Many gardeners new to bokashi comoposting are confused to find that after weeks in the fermentation vessel, most of their kitchen scraps look pretty much the same as they looked when they were tossed in.
This is normal. The process is probably carrying on just as it should.
Bokashi scraps will not start breaking down until they are buried in the ground, incorporated into a compost pile, or added to a "soil factory."
The food waste in your bokashi bucket should look moist but not wet and may have a webby white fungal growth on it. Things like bread will likely have started to break down, but fruit and vegetable waste should be intact. Everything should smell vinegary or yeasty.
A slimy consistency, foul odor, or spots of green, blue, or black mold are all ominous signs. If any of these things are happening in your bucket, throw the batch out, clean your bucket with hot soapy water, and start over.
Bokashi scraps that have been fermented in the bucket and then buried will start to break down in the soil after a week or two. If you dig up your buried bokashi to check on it, you will probably be able to distinguish large scraps, woody stems, and things like egg shells for a month or longer.
The warmer and moister the soil the bokashi is buried in, the faster it will decompose. The amount of soil life in the form of worms and microbes will also have a significant impact on how quickly the scraps disappear once they are buried.
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