Why does NT recommend...

[Plummeting]

...covering veggies with a tight-fitting lid while they're fermenting? I thought they needed to be loosely covered while fermenting. :

[kdmama33]

I'm not in agreement with Sally on that one, either. I have fermented successfully with a tight fiting lid, but I often get more mold that way, too. I usually follow Katz's recommendation of a loose covering, and with less mold to show for it, too.

It just doesn't make sense to me to ferment something without exposing it to the air, which is where it would get the organisims it needs to ferment properly.

[yitlan]

She emphasizes that it is in anaerobic process and that exposure to air could cause introduction to mold causing infiltrators of some sort (I think...I was rereading those pages of NT recently). I ferment with the lids tight, but release air each day so as to avoid any explosions.