Fermentools- 2021 Review – The Delight Directed Homeschooler

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Are you even a homeschooler if you don’t ferment something every now and then?? For the second year, we have received the Starter Kit from Fermentools. Our garden is booming with all kinds of vegetables that are just begging to be fermented!

Fermentools Airlock Systems were specially designed with the home fermenter in mind. No need to buy an expensive, bulky crock ever again. Now you can turn any wide-mouthed Mason Jar of any size into the perfect fermenting vessel!
From the Fermentools Website

Fermentools is a family owned business, based in the United States. Their supplies are built to last. Fermented foods are rich in probiotic bacteria so by consuming fermented foods you are adding beneficial bacteria and enzymes to your overall intestinal flora, increasing the health of your gut microbiome and digestive system and enhancing the immune system.

We decided to try fermenting cucumbers to make pickles. Everyone in our family loves pickles. We make bread and butter and sweet dill garlic pickles every year. Normally, I have a bumper crop of cucumbers.

Fermenting stresses me out a little… the idea of purposely adding good bacteria is a little daunting. What if I mess up and poison my family?!? I am normally a fly by the seat kind of girl and don’t need a lot of instruction when baking or cooking. I go with it and hope for the best. In this case though, I would have liked a little more instruction. I would have liked the instructions that came with the Starter Kit to have had some specific things to look for…. to know if the fermenting process worked. I ended up searching for Fermentools on YouTube and followed a homesteader’s tutorial. I will say the Fermentools website is a wealth of information. They have great recipes and a lot of explanation on Fermenting. I, personally, would have just liked a little more info in the actual instructions that came with the kit.

The Starter Fermentation Kit Includes:

Stainless Steel Lid
Glass Fermentation Weight to fit inside a standard widemouthed Mason jar
Air Lock
Rubber Stopper
Rubber Canning Gasket
Himalayan Powdered Salt which has over 80 trace minerals; ground fine enough to mix easily
Instruction Guide and Basic Sauerkraut recipe (so delicious!)

We just had to provide a wide mouth mason jar and the water and vegetables.

Y’all… I so wanted this to work. I so wanted the fermented garlic peppercorn dill pickles that I made to be simply delicious… but they weren’t. I am certain this was a user error. I don’t know if I didn’t let them ferment long enough… if my space wasn’t cool and dark enough… if bad bacteria got in? I did all the things and followed the instructions to the best of my ability, but those pickles were floppy and gross. I talked to a guy at our local farmer’s market… he said it sounded like I did everything right. I googled what a bad fermentation looks like. Mine didn’t seem to meet those criteria… there was a white film of what I think was good bacteria at the top. The liquid was a little murky, but the interwebs said that was ok. I don’t know what happened. I’m willing to try again. Thankfully, my Starter Kit from Fermentools came with a lot of the Himalayan Powdered salt so I can definitely try again.

As far as the actual process with Fermentools, it is very simple. They have a handy chart on the salt bag that helps you know exactly how much to add to make your brine. It is based on the size of your jar. The rubber stopper and airlock system are easy to put into place. It really should be easy peasy. Put your veggies in a jar, make your brine and pour it over, place the glass weight on top of your veggies, and assemble the lid with the air lock. Then place your assembled jar in a cool dark area for one week. Let the magic of fermentation happen!

I wish I could say everything went perfectly for us. Again, I think it was user error on my part. The Fermentools system seems great. I’m willing to try again! Maybe I’ll go with some fermented cole slaw the next time around.