White stuff on my lacto-pickles

bigcountry1009 · 06-14-2011, 06:32 PM

Hello, I'm new here. I'm also new to fermenting veggies. I've done some sour kraut with great success. Now I'm trying pickles for the first time and my first batch wound up with some white substance on some of the pickles. I use a Pickle Miester with an air lock so I don't have to worry much about skimming. And this was not floating on the brine, this was on the pickles under the brine. They smelled good and I reluctantly ate one with no white substance on it and it tasted great. Had a great dill flavor and it was almost carbonated feeling while chewing it. Nice and crisp too. Anyway, I've got way more cuks to pickle, so I dumped these and I'm gonna start another batch. Any ideas? Oh yeah, when I dumped these there was a creamy white build up on the bottom of the jar too. The recipie was water, salt, dill, whole garlic and cucumbers.

SarahN · 06-28-2011, 02:38 PM

Hello! I was doing some looking in to your question and apparently when it comes to fermenting it is most likely a type of yeast. Otherwise, is it white or green and kind of looks like cotton wool and furry? If so it is a fungus called pin or mucus mold, it usually grows on damp foods that have been left for a long time such as slices of bread or surfaces of jam. It will do no harm and is extremely common . I would not advise you to eat it , but you can certainly scoop it off the top layer and the rest is absolutely fine. I hope this helps!

06-14-2011, 06:32 PM	#1
bigcountry1009 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: South Carolilna Zone 7 Posts: 1	White stuff on my lacto-pickles Hello, I'm new here. I'm also new to fermenting veggies. I've done some sour kraut with great success. Now I'm trying pickles for the first time and my first batch wound up with some white substance on some of the pickles. I use a Pickle Miester with an air lock so I don't have to worry much about skimming. And this was not floating on the brine, this was on the pickles under the brine. They smelled good and I reluctantly ate one with no white substance on it and it tasted great. Had a great dill flavor and it was almost carbonated feeling while chewing it. Nice and crisp too. Anyway, I've got way more cuks to pickle, so I dumped these and I'm gonna start another batch. Any ideas? Oh yeah, when I dumped these there was a creamy white build up on the bottom of the jar too. The recipie was water, salt, dill, whole garlic and cucumbers.

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06-28-2011, 02:38 PM	#2
SarahN SSE Staff Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Decorah, Iowa Posts: 93	Hello! I was doing some looking in to your question and apparently when it comes to fermenting it is most likely a type of yeast. Otherwise, is it white or green and kind of looks like cotton wool and furry? If so it is a fungus called pin or mucus mold, it usually grows on damp foods that have been left for a long time such as slices of bread or surfaces of jam. It will do no harm and is extremely common . I would not advise you to eat it , but you can certainly scoop it off the top layer and the rest is absolutely fine. I hope this helps!