tannins for lacto fermenting

poster

I'm gonna try some lacto-fermented pickles this weekend. Most recommend an oak, grape, horseradish leaf, or black tea leaves to keep things crunchy. I do not have access to any of these in my parts. Could I use black tea out of a tea bag? The major brands grocery chains carry,? or would this make things weird. Is there any other easy options to add tannins besides what is listed above? Also I might be able to find a horseradish leaf If I really look hard, but its late in the season and we've had frost already and the leaves would be huge, I imagine they need to be from young plants?

vb4677

Yup - black tea works fine. Or hit a homebrew store up and they have grape tannin powder.

poster

Great, thanks

20stone

This is how it starts or me.  Somebody posts an innocent question regarding a process I hadn't ever though about, and BOOM, I end up with a kimchi fridge, or whatever. 

The one bit of advice on wierd chemistry processes like meat curing or fermenting, if people over hundreds of years have found that adding tannins is a good idea (either for flavor, texture, or "kills you less often") you should probably follow that bit of advice. 

I'd love to see some pics when you're done

girbim

The one thing that I would avoid is a tea like Earl Grey.  I used to make kombucha.  Earl Grey also has oil of bergamot in it that can potentially coat things.  I accidentally did it for kombucha and everything was fine, but the recommendation was to avoid. 

poster

I phoned around and was able to find whole black tea leaves at a local tea store as well a brew your own wine store sells some powdered wine tannins which I imagine come from grapes as @vb4677 mentioned. I will start the process with some beans and cucumbers this weekend and post a couple likely dull pics as I go. Any idea how much of the powdered tannins per quart? I imagine its concentrated a bit more than using black tea.

nolaegghead

from my local brew supplier

poster

Here we go.. garlic/dill cucumbers (one with horseradish), garlic/dill beans, cilantro carrots, and some jalapenos/garlic for a homemade hot sauce. The beans started bubbling, but nothing on the rest just yet.

I will have a taste test this weekend.

500

Cool. I’m into lacto fermenting as of this summer. My month long ferment saurkraut is delicious. Like you I didn’t know where to find those tannins. Was thinking about visiting a local vineyard for grape leaves but ended up adding bay leaves for tannin. Cucumbers are the hardest to get right and crunchy I think. Sauerkraut to easiest, just takes a long time.