Something went wrong with my fermented vegetables (carrots and broccoli).

-I ground them up to a pulp.
-I opened up plenty of probiotic capsules and added the content to the batch.
-I salted the batch and covered the jar with a cheesecloth.
-I left it on the counter and stirred it daily.

It was nice and acidic on the third day, but now there is a white film on top of the batch (2 days later).

How do you prevent this white film from developing? Should I store it in the refrigerator?

mixing daily and pressing the content all the way down helps.....

the foam is part of the fermenting......make sure it doesn t smell off.....
place content into jars if done and refrigerate

leave room to keep on doing its fermenting process, or you find a mess......

You should refrigerate it once it is fermented the amount you want.  If you leave it out, it will just keep fermenting .  I've never had a white film develop, but I've never ground mine up before either.

I am going to piggyback this thread. Should your fermented veggies stink? The first time I tried it, the smell was horrific - like sulphur or something.

What kind of salt did you use?.

I had this happen not too long ago with some kale i was fermenting, it developed a weird milky film on the top.  I think it was from the salt i used because when i looked at the salt in the jar the film looked about the same color, i used the celtic sea salt.  People say it is kind of grayish, but if you look at it closely there is a sandy/off white color too.

Quoted from brinyskysail

You should refrigerate it once it is fermented the amount you want.  If you leave it out, it will just keep fermenting .  I've never had a white film develop, but I've never ground mine up before either.

How do you do it then? Is there another way to ferment vegetables besides grinding them up to a pulp? Is there a better way?

Quoted from Lola

mixing daily and pressing the content all the way down helps.....

the foam is part of the fermenting......make sure it doesn t smell off.....
place content into jars if done and refrigerate

leave room to keep on doing its fermenting process, or you find a mess......

It looks yeasty.

Quoted from Mickey

What kind of salt did you use?.

I had this happen not too long ago with some kale i was fermenting, it developed a weird milky film on the top.  I think it was from the salt i used because when i looked at the salt in the jar the film looked about the same color, i used the celtic sea salt.  People say it is kind of grayish, but if you look at it closely there is a sandy/off white color too.

Himalayan sea salt.

I've tried celtic sea salt before and got the same whitish film.

I call it lactic acid buildup

Quoted from Lola

I call it lactic acid buildup

So my family can eat that white film then? It's not harmful?

Doesn't the Celtic salt have clay in it?  It's harmless, but could cause a grayish film on top.  

Of course if it is a film of mold, you'll have to make that judgment call yourself, Karma, since we can't smell it.  

This is the best directions for making cultured vegetables that I can find. I use 2.5 liter weck jars, garden of life raw probiotic and tattvas moomiyo / shilijit. I let the vegetables culture for at least 3 weeks in a dark warm cupboard. I do not open the vegetables during this time. Clean the cupboards to remove mold. My favorite veggies to culture are beets, turmeric, horseradish, ginger, cilantro and thyme. I do not use salt since it can inhibit the bacteria.

http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=A8412383FE971E61EEDC4B4067B3320F

I do mine differently and I do use sea salt.......6 days has sufficed
I do make sure to mix and press down so all is submerged in its own liquid, daily

also place in dark area, covered with a cotton cloth

Quoted from Karma

How do you do it then? Is there another way to ferment vegetables besides grinding them up to a pulp? Is there a better way?

I've always done mine like making sauerkraut and just pound the veggies until some of the juices come out, mix in the salt and spices, then stuff it into jars as tight as I can, making sure there is liquid covering all the veggies.

Richard,
thanks good video by Donna Gates.  I'll have another go at making the cultured veggies.  Earlier attempts were not so good.
thanks,
Lin

It is probably mold from the air.  Skim it off before you mix up your veggies!  I put a paper towel on top of mine, which keeps the mold separate.  When it get strong enough to suit you, put it in the fridge and toss the paper towel.

Quoted from Karma

How do you do it then? Is there another way to ferment vegetables besides grinding them up to a pulp? Is there a better way?

Here's a YouTube video I found helpful for fermenting vegetables. The video is by Sandor Katz, the author of the book titled 'Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.'

• Fermenting Vegetables with Sandor Katz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77hU3zR-fQ
  

I use a Harsch Gairtopf stoneware pickling crock to ferment vegetables, and its design is specifically such that it eliminates the need for skimming kahm yeast (the white, thready film that forms on top) from the fermenting vegetables. However, when I was previously using a basic stone crock, anytime I noticed a filmy layer start to form on top, I just skimmed it off and let the vegetables continue to ferment. They would be, and taste, fine.

First attempt at cultured veggies.  I read many sets of directions and went with the simplest.
I grated carrots and ginger, added sea salt, pounded the bejeebers out of them and packed into glass jars.  I weighted them with small glass pebbles which had been placed in ziplocs.  Covered it all with several layers of muslin.

Four days later, it smells yeasty.  It tastes like salty carrots.
My house is not very warm, so I placed it on top of the fridge.

I need to get airlock lids, but thought I would try the simple plan first.
Do I just need to wait longer?
Or is the yeasty smell a sign that it has reached the point of no return?

Thanks. I realize this process is supposed to be a no brainer, but I usually learn by making mistakes.

I think the yeasty smell is a sign that it is working.  It probably needs more time, but otherwise sounds like it is just fine.

Thanks!  I'd hate to waste those lovely organic carrots. The color of their juice is almost flourescent.

If there is a film of mold on top, the entire batch is contaminated and not safe to eat!

http://www.hybridrastamama.com/2012/09/mold-on-and-in-your-ferments.html

No mold yet.  Not even a change in the appearance of the briny liquid.
But I appreciate the warning.

Next batch will be with an airtight lid.  And hopefully my house will be a bit warmer--as in winter will end soon!

I have a question about fermented foods and gut balance I hope someone can answer. I recently started including some small amounts of home fermented sweet potato in my diet, which seemed to work well. Then yesterday I made a hemp yogurt (using a spoonful of juice from veggie jar) and had a couple of spoons to try. It seemed to created a bad reaction with belching and pain and since then I haven't been able to sleep. I was already going through a lot of digestive and insomnia symptoms from a 'glutening' last week, but starting to improve. I know some bacteria are more beneficial for certain blood types, so now I am wondering if I have got the balance out of wack by consuming too many of the lacto-fermenting bacteria. Prior to this I was taking 2 Dr D type O polyflora, but had stopped for about 3/4 days since I figured I was getting enough probiotics from the foods. Looking at the label on the bottle, neither strain of the 'O' friendliest bacteria (strep thermophilus and lactobacillus rhamnosous) seem to be present in lacto-fermented foods from a quick search on the net. The complicating factor is that I have yeast overgrowth and have to be careful not to eat too many candida killing foods in order to avoid die off, (I am dealing with the underlying causes of the candida with a holistic treatment, but in the meantime my body kind of 'needs' a certain level to maintain homeostatis) so it could be that issue. Anytime I have done candida detoxes I stop sleeping as one of the main symptoms. Anyone whose done a candida detox can probably understand my caution, as the die off reactions are so hellish (in my experience at least), I think they could be equivalent to coming off hard drugs  

I also have some water kefir on the go, which is smelling and tasting amazing from the little try I had, but bit scared to have any once it's done now... Unsure how to proceed. I took 2 Dr D polyfloras just now and the pain seemed to reduce somewhat. I think I will take a break from any fermented foods for a few days, but recommence with the daily polyflora, and hopefully things will settle down! It's been over a week now since I had a proper sleep  

Anyway sorry to slightly hijack this thread, it is vaguely on topic lol!  

p.s I just very finely chopped my veg and immersed in a himalayan salt water brine, (didn't even bother squeezing the juice coz i gave it a go bashing them with a rolling pin in a bag after salting, but hardly anything was coming out.) They were on the radiator getting about 5 hours direct heat a day, and quite cold the rest of the time, and were done after 7 days. The jar with a (non BT) probiotic was a little further along, I preferred the taste of the unadulterated. The salt solution should prevent bad bacteria and molds forming, I was opening my jars every so often to let the gas out, I dont think they need to be airtight. The more salty the solution the stronger the protection (and the longer you would need to ferment.)