[AngelaVA]

Originally Posted by DancingWithElves

-what pickling spices did you add?
-did you scrub your cucumbers very thoroughly removing every bit of debris?
-which salt concentration did you use (he has a few offered in his recipe) 3 T per quart?
-how long did you leave them out and in what weather?

just trying to help. I've never used leaves ( don't have any) but they don't turn soft. they are not perfectly crunchy like from the store, but they are for sure crunchy to some degree.

I add dried dill that maybe wasn't fresh enough, I did scrub them but who knows maybe I missed a spot. I used the link posted on this thread for recipe and salt information but I don't remember exactly. I left them in my pantry which is rather warm but still climate controled (our house is set at 72 usually) I checked them every other day by about day 8 they were mushy and day 10 they were pretty much dissolving when I touched them. They smelled really yummy and I only had a small amount of mold that I spooned off the top at one point.

RE Kombucha I made my own SCOBY with the bottled kind, I actually have multiple SCOBYs that this point, that is the one that's going well for me.

Kefir maybe worked but it just smelled and tasted so awful we just hated it, but we are dairy free for the most part and not used to milk either. I actually really hate the smell and taste of milk too so I'm not sure I can blame the kefir. I tried it for different amounts of time, with grains and with a powder started, with goats milk, pastured milk ect. We just really don't like it.

This week I tried the cultured salsa, which it says you are only to let it go for two days and today is the second day although not quite 48 hours at this point. It tastes really good, I'm not sure if it's done or not. It pretty much just tastes like salsa, but she does say in her recipe that is how it's supposed to taste.