Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

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Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby johnny71 on Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:56 pm

Hello all,

I tried the Nourishing Traditions lacto-fermented salsa recipe and ran into a peculiar problem that I haven't ran into before. I followed the recipe, let it ferment for 2 days and then put it in the fridge immediately. The first few quarts were amazing over the first few days. Then I went to grab another quart jar say a week later and I noticed that the clear liquid (whey?) on the bottom of the jar had increased from about 1/2" to about 3/4".

The salsa smelled and looked good, however when you tasted it it burned your tongue (I'm guessing this is from the increased lactic acid?).

So why did my salsa go from amazing to over-fermented in a week, when refrigerated? The only thing I can think of is that I used some over ripe tomatoes and maybe that effected the process?

Thanks.
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby johnny71 on Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:27 pm

Well through google I found that someone else had a fast ferment happen with their salsa when it was more "puree" than diced. I cheated and used my ninja processor to "dice" my tomatoes. It didn't do a good job and I was left with a half slop, half diced tomato salsa. So I guess this is what could have caused it to happen.

I created a new batch this morning, dicing by hand and draining as much liquid from the tomatoes as possible. After 12 hours, the quart jars have about a 1/4" of lactic acid on the bottom. Is this sufficient enough for preservation?

What is the minimum amount of lactic acid needed to prevent spoilage?
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby baerdric on Fri May 04, 2018 5:29 pm

Sorry to have come to this too late, but I am about to face the same thing. I thought my spiffy new food processor would be a good way to rough chop some tomatoes for salsa, but I got tomato sauce instead.

I have mixed in some cultured peppers for starter and flavor, and used a teaspoon of salt per qt. but I expect the whole thing to go south.

From previous tomato losses, I expect to see separation from the bottom up and a tendency to mold on the top. I'm tempted to do an oil layer to protect from the mold.

Any encouraging words or ideas would be appreciated.
Currently looking at things and pondering about stuff.

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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby baerdric on Sun May 06, 2018 11:45 am

I did use an oil layer, which was almost immediately defeated by the rising of tomato solids as the liquid separated at the bottom.

This morning's sniff test suggested it was time to refrigerate, so I siphoned off the thin liquid at the bottom and combined two quarts of solids into one, giving me a quart of a tomato paste kind of substance. It was pretty good in my omelette just now.

I may go in with my stick blender and some spices and see if I can make a ketchup kind of liquid.
Currently looking at things and pondering about stuff.

Bill DeWitt
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby Christopher Weeks on Mon May 07, 2018 7:55 am

For the problem of over-processing the tomatoes (and similar) I've found that the Tupperware Quick Chef is an amazing tool.

Image
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby baerdric on Mon May 07, 2018 1:36 pm

Yeah, that does look handier.

I'm going back to my tabletop dicer for salsa.
Currently looking at things and pondering about stuff.

Bill DeWitt
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby bjdmytro on Tue May 08, 2018 11:34 am

When I worked at Whole Foods, we used a food service tomato dicer. These things are very handy. They make a perfect diced tomato, very quickly. You can dice a whole bushel of tomatoes in minutes with this tool. They are dangerously sharp, and it is recommended to wear a cut glove when using them. They are also fairly large and expensive. It doesn't really pay to get one unless you are going to be dicing bushels and bushels of tomatoes.
dicer.jpg
dicer.jpg (28.54 KiB) Viewed 4224 times

I've never fermented my tomatoes any more than 2 days, so I'm not sure what is exactly going on. For getting a dryer salsa, I've had good results in dicing & salting my tomatoes, letting them sit for a couple hours, and then straining them.
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby baerdric on Tue May 08, 2018 3:15 pm

I have the "As seen on TV!" version of that. Works really well, but scares my downstairs neighbor when I chomp it down on the tomatoes.

My "ketchup" turned out not too bad, more like a spicy tomato sauce.
Currently looking at things and pondering about stuff.

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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby Christopher Weeks on Fri May 11, 2018 7:33 am

We have a thing like this:

Image

My wife loves it and I don't. It looks like a similar idea to the industrial device above, and yet, I can't imagine it working well with tomato, even if it does with onions and potatoes.
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Re: Lacto-fermented Salsa: Fermenting in the fridge?

Postby baerdric on Fri May 11, 2018 9:23 am

That's approximately what I have and it works pretty well on tomatoes. I don't like to use it but when I do it makes neat work of the tomatoes.

I'm going to try the food processor again today. I've been watching videos and I think I can learn to control the pulsing switch to get what I want.
Currently looking at things and pondering about stuff.

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