Are my homemade pickles supposed to fizz like a soda on opening?

Post date: 2020-09-28 03:05:26

A few weeks ago I bought a jar of homemade pickles from a stand on the side of the road. It's been sitting in a dark cupboard since. On opening today, it made a distinct popping sound and bubbles evolved from the pickling liquid for a couple of minutes, similar to CO2 outgassing when opening a bottle of soda. It is clear that some kind of fermentation has been going on since the lid was closed. Is there any kind of pickling process where this is a normal result or is this a clear indication of bad things happening?

It's a half liter clear glass jar filled with whole small green tomatoes, small onions, disks of carrot and what looks like celery leaves. The liquid is transparent but not entirely clear and leaves enough headspace in the jar that the very top of the pickles is uncovered. The cap was screwed on tight, but looks like it's been on there for a while - would not be surprised if this was from last year's harvest. I didn't get any noticeable odor on opening the jar, and I'm not getting any funny smells from the pickles.

Please note that I understand discarding it is safer than eating it, I don't need to be reminded thank you very much. Also I have not tasted anything yet and understand that food poisoning is serious business and no fun at all.

My question is if this *could* be a normal result of the pickling process, and any information you might have on what that process would be.

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