Question about a weird smell from my fermented carrots

I just tried fermenting carrots with ginger for the first time. After five days, they started smelling like rotten eggs. I used a 2% salt brine and kept them at room temperature. Is this normal or did I do something wrong? Any advice would be great.

3 comments

3 Comments

henryl4028d ago

Toss them and use more salt next time.

noah_brown27d ago

Henry's totally right about the salt, but honestly the type matters too. Cheap table salt with anti-caking stuff can sometimes give you a cloudy brine and mess with the good bacteria. Next time try pure sea salt or pickling salt for a cleaner ferment. Also, smashing the carrots a bit before they go in helps the brine get inside better. A higher salt percentage and prepping them right makes a huge difference.

hayes.joel28d ago

Rotten egg smell is NOT normal and means sulfur bacteria messed up your ferment. Carrots are dense, so a 2% brine might not be STRONG enough to keep bad stuff out. Toss those out and try again with more salt, around 3%, to get it right.