To Mary I’d say this: Whey, which has proteins in it (complicated molecules that can break down into all sorts of stuff), has a shelf life, I’ve heard, of “up to six months” but I don’t trust the “up to” because it can become when molds and other organisms start to take over (ever see a nicely planted terrarium after a few months?). Yet naturally started pickle juice can go on and on, especially when “cloned” container to container like wine lees or mother of vinegar is, because it is preserved by the very organisms that make it. I have reused the juice from pickled lemons over and over and have heard of some excellent pickled lemons that were over ten years old. The ancient Chinese new about really really (like 100-year-old) old pickle. I say, don’t worry about this new-fangled whey guarantee, and do what picklers have done since pickling began, use the pickle juice that keeps and keeps giving, especially in a fridge or root cellar or other cool environment.

Why not use the strains of bacteria already happy fermenting vegetable pickles?

Almost all of the top hit sites on the web dealing with lacto-fermentation advise adding whey, I suppose as a kind of guarantee. But none that I’ve read say the obvious, which is that if you already have any kind of pickle naturally fermenting (saurkraut, kimchee, dills, lemons, whatever) you can filch a tablespoon or so of liquid from that and add to the new batch as a natural starter. I have never used whey and have made every pickle you can imagine over the years with no failures, and usually with just salt and water. But I do like to boast my beets with this starter.

Cheers!

Jack