I've made sauerkraut in a crock before & it came out wonderful, but you need 50# to get going... I only have 1 giant cabbage this year. So I'm going to try the Florida method, which ferments the 'kraut in the jar.
Here's the cabbage... it weighed 9 1/2# after some trimming...
After cleaning up further, giving the tough outer leaves to the dogs... who love raw cabbage, by the way... I've split it in half. This pic gives you a better idea of how big this sucker is.
Quarter and remove the core... to the left you can see the box for my mandoline slicer. If you've got something like this or an honest-to-god kraut board, it'll make your life much easier.
Because this whole thing has to be sliced 'as thin as a dime' or at least as thin as you can get it. =0) Here's my set-up...
Once you get everything sliced up, you mix in 2 tsp. per pound of shredded cabbage. Toss it all together well...
Make sure you use pickling salt. Other salts (table salt, sea salt) may have minerals in them that will discolor the food, turn it black. =0P This picture shows how quickly the cabbage begins to wilt, the bowl on the left was salted before I shredded the bowl on the right & it's already half its original volume. There's even brine forming in the bottom of the bowl...
Next I packed sterilized quart jars. And they do mean PACKED! Push the cabbage down tight (I used a wooden spoon) to force out as much air as possible & squeeze out the brine. My cabbage was wet enough that I didn't have to make additional brine; by packing tightly it produced enough of its own to cover it. I actually ended up w/extra brine.
You want to leave about an inch of headspace & when you put the lid on, leave it loose for the fermentation gases to escape.
This message was edited Oct 24, 2010 11:21 AM
Here's the final result. Three quarts of soon-to-be kraut. Now it goes in a cool place (~60º) to ferment for 10 days. Place it in a plastic tub, because brine is liable to bubble out... that's normal. =0) It'll be ready to eat or process then. If you're going to eat it fairly soon, this will keep in the fridge for quite a while w/out processing.
I'll update in 10 days... darn, missed Halloween. LOL
hope yours turns out better than my mom and aunts did many years ago. most of the jars exploded, breaking other jars of canned veggies, meats and 2 of the window panes. dad locked the door to mom's "crash" room as us kids called it and even had to stuff a towel under the door to keep the glass from flying under until we didn't hear any explosions for several days. the neighborhood still has a ban on kraut making.
LOL... KMD... Kraut of Mass Destruction!
That's why you don't screw the lids on tight!
Now nobody will forget that bit of the instruction. =0D
You make it look so easy. So...the only thing you added to the sliced cabbage was pickling salt at the rate of 2 tsps. per 1 LB of cabbage?
Yep. That's it. It should make its own brine.
The tough part is slicing it all. I've done it by hand in the past; the mandoline made things much quicker, took about an hour all told. I had to hand slice the last bit of each quarter, as I like my fingers right where they are, but that's nothing.
This message was edited Oct 24, 2010 7:09 PM
No vinegar?
No, kraut doesn't have vinegar in it, just salt, which draws out the juices of the cabbage & creates a brine for fermenting.
My friend uses a TBS of vinegar in hers. It's great. The only kraut I eat is hers.
Doesn't that interfere w/the fermentation?
Must not. It's an old family recipe and it tasts great. Only kraut I will eat. I'll try to get the whole recipe.
I'll be very interested... =0)
Found it!
Cabbage
1tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp salt
1/2 medium hot banana pepper
Fill jars with cabbage leaving 1 inch head space. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper. Fill jar with hot water, again leaving 1 inch head space. Close with hot lids and rings. Allow to work for 14 days.
(this is per quart jar)
The kraut I ate fixed with this recipe is still crunchy.
Ooo, spicey 'kraut. I'll have to give this a try next year! =0)
Does it matter what kind of vinegar, white or cider?
This message was edited Nov 21, 2010 9:58 PM
I don't think it matters but I think she uses white.
Thanks. What are your plans for T-day? We're just having a quiet at-home day, taking down a huge turkey into several different things.... a roast half-breast for the big day, tamales for the freezer, green chile stew for canning. Haven't figured out what to do w/the other half of the breast... any ideas?
I don't have any turkey recipes. I am really not very fond of it. Just tastes like a sponge to me. :)
We have been invited to some friends. I know i will come home with a migraine because they are both hard of hearing and the lady talks nonstop. No exageration. She never comes up for air. I know I will have to go to the bathroom a lot to rest my ears. :) But we appreciate the invitation and they are really looking forward to having us. We will only be there a couple of hours because DH will be coming home to watch the ball game. Saints vs Cowboys!! Lunch is at 2 so i will try to get everything fed up before then and I can have the afternoon to myself. Likely work on my book but if the ballgame gets too loud I may go take a ride and take some pics. I do live on the wild side, huh. LOL
Glad this thread popped back up today, Jay...I have a head of cabbage ready to slice and get turned into kraut!
I also saw on another site where a guy likes to add shredded carrot, garlic, (even used purple cabbage sometimes!), and onion for an wonderful kraut recipe. Sounds good to me! I may do some of each, "regular" and "buffed up"!
By the way, it's been ten days...how's your kraut doing that you made at the beginning of this thread? Sampled any yet?
Thanks,
Shoe
CajunKy, I was typing as you were posting, sorry.
I wish I could send you some of my smoked turkey breast...you'd love it and I guarantee it won't be like a sponge. (That sure is a great description though, cus I've had turkey like that before!)
Shoe
It seems to me turkey does not really have a taste of it's own. The more spice you put the more spice you taste. I use spices to enhance natural flavors but i just don't find turkey has any taste of it's own. The only way I "like" it is if it is deep fried. Deep frying would make a rock tolerable. LOL
Heheh, yep, I heat that. My DD used to like fish/seafood but no longer does. However I fried (battered) shrimp and she loved it..you know why? "Cause it didn't taste like shrimp, Dad." *grin
Shoe, off to make kraut.
Ah, now I understand your sentiment about turkey. You are talking supermarket turkey, yes? Double breasted whites, most boring bird in the world raised on a diet created to insure maximum boredom. Gag me!
Next year grow yourself a Bourbon Red... best tasting turkey there is. If you don't like turkey after you've had a real one, then I accept your answer. But honestly, I think supermarket meat pretty much tastes the same no matter what it is... watery, plasticky, and bland.
The 'kraut came out great! I've seen the buffed up version before; haven't tried them yet. I like regular old 'kraut so much, I never get enough. One of these days, though...
Because we pressure cooked it, it came out soft, but the flavor was good. Next time I'll try water bath for longer & see if we can keep a seal on 'em. Do prefer the crunchy. =0)
Hmmm, I was wondering about whether to pressure can it. I think I'd prefer the crunchier version, too. (I wonder if it is safe to water bath it.)
As for grocery store meats, I won't buy from Walmart cus of that reason. I like buying from local farmers or raising it myself. However, if you must buy a store-bought bird, brining it really helps to tenderize it and add some flavor.
Thanks, again!
Shoe (who just picked and washed a mess of mixed greens and has them in a pot with some smoked ham hock. Yummy!)
Are your greens growing in a tunnel? It is supposed to get down to 33 in the morning so I put my frost cover over my SFG bed. I have a little bit of lettuce that was supposed to be broccoli raab, carrots growing slowly, a few plants of osaka purple mustard I am growing for seed and some pak choy and bok choy. Not much but I don't want to lose any of it.
Nope, greens are in a nice big garden area. Although we've had temps get pretty low in the past month it's only gotten down to 29º; that temp tends to sweeten them up, not kill them. If we hit the teens for extended periods (or low to mid 20's) is when we lose them.
Your mustard, pok choy and bok choy should handle your 33º just fine w/out protection.
Shoe...full of greens and chicken/"noodles" (when I buy 'pasta' it always seems to cost more than 'noodles'! *grin)
Kraut is usually water bath canned, but at our altitude (7100') when we did it for the recommended time we lost the seal in about a month. I think water may not get hot enough up here to kill the fermenting bacteria, so they just keep on fermenting. But next year I may try lengthening the time a bit & see if that works.
