Thought starters were essential, now I'm not so sure

I was sure you needed starters for every ferment to work right. But my last sauerkraut turned out great with just salt and cabbage. Has anyone else had good luck without them? I'd love your thoughts on when starters actually help. This really flipped my thinking lmao.

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noah3876mo ago

lmao "this really flipped my thinking" is a whole mood. I can picture all the fermentation purists crying into their jars of expensive starter cultures. Sometimes the old way is just salt, cabbage, and leaving it the hell alone. Guess we all got sold on the idea we need to buy something extra for it to count. My kraut's been fine without it too, so maybe the real starter was the friends we made along the way.

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mary_ross6mo ago

Read a food writer saying we oversold fermentation starters. Turns out nature's pretty good at making its own.

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lilyanderson6mo ago

But what if the starter culture people are just scared of wild bacteria?

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