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Brought my fermented hot sauce to a picnic and it caused a stir
I took a jar of my homemade fermented hot sauce to a family picnic last weekend. When I offered it for the burgers, my uncle tried a drop and his eyes went wide. He started coughing and grabbed for water, saying it was alive or something. I had to explain that the fizzy feeling is normal from the fermentation process. Everyone else at the table got quiet and passed on trying it. I kind of laughed it off but felt a little silly for bringing it. What do you do when people get freaked out by your ferments?
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diana207mo ago
Kai's story about googling botulism really hits home. I see this all the time now, this deep fear of anything that isn't factory sealed and perfectly still. People will happily eat a fast food burger of unknown origin but get scared of a bubbly pickle from their own kitchen. We've lost touch with how food actually works. My neighbor threw out a whole jar of sauerkraut because it made a popping sound when she opened it. It's like we expect our food to be dead and silent, not alive and active.
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the_stella7mo ago
What is it about fizzy food that turns people into drama queens? It's just old veggies getting bubbly, but one cough and everyone thinks it's toxic. Maybe next time just keep the good stuff for yourself and let them eat plain burgers.
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kai_knight627mo ago
Honestly, I'm guilty of this too. I once took a sip of homemade ginger beer and spent the next ten minutes googling botulism symptoms. My roommate had to talk me down from calling a poison hotline over some fizzy carrots. It's like my brain forgets that people have been eating this stuff for centuries without dropping dead. Now I just keep my fermentation experiments to myself to avoid the embarrassment.
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