Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut

[SQWIB]

SauerKraut
I used Store bought cabbage


March 7th, 2020


Well, it has been a long time since I made some Fermented Sauerkraut.


3 tablespoons of salt per 5 pounds of shredded cabbage
I tried using a food processor with no luck, I ended up using my Boerner V-Slicer.





Working in 5 pound increments I would add 1/3rd of each bowl, sprinkle a little salt and continue until all 5 pounds were added then I would start shredding my next 5 pounds. This way, the salt had some time to draw out the moisture and also it was an easy way to gauge the salt-to-cabbage ratio.





In between each 5 pounds being added, I would knead the cabbage a bit.












March 10th, 2020








March 21st, 2020

No funky growth at all, I'm a happy camper





I refrigerated a 25 oz jar raw for hot dog toppings. A quick taste test and I was extremely satisfied.





The rest was canned for storage. I had to make a salt brine to top the jars before canning. 1 quart of water to 2 tablespoons salt.





I got a little more than 8.5 quarts out of the shredded 18 pounds of cabbage (5 heads)





Procedure

• Work with about 5 pounds of cabbage at a time. Discard outer leaves. Rinse heads under cold running water and drain. Cut heads in quarters and remove cores. Shred or slice to a thickness of a quarter.
• Put cabbage in a suitable fermentation container and add 3 tablespoons of salt. Mix thoroughly, using clean hands.
• Pack firmly until salt draws juices from cabbage.
• Repeat shredding, salting, and packing until all cabbage is in the container. Be sure it is deep enough so that its rim is at least 4 or 5 inches above the cabbage. If juice does not cover cabbage, add boiled and cooled brine (1½ tablespoons of salt per quart of water).
• Add plate and weights, cover container with a clean bath towel.
• Store at 65° to 75° F while fermenting. At temperatures between 70° and 75° F, kraut will be fully fermented in about is little as 1 week but can go on to 3 to 4 weeks; at 60° to 65° F, fermentation may take 5 to 6 weeks. At temperatures lower than 60° F, kraut may not ferment. Above 75° F, kraut may become soft. If you weigh the cabbage down with a brine-filled bag, do not disturb the crock until normal fermentation is completed (when bubbling ceases). If you use jars as weights, you will have to check the kraut 2 to 3 times each week and remove scum if it forms.

Fully fermented kraut may be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for several months or it may be canned as follows:

• Hot pack: Bring kraut and liquid slowly to a boil in a large kettle, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and fill jars rather firmly with kraut and juices, leaving a ½-inch headspace.
• Raw pack: Fill jars firmly with kraut and cover with juices, leaving a ½-inch headspace.

I sanitized my jars due to water bath canning requirements and raw pack canned this batch.


Boiling water process times
Hot Pack

• Pint: 10 minutes
• Quarts: 15 minutes

Raw Pack

• Pints: 20 minutes
• Quarts: 25 minutes

[Nan6b]

My DH makes sauerkraut like that. He puts in caraway seeds- I love them! Homemade kraut is so crispy, and you can still taste the cabbage, which is great!

[Growing Coastal]

Great explanation, Sqwib.
No pounding of the cabbage?

I like added caraway too. That's how mom used to make it. Mom would cook up a batch of saur kraut with some fried onions, oil and a bit of sliced carrot. She said that cooking it this way made it sweeter, or less tart and would serve it as a veg.
Another thing she did with the ready kraut was to make soup with some and some kind of fatty meat. A winter dish.

[worth1]

Apples go really well in sauerkraut.

[SQWIB]

Great explanation, Sqwib.
No pounding of the cabbage?

In between each 5 pounds being added, I would knead the cabbage a bit (sort of like wringing out a wet dish rag) until it became watery and then punch down with my fist, then start my next layer.

[SQWIB]

Apples go really well in sauerkraut.

Also helps with the ferment.

[dorota]

Cabbage can also be fermented with shredded or sliced carrot.

[Nan6b]

Coastal, was the cooking before or after the fermenting?

[Shule]

[mention]dorota[/mention]

You know, sunroots have a similar texture as carrots (well, the fried ones have the texture of raw carrots; never tried sunroots raw; baked ones get soft like potatoes). I wonder if shredding them up for something like this would work for the same purpose, and add inulin to help the bacteria grow and ferment the cabbage.

[Growing Coastal]

Coastal, was the cooking before or after the fermenting?

After.
I have remembered that the carrot that gets cooked with the sauer kraut is grated (not slivers). That changes the colour and the carrot more or less diappears apart from a few slices.

[dorota]

Shule
I love baked sunroots, but I've never tried to ferment it. Maybe it is time to try?

[brownrexx]

I canned my sauerkraut last evening.

Sauerkraut 2020 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

[SQWIB]

Looking good Brownrexx

[karstopography]

I plan on making sauerkraut come December or January when my cabbage matures. Plan on about a 2 percent by weight sea salt to cabbage ratio. Going to flavor it with foraged ashe juniper berries and caraway seeds. The german settlers of Texas did their sauerkraut with the very same juniper berries. Even old world recipes sometimes used juniper berries. Might try a batch with the eastern red cedar berries that grow locally, actually a juniper, those are less pungent than the junipers that cover the Texas Hill country landscape.

[worth1]

Gonna post a couple of pictures stay tuned.

[worth1]

Here they are.

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[worth1]

Here's the one I wanted.
That's not a lot of salt.

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[worth1]

The other day I bought a napa cabbage at the store.
I used what I needed which wasn't much.
So I decided to make sauerkraut.
Not quite enough to fill a 1/2 gallon jar so I mixed in some carrots too.
So fresh no additional water was needed.
Salt a little sugar and caraway seeds.
Tamped down with homemade tamper.

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[worth1]

Ended up making 4 pounds dead on the nose.
Of which it should have.
There are 4 pints in 1/2 gallon and a pint is approximately a pound.
Salt mixture was approximately 4 teaspoons plus 3 teaspoons of sugar.
Probably about 1 1/2 tablespoons of caraway seeds.

[worth1]

I'm letting the sauerkraut ferment for 3 weeks because last week was hit and miss on the fermenting temperature due to the cold weather.
It slowed the fermenting down because my house got down to 60F inside for almost week.
Normally my active fermenting for the first 2 weeks is between 65F and 70F.
Then it can do as it pleases at any temperature it wants for however long it wants.
Basically the first 2 weeks gets the acidity to the level that is safe.
Anything longer is just more sour and acidic.
I have literally let this stuff sit on the counter for a year and it was good and safe to eat.