I don't know about fermentation in general but there are at least three kinds of lactic fermentation that I have a few years of experience with and that do not need any salt to avoid getting "rotting gunk".
One: yogurt. Yogurt is boiled milk fermented with mainly two lactic acid bacteria, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacilus bulgaricus. During fermentation the milk is held at ~45°C (the optimal temperature for thermophilic bacteria).
Two: kefir. Kefir is fermented milk with a consistency that ranges from a loose drink to a thick yogurt, depending on how it's made. It is fermented with a rich culture of bacteria and yeasts found in "kefir grains" (in truth, an exopolysaccharide that houses the community). Kefir is fermented at room tempeatures (around 25°C).
Three: cheese. Cheesemaking begins with a fermentation step where lactobacili and lactococci are used to increase the acidity of milk to speed up its coagulation by rennet enzymes in a subsequent step. Some cheese recipes include an additional fermentation step where milk is "cooked" to a temperature favoring thermophilic bacteria. In all cases, the bacteria of the fermentation culture remain alive in the body of the cheese and impart flavors to it as it ages.
In none of those cases does fermentation without salt result in "rotting gunk". Cheese in particular can be made without any salt at all and such cheese can be preserved for at least a year in a temperature of 16-18°C, well within the range of tempetarues one can find in natural caves, cellars or mountain creameries. My reference for this is my experience with making saltless hard and soft cheeses for the last trhee years.
Obviously, if you leave yogurt, or even cheese at room temperature for a prolongued period of time, they will go off, but that's not what you're saying, correct?
Kefir, btw, can "hold" at room temperatures perhaps indefinitely. Although it does tend to go a bit stinky, probably because yeasts begin to dominate.
One: yogurt. Yogurt is boiled milk fermented with mainly two lactic acid bacteria, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacilus bulgaricus. During fermentation the milk is held at ~45°C (the optimal temperature for thermophilic bacteria).
Two: kefir. Kefir is fermented milk with a consistency that ranges from a loose drink to a thick yogurt, depending on how it's made. It is fermented with a rich culture of bacteria and yeasts found in "kefir grains" (in truth, an exopolysaccharide that houses the community). Kefir is fermented at room tempeatures (around 25°C).
Three: cheese. Cheesemaking begins with a fermentation step where lactobacili and lactococci are used to increase the acidity of milk to speed up its coagulation by rennet enzymes in a subsequent step. Some cheese recipes include an additional fermentation step where milk is "cooked" to a temperature favoring thermophilic bacteria. In all cases, the bacteria of the fermentation culture remain alive in the body of the cheese and impart flavors to it as it ages.
In none of those cases does fermentation without salt result in "rotting gunk". Cheese in particular can be made without any salt at all and such cheese can be preserved for at least a year in a temperature of 16-18°C, well within the range of tempetarues one can find in natural caves, cellars or mountain creameries. My reference for this is my experience with making saltless hard and soft cheeses for the last trhee years.
Obviously, if you leave yogurt, or even cheese at room temperature for a prolongued period of time, they will go off, but that's not what you're saying, correct?
Kefir, btw, can "hold" at room temperatures perhaps indefinitely. Although it does tend to go a bit stinky, probably because yeasts begin to dominate.