Fermented Food Anyone?

I'm starting to get interested in fermenting some of my own food.  I just made sauerkraut and it couldn't have been easier.  Well, we'll see if it turns out or not, but it's just cabbage and salt (I also added caraway and celery seed) for Pete's sake!

Later this summer I want to do some dill pickles too.  If the sauerkraut turns out, I'll try kimchee and who knows that else.

Anyone interested in fermenting or have experience with it?

You know, I've heard about fermented foods for a while now, and how they're good for you and all that. But I just can't get past the idea that in general, fermented = "spoiled" or "turned"! Yes, I know that's how yogurt is made, along with beer, kimchee, sauerkraut and kefir, but when you start talking about things like hakarl I end up feeling oogy. When making fermented foods at home, how can you tell the difference between having completed fermentation and having gone bad enough to make you sick? Botulism scares me! 

Yes, hakarl I would probably turn down unless I was in Iceland, since shark is rather hard to find here in Minnesota, so the quality would be suspect.  

But botulism doesn't scare me...I figure there's more chance of getting it from a salad than there is to food that's been sitting in a brine.

From what I've read, if it smells bad, throw it out.  I'll let you know, unless, of course, I die from botulism poisoning!

You can do "mock hakarl" using mahi-mahi.

Don't ask me how I know this.

Ah, we can't get mahi-mahi here either.  And I'm sure as hell not gonna waste good walleye trying it!  LOL!

LOL Seriously! Honestly, since I've moved to the southwest (I'm in Arizona) I'm not about to waste ANY kind of fish, we get the good stuff so seldom! So whenever I visit my parents in Washington or my extended family in Minnesota or NW Iowa, I have to get all I can :)

One of the very few things I miss about not living in Houston anymore is the lack of fresh seafood. In Houston, you get so much fresh from the Gulf.

I knew I had moved to the Midwest when I saw shrimp for 16.99 a pound, instead of the 4.99 I used to pay at Fiesta!  

Amen to that. I very nearly had a heart attack at the price tag the first (and only) time I saw copper river salmon for sale in Tucson :'(

"Mock hakarl"?? Regular old hakarl isn't bad enough?!?!!  

I have not made sauerkraut on my own, but did it with my parents started making it yearly when I was in elementary school, so know how to make it. They still make it and we get a three or four jars from them in the fall. They make it with cabbage grown in their garden.

I've thought about making kimchee because I love the stuff.  I make dill pickles, but not using the traditional fermented prep method. I make them with vinegar.  I have thought about trying them this way, though.

Can't wait to hear how your kraut turns out. The first year my parents made it we had to rinse it because it was way too salty, but they got it right the next year and ever since then.