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Anyone making their own sauerkraut?

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
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):lol:
 
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.
 
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

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Tonight will be night #1 to try the sauerkraut! Will post results!
 
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
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
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!:biggrin:
 

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
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.
 
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...

proxy.php


Add some battery acid and serve.
 
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.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
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! :001_smile

Ah, culinary advice from the land of haggis. :lol:

:lol: mmm, haggis.... :lol: Deep fried chocolate bar... :lol: mmm, deep fried haggis :bored:
 

OldSaw

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

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
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! :biggrin:

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!
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
That was with my homemade one. Quite easy to do... It takes time that's the only thing... But not much of your time...
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
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!
 
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...
 
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