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Welcome to the amazing world of fermentation!
I'll start here: the bane of lactofermentation is mold. It can be difficult to identify mold in ferments because there often strange clumps and lumps that are caused by yeast. Mold will appear as fuzzy, dusty-looking spots. Some people say it's ok to scrape it off (for example) sauerkraut, and eat what's beneath. Personally, I would toss anything that I thought had mold on it. There is a substance called kahm yeast, though, that looks a tiny bit like mold and caused me to throw out perfectly good ferments before I knew better. Get to know it here: http://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/natural-fermentation/white-film-cultured-vegetables-mold/.
Another important part when fermenting vegetables, in particular, is to make sure the brine has enough salt and that the brine covers the vegetables (or you risk mold). Fermentation weights (like Pickle Pebbles) are helpful for keeping the veggies below the brine.
The prevailing wisdom around fermenting says not to put different ferments too close together or they could cross-contaminate. I've never had that problem, but I also keep them a few feet apart, at least. I'd be most concerned about a vinegar cross-contaminating a probiotic drink like kombucha tea.
There is a plethora of resources out there. For books, Sandor Katz's "The Art of Fermentation", Julie O'Brien and Richard Climenhage's "Fresh and Fermented", Jill Ciciarelli's "Fermented", and Deirdre Rawling's "Fermented Foods for Health" are some of my resources. I have a bunch of fermented beverage-specific books, too, if you're interested in making those - let me know if you want more info about those.
Just a few useful websites:
-Cultures for Health: http://www.culturesforhealth.com
-Yemoos: http://www.yemoos.com
-Nourished Kitchen: http://nourishedkitchen.com/fermented-foods-for-gut-health/
Hope this is helpful in your journey! I'm always happy to talk ferments. lol
Another important part when fermenting vegetables, in particular, is to make sure the brine has enough salt and that the brine covers the vegetables (or you risk mold). Fermentation weights (like Pickle Pebbles) are helpful for keeping the veggies below the brine.
The prevailing wisdom around fermenting says not to put different ferments too close together or they could cross-contaminate. I've never had that problem, but I also keep them a few feet apart, at least. I'd be most concerned about a vinegar cross-contaminating a probiotic drink like kombucha tea.
There is a plethora of resources out there. For books, Sandor Katz's "The Art of Fermentation", Julie O'Brien and Richard Climenhage's "Fresh and Fermented", Jill Ciciarelli's "Fermented", and Deirdre Rawling's "Fermented Foods for Health" are some of my resources. I have a bunch of fermented beverage-specific books, too, if you're interested in making those - let me know if you want more info about those.
Just a few useful websites:
-Cultures for Health: http://www.culturesforhealth.com
-Yemoos: http://www.yemoos.com
-Nourished Kitchen: http://nourishedkitchen.com/fermented-foods-for-gut-health/
Hope this is helpful in your journey! I'm always happy to talk ferments. lol
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) and you talked about that kahm yeast. LOL. Talk about coincidence dude.
