💾 Archived View for thrig.me › food › kraut.gmi captured on 2024-08-18 at 18:29:48. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-09-28)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
For small batches, glass jars with airlocks make for a pretty foolproof fermentation process. Look for fresh cabbage ideally not too much processed so that the leaves still have the natural microbes present. Red cabbage does not work well (unless maybe you cut it up more to breakdown more of the fiber?) so look for thinner green leaf varaitites if possible.
Cucumbers and perhaps other vegetables have problematic enzymes in particular locations, be sure to remove if relevant.
A brine is an easy method though requires more salt, usually 3% to 6% salt by weight of the water. Simply fold nearly whole cabbage leaves into the jar, compact them a bit, figure out how much water submerges the leaves, weigh the water, weigh the salt, mix the salt with water, fill the jar, try to knock out as many air bubbles as possible, lock the jar, wait three weeks or so.
Thick cabbage ribs probably need to be smashed with the heel of a knife or rolling pin so that their material is more available to ferment.
The higher salt percentage is for warmer temperatures (traditionally, during summer), which may these days occur during winter if you are fermenting indoors without a cool place to store the kraut. Some vegetables will also need a higher salt percentage, usually those that otherwise would ferment to a too mushy state, probably cucumbers or the like.
Keeping the vegetable matter submerged is key; the airlock helps to prevent the addition of new molds to the ferment. Cutting a plastic plate or grid to size will help prevent small vegetable bits from getting around any not-really-fitting weight in the jar.
An accurate scale will help, especially if one is starting from scratch and lacks the cultural experience of "and this is how we've made the ferment for who knows how many years now".
The disadvantage of the brine method is that it uses much more salt than the alternative (and more traditional) method. Also the nearly whole cabbage leaves will waste a lot of space. On the availability of salt, the Dandi Satyagraha may be of historical interest.
A downside of a brine ferment is that more salt is used than in a dry-salted ferment where the vegetables are fermented in their own juices--just 2% salt to weight of the vegetables may suffice, or again more in warmer temperatures. This will be more of a factor for large batches
Refrigeration is likely necessary for lower salt ferments. These were traditional during winter months in the before times.
About three weeks should do for cabbage. Maybe four for carrots with ginger.
This is more work, though requires less salt, 2% to 4% by weight of the vegetable matter, plus maybe some extra liquid and salt if the vegetables do not have enough liquid. Again the higher salt percentage is for warmer temperatures or where more salt is necessary to preserve the texture of the vegetables involved.
Another advantage is that a lot more vegetable matter can be fermented compared to simply jamming some cabbage leaves into a brine.
With enough compaction (this may take a while) the liquid from the vegetable matter should submerge the vegetables. If not, top up with a bit of salted water, or try compacting things a bit more. Add a weight to keep the vegetable matter submerged, airlock and wait about three or more weeks.
Lower salt percentage kraut will likely need to be stored in the fridge, or a suitably cold location.
Fermented cucumbers can be stored in vinegar water to preserve them for longer; a very low acid concentration suffices to shutdown problematic microbes. Note that vinegar does not mix well with metal jar lids; perhaps line the lid with parchment paper to avoid this problem. Another method is to add some fresh grated ginger root to vinegar; in this case it is less preserved ginger and more ginger-flavored vinegar.
Sugar in cucumbers makes them too sweet and I already get too much sugar in my diet.
