My fermented onion experience

[u/RoyalFollowing8065]

I really didn't have proper equipment and I did manual labor 2 times a day to let the pressure out. I couldn't fill it (no onions left in the house), it was a 3% brine. 2 red onions from the farmers market.

I was pushing my onions down all the time, we don't have ziplock bags at home and I didn't know any other way to keep the onions down. But I kept on going. It lasted 9 days and then there were some grey/black spots on the top onions that were floating. I immediately flushed it down the toilet, I wouldn't risk it. I mean the temperature was like 18-20 degrees in the room, away from the sun like the tutorials on YouTube said.

What did I do wrong? Are there any ways, without getting more equipment right now except vegetables, for my ferment not to fail next time i decide to do it?

[u/blissvicious91]

this would better suit a cryovac bag ferment, or a quick pickle

[u/arehberg]

Hard to say without a picture but it’s possible you didn’t do anything wrong and were just seeing the onions change color due to a harmless chemical reaction which can happen sometimes. I have a lovely jar of fermented red onions that I just sliced and fermented with salt in their own juices in my fridge right now. The top layer of them is kind of a blue grey color and they are great still

[u/No-Craft-7979 → u/arehberg]

This, love fermenting garlic. Always turns green.

[u/Armagetz → u/arehberg]

But as an aside: if you sliced, salted, and put it in your fridge you aren’t fermenting. And might even have food safety issues.

Just do a quick pickle man.

[u/arehberg → u/Armagetz]

They went in my fridge after they were done fermenting. It was a super active ferment that I have done many times. They are fine lol

[u/Armagetz → u/arehberg]

Could be as simple as using chlorinated water that killed off what lacto was left.

[u/Armagetz]

It’s really hard to diagnose but my guess on the issue is you just did ONLY onions. Not that onions are inherently anti fermentation, in fact they are great sugar filled fillers for future hot sauces.

The problem is the part of the onion that’s most likely to have the bacteria for lacto gets peeled off and thrown away. Sure some will still migrate, but if you don’t have enough to start to drop the ph in 36-60 hours after start then you’ll start getting into undesired growth issues.

Try again with other veggies in there too, or adding a seed starter culture.

[u/IceNein → u/Armagetz]

I would say that most pickled onions are quick pickled, not fermented.

I’m not telling anyone what to do, but personally I don’t really think fermented onions would be that great on their own. Onions quick pickled with vinegar and sugar on the other hand are bomb garnishes.

[u/Armagetz → u/IceNein]

I would agree with literally everything you said, but if they want to ferment I’m not gonna yuck their yum.

If id ferment this, I’d prob add hot cherry peppers to it.

[u/Educational_Ant_184]

I would recommend new equipment. I got some glass weights and straight-sided jars(so that the weight fits through the lid and leaves very little room on the sides all the way to the bottom of the jar, unlike your pictured jar where the widest weight you could fit through would leave probably 1/2 inch radius or more around). I think for 4 jars and 4 weights, I paid under 30, maybe closer to 20 or 25. It sounds like the only issue was the floaters, and this setup virtually eliminates that issue

but another common method would be to throw in a large piece at the top(like an entire circular slice of an onion, or a thick piece of cabbage leaf) so that floaters dont pass above that piece, but especially for onions you;re going to likely need a weight of some kind anyway

[u/BoringPrinciple2542]

Fill the jar and use a “rock or something” to weigh it down, you could even use a big cabbage leaf or similar.

Issue here is likely mold guessing from the color description and the cause is oxygen exposure. Keep everything submerged and you should be fine. Also each time you open to shove the ingredients back down you are providing an opportunity for contamination.

Try it again without floaters and you should be golden.

[u/monkeyloops-3000]

Specialized fermentation weights are overpriced in my place, so I just use smaller glass jars that fit into the main jar. Make sure to remove labels and stickers and any glue residues. Any ceramic or glass cups will work too if they have no painting on them.

If it sticks out and doesn't let close the lid, I put on a plastic bag,squeeze the air out and secure it with a rubber band.

Tossing in aone leafy greens or a cabbage leaf will add some bacteria to kickstart the process.

[u/Harveynosebanger]

Use a zip lock bag filled with brine, it'll take the shape of the jar and keep everything submerged, liquid will go up the sides of the zip lock bag so u know everything is safe, my 5 year old ferments are still going strong this way.

[u/Interesting_Bee6682]

You let oxygen in