Measuring the Change in pH During Lacto-Fermentation
Background
Materials
Common Items
- Water
- Choose one or more fermentable veggies, e.g.
- Cucumber, Cabbage, Carrots, Peppers, Beets, Green Beans
- Salt (culinary preference is Grey Celtic Sea Salt, but any table salt will work)
- Jar with lid
Laboratory Items (Kitchen substitutes in parentheses)
- Sterile Dropper (straw, turkey baster, or medicine syringe)
- Triple Beam Balance or Digital Scale (teaspoon measure)
- pH Paper (can be ordered online)
Preparation
- Wash and cut vegetables into spears of similar size such that the cut vegetables are shorter than the height of your jar
- Sterilize jars and lids in dishwasher (or with a sanitizing solution such as hydrogen peroxide (3%, undiluted) or StarSan)
Procedure
- Turn your sterilized jar on its side. Start loading vegetable spears into the jar, being sure that the length of vegetable pieces is shorter than the height of your jar
- Add approximately 20g of celtic sea salt (salt volumes vary, but if you cannot measure by weight: 5 tsp celtic sea salt, 5 tsp table salt, 6 1/4 tsp kosher salt) per pint of pickling volume (scale this if your jar volume is significantly different)
- Fill the jar to the very top with water.
- Cap it with the sanitized lid, and swish the liquid around a bit to mix the salt in.
- Remove the lid, and take a small drop of liquid out (using sterile dropper) and transfer to a pH strip. Record pH — this is time zero. Return lid.
- Continue measuring and recording pH using sterile dropper on a daily basis to understand how pH changes during the lacto-fermentation process.
- At the end of 2 weeks, the vegetables should be nice and crispy and ready to eat!
Fermentation In Action
Some fermentation examples — can you spot the experiment-gone-wrong?
