A fair amount of people cannot stand durians. Not to pick a fight...just a fact.

It is like the funky fermented tufu in China. Most Chinese love it. Many foreigners cannot stand the smell.

Thanks, Eric. Maybe I should try again.

My experiment with raw bone broth went well for 3 days. I checked the bowl every day to make sure the bones stayed underneath the heavy glass plate. Yesterday I added a stainless steel cup on top of the plate. Today my bone broth was covered with a layer of mold. Very disappointing. I inspected the chicken feet. It does not appear they have been "eaten up" in any way. They appeared intact. So there is no way to tell if they did release nutrients into the broth. I am giving up raw bone broth for the time being. Go back to cooked bone broth. Might still do vegi fermentation.

I read somewhere that crock pots made in some countries contain lead, especially colored ones. It appears that in these days of advanced (?) technology we cannot be too careful.

zaidi, plastic could leak poisonous stuff upon contact with acids. I suppose fermented vegi contains acids?

... place stone on top so that it presses the fermenting vegs. down.   Save the stone for next time.   you can then cover the top with non airtight lid to keep out airborne dust etc.

Do you mean: After I have pressed the vegi down with the stone, I take the stone out and cover the pot with lid while the vegi is being fermented?

Eric, glass marbles are very cheap (price-wise). Are you sure the colors in the marbles don't contain chemicals?

Thanks for all the responses.
Van, actually I already did something similar to what you said. Since Eric said this, “The vegetables will start fermenting, releasing lactic acid along with all sorts of other beneficial things. The acid will help to draw alkaline minerals like calcium and magnesium out of the bone, and bacteria will start eating the physical components of the bone, liberating them into the solution as parts of the bacteria floating about...” I fermented vegetables for some time before adding chicken feet to the fermenting bowl. I think it works. I don’t mind a little bit of salt, though.

I can't give you a science answer, but try this for yourself: Make two batches of shredded cabbage. Ferment one batch the usual way, submerged in water. Make the second batch without water submersion, so the cabbage is in the air. Keep these at room temperature for a week. Sample the two batches and see which one turned into sauerkraut.

My son, the science-y guy, says that if oxygen is present, the lactobacilli will undergo cellular respiration instead of fermentation. Cellular respiration makes piss and shit (his words, very science-y - in other words, methane and uric acid) instead of lactic acid.

Eveheart, see if I understand you alright: As long as the vegetables/bones are totally submerged in the fermenting water, it is alright. Is that what you meant?
I am putting the fermenting stuff in a big corning ware, totally submerged in water, covered by a matching glass lid. Daily I use a utensil to push down the vegetables/bones to make sure they stay in the water. Does this sound OK?

I am not a scientific person. So I checked out methane and uric acid on the internet. Here is what I found:
“Methane is not toxic, yet it is extremely flammable and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is violently reactive with oxidizers, halogen, and some halogen-containing compounds.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane
 “In humans and higher primates, uric acid is the final oxidation (breakdown) product of purine metabolism and is excreted in urine….Both uric acid and ascorbic acid are strong reducing agents (electron donors) and potent antioxidants. In humans, over half the antioxidant capacity of blood plasma comes from uric acid….High levels of uric acid is called hyperuricemia and can lead to gout….Lower serum values of uric acid have been associated with multiple sclerosis.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uric_acid
So it looks like consuming a little bit of methane and eric acid is not harmful?

I just want to make sure I am not consuming something harmful...

Outstanding taste (umami: "pleasant savory taste") and nutrition (probiotic microorganisms).

Thank, eveheart.

I started eating my fermented cabbage and fermented bone broth. The taste is quite acceptable. I am a satisfied customer. 

In the raw bone broth, the raw chicken feet look intact although an appetizing meat aroma has come out.  I moved the broth to the refrigerator and added some ACV.  Let's see what will happen.    Upon second thought, maybe I put in too little vegetable at beginning? I put in only raw green cabbage and I already took out and ate almost all the cabbage. Should I add more vegetable to the bone broth? Should I take it out of the fridge to continue to ferment?

Sure. Cooked broths always left me with a heavy feeling in my gut. No discomfort beyond this, just a heavy feeling. I don't get this with fermented versions.

Thanks, Eric.

I am making my first raw bone/vegi broth. It is OK to uncover the bowl cover and rearrange the contents during the fermentation process, right?

Thanks. I will start with plain salt then.

Can all vegetables be fermented in this raw bone broth? Or certain kinds of vegetables are preferred?

No, you don't want a lid that seals. You want air to be able to escape. You can still use a mason jar lid, just don't screw it on tight enough that it seals tight. You do want to put something on your broth jar as a cover though, otherwise fruit flies will get in and you'll have a bunch of dead flies on top of your broth, which is yucky (technical term).

Thanks. So any glass bowl with a cover will do.

Eric, when your raw bone broth is done, do you place it in a refrigerator to preserve it?

Taste-wise, when is the best time to drink the raw broth after the day you start fermenting it?

The bone broth study is McCance et al (1934) Bone and vegetable broth. Archives of Disease in Childhood, Vol. 9, Pages 251-258. If you have trouble sourcing it, email me and I'll send you the PDF.

Bones can go 'off' pretty quickly, but for this to happen oxygen needs to be present. In fermented vegetable recipes there is very little or no oxygen; fermentation is primarily an anoxic process. The lack of oxygen preserves the bones, as does the acidity generated during fermentation as the bacteria eat the carbs in the vegetables and give off lactic acid as a waste product. This is why it's not uncommon to find perfectly preserved human and animal remains in peat bogs, because the acidity in the bogs prevents the remains' decay.

I have made the broth I mentioned. I did a lot of experimenting over this past winter, and reached a point where I was happy enough with it that I expect I'll never make another heated broth again. I usually use red cabbage or beets as the vegetable to start the fermentation as I really like the taste of broths based on these vegetables, although I often also put in some shredded ginger and turmeric as these are both anti-inflammatory and do add a little kick to it. I haven't drank much broth over the summer though, so I haven't made any in a few months. I might see if I can find some bones just to make some again, and might even do a blog post featuring the recipe.

Are (whole) chicken feet acceptable in this raw bone broth?

It just depends on the person. Regular cheese gives me grief but we can eat raw cheese till the cows come home. Problem is we do not have a source for it anymore here on the Island.

AV is like most PPL who have great ideas, in that you have to sift through the ideas to get to the facts. He is wrong about everyone doing well on dairy. He said that cheese does not provide nutrition, but just helps to detox the body. Ayurveda also says that cheese does not provide nutrition as it is indigestible, unless maybe you are Italian and have adapted.

I read somewhere that raw cheese is very rich in probiotics.
Here is a website promoting grass-fed cheese.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=121

I get my raw grass-fed full-fat cheese from a local Texas farm (see the following website). They give me wholesale price and ship the cheese to me when I buy a whole wheel of cheese (about 15 pounds), which is cheaper than what I would spend if I buy their cheese at local retail stores. I am very satisfied with their cheese except that I have to soak the cheese in water for hours to get rid the salt. But all processed food (and all raw cheese) in American supermarkets is too salty for me.

If you are interested, give them a call.  They are friendly Christian people.
http://www.veldhuizencheese.com/