Any fellow sauerkrauters here?

[Mini Horses]

Ball makes a kit with pusher, springs and vented tops. 👍. Nice for small ferments.

 

[The Porch]

The carrots are done, I tasted one yesterday and it was good!

 

[The Porch]

If I am making a brine to ferment veg that doesn't contain enough water on its own I mix
1 cup of non chlorinated water to 1 table spoon sea salt

a lot of recipes have the salt by weight due to all salt weighs up different a table spoon of regular table salt is not the same amount as a table spoon of red sea salt

I weighed it out; 2 table spoons of red sea salt is = to 1oz

white sea salt weighs different

So for the ginger I peeled; sliced very thin ; packed it in to the appropriate sized jar and covered with a pre mixed brine; packed/ pushed out all the air pockets ; put a weights in to keep the veg under the brine; and covered with my new masontop vented cover or if I didnt have those I would have used 3 layers thick of cheese cloth and a upside down cup saucer on top of the jar


I bought off amazon some glass weights -

 

[Britesea]

I have scrubbed a just right sized rock and put it in a ziplock and used that

I have used a zip lock filled with more of the brine. It's usually enough to keep everything below the water level, and if the zip lock springs a leak the escaping brine won't change the brine ratio in the jar.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Picture of my first ferment attempt at 1 lb carrots, 2 lbs beets and 2 lbs cabbage all shredded weight. I peeled the carrots and beets with a potato peeler, then shredded them. So I guess this would be a raw ferment, since I didn't cook any of the ingredients.

First taste test after skimming, there was scum to skim. it's got a good taste and the carrots and beets are crunchy. Still need more time to ferment, it's still a little to salty. The ferment seems to be rolling along nicely. Interested to see how this experiment turns out. If it's good I'll post the recipe.
View attachment 22070

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

Looks like your granddaughters need to get those nails painted again. 😀

I wish the wife could tolerate cabbage. Not worth it to do the ferment thing just for me

 

[FarmerJamie]

I love fermented stuff, including turnip kraft

Now does sourdough count as a fermented food, asking for a friend

 

[Britesea]

I would think ANY bread counts as a fermented food. I've read that bread may have started out as a batch of beer that boiled dry (ancient Egypt- their so-called beer was more of a fermented porridge)

 

[Mini Horses]

Milks...kefir, yogurt, etc. Most ferments we're accidents and/or results of attempts to hold food without refrigeration. Just that many enzymes are good ones. Bedouin tribes used sheep and camel milk.

Pickling, fermenting, salting, smoking, dehydrating -- none are new, just being rediscovered for their worth. My grandparents were doing this over 100+ yrs ago. Yeah, that long.

 

[CrealCritter]

Ok here we go... They say a family that makes sauerkraut together stays together

Start with approx 80 lbs of cabbages, 2 5 gallon food grade buckets with screw on lids, canning salt, filtered non clorine spring water (.89 a gallon at Walmart) a kitchen scale & a big stiff knife.

Remove bad outer leaves but save a few of the good ones. Slice cabbage in half and remove the core. My hunting knife I made works great for this.

Slice long ways and small enough to fit in the food processor. The food processor makes quick work of shredding. Several large bowls are also needed for this.

Weigh out 5 lbs (shredded weight) and dump into the 5 gallon food grade bucket. Sprinkle 3 TBS of pickling salt and massage in. Then pack it down firm with a ash ball bat.

Keep layering 5 lbs of shredded cabbage into the food grade bucket until you have 7 layers or 35 lbs. Remember each 5 lbs gets 3 TBS of pickling salt massaged in and a good smashing with the ball bat Once 35 lbs is reached - lay a few good outside cabbage leaves over the top. This help keep small bits from rising to the top.

Then add a upside down dinner plate and press the plate down until the juices come up over the plate. Then add a 1/2 pint jar upside down and pour in 1/2 gallon of brine (brine is 3 TBS pickling salt dissolved in 2 quarts of cold filtered non clorine spring water) the 5 gallon food grade screw lid will keep the plate submerged.

Repeat for the next 35 lbs or bucket #2.

Ensure the 1/2 pint canning jar is in the center then screw the lids down tight then back off about 1/16 of a turn so the buckets can berp. Store the buckets away from a heat source that's easily excessable so you can unscrew the lid every couple of days and skim the scum little bits of cabbage that raises to the top and of course sneak a little

And there you have it 70 lbs of shredded cabbage fermenting easy smeazy...In several weeks it will be sauerkraut. Any little bits of cabbage that finds it's way to the top and gets air will need to be skimmed and trown away along with any scum that forms on top of the water. Happy skimming

I'll post some pics as the weeks pass and when I skim.

 

[CrealCritter]

When we were kids, we'd help my grandmother make a HUGE crock of sauerkraut every fall. We'd have big cheese graters and would grate the cabbages into big pails that would then be dumped into the big crock in the basement. I can't count the number of times we literally added our own blood to the batches by scraping them on the (cheese) graters when we tried to get those last chunks cut up.

My favorite recipe for kraut is to brown knockwurst or bratwurst and then put it in the bottom of a stoneware pan. Cover with Bavarian sauerkraut (it is slightly sweeter and has caraway seeds - don't drain the sauerkraut), cover this with mashed potatoes (like you would for a shepherd's pie) and bake until heated through. In the last ten minutes, add cheese to the top, and let it melt. YUM!

Where do you live and what time is supper?