Mold on the Beet Kvass?

[Guest guest]

Hello again!

A good friend of mine (also a WAPer) has started making Beet Kvass. The first

two batches were DELICIOUS!

At her house two weeks ago, I mentioned some of the discussions here about mold

and whatnot.  NOPE, she said, no problems.

I just spoke with her about 2 hours ago.  She says that I JINXED her!  ;-)  What

should she do about the mold forming on her kvass.  She says that of her last

few batches, not one has turned correctly.  One was flat, one had mold and the

other was too...something.

What do I tell her?

Thank you!

Mrs  Bernstein (Avery)

[Guest guest]

As far as I know, mold growth takes place when the food is exposed to air

(so it only happens on the surface). When I make beet kvass, mold always

forms on the beets after they float to the top of the jar. I then take out the

moldy beets, skim off any remaining mold, and then put the jar in the fridge.

The

result tastes fine.

I've been making pickles, and I found that when I make a batch from

scratch (using whey and salt), no mold forms at all (even when some

cucumbers float to the top). But if I make a batch using old brine (from a

previous batch), then mold does form. Maybe extra salt needs to be added

to old brine?

As an experiment, I tried making a variation of beet kvass, where I

juice the beets, throw out the pulp, and mix the beet juice with salt and whey.

I didn't get any mold growth. But this tastes a bit different than beet kvass.

Regarding your friend's problems with mold: is it possible that it got warmer,

and consequently mold can grow faster? Maybe try putting the kvass in the

fridge sooner?

-Mike

Mrs Bernstein <mrsdanielbernstein@...> wrote:

Hello again!

A good friend of mine (also a WAPer) has started making Beet Kvass. The first

two batches were DELICIOUS!

At her house two weeks ago, I mentioned some of the discussions here about mold

and whatnot. NOPE, she said, no problems.

I just spoke with her about 2 hours ago. She says that I JINXED her! ;-)

What should she do about the mold forming on her kvass. She says that of her

last few batches, not one has turned correctly. One was flat, one had mold and

the other was too...something.

What do I tell her?

Thank you!

Mrs Bernstein (Avery)

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Could you descibe what it looks like? If it is fairly flat, waxy and

grayish in hue, it isn't mold, but instead a type of surface fungi called

kham - perfectly harmless but will dissolve the lactic acid. I've got a

reference site somewhere to a Thailand food research site.....just can't put

my fingers on it right now. HTH.

Sharon

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 12:02 PM, Mrs Bernstein <

mrsdanielbernstein@...> wrote:

> Hello again!

> A good friend of mine (also a WAPer) has started making Beet Kvass. The

> first two batches were DELICIOUS!

> At her house two weeks ago, I mentioned some of the discussions here about

> mold and whatnot. NOPE, she said, no problems.

> I just spoke with her about 2 hours ago. She says that I JINXED her! ;-)

> What should she do about the mold forming on her kvass. She says that of

> her last few batches, not one has turned correctly. One was flat, one had

> mold and the other was too...something.

> What do I tell her?

> Thank you!

> Mrs Bernstein (Avery)

>

>

[Guest guest]

Some also call it barm, right? Or is barm another surface yeast?

Desh

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