Sauerkraut

(Jason) #1

Salt
Pepper
Cabbage shredded
Fermented for 17 days
=delicious flavorful sauerkraut!

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(AnnaLeeThal) #2

Looks delicious! I love home made sauerkraut.

(jketoscribe) #3

Yum! We always have a jar fermenting. Good stuff.

I learned to eat it the “French” way–drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with freshly ground pepper.

(Vesa McD) #4

Thanks to @Brenda, I’m also on my 4th batch of homemade. I sadly had to throw the last one away because something went wrong with it since it smelled off. I actually use a food processor to slice the 8ths of cabbage, and I think I used the grate function accidentally which is why it went bad. Not making that mistake again. I have a new good batch coming up though.

(Jason) #5

I’m going to try that! I make it with pepper in it to give it extra zing.

#6

I don’t think grating it would make it go bad. I’ve fermented pureed products before.

(Vesa McD) #7

True, and while I agree I think the consistency changed when I shredded it so it was not as liquid and became dry. Then mouldy. Shredding might work, just not in my case.

(jketoscribe) #8

We grate the cabbage with our food processor all the time. That shouldn’t have been the problem.
Make sure everything is super clean so you don’t invite in other bacteria. And use organic cabbage because that will have the beneficial bacteria you need.

We cap the shredded cabbage with an intact outer cabbage leaf and then use weights (I bought some “jar weights” on E-Bay and I won a fancy jar with a “pickle weight” at a Fermentation Festival) to keep the cabbage under its brine. Make sure you have the right amount of salt in your cabbage. I use an airlock lid so I don’t have to burp frequently.

Sometimes there’s a white powdery substance on the top of the brine. That’s kahm yeast and it’s not harmful. Even if there is mold, the cabbage that is well submerged under the surface is fine (according to Sandor Katz who wrote The Art of Fermentation. I’ll discard the top inch or two if there’s a little mold on top. Since using airlocks I find it’s less likely to happen–burping jars introduces airborne stuff.

If it smells spoiled, that’s another matter entirely. Look carefully at the conditions–perhaps it was too warm, which favors the bad bacteria, not enough salt, a cleaning issue, etc.

#9

Makes sense. In retrospect, that is probably what happened with one of my batches. I’m hoping to make a HUGE batch in a large crock next year (pre-orederd the cabbage from our CSA) and really hope it’s a good one!

(Vesa McD) #10

Disinfected everything this time. That was probably it, as I also heated the jars in the oven to 150 C.

(Peter Barney) #11

Yum!!

#12

Delicious!!!

#13

I’ve had good luck with the jar method, and with my first attempt with the 5L fermenting crock last year. But, sadly, the big batch I started this past November in the crock didn’t work out so well. Something about overfilling the water sealing ring or whatever it is called. I didn’t check it until last week…have to go dump it out. Oh well.

(Jennifer) #14

One way to ensure that the cabbage will ferment properly is to use Caldwell’s Starter Culture. It is a little expensive but adds more types of good bacteria to the mix. I figure the more the merrier!

Kraut juice is also the BEST remedy for an upset stomach. Seriously…

(Jennifer) #15

You can also run them through the dishwasher and pull them when hot. I think most dishwashers have a sanitize cycle…

(Stickin' with mammoth) #16

There’s not enough corned beef on that sauerkraut.