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A visit to the farmers market in Asheville showed me a better way to start my ferments
I was at the Asheville City Market last Saturday and got talking to a kraut vendor. She told me she never uses store-bought starter cultures, just a bit of brine from her last successful batch. I tried it with my kimchi that night, using about a quarter cup of old brine. The ferment took off in under 24 hours, way faster than my usual week-long wait. Has anyone else had luck with this back-slopping method for different vegetables?
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hernandez.brooke3mo ago
My last three batches all started with old brine, like kaiblack said.
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jones.blake20d ago
There's a guy on another fermentation forum who's been doing the old brine trick for years now and swears by it. He says the key is to make sure the brine is from a batch that didn't show any signs of mold or off smells and to keep it in the fridge between uses. I read his whole process once where he even tests the pH of his old brine before using it to make sure it's still acidic enough to fight bad bacteria. Sounds like a lot of extra work to me, but he claims it gives his ferments a more consistent flavor. Have you noticed any difference in taste with your last three batches?
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kaiblack3mo ago
Sounds risky. Could mess up the whole batch with bad bacteria from the old brine. I'll stick with a fresh start every time.
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