Sparkling Vegetables or Sauerkraut
Beyond easy to
make, extremely valuable for healing your gut and it’s cheap. More strains
of probiotic than the 50.00 per month probiotic you are getting from the health
food store. Reason enough, right.
Fermenting. How
does it work? The process is called lacto-fermentation. On
the surface of the cabbage there is beneficial bacteria present. Lactobacillus is one of the many bacteria’s
found, it’s also present in yogurt as well as many other fermented food
products. For the food safety questions: When the cabbage is submerged in brine
the bacteria begins to convert the sugars to lactic acid, a natural
preservative inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria.
Ingredients
1 medium head green or red cabbage
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher/sea/Celtic/Himalayan salt (your choice)
1 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional, for flavor)
Equipment
Cutting board
Chef's knife
Mixing bowl
1 liter wide mouth canning jar with canning lid
small bowl that the Mason jar will sit into.
Instructions
1.
Make sure your Mason
jar and lid are washed and rinsed of all soap residue. Make sure your hands are
really clean. You'll be using your hands to massage the salt into the cabbage.
2.
Discard any limp outer
leaves of the cabbage. Keep the first good leaf by pealing it off and
placing it aside. Trim out the core and cut into quarters. Slice each quarter
down its length, making 8 wedges. Slice each wedge crosswise into thin ribbons.
3.
Transfer the cut cabbage
to a big mixing bowl and sprinkle the salt over top. Begin working the salt
into the cabbage by massaging and squeezing the cabbage with your hands. At
first, it may not seem like enough salt, but gradually; the cabbage will become
watery and limp. This will take 5 to 10 minutes. Let your cabbage sit for an
hour covered. Then massage again. If you'd like to flavor your sauerkraut with
caraway seeds, mix them in now.
4.
Put your Mason jar next to the bowl with the cabbage in it. Put handfuls of the cabbage into the Mason jar and pack it down
tight. If you have a canning funnel, this will make the job easier. Pour any
liquid released by the cabbage while you were massaging it into the jar. The
cabbage should be covered with liquid.
Get the outer leaf that you put aside
and fold it till it fits into the mouth of the jar. Place over the surface of
the sliced cabbage. This will help keep the cabbage submerged in its liquid.
5.
Cover the mouth of the
mason jar with Mason jar lid. Keep a little loose as the fermentation process
may kick some of the liquid out of the jar.
6.
If after 24 hours, the
liquid has not risen above the cabbage, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of
water and add enough to submerge the cabbage.
7.
Ferment the
cabbage for 3 to 10 days: As
it's fermenting, keep the sauerkraut away from direct sunlight and at a cool
room temperature — ideally 65°F to 75°F. Check it daily and press it down if
the cabbage is floating above the liquid.
8.
Now that you
have made your first jar of sparkling vegetables, start planning to go crazy by
adding carrots, ginger, garlic, sea vegetables. The sky is the limit, have fun.
Because this is a small batch of sauerkraut, it will ferment more quickly than
larger batches. Start tasting it after 3 days — when the sauerkraut tastes good
to you. Screw on the lid and refrigerate.
There's no hard and fast rule for when the sauerkraut is "done" — go
by how it tastes.
While it's fermenting, you may see bubbles coming through the cabbage, foam on
the top, or white scum. These are all signs of a healthy, happy fermentation
process. The scum can be skimmed off the top either during fermentation or
before refrigerating. If you see any mold, skim it off immediately and make
sure your cabbage is fully submerged; don't eat moldy parts close to the
surface, but the rest of the sauerkraut is fine.
