There are just some things, ok a lot of things, I have always bought from the store. Despite the German lineage sauerkraut is one of them. I even had Mom and Dad ship me some from Canada but no more.
Turns out, it's ridiculously easy to make and cheap.
The recipe
1 kg Cabbage
1.5 tbsp Sea Salt
Time
Yep that's it! Have fun:)
Ok, ok, a bit more information.
Make sure your cabbage is clean and trim out core. Reserve a few leaves from the outside. Chop up into appropriately size pieces. As you place cabbage in a bowl sprinkle with salt as go (alternate cabbage, salt, and so on). Toss with clean hands when done for good measure. Let sit for thirty or so minutes. Then, take cabbage by the handful and squeeze it (again, clean hands), capturing the liquid that is released into your fermentation container and placing cabbage into it as well.
Continue this until you've squeezed all the cabbage and it now sits in the container with the liquid. Using your fist, press it down firmly. Place the whole leaves you reserved earlier on top. These will help to form a bit of a barrier between the sauerkraut and any scum that may form in the container above as it ferments.
Close container. In Vietnam lots of people ferment mustard leaves and other greens so its quite easy to get a hold of one of these containers which is tailor made for the job. As you can see, the plastic insert screws down to keep the greens submerged in the brine. You want to have a device like this or create something similar. Let sit on the counter and watch the liquid increase. There needs to be enough liquid to cover the greens generously. However this might take a few hours to happen. Let the salt do its magic.
Now wait.
Put it in a dark place and let ferment. Check on it after a few days (this depends on the temperature of the room, warmer = sooner). Sniff it. Does it smell sour? No? Return to cozy place. Check again in a couple days. Does it smell sour? Yes. Ok time to taste but first a few pointers:
- carefully lift out lid as you want to avoid cross contamination (sometimes mould will grow at top of container).
- look at pickling liquid, it should be clearish. Milky strands are not good.
- lift the whole leaves only a little to extract a couple pieces taste (you may need to recover).
- feel the pieces with your fingers. Slippery is not ok.
- taste.
- is it to your taste? The great thing about making it at home is you can make it as sour as you would like. Return to the cupboard for for time fermenting if you would like it more sour.
When it's done extract the top leaves and discard. Use a spoon to move finished sauerkraut into a jar or container. Do not scrape up the sides on the fermenting container (mandate: avoid scum at all costs). Ladle some extra brine liquid on top of sauerkraut to cover it. We then put ours in the fridge to stop the fermentation process.
Enjoy.
This post and basic recipe would not have been possible without this lovely guidebook: Wild Fermentation.
Turns out, it's ridiculously easy to make and cheap.
The recipe
1 kg Cabbage
1.5 tbsp Sea Salt
Time
Yep that's it! Have fun:)
Ok, ok, a bit more information.
Make sure your cabbage is clean and trim out core. Reserve a few leaves from the outside. Chop up into appropriately size pieces. As you place cabbage in a bowl sprinkle with salt as go (alternate cabbage, salt, and so on). Toss with clean hands when done for good measure. Let sit for thirty or so minutes. Then, take cabbage by the handful and squeeze it (again, clean hands), capturing the liquid that is released into your fermentation container and placing cabbage into it as well.
Continue this until you've squeezed all the cabbage and it now sits in the container with the liquid. Using your fist, press it down firmly. Place the whole leaves you reserved earlier on top. These will help to form a bit of a barrier between the sauerkraut and any scum that may form in the container above as it ferments.
Close container. In Vietnam lots of people ferment mustard leaves and other greens so its quite easy to get a hold of one of these containers which is tailor made for the job. As you can see, the plastic insert screws down to keep the greens submerged in the brine. You want to have a device like this or create something similar. Let sit on the counter and watch the liquid increase. There needs to be enough liquid to cover the greens generously. However this might take a few hours to happen. Let the salt do its magic.
Now wait.
Put it in a dark place and let ferment. Check on it after a few days (this depends on the temperature of the room, warmer = sooner). Sniff it. Does it smell sour? No? Return to cozy place. Check again in a couple days. Does it smell sour? Yes. Ok time to taste but first a few pointers:
- carefully lift out lid as you want to avoid cross contamination (sometimes mould will grow at top of container).
- look at pickling liquid, it should be clearish. Milky strands are not good.
- lift the whole leaves only a little to extract a couple pieces taste (you may need to recover).
- feel the pieces with your fingers. Slippery is not ok.
- taste.
- is it to your taste? The great thing about making it at home is you can make it as sour as you would like. Return to the cupboard for for time fermenting if you would like it more sour.
Enjoy.
This post and basic recipe would not have been possible without this lovely guidebook: Wild Fermentation.
