Making fermented veggies in an dehydrator??

[snugglebug14]

Can you make fermented veggies in an excalibur dehydrator instead of on the counter for days/weeks?? My house seems too cold and I'm impatient lol. If I were to make them in a dehydrator, what temp and how long??

Also...how do you avoid mold on the top of ferments...I simply CANNOT get my veggies to stay below the water level and not float to the surface?

Thanks

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by snugglebug14

Can you make fermented veggies in an excalibur dehydrator instead of on the counter for days/weeks?? My house seems too cold and I'm impatient lol. If I were to make them in a dehydrator, what temp and how long??

Also...how do you avoid mold on the top of ferments...I simply CANNOT get my veggies to stay below the water level and not float to the surface?

Thanks

Yes, an Excalibur Dehydrator can work quite well. You want to just barely turn it on and then use a thermometer to test the temperature inside. If it's below 80 degrees you're fine. If it's 80 or above, I'd leave the door off and adjust the dial to find a nice warm (but not too warm) temp.

Couple of options for the mold issue. If you're using wide mouth canning jars, get a regular mouth lid and let that float on top to keep the veggies underneath. It's not perfect, but it works.

Using an airlock set up works really well as long as you have an air tight lid. It lets the gas escape but keeps new air out.

[snugglebug14]

Thanks for the reply! How long do I leave it in the dehydrator?
Also, I end up with mold, is the whole batch shot? Or can I carefully get rid of just the top layer?

[CeciMami]

something that we do to keep the veggies under the water is to fill up a smaller jar full of water and have the weight of that push those floaters under! Imagine filling an olive jar full of water and putting into a quart mason jar...does that make sense? it works perfectly for us!