Friday, July 8, 2011

First Cabbage Fermentation

One of my intentions this year was to make more stuff from scratch: bread, cheese, yogurt, etc..  I can now add sauerkraut to that list.  I haven't tasted it yet, but it's in the jar, sitting on my kitchen table looking delish.

I used the basic recipe, cabbage, carrot, salt.  Packed it into a jar and now have to wait.  I don't like waiting, my patience is non existent so waiting for food to ferment is going to seem likes years for me. And although the cabbage looks really good, I am not sure if this type of cabbage makes for good sauerkraut.  I picked it from the summer program that I volunteer.  The school planted a lot of veggies with the kids and I have been going down a couple days a week to work with the kids in harvesting all this food that is ready.  They planted a lot of cabbage that I had not seen before.  It's a dark green, loose head cabbage.  It doesn't grow in a tight head and it's for sure not Napa cabbage.
So I chopped it up, salted it, put it in a bowl and started squeezing to get the juices out.  After a minute I discovered this type of cabbage doesn't have much juice or it's already gotten to tough while growing. So, I added more salt and let it sit on the counter for a bit hoping the salt would draw the juices out.
 After about 2 hours I had a couple of tablespoons of juice, so I packed it into the jar.  Now I must wait.
I will taste it tomorrow to see if the fermentation is taking place.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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