MOLD on FERMENTED VEGETABLES (Is it safe? How to remove it with examples)

can my fermentation be saved if this is growing on top of it hi there I'm doing a video series on fermentation Funk so you know how to identify what's what is it safe or not and what to do about it this is video number two and I'll be discussing mold Now video number one covered calm yeast and if you haven't seen it yet be sure to go back and watch that video after this one you'll find the link in the description as for today we're going to dive into the topic of mold from different colors different scenarios when to toss it and when it can possibly be saved plus I'll show you several demonstrations so you can actually see what I'm talking about let's get started [Music] foreign if we're going to talk about mold on fermentations then we gotta at least first cover the quick Basics molds are a natural part of the environment and can be found almost anywhere that moisture and oxygen are present molds produce tiny spores to reproduce these mold spores waft through the indoor and outdoor air continually and when mold spores land on a damp spot they may begin flourishing and digesting whatever they're growing on in order to survive such as wood carpet soil and of course food when it comes to fermenting vegetables the opportunity for mold to develop is when the equipment isn't properly clean beforehand the fermentation is not properly made or it's not properly cared for during or after the fermentation period mold will grow where there's a symbiotic combination of oxygen moisture warmth and a digestible energy source like what we just talked about if you think about it the top of a fermentation can be the perfect host which leads us to the importance of brine in vegetable fermentation brine is the greatest protector of a ferment the brine used for vegetable fermentation must be a minimum of two percent salt or higher in order for it to inhibit mold and other pathogens so the salt content of the brine the absence of oxygen in the brine plus the acidic pH will protect the vegetables submerged beneath it a compromise of any of those brine conditions just mentioned can open a doorway that risks the safety of the food submerged beneath the brine when it comes to how mold is dealt with there isn't one protocol that all fermenters follow it is however a consensus that you never want to directly eat mold growing on a vegetable fermentation and if there's any offensive smell or other signs of spoilage with your fermentation mold or not throw it away so the debate in the fermenting world is not whether or not you can directly eat mold on a vegetable fermentation the answer is unanimously no rather the debate is this are the vegetables that are submerged in the brine under the surface mold safe to eat or not I have two fermenting gurus in mind with polar opposite approaches to mold both are very experienced competent and knowledgeable both are even professional fermenting instructors the first instructor says that with any sign of mold even a small amount it is unacceptable dangerous and the entire fermentation should be thrown away why because molds produce mycotoxins and antibiotics that can Infiltrate The fermentation and be harmful to human health on the other hand the second instructor says white to gray mold even some colored molds are not a problem simply scrape the mold off the top of the fermentation and the vegetables submerge Below in the brine are still perfectly good to eat being given of course as long as there's no other signs of spoilage I'm going to share with you how I handle mold on my own fermentations which seems to be somewhere in the middle of those two instructors viewpoint but here's a rhetorical question that I've considered cheese what do we commonly do with mold on cheese we cut The Moldy outer part off but most of us don't toss out the whole block or wheel after the surface mold is cut off we eat from the good portion of cheese remaining right and yet here we are still alive to tell the tale however I'll reiterate that I do not recommend anyone eating mold period I'm going to start with a demonstration of a tiny bit of mold development in example number one then show increasingly Progressive mold developments with each following demonstration here's an excerpt from my fermented pickles video as for the Crockett had quite the commies Bloom on top along with a speck of mold for a little mold removal like this use a spoon to lift it out if you want to see how I remove the calm yeast from those pickles go back and watch video number one in this series where I show you how to remove calm yeast for just a little bit of floating mold like this what I do is just like with the speck of mold on the pickle brine I use a clean spoon and lift it out the fermented food beneath the brine should be just fine next I'll show you a demonstration of mold removal from a fermented kale I did where I used a cabbage leaf as a Topper it's been seven days and two different scenarios turned out for these identically made fermented kales with this jar the cabbage leaf topper did not stay submerged under the brine due to insufficient weight to hold it down parts of the leaf dried out and other parts began to mold the top of the kale that was in contact with the moldy Leaf was also not fully submerged under the Brine and there was a few small mold specks beginning to form so small actually the camera really even couldn't pick it up however for me this is not a lost cause here's what I did I used a clean fork and removed the top portion of the kale and threw it out along with the top cabbage leaf a healthy and protected fermented kale beneath the brine was in my comfort zone to eat in comparison this fermented kale and topper Leaf did stay completely submerged under the brine look at the difference this Leaf is good enough to eat and no top layer removal is needed for this jar of kale additionally I think this is a great example of the results between insufficient and sufficient brine submergence you may ask why does this little bit of mold not bother me if molds can be releasing mycotoxins and or antibiotics because I believe the mold development is in proportion to the mycotoxin release at a small and early stage of mold growth I believe it's insignificant enough to have an impact on the health and the safety of the fermentation remember if you're uncomfortable in any way shape or form then the solution is easy throw it out I'm going to show you what that one instructor I referred to earlier would do the one who believed that fermented vegetables below White surface mold is okay to eat and just a note he's not alone it's also accurate to say that there are many experienced fermenters out there who follow this same method I'm about to show you I'll share with you what I chose to do after you see the demonstration next demonstration is this red Kraut with raisins with a much more significant white mole Development Across the surface area with a clean spoon remove the entire surface area plus an additional several inches down afterwards you can take a paper towel and wipe out the inside of the jar the crowd below is believed by many experienced fermenters as safe to eat the dark spots by the way are raisins the Kraut looks good it tastes good smells good the pH is around 3.9 in other words there's no signs of spoilage as for me I chose to throw out the crowd after the demonstration because I was not comfortable saving and eating it why because I felt the surface mold was too advanced and had concerns that if there were mycotoxins released by the white mold they may have infiltrated throughout the whole fermentation despite no spoilage I have no scientific study proving systemic mycotoxins in that specific jar of Kraut that I threw out I simply followed my own Comfort level with this one black mold developed along with some white and fuzzy gray mold absolutely do not even consider trying to save this fermentation by scraping off the top portion and eating the lower Kraut black mold is dangerous and all experienced fermenters and instructors agree on this one do not eat any part of this throw it away the blue color of this mold typically indicates it's a penicillium mold which is a common food mold however many species of penicillium molds are confirmed to release mycotoxins and as you may have already concluded due to the name of the mold it naturally produces the antibiotic penicillin however not all Blue Mold species in the penicillium genus are the same the Blue Mold used in cheese making like blue cheese does not produce mycotoxins nor antibiotics because those species are specifically selected strains and are deliberately inoculated into the cheese making process making cheese and doing a wild fermentation of vegetables are not the same fermenting vegetables is a wild fermentation and we don't know what species is forming harmful or not harmful if it were a spec like this I do what I demonstrated in my other examples given earlier by removing it with a clean spoon and I would save the fermentation but this bright blue mold situation has developed into an intermediate growth and I threw away the entire fermentation please do the same I will do a video on how to prevent fermentation Funk so it can be avoided rather than dealt with but I need to cover more types of fermentation Funk first the next video in this fermentation Funk series will cover slimy brine for a long time I believe brine slime was a symptom of a fermentation gone bad I threw it out and recommended others to do the same but I learned from a microbiologist who studies fermentation microbes what's really going on it wasn't what I thought stay tuned for that upcoming video you'll find the link in the description click here to watch video number one on com yeast what it is how to identify it and what to do do about it video number three covering slimy brine is right here subscribe to my channel clean food living to see more fermentation recipe videos and fermentation educational videos I'll see you in the next one bye

Channel: Clean Food Living

Views: 37,448

Keywords: fermentation funk, fermentation surface growth, fermented foods, fermented vegetables, fermenting vegetables, fermenting vegetables for beginners, mold fermentation, mold fermentation examples, mold in fermentation, mold in fermentation crock, mold on fermentation, mold on fermented food, mold on fermented peppers, mold on fermented vegetables, white mold on ferment, is this mold, white mold on vegetable fermentations, white mold on sauerkraut

Id: m_cVb-4n5Gw

Length: 11min 24sec (684 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 01 2022