I LOVE sauerkraut. But I don’t love paying $11.99 a jar at my local health food store for the raw variety, so this blog assignment seemed like the perfect opportunity to experiment with fermentation. I chose to work with red cabbage, since I wanted my sauerkraut to be the gorgeous pink colour that I’d seen in some commercial varieties. I also wanted it to have a bit of zing, so I went with a recipe from Nourished Kitchen that included jalapenos and garlic. Hot Pink Jalapeno Garlic Sauerkraut INGREDIENTS: 3 ½ pounds red cabbage, shredded 3 cloves garlic, minced 4 medium jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced 1 tbsp unrefined sea salt INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Wearing gloves to protect your hands from the volatile oils of the peppers, place the cabbage, garlic, peppers and salt into a large mixing bowl. Knead the vegetables together by hand for 5 minutes until they begin to release their juices. Allow the shredded vegetables to rest a further 5 minutes, then return for 5 more minutes of kneading. 2. Layer the salted vegetables into a quart-sized fermentation jar and pack tightly until the brine created by the vegetable juice and salt completely submerges the shredded cabbage and peppers. Weigh down the vegetables with a glass weight, sterilized stone or other heavy item small enough to fit within your crock. Close and ferment at room temperature. 3. Taste after about 3 weeks and continue to ferment if the sauerkraut hasn’t achieved the level of tartness you prefer. Transfer to cold storage when sour enough for your liking and use within 9 months. THE INTIMIDATION FACTOR:
To be honest, making sauerkraut has always intimidated me – I’m always worried that I will inadvertently sicken myself and others if the ferment is not done properly. I was reassured to when I read this quote from Fred Breidt, a U.S. Department of Agriculture microbiologist and an expert in vegetable fermentation: “With fermented products there is no safety concern. I can flat-out say that. The reason is the lactic acid bacteria that carry out the fermentation are the world's best killers of other bacteria.” (1) After reading up on the process, I felt slightly more confident, keeping in mind the following “rules”:
THE RESULTS: I found that my cabbage didn’t produce much liquid (perhaps it was a little old), so I added enough salt-water to cover. After a few days in a dark cupboard, my cabbage mixture started bubbling – a good sign. I allowed it to ferment for 10 days before transferring it to the fridge for storage. Taste-wise, I think I could have left the kraut to ferment a little longer – I felt it could have been a bit more tart, although the vegetables had a terrific crunch and there was a nice bit of heat from the garlic and jalapeno. My biggest complaint, though, was that the cabbage was too salty. Having now researched how to rescue salty sauerkraut, I’ll try adding more water and/or rinsing the cabbage to see if it helps. I’m also going to try a different recipe, using local fall cabbage, which will hopefully be juicier, eliminating the need for additional brine (which I think was the source of the saltiness). While not a resounding success, I will definitely keep experimenting with sauerkraut! REFERENCES:
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