This year I tried a new approach, using whey produces from live yogurt to ferment the cabbages in gallon glass jars. This should take about 3 days at room temperature to produce crunchy but tasty sauerkraut, full of the health benefits of lacto-fermented veggies. We also decided to add in some shredded kohlrabi for added flavor.
the recipe is simple:
1 large head of cabbage, coarsely shredded
3 large kohlrabi, peeled and shredded
2 tablespoons natural sea salt
1/2 cup recovered whey from yogurt
All ingredients are combined in a large bowl, mixed and mashed until the volume is reduced to about half. Then pack it all in gallon glass jars tightly, making sure the liquid level is well over the cabbage mixture. Then you take gallon plastic Ziploc bags and press them into the mouth of the jar. Press as much of the bag into the jar as possible so that it fulls the space above the cabbage. The bag is then filled with water, and all air displaced. The open bag can be folded down over the top of the jar and the top lightly screwed on. this sits for 3 or 4 days until fermentation changes the contents into tasty sauerkraut, then it is placed in a fridge for long keeping and use.
Today we ended up with 4 gallons of sauerkraut, which of course would be 16 quarts if we used smaller jars. The process of using the larger jars was so much easier!
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| finished product left to ferment on the counter |
one very important point the I forgot... when fermetning anything, always leave plenty of empty space in the top o fhte jar! I awoke this morning to a nice frothy mess all over the counter becaue i had filled all the jars to the brim and not placed them into a dish.
ReplyDeletenow they are sitting in a caserole dish to catch any additional spillovers.
the color and aroma is perfect though!