Fermentation Lamentation #6 in B-sharp minor.....

Hmmmmm.....well, to discard or not to discard?   This was not an intentional ferment.  I attempted to brine pickle some sunchokes by standard approached.  'Chokes were scrubbed clean and placed into a clean, but not sterile, Mason jar.  A few tablespoons of salt were add and the volume taken up to 1/2 from lid with tap water (non-chlorinated well water).  These were placed in the refridgerator for 5 days.  For brining, a mixture of sugar, vinegar, and water was brought to a boil on the stove.   The salt solution was poured off of the sunchokes and 1/2 tsp. of turmeric added to the jar.  Then the boiling vinegar/sugar solution was poured into the jar with the chokes, leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace.  The jar was sealed with a Mason jar lid, inverted several times to mix the contents, and then placed into the fridge for 6 days,  By that time, the liquid had cleared and was the intense yellow expected for turmeric.  The sampled sunchokes had a good crispy texture and acceptable flavor.  They were returned to the fridge, but a few days later became cloudy.  This weekend felt to be a good opportunity to test the chokes.....after rinsing off the whitish deposit that had formed on the top-side of the root pieces.  They were still pretty good, but I'm uneasy.  Is this likely lacto-fermenting bacteria and yeast?  Thoughts on safety?  Thanks!

In my lacto-fermenting vegetables, the bacteria-junk that settles on the produce is usually a light beige and if you can gather enough between thumb and fore-finger, it's a slippery slurry. Does that seem like what you have?

I originally parsed your picture as a small jar, but now I'm thinking it's a gallon. If it's a small jar, that's a lot of salt, if it's a gallon, then I'd totally expect fermentation to start even in the fridge. But I'd also expect a bath of boiling anything -- and especially vinegar, to halt further fermentation.

I dunno, it seems off to me too. But if it were my kitchen, I'd sniff for off smells then (if all clear) taste a nibble for off tastes and then (if all clear) eat a small bite and wait for 48 hours for a trip to the ER. If that never materializes, I'd call them good.

Out of curiosity, what was the goal with brining before pickling?

I'm still twitching after several more samplings of the sunchoke, so I guess that's a positive sign!.... :-)  The cloudiness has not progressed, nor has it changed into something more sinister looking, smelling, or tasting.   It may be fine just to finish off the jar and decide how I may wish to proceed next time....perhaps a proper fermentation will be in order then.

We harvest pretty small sunroots as it was a wild find in the vicinity of our property.  That really is a 12 oz size jar.

The pickling procedure is one that I use for numerous items from cucumbers through carrots and hot peppers.  Can't recall where that came from but the 2-step protocol calls for several days in high salt solution in the final storage jars in the fridge.  This infuses the items crisping up the pieces.  The boiling vinegar and sugar is just something where I start with enough water to fill the space in the jars (after salt solution removal), then as it starts to boil on the stove, add sugar and vinegar to taste....some things getting less sugar if I don't want them too sweet.  Even if not sterilizing when poured into the jars with the veggie items, the acid helps to preserve.  The jars are either stored in the fridge for a week or two before sampling, or steam-bath treated for pantry storage.  Certainly is the go-to recipe for canning the abundant Hungarian wax pepper harvest!