Pages

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Sauerkraut (lacto-fermented)

(here is a new video I just did for making sauerkraut: Homemade Sauerkraut)
We have been making our own lacto-fermented sauerkraut for several months now. I am not a fan of canned sauerkraut at all, so I always assumed I would not like this stuff either. But ... I do like it. It certainly is not on my 'favorites' list, but I am thankful for the beneficial bacteria this lacto-fermented stuff offers to my gut.

To make your own, you will need: 1 head of cabbage, 2T good salt (I use celtic gray salt, but Real salt would work ... or pickling salt), a large glass jug (I use a glass pickle jug that is just over 2 quarts), a 1/2 pint jar, a plastic lid of some sort (see instructions below), a glass bowl, something to pound with, a cutting board, a knife, a little bit of time.

Here are the steps ...

1) Start with a good sized head of cabbage.

2) Peel off the outer layers and chop off the core at the bottom.

3) Quarter the head and slice out the center core.

4) Cut into thin strips; I found out later I prefer a little thinner than this. You'll eventually learn what works best for you and your tastes.

5) Place a quarter at a time into a bowl with 1 1/2t good salt and pound it down. I use the tamper from my vitamix, but there are special wooden kraut pounders that would be so nice to have ... they would probably work a lot more efficiently, but oh well. Maybe some day.
**Update: I now place a quarter at a time in a LARGE bowl, sprinkle salt over it, put another quarter in, sprinkle salt over it, put another quarter in, sprinkle salt over it, and so on. I then cover it with a towel and let it sit for an hour or longer (sometimes I get busy!). This really helps to draw out the juices and reduce the pounding time. Instead of pounding it in the bowl, I shove it into the glass jug and pound it down in there with my vitamix tamp.**

6) As you can see, the cabbage reduced by quite a bit and it is getting juicy. I think I pounded this for about 5 minutes total. Put this pounded cabbage into a 2qt (or larger) jar and repeat this process with the remaining 3 quarters; don't forget to add more salt!

Here is a picture of all the pounded cabbage in the 2+qt jar.

See the liquid (cabbage juice & salt) at the bottom?

7) Now you want to pack the pounded cabbage as hard as you can into the jar. The cabbage needs to be totally submerged in the cabbage/salt juice ... to make this possible, I cut out a plastic cottage cheese or butter lid just about the size of the inside of my jar. Maybe you can see the lid on top of the cabbage in this picture below?

8) Take another glass jar and fill it with water. Put a plastic lid on if you have one. Place this jar INSIDE the cabbage jar, on top of the plastic circle. Push down and you will see the juice rising above the cabbage. This inner jar will act as a weight to keep the plastic circle pressing down on the cabbage and thus keep the cabbage totally covered with the liquid at all times. If it is exposed to the air, it will oxidize and eventually begin to rot.

9) Now the waiting begins! Let it sit on your counter for at least 3 days. Here is a picture of the sauerkraut after 1 1/2 days - notice the bubbles forming at the top of the liquid? This is exactly what you want it to do.

10) Here is a picture of our finished sauerkraut - even more bubbles at the top and the cabbage/liquid level have changed. I think it sat out for 6 days?? Last time we left it out for 3 weeks before we put it in the fridge, but it was colder then as well. Usually we let it sit out for at least 7 days but not much longer than 2 weeks (unless it's too cold in the house!) Sauerkraut can be stored in a cool place, like a cellar (or the counter top if it's cool in the house), for many months. Or you can store it in the fridge. DO NOT HEAT IT! Consuming it raw preserves all the good bacteria in there; if you cook it you will kill the bacteria.

Be sure to check out the three other posts I did today! Gardening, Chickens and Cucumbers ... oh my!

23 comments:

  1. You have single handedly made me smarter than any one person today w/ all of your posts! We dug a cellar & hoped to start/keep some ferments going in it & your pictures have my hamsters starting. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to help :) :)

    I have decided to try to keep this blog a little more updated. It's really more for me than anyone else, but I'm so glad it can help others too!!! I reference it a lot ... it usually goes something like this, "How did I make ... oh yes, it's on my frugal blog!"

    Lord bless you, j

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joanne, what kind of difference do you think the indoor temperatures make on how long to leave this out or how well it works? My indoor temps range from around 56 in winter to 90's in summer...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am by no means an expert sauerkraut maker! I can only share what I've experienced. The warmer temps make ANY kind of lacto-fermented thing work much quicker. We make water kefir and, more recently, our own soda. Last summer we killed our water kefir ... it was really really hot (over 100 degrees for over 40 days straight) and we did not have a/c. The kefir did terribly because it worked so quickly that I could not keep up with it. In the winter ... with much cooler temps ... it worked terribly slow. We only started making sauerkraut last fall/winter, so I have not been through a hot summer with it yet. This last time, our kraut started to bubble after 1 1/2 days. I remember when it was cooler it didn't bubble till 3 or 4 days old. Was it the temp that made the difference? I don't know, but I assume it was.

    My best advice is to keep a little notebook near your kraut and jot down a few things you notice about the way it looks, smells and tastes each day. Also, record the temp in the house for that day.

    j

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice kraut instructions. I was scared I needed a crock, and hose I've seen are a little pricey.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I thought lacto-fermented need yogurt or kefir to start it? Nourishing Traditions is currently packed so I can't look in there. I HATE kraut. BUT like you said, the lacto-fermented is SO good for us, AND cabbage grows awesome up here (we are talking over a foot across) with no tending at all so we are trying to learn more ways to use it. Oh, and I never have tried this way so maybe I could learn to like it.
    And yes I really appreciate this blog.
    Ami

    ReplyDelete
  7. Amanda - I was thankful to not need a crock as well. These jars work just fine. Maybe some day I'll have a crock, but today certainly is not that day. (just like with the pounder I guess!)

    Ami - No, it does not need yogurt or kefir to start it :)

    I have to force myself to eat it ... but I found it really helps if it's cold! I'm thinking (hoping?!) it might be an acquired taste; sooner or later I'll like it, right?

    Lord bless you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm just guessing, but one of your boys could probably whittle you a nice wooden tamper pretty quickly;) Then they can start making them and selling them:)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey ... now that's a good idea!! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Joanne, I made this 2 days ago and now I'm in the waiting period. I posted pics of how it went on my blog. (Maybe you can "grade" me? LOL) I tried to follow your instructions precisely. I thank you soo much for sharing this recipe with me. Can't wait (but have to) to eat it! Hehe.

    Here's the link:
    http://my-aerogarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/lacto-fermented-sauerkraut.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm on day 3 but it's not really bubbly yet? I hope just a regular mason jar lid on the jar is ok (just screwed on, not "sealed"). I see the comments about temperature of the house. We DO have A/C - I think the temp in the house is like 70-ish. I may move the jar to another warmer room.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes, it sounds pretty cool in your house :) It will work all the same, but just take a little longer. You could just leave it where it is and be patient, or find a little warmer spot :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I did move it to the garage which has no A/C. Is there any harm in tasting the kraut before it's done, and how can I be sure when it's done? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. No harm in tasting it before it's done. In fact, that's a good way to see if it's done or not. As for how to be sure ... I am not really sure! It has a certain smell and taste that is distinct, but some like it more or less done than others. So, the smell and the taste could vary a little from person to person.

    ReplyDelete
  15. OK! It does smell very sauerkrauty and delicious! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I wanted to let you know that my sauerkraut came out delicious! My boyfriend and I love it! It has the perfect crunch. My house it around 78 degrees or so, and the sauerkraut took approx. 3 weeks. (One of the weeks I had it in the garage where it is around 85-ish degrees.) I will say that mine was not super bubbly like yours was in the pictures, but each day I had one or two bubbles on top. I would also flick the outside of the jar and could observe a bubble or two rise to the top each day, so I knew it was doing its thing.

    I already bought another head of cabbage and I am ready to start up another batch. I think the best thing to do is stagger when I start the batches so I always have some. I like it plain with some pepper as an after-work snack, because I never feel like cooking anything at 10pm when I get home from work.

    Next time I will taste it throughout the process to get the taste just the way I like it, because I notice that the smell does change throughout the fermentation. This first time I was afraid to taste it throughout - I thought it would make me sick or something if I tasted it before it was "done". But now that I know it's ok to taste whenever, I can perfect the length of time to ferment.

    What I also love about this recipe is it is soo cheap! The cabbage at the grocery store is 78 cents for a head, and every household has salt on hand!

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Good - thank you for letting me know. I am learning as I go and finding that we all have different tastes and expectations as to what the finished kraut should taste like. The other week I made a batch and only let it sit out 3 or 4 days (in my 90 degree house) and it was just how I like it. My son on the other hand would have preferred it to sit out several more days longer. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Started the second batch about 3 days ago! It has already changed color and it much more "fizzy" than the last batch. I also think the house is warmer this time because we have been having outside temperatures up to 100 degrees and a great deal of humidity.

    I used a little bit of the already done sauerkraut in with this batch to perhaps kick-start the process?

    ReplyDelete
  19. That's a good idea I think. Much like the sourdough or kefir or ginger soda ... etc. They all start with a little from a successful batch.

    Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  20. In the process of making this. But the juice on mine is looking more amber colored. Do You know if that is ok?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hello Ami - sorry for the delay here. Maybe it's too late already?!

    My best guess (and I'm NOT an expert!) is that there is a lot of exposure to oxygen? This has happened to us before when I decided a few days later to move the kraut from a smaller jar to a bigger one. We still ate it and all was well.

    How is yours by now?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks! It was in a big jar. Its in the fridge now and smells fine ( well thats a relative term) fine for something sour that is:-). I haven't been brave enough to try it. Josh is goingto try it first... He has all kinds of ideas that he thinks it would be good with. I am the one who has a hard time with new foods. And I just don't know that I could get it down. A few more weeks and that should all change:-)

    ReplyDelete
  23. I now have a video for sauerkraut ... here is the link if anyone is interested:
    http://frugalhomeandhealth.blogspot.com/2015/05/easy-homemade-sauerkraut.html

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated - I will get to them as soon as possible. Thank you!