I started my faux nuka pot just over a week ago. See details here
Each day after work, I take the gallon jug of water out of the bucket, then use a fork to pry up the plate that I'm using as a cover. And then I reach into the damp bran and turn the whole thing over, one handful at a time. I want to distribute microorganisms, moisture, potential pathogens, flavors, and everything else. And I don't want to let anything bad build up. So I remix the bran thoroughly every day. In the process, I remove the produce and replace it, burying it thoroughly: a carrot and some cabbage one day, a radish, a dandelion leaf, and some garlic the next, whatever I have on had each day.
About four days in, I missed a day and the mixture started to wreak of solvent or something. I've done that before and correctly thought I could remediate the situation by being more attentive. So I mixed twice the next day and made sure to be through. It still smells funky, but it always will and it's hard to pick out individual odors.
Last night was the first day that I thought I should try the freshly excavated pickles:
So I cleaned them off and sliced them up:
The radish was profoundly affected by the fermentation process. The jalapeno was not, I assume because of the skin. (I might try scoring the outside of one in the next few days.) They tasted OK, but not particularly exciting.
One thing I like about this kind of fermentation is that the produce 'gets' nuka but also, the nuka gets produce. The bran matrix smelled like jalapeno right around the pepper. If I'd left it in for several days, it would spread and get stronger. The same thing happens with mustard and ginger and garlic.
Anyway, I'm just now getting to the point where the produce is doing something new. I'll post more later.
