Anyone making their own sauerkraut?

[Luc]

Yes I know, not loved by anyone. I love the taste with sausages or pork knuckles.

I tried to make my own, it fermented for two weeks, didn't smell much (suprisingly). Now, I will be trying to finalize the product by cooking the cabbage with bacon, juniper berries, salt, pepper, white wine and a potato! I did it this week with pre-made cabbage so I could have a fair idea if mine is good or not.

Since I watched Food Safari on DVD, I decided to try it. I am unsure if I did it right or not, next week will be the answer.

I was curious if someone is making their own and if so, how do you ferment it? What I have is Cabbage + salt + water to cover the cabbage and make sur everything is underwater. I have to leave it alone for a while and voilà!

If this batch is good, I would try my own Kimchi which is the same principle (ferment chinese cabbage + chillis, ginger, garlic, etc)...

This is still a new thing for me to ferment my veggies but it seems great to preserve them! I would try a smaller cabbage next time as mine was around 4kg... (~9lbs)

 

[danek]

I tried it last summer and was very disappointed. It didn't ferment like it should have. I live on a very small community water system and have learned that a small amount of chlorine is added to the water system. I've learned that ANY chlorine will almost eliminate the fermentation process, so this year I will be using purified water. I hope that will give much better results. We'll see.

 

[LocalYokel]

I had never done fermented veggies, but I have made a good bit of sourdough. Down here in Austin, I get the same results whether I use tap water or filtered water.

Please keep us posted on your results!!

 

[Luc]

Tonight will be night #1 to try the sauerkraut! Will post results!

 

[danek]

Please do post results, as I'll be making sauerkraut again when cabbage is available locally.

 

[Rughi]

I don't know anything about it, but it definitely sounds like the kind of thing I'd like to know more about.

I'll look forward to reading of your progress.

Roger

 

[Austin]

Love kraut on dogs. Good luck gents.

 

[Luc]

All right!

Sauerkraut #1

In the pot -> Fermented sauerkraut, 6 slices of bacon diced, 1 small raw potato grated, 10 grams of juniper berries, salt, pepper, 1 tablesoon of caraway seeds, a shooter of Gentleman Jack scared: - I was out of white wine and realised during the process)...

Cook the whole thing without the lid until all the juices evaporated.

Verdict: Juniper berries were bitter. According to wikipedia, some are and some aren't. I didn't buy the juniper berries at the same place for yesterday and it shows. The one I had last week were not bitter at all and a bit sweet (a bit like blueberries but not quite).

The JD didn't give the same result has white wine (of course). It gave a nice woody taste as JD always do...

So, next week, I will use batch number 2 of 3 and get the right juniper berries + white wine. Also, I had some lamb sausages. They were nice but you need a nice pork sausage for this. Hunting good sausages begins.

If I look versus the potted version, it's very similar has I did both recipes the same way. The difference is always the price.

Cost for the pre-made sauerkrut -> $7.80 AUD -> 700ml (that one was organic/bio)
Cost for a whole cabbage that will give me 3x700ml ($1.99)

Would I do again? Yes!

Next on the list will be Kimchi!

 

[ouch]

Considering that sauerkraut is about 25 cents per metric ton, it never occurrred to me to make my own. However, this is B&B, and we explore everything.

We need a recipe.

 

[SepticTank]

Considering that sauerkraut is about 25 cents per metric ton (because it's inedible), it never occurrred to me to make my own. However, this is B&B, and we explore everything.

There fixed that for you.

We need a recipe.

Take one metal scouring pad like this...

Add some battery acid and serve.

 

[talibeard]

Luc, when you love sauerkraut (and you just have to concidering you want to make your own) make sure to get some recepies from Alsace (the "german" speaking N-E part of France).

Nothing beats that in my book and they also have some great wines to go with the "choucroute" too.

 

[ouch]

There fixed that for you.



Take one metal scouring pad like this...

Add some battery acid and serve.

Ah, culinary advice from the land of haggis.

 

[Luc]

Luc, when you love sauerkraut (and you just have to concidering you want to make your own) make sure to get some recepies from Alsace (the "german" speaking N-E part of France).

Nothing beats that in my book and they also have some great wines to go with the "choucroute" too.

Yes, Alsace are great for that! I will have a look to find something from over there and see how I can do it with batch 2 of 3 of my cabbage!

Ah, culinary advice from the land of haggis.

mmm, haggis.... Deep fried chocolate bar... mmm, deep fried haggis

 

[OldSaw]

I just buy the stuff that is imported from Germany. It has cabbage and salt, that's it.

 

[Luc]

Batch no 2 done yesterday.

I had a different batch of juniper berries. To be sure they won't be bitter, I used a Gewurtztraminer that was a bit sweet. I tried a recipe from Alsac (German wine is the best I can do down under, there are not a lot of French wines imported here). However, mine was produced locally, even better!

The result was awesome. Pancetta this time, it was really nice. I had sausages that were called English sausages (no idea why). I can post what I did later if someone wants it!

 

[danek]

You still using store-bought kraut, or are you making your own yet?

 

[Luc]

That was with my homemade one. Quite easy to do... It takes time that's the only thing... But not much of your time...

 

[danek]

Would you mind posting your method that you used to make it?

 

[Luc]

Sure,

Basic fermentation.

1 whole cabbage
around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sea salt

Put the salt in a pot.
Slice the cabbage and add it to the same pot.
Cover with water and here's the critical thing, you need to put a plate or something on top of it, everything must be underwater. I put my lid upside-down so it covers everything.
Then you wait. I left mine there for 2 weeks. You can leave it in there for a month or a bit more.

Suprisingly, it wasn't smelling at all as it was on the kitchen counter for 2 weeks (I don't have visitors very often).

Then, you take it out and cook it accordingly with/without spices to make your own sauerkraut!

I froze what I had left so now I just put the frozen cabbage in the pot and I cook it like I want. No worries about a bad preserved pot!

 

[tblech]

I have six plants in the ground right now starting to grow. I have every intention of turning all of it into kraut as SHE just doesn't like cabbage in any form...