THE END!

So, I just don't think it is the right time to Ferment cucumbers. I don't see any improvement from the first trial.

Observations:

The water appears foggy, there has been discoloration in the pickles and dill. The garlic is still white. This time I tried to put bigger pieces of garlic to see if that will have any affect, it didn't. The pickles are soft, I wanted them to be crunchy. Everything rose to the top of the jar and once I opened it bubbles started to come from the bottom of the jar to the top. The smell is quite pleasant actually, like real pickles, which is an improvement from last time, although the taste is not good. This time I even used a pickle jar that has pickles in it, not washed out, before to see if that would have some positive impact in at least the water's taste.

Final Thoughts:

Even though things didn't come out as planned, I enjoyed this project and look forward to trying it again in the summer, maybe follow a different recipe. I am hesitant to bring it to class today but I have to show off at least my effort if nothing else!

Fermentation Project TAKE TWO!

SO  I took into consideration the errors that could of happened to make my pickles not so good tasting.

I have started the project all over again but with a few adjustments:

1. Smaller jar- this is so I can condense all the cucumbers and ingredients that way there is minimal movement.

2. I bought pickling cucumbers...last time the store didn't have them so I used regular cucumbers. This time I will try not to cut them up (maybe if I don't cut them up like I did the first time they won't be so soft like).

3. I am going to try to use different leaves instead of lettuce to put on top to hold everything down; although, I don't think that my lettuce had an negative affect on the project it did hold everything down, I think the jar was the problem for that.

I will have to cut my measurements down, but other than that, all the other ingredients will stay the same.

Pictures coming soon!!!

RESULTS

The exiting moment came...and went away really fast. 

Today is the day my fermentation should be done and I was very excited to see how my pickles came out. 

First, some observations: As I opened the jar, water bubbles came to the top of the jar. The smell was different from when I first put everything in the jar compared to now. Now the smell is more on garlic and salt water. The coloration of the cucumbers changed a little more than yesterday, its now a darker green. All the ingredients rose to the top of the jar leaving a shallow bottom of water. The pickles were very soft, I was hoping they would be more crunchy. 

Some errors I could think of while making my observations, are as follows:

1. I didn't use the pickles that were in season

2. There was a lot of space in between the pickles and the whole jar

3. Too much movement, which goes with error number 2

4. I think more salt in my water would have helped with the taste

Some pictures: 

UPDATE! Day 6

I noticed that there is a lot of color changes, the cucumbers are now a hazy green color. The core of the cucumbers has changed to a dark brown/green. There is some movement as I rotate the jar, this my cause some problems for tomorrow, as far as taste and whole fermentation result goes. The dill and green peppers now appear darker brown/green. The garlic is still the same, white. 

More tomorrow!

UPDATE!

Today is DAY 3 and so far everything looks good, there is some discoloration in the pickles turning into a dark green. Other observations I made are there was some water coming out of the lid very subtle though and my guess was that the lid was on too tight.

That's all for now!

Fermentation in PROCESS!!!

This is my progress:

First I made the salt water brine, this way the salt had time to get mixed in well and balanced with the water.

 

Then I got all my supplies ready. I cut up all the veggies after washing them. I put the dill in first that way it is settled down at the bottom. Next, I put in my garlic and green peppers. I added an ingredient because the guy at the grocery store suggested it, I bought pickle seasoning and I added that after the green peppers.  After that, I had to cut up my cucumbers because the store was out of the small cucumbers and I figured if this turned out good my family can use it for sandwiches, although they turned out to be bigger then I expected so at the least my family can enjoy it at dinner time. Mustard green leaves are out of season, the grocery guy informed me, so I thought I could substitute green lettuce at the end to create a snug jar for the pickles to really absorb everything. So I then added the salt water brine and filled the jar to the top and then put the green lettuce on top to just hold everything down.           

With a few minor adjustments my cucumbers are in the fermentation process. Right now my observations are that everything looks still and green. The smell is pleasant, like a rainy day in the garden. These are the rest of my pictures for my progress. 

                                                                                              

So I have experimented a few ways for getting my project ready, I am having a really hard time finding the right size jar. My understanding of fermenting pickles is that the space needs to be tight and sealed. While gathering my materials the smell of the pickles, peppers etc. reminds me of summer and being in my moms garden, summer needs to hurry up! Pictures will be posted soon!

Revision of my fermentation project.

I have decided to make fermented cucumbers (pickles) because my family is really big on salads and anything new to go with our dinner.

I have found a few websites and YouTube videos that I hope can help me out. I have attached a link to this blog just in case if anyone wanted to see how I got my ideas. I will will post pictures and comments as I proceed with my project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRAkVuSwnd4

The ingriedients that I will need are:

1. Cucumbers
2. Dill
3. Bell pepper
4. Garlic
5. Mustard green leaves
6. Salt water brine
7. Jar
8. Time

How to go about:

1. Gather all ingredients
2. Make salt water brine (water and table salt)
3. Wash all veggies and get them prepared
4. Peel the garlic and chop up the bell pepper into squares
5. Prepare jar
6. Take the dill and put it into the jar first
7. Put 2 or 3 cloves of garlic into your jar next
8. Then, put the green bell pepper pieces (4-5 pieces) into the jar
9. Put the cucumbers standing up into the jar....fit in as many as you can...use the small ones first
10. Use the brine and fill the jar to the top with it
11. Use the mustard green leaves to hold down everything in the jar so it makes everything snug
12. Wait one week

I have decided to make garlic pickles for my project. I chose to do this because my family makes a lot of different salads that are fermented over months, like cabbage and red peppers in vinegar and oil and other traditional recipes my mom uses, so I thought I can try this and possibly introduce it to my family and to any of my classmates that haven't tried garlic pickles. I am going to need cucumbers, jars, canning salt, peppercorns, water, white vinegar, cloves of garlic, grape leaves and time!

I am pretty excited about this, I love pickles!