No, lemon juice does not have probiotics in it.

puedo usar jugo de limón para hacer la.fermentacion

I wouldn’t add salt as it can inhibit fermentation. Leron juice would be fine. I feel like just adding more of the starter would do the same job plus add more probiotics.

Thanks :), I’ll give that a go!

For my next batch do you think it’d do any harm to make the environment a little bit more acidic from the start e.g. by adding a little bit of salt or lemon juice to the initial setup?

Hi Will,

It sounds like it needs more fermentation. The levers at your disposal are your starter, temperature and time. Next time, I would add more starter from the beginning and try to leave the mix at a warmer ambient temperature. It will ferment more quickly. I think this batch should be fine. I would add some more starter and try to put it in a warmer place, then check it tomorrow.

I followed your advice – put water, oatmeal and a tablespoon of kefir in a jar. Covered it with a cloth and left it for 24 hours. I'm nervous about eating it though now eeeee!

It looks OK – no mould or growth on the surface. It smells OK (doesn't really smell much at all). But it isn't very acidic though – I got a reading of about pH 5 – and when I gave it a small taste it just tasted like water and oats really. I was hoping it'd be more acidic because I know that kills bad bacteria. Do you think this sounds safe to eat?? Is there anything I could have done differently/better?

Hi Linda.

1/ I have never tried this and not heard of anyone who has. I think it would work though and you shouldn’t need to stir because oxygen is not getting in.

2/ Yes you can, but fermenting on a counter for four days will make it very sour. I usually only do one day, possibly two. Once the oats are fermented, you can certainly transfer them to the refrigerator and cook and eat portions for up to five days, but you will find that they get even sourer over those five days and might not be very palatable. A better way to do it would be to ferment a smaller amount of oats on the counter for a shorter time, then transfer them to the refrigerator. When you take some out to cook them, replace with more oats and water and return to the fridge to ferment slowly. In this way, you have a perpetual ferment.

Hi Thomas,

The temperature at which probiotics are killed is lower than 145F. Most people draw a line at 140F (which is 60C for me here in the UK). There are, however, still many other microbes – such as post biotics and para probiotics – which are really good for health in cooked oatmeal.

And i did toast my oats didn’t really care that much for that! Thomas