Cultured Vegetables

I made cultured veggies. The veggies are done, and now I'm afraid to eat them!

How do I know I did it right and I'm not about to put a mouthful of rotten veggies in my mouth?

The specific things that are scary are:

I just let veggies sit out for a week and now I'm going to eat them?

The first few days, everyone that came into my kitchen said "what stinks? something is rotting" - then looks in potato bin.

When the time was up and they were "done" - I scraped off the top layer of cabbage leaves which was slimy and def. rotten and brownish. Once I got to the veggies, some of them were brownish and I discarded those. What I kept is actually kind of pink (I used regular cabbage & red cabbage). It actually doesn't smell that bad once I got the nasty stuff out of it.

So.... I think they're ok since they're pink and juicy and look alive, but I'm still afraid of putting that first bite in my mouth.

Any comments or encouragement is appreciated.


hi, im no expert on culturing vegetables, but ive been making sauerkraut for about 2 months now (about 6 batches), and i leave them at room temperature for a week then eat them, no problem. the bad smell is probably the carbon dioxide which is produced by the friendly bacteria that live on the cabbage leaves, during the fermentation. my batches have all smelt 'heavy', but its normal. the finished stuff (when its in a jar) should smell cleanly acidic. the pink cabbage should be thrown away because yeast has started to grow on it (from what i remember reading) maybe you havent used enough sea salt. what i do is cut up my cabbage into small pieces, add some water to cover, then taste the water to see if its salty enough. how do i know when its salty enough? the salted water should be pleasently salty, not so u screw your face up, and not so you cannot taste it at all. i wouldnt eat any cabbage which has gone brown or slimey either, if your in doubt, throw it away. i know what you mean about being afraid to eat it at first, it seems like a rediculous thing to do, but just try a small piece of a good looking batch, then the next day a little bit more, and you will gain confidence in it.


Thanks for the reply.

I'm pretty sure that my batch is pinkish because of the mixture of reg. and purple cabbage.

The top layer was kinda grey and dead looking. Underneath that was the pink juicy stuff.

I re-read the part in the book on how to tell if you did it right, and it does look brightly colored and juicy - so I tasted it, just one bite.

It tastes zingy - does that sound right? My husband said it looked and smelled like vomit, which makes it so much easier to stick in my mouth!


hi, it does kind of smell like vomit! i suppose its the lactic acid which smells a bit like the acid in vomit :O~~#! . i didnt take into account that you used red cabbage aswell as green cabbage, so it makes sense that could have caused the pink colour, and the kraut should have a slight zing to it too. aslong as your not literally vomiting a few hours after you eat some, you should be ok, just dont eat too much to start with, maybe a heaped teaspoon, as the acid can upset your stomach.


I actually disagreed with my husband that it smells like vomit. I think it smells similar to the kraut I'm used to - the zing is different.

I only ate 1 tsp. last night, will try a little more tonight.


Does vomit smell different in the US and Europe? i say throw it if it smells vomit, but I think in the US you are not used to eating acidic foods?
Anyway: if you eat a little bit and then wait if you have diarrea or a small stomach upset, it is not dangerous and will pass right away (literally!) Your stomach should work perfectly if it is right.
You should also not feel nauseous.

I usually use both salt and starter, yet now since it is so hot now it came out wrong. 10 litres! I need more salt when it is so warm in the weather.

You can buy starter from health food shops or internet, I use Vita Biosa. You can also use vinegar to make it acidic from start so bac bacteria doesnt like it.

Good luck!