so this did represent a substantial shift.  I would've liked to see a pH of 3.5-4.0, however.  Next time I'll let them go for a longer time.  Still, this represents a modest success and is welcome.

Driveway Blackberries

 At my new place, I've had nothing but heartache so far with planted blackberry cultivars.  The power company sprayed herbicide on ones I had planted--twice--killing about three dozen in the two episodes. Others I have planted have not thrived.

However, I do have wild ones growing in various places. One such spot is along my driveway.  There's a substantial thicket that is heavily shaded, but does produce some decent-tasting berries (although they're rather small, as wild berries are likely to be).

So far, I seem to mostly have luck with wild berries rather than the ones I have planted.  At my old suburban house, I did have some University of Arkansas cultivars that did well (Ouachita and Navajo; Apache wasn't so good).  I have planted both of those at the new place, but am still waiting on my first harvest.  Back in the suburbs, there were berries along the road (at least until the county came along and mowed them down).

Harvest time is now for these along the driveway; they just started to ripen about a week ago (early-mid June) and are now ripening rapidly.  As these are wild, one can end up punctured and ensnared pretty easily when picking.  Inevitably, some clusters of alluring berries are too far back to reach without bloodletting.  However, there's enough low-hanging or peripheral fruit to provide some satisfaction.

 

Sauerkraut Results, 2021

 As previously discussed, I started some sauerkraut late this spring. My indoor temps fluctuate seasonally, from too cool for optimal fermenting in the winter (mid-60s to upper 50s) to too hot in the summer (upper 70s-low 80s).  Last year's spring batch was done in the month of April and had average temps of about 70 (range, 66-72).  I fermented it for 28 days and it was fine.

This year's batch started off in the 70s for the first week, but temps soon soared as high as 83.  The average was between 75 and 76 over the 25 days that I ran the ferment.    I opened it up and it looked pretty normal.

Once I pulled out the weights and top leaves, I was able to ladle out what ended up being about 1.5 gallons (somewhat more than 5 liters, but it's packed in pretty tightly while fermenting).

It was still pretty crunchy and the flavor's great.  It turned out very well despite the warmer temps. Holly of makesauerkraut.com indicates that the first few days are important for the quality of the finished sauerkraut, and during the first week I never had temps above 75, but most of the time things were in the 68-72 range.  I don't know what species of bacteria I ended up with, but they mixed together pretty successfully.

I won't push my luck and try another batch before fall.