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These are lids from freshly open jars of home canned pickles. Is this mold I'm seeing?
(sh.itjust.works)
If so, I’m assuming they would not be safe to eat, correct?
this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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It wasn’t me, it was my Amish neigbors
Buy the cucumbers from them, make your own. Pickles are easy and fun.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong with lacto fermentation. Like I do fine with my kimchi and sauerkraut, but every time I try to regular ass pickles I always end up with some kinda salt tolerant mold. And I measure out the salt with a jewelry scale accurate to very very small numbers, and put a weight on them and everything, they say to do! If I had any hair to be pulled out, I would have done so by now because of this.
Surface scum, or actual mold on the pickles themselves?
Both. Like I understand the water is supposed to get cloudy from the bacillus, but this shit was like a Technicolor dream coat of "what in fucking fuck is that‽"
I'm certain there's just something in the air cause I found an open half full gallon of distilled water I forgot about in a corner and there was black stuff floating around in it. What's wild though is that I manage to grow mushrooms(gourmet, not the psychedelic type) which requires the utmost cleanliness.
Yeah... if you're growing fungi, you're up on sterilization and cleanliness.
I'll assuming you sterilize your jars first and stuff then? You can also grab a mason jar "vacuum" sealer. It'll pull most of the air out and help with that sort of thing... could make a difference, worth a shot anyway.
Good idea on the vacuum seal! But I don't do a full on sterilization with my pickle jars, just Ajax and hot water. Maybe I'll try some starsan next time. Thanks for the help Internet stranger!
If you have a pressure cooker or instant pot, a few minutes in there with a cup of water at the bottom will disinfect your jars and lids.
Keep in mind that the rings of mason jars are reusable, but the lids themselves are supposed to be single use.
Starsan works, but I've even just used a hot dishwasher with a sterilization cycle. Whatever you've got handy.
You're welcome! Hope it works out for you.
It’s on the bucket list in fact. Except next year I’m growing all my own veggies. It was just too late in the season for planting when I moved in here.
Congratulations! It's a great pastime! If you're approaching the winter months, now is the time to start prepping your beds. The freeze/thaw cycle of winter helps break down compost and fertilizers into usable nutrients for spring planting.
I look forward to hearing about your harvest next year.
Great tip! Prepare your beds now, and cover them in raw horse manure, covered with compost. By Spring, it will all be broken down, and your beds will be super fertile. And having those beds all prepared and ready to go will motivate you in the Spring to get your garden planted.
Also, before the snow comes, put PVC pipe hoops over your beds, and when there is a thaw in Jan or Feb, cover the hoops with clear plastic sheeting, secured with binder clips, and let the greenhouse effect warm up the soil.
At the same time, start your seedlings inside under lights, and with the larger seedlings and warmer soil, you can plant your crops much earlier, and get earlier harvests or larger veggies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVmtm6QNrMQ
best video to get started with pickles on.
I don’t know any Amish people, but holy shit would I assume that’s a grave insult if they ever found out. “Thanks for your free and neighborly homemade pickles, but I’m going to buy some and can them right tyvm”
To be clear, it’s a great idea to do, just don’t advertise it, lol.
Edit: they’re not a free gift, which also changes things in my mind
Your edit clarifies things, I thought I'd missed something. Ours sell all sorts of stuff, and as long as you've got the cash they couldn't care less what you do lol
I buy all my plants from them in the spring, they've got awesome greenhouses where they start them. Then I'll come back a few times throughout the summer and a few more times in the early fall and grab what I didn't grow well in my garden.
They're an absolute banging resource for gardening and fresh produce, and I'm glad they're within driving distance.
Yeah, no, I just made a bunch of assumptions and didn’t clarify them.
I was imagining OPs neighbors gave them a bunch of stuff as a housewarming/welcome to the neighborhood/we’ve got a bunch of cucumbers this year thing. Buying it from their farmstand is totally different and I could even imagine OP chatting to them about how to can pickles in a friendly way.
But if I’d given someone home canned pickles and they decided that paying for cucumbers and taking the time to can them was better than accepting mine for free, I would probably worry about how I’d fucked them up. Like, I would definitely not be mad (though I can see a personality type who would), I’d just feel rejected.
Of course, if they’re just super into canning, that’s one thing, but then I’d probably just invite them over to do it together.
Oh yeah, definitely. And no worries, as soon as I heard Amish, I'd assumed they bought them. The Amish have two or three little enclaves where they interact with the "secular world" and trade goods and serbices so that's where my mind instantly went.
Swindled by the Amish you say lol