Oh, and my best tips for fermenting?
-don’t assume the strong smell when you open your ferments means it’s gone bad. Give it a bit of time/air. Once you’ve smelt a properly ‘gone bad’ batch there’ll be no doubt at all 
. If it smells even close to being edible, then it is. There can be some yukky-looking stuff floating about on the top, that is actually fine to remove and eat what’s beneath. Learn which is good or bad.
-don’t choose a container-style (crock,water-lock jar, kit,etc) until you have figured out where they will sit to ferment. They need a cool, dark, dry spot. That’s actually tricky in most houses/attics/sheds. If you have the perfect spot, then glass jars are fine. Thick (opaque) pottery jars are better for warmer spots (or summer). Autumn & spring are best for success.
-add something tannic to your ferments to keep things crunchy (gherkins, beans, etc). Traditionally grape leaves and oak leaves. They make a good ‘lid’ to keep veggies submerged, also. Don’t eat those leaves.
-be careful with sterilising your equipment. It’s bacteria you want. Don’t use products that keep killing bacteria long afterwards on surfaces. By all means use heat, elbow-grease and good food-handling techniques.
-ferments aren’t ‘set & forget’. They need watching, sniffing and listening skills. There will be an initial period of ‘nothing’, then lots of activity (bubbles, hissing, fragrance), then it will subside and tick on at a slower rate. When it’s where you want it (taste/colour/crunch) then it needs to be stored in jars/Tupperware in the fridge, where the temperature will halt (or nearly) the rate of fermentation. The tricky part is that opening it to taste it lets air and other bacteria (mold,fungi) into the mix. If you keep a diary of what you did, when and what happened with that batch, it helps you learn when to risk opening it and when to leave it alone. A good recipe guides you on this, rather than just saying ‘leave it 2 weeks’ or whatever.
-once you have great ferments (or buy them), remember not to heat them before eating. They are alive! I do plonk some on top of curries/soups etc, or to the side of cooked meat. I just eat them more carefully (don’t submerge them, not on piping hot food). My friend who hates ‘pickle’ tastes, whizzes a tablespoon into her smoothie. I regularly shred some through tepid food like fried rice or taco filling. Even a teaspoon of the juice contains crazy amounts of goodness, and can be hidden anywhere.
-the health evidence is coming in thick and fast about ferments. Obviously great for anything in your digestive system (counters all the bad bacteria we let in with junk food, alcohol, etc). Also very good for general immunity. Surprisingly, respiratory resilience is a top one. Its turned my families health around. Some evidence it helps kids born by c-section (who didn’t score mum’s mature bacteria mix in the birth canal). Now, it’s not a ‘medicine’ so much as a long-term way of strengthening yourself. And don’t take medical advice from internet strangers, hey?! But I will say I’m a researcher by trade, and my experiments on myself have impressed my GP no end!