I haven't ever tried fermenting summer squash. I'm personally not a fan of the super soft texture that results. I have more experience with the cabbage family vegetables, preserved lemons, and kimchi.

Do you have any liquid leftover from your sauerkraut? I do know that you will need some sort of starter since squash isn't a natural fermenter. My book says that if you're using summer squash and don't want to use whey as a starter, you have two options.

First option is to use the juices from previous batches of sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables. You will need large amounts. The juice should be less than four weeks old for optimal cultures. Also it says you should use more salt in the recipe.

Second option is to buy a powdered starter culture from a local health food store. Although, my book says you should be aware that some of these may contain dairy.

With both options, the book also suggests adding some vinegar to the squash to increase acidity and help with food safety.

Hope this helps!

You don't have to use whey or any other starter (I don't care for them either) it just takes a bit more salt and a longer fermenting time. You can do the squash like fermented pickles just subbing squash for the cukes. If you use small hard ones they can be done whole or sliced in lengthwise halves. If you go for quarters they tend to mush more.

I have never done any sweet fermenting except adding a smidge of sugar to my krauts and Linda Lou's Sweet Pickle Chunks (recipe here) as it is much more complex and while I like those pickles I don't care for any other sweet ferments I have tried. But pull up that recipe and take a look at using it.

For the garlic/dills the standard NCHFP Fermented Dills instructions works great. There is also and Alton Brown recipe here for fermented dill pickles you can use. Let me know if you can't find it.

Now if you find you really want to get deep into fermenting pick up a copy of Joy of Pickling for all the info you'll need.

Hope this helps.

Dave

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/dill_pickles.html

Thanks Dave I had the dill recipe but I want to add a little hot pepper to it, is that OK? If it is OK do I add the pepper during ferment or after? I'm thinking after?

I had looked at Linda Lou's Sweet Pickle Chunks, from your suggestion on another post. It seems like a little too much work for me! :)

I'll just stick with my bread and butter recipe for the sweet ones. They are really good.

Yeah you can add a hot pepper to it but if fresh then it goes into the crock with everything else so it can ferment too. The NCHFP recipe allows for 2 dried red peppers. I prefer adding dried pepper flakes for more heat. 1 fresh hot pepper isn't going to do much flavor wise - maybe just give it a hint of heat.

Dave

Edited to add if you want something with some sweet add some bell pepper slices to the mix and 1 tsp of sugar per quart.