Saurkraut

7th Jan

I've been meaning to try this for a while. I've been pickling vegetables from the time I was trying to make papusa's. The papusa's I wasn't impressed with but I did like the pickled veges. I haven't had them for a while, so I need to move the jar to the front of the fridge so that it's a green choice I can make with meals.
What has slowed me down from making this is getting another airlock trap and the right vessel.  I then found a method where I didn't need the airlock for the process, see below.

Saurkraut process 5 jan 2020

Anyway, I went to the market and got a green cabbage($1.50) and then went to the Warehouse where I bought a 2.2l glass jar (mason type with Cam lock $6) to use. Fortunately its an OK height to fit in Fridge with current shelving arrangement.

The Saurcraut process seems pretty simple, cabbage, a bit of salt and ferment for a few days. Good simple, cheap ingredients.  I followed Joshua Weissman's video:

 Salt by weight should be 2% (vid belos says 2-3%) so I went with 2.
In the above video he uses an airlock for the fermentation.
In the video below he uses a bag of water to act as a weight and an air seal. I just used a cheap sandwich bag and knotted it and filled with water. See Daddykirbs Farm video below about 18 minutes in. He puts salt in the water, I didn't bother.

I like his leaves on top, but I didn't do that, maybe next time.
I did find that getting the fluid in the cabbage took a bit of time and I gave it a bit of a beating in the jar with a handele of a thick wooden spoon.
Timing, one says taste as you go for around 7 days, the other says 30 days or more.

 

The one thing to remember is to weigh the cabbage, so you need 2 vessels. I forgot about weighing the vessel empty first.  So had to unload and reload the mixing bowl.

 I did a lot of tamping of the cabbage in the jar to get the fluid, I'm not sure how mixed the salt & cabbage are. It will need to be a taste test. If it doesn't work I can always try again as the ingredients are pretty cheap.

 One says a light place, the other a dark place in the videos.
I have a bag of sugar sitting on the jar so it can be pushed up if the pressure inside is too great.
I need to figure out how to stop the ferment. I think you just put it in the fridge, but I'll need to test it
out.
It was a bit wiffy, so I put it in the laundry with the biltong.

I was left with quite a bit of the cabbage, just less than 1/2 of it, so I can try and make some more coleslaw and vacuum seal that into portions. Maybe pickle a bit on the vinegar jar too. Actually I used this in the dehydrator.

13th Jan - Checking 

In one of the first videos it said let it go for 7 days, in another it said 30 days. I took the water bag from the top of the jar and rinced it and then mixed the saurkraut up. I had a taste and it was a bit salty, but odd tasting as it was room temperature. I've usually had it hot or chilled.

It looks fine and tastes ok, so I'll leave it to ferment for whilst I'm away. It seems happy in the laundry wrapped in a towel to keep the light from it. I washed the outside of the water bag and put it back in the brine.

28th Feb

I've come back from seeing Zoe, a bit longer than I'd intended. So its been fermenmting for about 7 weeks.
 So I'll need to look up some recipes to have with it. I presume to stop it fermenting you put it in the fridge, so I'll do that shortly.
Sausages, potatoe & saurkraut, or Corned beef/Silverside seem to be the things to have it with.