IS IT PICKLING OR IS IT FERMENTATION?

These are two common terms which are often used erroneously or interchangeably to describe almost the same process.
Pickling refers to a process whereby food usually in the form of vegetables is preserved in a solution of brine or vinegar to give it the unique taste.
The first part of pickling involves the fermentation process. There are microbes involved in the fermentation process such as lactic acid bacteria which were natural flora of the vegetables.
The second part of pickling involved the storage of the fermented vegetables in vinegar. Adding the vinegar will bring down the ph of the pickles to very acidic values about ph 4.6 which help in the preservation but also killed all the bacteria
Fermentation is also the process of food preservation where sometimes salt are also added. There will be involvement of fermentative microorganisms. The main difference is that the organic acids produced in fermentation are the fermentation or metabolic products of the microorganisms. Strictly speaking vinegar is not added in the preservation

Type rest of the post here.