Hello,
I attempted fermented red onions for the first time. The top half of them smelled, appear, and tasted great. The bottom half had pieces of red onion that had turned completely black. Very different smell. It was an off putting sour smell. Definitely not the same pleasant smell that was coming from the top portion of the jar. As I got closer to the bottom there was more black pieces and the smell was worse and stronger. Any ideas?
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Hi there,
Nice to hear from you.
Somehow some oxygen must have gotten into the bottom of the ferment as it is unusual to see this happen from the bottom and not the top. I can’t say how that happened but it definitely sounds like you got spoilage due to oxygen. I trust you tossed it.
Cheers,
Kirsten
Submerge in brine conquers evil every time!
At least that was our mantra before the first book was published when in one of the last edits the evil part got reworked but it means the same thing. Anaerobic fermentation is what we want to be successful in this type of fermentation. To achieve anaerobic fermentation we need to keep the air out of the process, or away from our vegetables that are fermenting below the brine line.
This trouble ticket was unique - I don’t think we have gotten an upside-down oxidation situation like this one. It could be that when they filled their jar with red onions they just dropped them in and didn’t smush down, thereby trapping air below. Its a good reminder that for anaerobic fermentation you need to get all of the air expelled from the vegetables below the brine line for the best results.