Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
goes wrong, then you need to know what you did so you can adjust accordingly. Conversely, if
everything goes well, you are going to want to be able to repeat that process again and again.
So as insignificant as this step sounds, take a few minutes to right everything down, and label
accordingly. It will save you a lot of frustration down the line.
12. After at least two weeks, you can open the bag to check the contents. How do you know if the
fermented bran is any good? By smell and by sight. If the smell and visual test check out, then
you have usable bokashi bran that can be used to ferment food waste.
Smell Test:
The bran should have a sweet and sour yeasty/cheesy/vinegary smell. You may de-
tect afaint alcohol smell. Thesmell oftenreminds meofsome ofthewineries Ihavebeenin.Other
people have compared it to a sourdough bread dough, which makes sense because the ingredients
are similar — yeast, sugar, and wheat. The finished bran will smell similar to the ingredients that
went into making it. If you notice a musty or moldy odor (think damp basement) or a putrid odor,
then the fermentation has failed. The difference in smell between a good and a bad batch of bran is
wide, so you should know pretty quickly what you have.
Fig. 4.6:
Finished bran.
