A week? Why were the seeds fermenting for a week?

You asked three days too soon. I set up a germination test yesterday, which including some germinated seeds along with seeds from scalded tomatoes.

This year I found that germination while fermenting happened with individual tomatoes that took a long time to ripen even though the fruits were picked-processed slightly under ripe. Surprisingly, it did not happen with some rotting tomatoes I picked up off the ground.

For future reference do not rinse out the seeds, by doing so you are removing the microbes and enzymes responsible for breaking down the gel.

Thanks for the tips!

I left for a few days and forgot about the fermenting seeds. In the end it turned out to be a week. How many days should it take? It looks like it takes 2-3 days for the layer of mold to develop.

I usually give it 3 days, sometimes 4, but often, 4 days is enough to have some sprout.

P.S. I don't add any water and use the smallest & tallest cups possible that would be mostly filled with the pulp/seeds/gel. That is, if I used a 6oz plastic cup and it was only a third full, I'd transfer to a smaller container, like you'd get with say, a sauce or blue cheese or something along with your food. Taller narrow cups are better to see the seeds sink, as well as easier to wash off later.

Are you sure they've germinated? Tomato seeds have a little fuzzy green lip that sometimes looks like a sprout to me.

Travelsfo, go look at this document with pictures I put together. It will answer a lot of your questions and help you better understand the task at hand.

Ted

Here is a link that might be useful: Basic fermentation process

I prescrub the seeds in a sieve and add alot of water to the sieved gel juice. About half the time it takes 3 days at room temperature but sometimes up to 5. It is a lot less messy, time consuming and disgusting to do a little cleaning on the font end. No nasty sludge/floating mold to deal with.

I use 16 oz deli containers with lids, but ziplock bags work just fine in an emergency.

I've left seed in for a week many times with no sprouting, the ones that did sprout were sprouted on day 4. Sometimes seeds sprout inside the fruit, generally in store bought fruit possibly from long term storage, so I wouldn't rush to take half fermented seeds out just because you are afraid of sprouting, its going to happen, rarely, or not.

Travelsfo

One piece of advice for the future, though shown on TedÂs procedure is the anti-Bond martini- stirred not shaken.
With a bamboo skewer (I sand both ends so their not too sharp) you should stir and separate.
Anyway- IMO you shouldnÂt try to store seeds that sprouted as the seed coat must be intact.