Homemade sourkrout

[artteacher]

I thought you all might be interested in this recipe I just found. We, maybe not all, but here goes:

Ingredients:

1 Fresh Medium Cabbage (red or green)
2 Tablespoons Pickling Salt (Please no iodine, it will kill the bacteria)
Distilled Water (or filtered and non-chlorinated)

Shred the cabbage. In a large bowl, mix shredded cabbage and salt together. Pound the cabbage mixture to expel the juices. Place pounded cabbage and juices in a medium sized glass jar (1 Quart Sized). Press down firmly on the cabbage. Add distilled water until cabbage is fully submerged. Solution should be at least one inch from the top of the jar. Cover the jar and let sit for 3 to 7 days at room temperature. Store in the refrigerator. Alternatively, one can use Kefir grains to ferment the cabbage, just eliminate the use of salt.

This is from a site describing the benefits of fermented foods for their probiotic properties. http://www.healingcrow.com/ferfun/ferfun.html Marsha

[harvest_table]

Hi Marsha!

LOVE sauerkraut! We make a big batch each fall with cabbage from our veggie garden. This summers crop was really bad for some reason so we have not made it but I still have a few jars left from last fall.

Now that my body is back on track I'm able to eat and enjoy it with no problems as long as I don't over due it.

Love,
Joanna

[artteacher]

I made a jar this morning. I don't know that it will be exactly sourkraut, will it? It just has salt so far, so maybe the fermenting creates the vinegary taste? I guess we'll find out in about a week, huh? I bet you're asking yourself just how brave I am to eat this, aren't you? Humm, good question. So tell me, is this roughly how you make sourkraut? Marsha

[harvest_table]

Hi Marsha,

Good for you- glad you made a batch and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I think this is pretty much the same recipe we do. I'll ask my husband on quantities of salt when he gets home. I usually just help cut up the cabbage and he handles the rest. Yes, the salt and warmth starts the fermetation process.

We make a BIG batch to fit into an old 10 gallon crock. Then cover the top with cheese cloth and put the crock in a not to warm, or too cold place in the house.

I kid you not about this- We literally do not look at it sometimes for up to 3-4 weeks or until a nice layer of green and white mold has grown on the cheese cloth. About the time this happens it's ready. We carefully remove the cheese cloth which is gross and smelly and have wonderful sauerkraut to process into jars. It's pretty cool really.

If I'm brave enough to eat ours- you can handle yours hands down!
Let us know how it turns out.

Love,
Joanna

[Matthew]

Marsha
Sauerkraut along with other fermented vegetables like Kimchi are a great way to get lactobacillus, good digestive bacteria , without eating dairy products. We had quite a discussion about it in the old Gluten Free Kitchen. We discovered that some of us are real sweet and sour addicts. One of my favorite snacks is some Bubbies Sauerkraut with a few pieces of sweet apple. I also enjoy a small pork chop, beautifully browned, smothered in in Bubbies

http://www.bubbies.com/prod_sauerkraut.shtml

My only concern with your recipe is that any fermentation process gives off gasses. The traditional way of making Sauerkraut is in open crocks that would let these gasses escape. With a lid on the jar these could build up enought to make the jar explode. I am no expert on the subject but lest you walk into the kitchen some morning to find the bottle has exploded and a great drooley mess all over the counter and running down the fronts of the kitchen cabinets it would make me feel much better if you would put the jar in a sauce pan that would contain the mess if it does explode.

It might not happen but forewarned is forearmed.

I am really interested in the idea . Let us know how it turns out

Matthew