Pickled cabbage.....

Marie2020

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Anyone have a small batch recipe they would love to share? I have two purple cabbages in the fridge that need to be used soon. Could be water bath canning recipe or just refrigerator. Thanks!
I'm wondering is we can make fermented cabbage (sauerkraut) with any cabbage?

Apologies if this is a dumb question but I would really like to know :)
 

flowerbug

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i would just chop them fine and use as cole slaw or include in soups.

canning cabbage i have no experience with because it is usually saurkraut that we buy in a big glass jar. love it with pork loin and mashed taters. :)

we do have a friend that used to make her own saurkraut and it was always good but we've never done that here. i'm guessing that the red cabbage would turn pink (from the acid from the fermenting bacteria).
 

CrealCritter

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Here's my take on sauerkraut with instructions and pictures - yummy. If your cabbage has been in the fridge I'm not sure it'll work, since I've only used fresh cabbages. The natural bacteria in the cabbage may or may not be dead now that the cabbages have been refrigerated. Also important to note do not use city tap water. I never had a batch be successful using city water.


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Trying2keepitReal

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Here's my take on sauerkraut with instructions and pictures - yummy. If your cabbage has been in the fridge I'm not sure it'll work, since I've only used fresh cabbages. The natural bacteria in the cabbage may or may not be dead now that the cabbages have been refrigerated. Also important to note do not use city tap water. I never had a batch be successful using city water.


Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸
thank you--no city water here, just pure well water. I will research about using refrigerated cabbage
 

CrealCritter

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thank you--no city water here, just pure well water. I will research about using refrigerated cabbage
Somewhere in that thread is a link to the old farmers almanac. That's an EXCELLENT resource, you might find your answer there. And if you have any questions let me know and I'll try and help.

All in all its a pretty simple process, it's the waiting that's the hardest. I've read of people fermenting in wide mouth quart canning jars. The only thing I would say is figure out some way to keep the cabbage submerged under the brine by using some kind of food safe something or another. Also keep the jars in the dark while fermenting. Light does weird things to all kinds of fermentations.

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Britesea

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Most of the recipes I've found have been sort of haphazard about how much salt to add. The salt should be at a ratio of about 2% by weight. If you have a digital scale, it is worth weighing the cabbage and the salt if you want to get the perfect ratio for the brine. I use a baggie filled with more of the same brine to submerge the cabbage so that if a leak happens the brine ratio stays the same.
Temperature is also a lot more important than people realize; it should be in the range of 65-72 F, with no more than a 5 degree fluctuation. In our house, with no central heating/air, that means fermenting in 1/2 gallon mason jars that I keep in an ice chest half full of water and float a frozen water bottle which I change daily. This keeps the temperature in the correct range for pretty much all my fermented veggies.
I've never done purple cabbage, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. As long as the cabbages have not been frozen OR cooked the enzymes that make the magic will still be present.
 
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