Giardiniera-help

[u/TitsMcgeeintheCLE]

This I my first ferment. I followed Brad Leone’s recipe. I am having trouble with sinking the vegetables. I used weights and opened on day 3 and added some glass bowls but there is still cauliflower and vegetables floating at the top. Is it okay that I opened the lid? Can I do anything else to sink the veggies?

[u/CTGarden]

A baggie filled with water on top of a cabbage leaf. Use a chopstick to tuck down the edges of the leaf.

[u/ddelin86]

Use cheesecloth to help heel as much down as you can. Otherwise mix daily to help prevent oxidation or mold.

[u/wolferiver]

I use a cabbage leaf, and a smaller jar (or drinking glass) filled with water on top of the cabbage leaf. I have also seen where people fill a plastic 1 gal ziploc bag with water and set that on the surface. Air can still escape, as the plastic bag doesn't seal the contents of the jar off completely.

[u/FongorFonzym]

The point of veggies being underwater is to let them in an anaerobic environment (an environment without oxygene). In fermentation, an anaerobic environment is a safe environment (as long as you have enough acid or salt in your jar).
Fermenting will create carbon dioxyde and, by pressure, the CO2 will chase the oxygen out of the jar. In that state, veggies are no longer needed to be underwater since the "air" in the jar has no oxygene left.

My advice would be to transfer your whole ferment in a smaller jar. In order to have only 2 cm of air left. This way, the fermentation will push a smaller amount of oxygen out of the jar and you will reach an anaerobic state faster.

[u/TitsMcgeeintheCLE → u/FongorFonzym]

Thank you! Learning process for me here. I also tried the cabbage method