SCOBY grown on chopped fresh tomatoes in fridge??

[Robin Jeffers]

Followed instructions in NOMA Guide to Fermentation for fermenting tomatoes. Used a batch of chopped tomatoes from the fall harvest that I'd stored in the freezer, then thawed. After a week of the tomatoes sitting in a jar on the counter, I put them in the fridge and forgot about them. 6 weeks later I've got my first ever SCOBY sitting on top of the tomatoes. Everything I read about SCOBYs suggests to me that tomatoes are too acidic. Any thoughts/advice on next steps? I'd not planned on doing kombucha (but may have to) and am sort of concerned that I've arrived at some weird unknown SCOBY.

 

[stout12]

I don’t have any experience with vegetable ferments so can’t answer your question, however a pellicle (scoby) can form in many different types of ferments and does not indicate that you have a Kombucha culture or strains.

I have no idea if it is normal for a pellicle to form when fermenting tomatoes but I hope you find the information you are looking for.

 

[ong]

Everything I read about SCOBYs suggests to me that tomatoes are too acidic.

Doesn’t make sense to me in that kombucha can come in at 2.5 pH and tomatoes are often around 4-5 pH.

 

[Robin Jeffers]

I don’t have any experience with vegetable ferments so can’t answer your question, however a pellicle (scoby) can form in many different types of ferments and does not indicate that you have a Kombucha culture or strains.

I have no idea if it is normal for a pellicle to form when fermenting tomatoes but I hope you find the information you are looking for.

Thank you for new term--"pellicle." I'll do some searching on that to continue my fermentation education.

 

[Robin Jeffers]

Doesn’t make sense to me in that kombucha can come in at 2.5 pH and tomatoes are often around 4-5 pH.

Thanks for info on acidity levels. Every bit of info I get on this is helping me.

 

[jodimambo]

For what it's worth, a few weeks ago I made a tomato sauce for a pizza by whizzing a can of crushed tomatoes (and most likely adding a tiny bit of water).
I left the leftover in a glass jar in the fridge and it got forgotten there.
A week later (exactly 7 days), the pulp had drifted down the bottom and the top red water was topped by a scoby looking like layer! (approx 3mm thick)

I was really surprised by that layer (I've let tomatoes paste drifting in the fridge more than once before, it's the first time this happen!).
I searched online and found this thread which gave me the confidence it could be a scoby.

I then proceeded to make some tea, add a bunch of sugar, add the scoby.
It's been another 10 days now, and it's looking and tasting good!

Thanks for this thread