The only time I've seen black seeds is when a tomato fruit has what's called internal BER. In which case there is no exterior black lesion at the blossom end,
http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/docu...11-04-10_r.pdf
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...Tom_ComDis.htm
Seaeagle says he reads stuff here and there whereas I have done the same stuff for about three decades, so have personal experience.
Whenever you stir the contents of a fermentation you introduce O2 and fermentation is an anaerobic process as I've posted several times.
First let the fungal mat form by allowing mold spores and bacteria to fall to the surface of the container. The time it takes to form that mat is highly variable and depends on temps and humidity, etc. In some cases there can be a filmy white surface with no definite mat, but those cases are rare indeed and relate the the internal pH of the tomato juices as well as the kinds of molds and bacteria present on the surface. In which case just see what happens and usually there are enough enzymes made to remove gel capsules and lower the pathogen burden on the seed coat, but it will take longer than if a sold mat were present.
So, once the mat is formed, which is the usual case, O2 that is in the upper layers of the gook is removed by aerobic molds and bacteria. I should mention that in addition to both aerobic and anaerobic molds and bacteria that there are some that are called facultative, viz, can operate on the presence or absence of air.
With time, which cannot be given, you'll see a clear area start to form underneath the mat, then you should see gas bubbles that form on the inside of the container, then youll see seeds dropping to the botteom.
Then and ONLY then do you process the seeds by taking off the mat, THEN pour off the tomato gunk and mat leaving the seeds at the btoom which will still have some tomato debris attached to them
Holding a hose on your hand spritz water into the container maybe half full, Then swirl the contents and pour off the liquid part. Repeat until the water you pour off is clear .
Then tap out the seeds, well I don't see why I need to go thru this part again,
Have I EVER said to stir the contents of the fermention while it is still fermenting? No, b'c that would break up the mat and stop the fermentation by adding air.
Have I ever said that fermentation takes so many days to occur? No I have not. No one can b'c of all the variables I've mentioned many times as to temps, humidity, kinds of fungi and bacteria that are in the mat.
I hope the above does help,
Carolyn, waiting for the US Open mens final in NY to start, is in a rain delay, or she wouldn't have had the time to do such a long descriptive post.Still in a rain delay so I came back to add that when taking off the mat there are usually seeds and debris clinging to the underside it so just take your fingers and push that clinging stuff down in the gook below since most of those seeds would already have been fermented. Contact between seeds and the mat is not necessary at all but does happen under the mat. Most of the time it's the enzymes that are made that do the work and the enzymes are in the liquid phase.