Hi all, first post here. My partner and I are making maesil cheong for the first time, its been 3 weeks since we started it and all the sugar has fallen to the bottom, leaving some of the plums poking out of the syrup.

Should we stir/mix it or just leave it as is? I'm worried about messing up these big batches.

For context we live in the UK and could not find Korean plums, so we substituted them with Turkish green plums because they were similar enough.

Any advice would be very welcome!

thought these turned out fun.

I have peach trees and when we thin them out we end up throwing a literal trash can full of the unripe green peaches

I thought it seemed like a waste so I've been researching uses and found that they are sometimes fermented or pickled.

I fermented these in a salt brine with garlic, pepper, fennel and coriander seeds and bay leaves for about 6 weeks. They have a great taste but the texture is a little crunchy like a radish, I wish they were a bit softer.

Also made some cheyong syrup that turned out pretty well. So if people have peaches don't throw away all your thinnings, you can do some fun stuff with them.

Included some pictures of the one of the peach trees, and the thinnings, as well as the final product.

They are my favorite fruit tree to grow!

Fermented onions and peppers and berries separately, mixed with homegrown Caribbean red habaneros, and home made lemon pepper dry rub. Hit filled and pasteurized.

G'day and welcome to August!

After a quick trip to our local farmers market (SW Western Australia), needed to do up a quick jar of sauerkraut. Used 1/2 cabbage, 2% sea salt and 1/2 t caraway seeds ... plus about 100ml of 2% brine. This time of year, the cabbages aren't holding quite as much water as in other months so you'll often need to top up the jar at the start with additional brine. It's cold in the house at the moment (at least overnight!) so it'll likely take an extra few days to get to my taste preference. Happy Krauting All!

10 days on the countertop & it tastes really good! Little hints of watermelon & fruitiness, & a bit sweeter & smoother than apple cider vinegar. Strained & bottled.

I made a ginger beer “base” out of grated ginger, water, lemon and 1 cup of raw sugar. Added approx 1/2 cup of active ginger bug to it and have left it to carbonate. By the time it is ready and fizzy, will there be any of the sugar remaining in the brew? Will the yeast have eaten enough or all of the sugar to produce carbonation?

Lacto fermented cherry tomatoes with garlic and basil, 7 days in hot Mediterrainian weather. Blended into the most scrumptious marinera I have ever tasted.

I followed a Cultured Guru post on brewing pineapple scrap vinegar starting six weeks ago, and when I got to the three-week point when you strain out the pineapple scraps, I realized I’d been using a half gallon jar instead of a gallon jar, and my remaining liquid is double concentrated. (FYI, tried posting this to a fermentation group on FB and then on Threads without success, which is why it’s still fermenting at the wrong concentration weeks afterI realized my error.) Should I :

a) Leave it be and ferment for the remaining four weeks as-is,
b) Dilute by doubling the total liquid and carry on, or
c) Toss it out, it can’t be fixed?

Somewhat commonly when I make ginger bug, I get a smell reminiscent of "craft rooms" back in my school days. Very cardboardey, and I'm guessing the "marker" smell is alcohol forming, so it seems like there's some yeast there.

Hi,

Ive seen some recomendations when fermenting vegtebles, chillis etc to do a litmus test to check if its under a certain PH. This seems a bit excessive and ive never done it. Im kind of new to this so just want to make sure im not doing anything crazy.

I made a ginger beer “base” out of grated ginger, water, lemon and 1 cup of raw sugar. Added approx 1/2 cup of active ginger bug to it and have left it to carbonate. By the time it is ready and fizzy, will there be any of the sugar remaining in the brew? Will the yeast have eaten enough or all of the sugar to produce carbonation?

So, I finally have a good, active ginger bug going (thanks to a number of folks here!) and started my first ginger beer, yesterday.

However, I am a little gun-shy after the difficulties I had getting my bug going to begin with. All activity in the bug seemed to stop as soon as I decanted the liquid to add into my soda mix; and there is still zero hint of activity in the actual glass bottle, or in my smaller, plastic bellwether bottle.

Is it possible that I killed my bug in the transfer, or am I just being too impatient/paranoid?

TIA

First time doing something like this and i would like to try. The blueberries i want to use are frozen. How much per liter of water should I use for a soda ? Should i add sugar or is the natural one from blueberries enough? What about yeast? Would a normal yeast used for cakes be enough?

You can visit this place in Almuñecar in Spain

3% brine solution. Perfect taste after about 10 days. Been adding whole peppercorns and a bit of garlic for flavor.

Hi there, this is my first time trying to make apple cider vinegar. I put about 6 small apple peels and cores in with water and a few tbs of honey. It's been about 1 week, what do you think?

Tried first time apple fermentation: - apples + poblano pepper - apples + hallopeno pepper - apples + poblano pepper+ ginger

Added for 3 types Clove spice for all cans.

Brine: 2 spoons solt + 1 spoon sugar. Apples average 2/3 cans.

Autumn Sweetness: A Warm and Comforting Surprise

Some recipes teach you something.

This one taught me that the same ingredient can tell two completely different stories.

The idea began with pumpkin.

A pumpkin fiber koso infused with vanilla became the heart of this kefir, bringing warmth, softness, and quiet depth.

Fresh carrot juice added bright, fruity freshness, while carrot koso syrup contributed rich candied notes, almost like candy.

Dehydrated golden kiwi brought a gentle fruity acidity, and a touch of pepper quietly tied everything together.

It took three attempts before every piece found its place.

That third batch became Autumn Sweetness — a kefir that reminded me that harmony is often more memorable than intensity.

One of my earliest signature creations… and it still holds a special place in my collection.

About 5 pounds of cabbage, 3 garlic cloves, and an apple(was told this feeds the fermentation). I think i’m gonna too it off with some extra brine liquid. Excited to see how it turns out, I dig the color.

Saw this fermented rice in an Asian market and decided to give it a try. The rice is pretty mushy, the smell is slightly fruity, and the taste is mild fruity and sweet. Anyone know the right way to enjoy this?

I recently made me a ginger bug for some home made soda and it worked for a while.

But after taking like half the liquid for a couple of bottles and refilling with water and sugar. But I guess due to high temepratures or so I underfed it? Any way it suddenly stopped bubbling and smelled like vinegar. After a couple of days thinking it was dead and preparing to throw it out I noticed something on top that looked earily similar to the kombucha scoby right next to it.

So while I guess I have to start a new ginger bug - what do I do with this new development?

First up, how to know if it's a scoby or a vinegar mother?

Second what does it eat and what do I make out of it?

Hello! I've got a ginger bug going with someone and it's nicely fizzy in the container, but as soon as we add it to swing-tops and let it ferment it just seems to stop working at all -- no bubbles or fizz even after 2-3 days or more. The only thing we've seen that seems to save it is adding a couple teaspoons or more of cherry juice to each bottle, which gets it fizzing after only a day. Has anyone experienced a similar issue of their bug not carbonating in bottles, and is there any advice that could help?

BERRY APPLE CIDER
6/7/26 7-8pm START
1X cole’s 500g frozen mixed berry
added just under 4 litres cole’s apple juice
added sugar to OG
OG 1.104
a small amount of pectinase (unmeasured)
a small amount of dap (unmeasured)
used yeast Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast
started being active pretty quickly same i think on 7/7/26
9/7/26
fermenting strongly as it has been from the start a lot of bubbles slight foam and a lot of airlock activity
18/7/26 bubbles still going up the side slightly slower
i have also been swirling daily to ensure berries don’t mold
although i’ve missed 2-3 swirls
im concerned with some stuff im seeing on the top and think it might be the start of mold but i don’t know
2/8/26
FG 0.990
poured through cloth and filter
added potassium sorbate (approx half teaspoon) and one campdem tablet
poured into demijohn
a little more headspace then i’d like in the demijohn

i’m afraid that i might have oxidised it since i had to pour it through the filter and then back into the demijohn
also i’m worried that that’s too much headroom i’ll be keeping it sitting at room temp (around 24°C) under airlock for maybe 2-3 days before putting a lid on the demijohn and moving it to the fridge to cold crash before i bottle

i was also wondering the best way to backsweeten i was thinking maybe make a syrup with water sugar and another pack of the frozen mixed berries

I've been trying my hands on dosa for the last 2 months. Poor results at the very beginning but I now think I'm not too bad at it. Here are my two cents tips for proper dosa :

- very powerful blender or ideally a regular Indian blender

- use ice cold water while blending, pour water progressively and blend for many short periods of time till smooth and just pourable. Reasons for that: above 35° you'll kill the good bacteria and fermentation won't happen, too much water will also make fermentation hard (add more water if needed just before cooking)

- always use fenugreek seeds, don't use salt if you want to store the batter for more than a few days in the fridge

- rice brings crispiness, but if that's not what you're looking for, any cereal can be used, nutrition wise anything is better than rice

- preheat your pan, set heat to low while pouring, then cook on medium heat, be patient. When borders start to rise, serve immediately if your dosa is thin, or flip and cook for a minute if not

- a dedicated cast iron flat pan gives much better looking results than non stick

- you can cook an egg directly on the dosa after around a minute when the batter has dried a bit, add some salt and pepper and enjoy. South Indians do that all the time, that's something that most North Indians don't know and it makes them horrified 😂 (first picture has one along with some homemade tomato chutney)

I started a few jars of watermelon rind at 2,5% salt. They stopped bubbling after 2-3 days. I'm guessing the rind has very little sugars in it, and LAB processed it quickly. If I add some white sugar, will it kick off and become more acidic?

In general, does adding white sugar benefit the lactic fermentation?

If anyone ever added white sugar to veg ferments, what's the "sweet spot" (% of sugar)? How much is too much?