Any fellow sauerkrauters here?

[CrealCritter]

Ok, I planted 61 cabbage plants March 9, that I started from free seed I got from Baker Creek. I am reviving this thread because I want to make sauerkraut and I figured I'd best go to the master, here.

Everything I have read said that water bath and canning kills the probiotics in the sauerkraut. So my question is, can you make a batch of sauerkraut, keep some in the refrigerator (live bacteria) and can the rest, keeping the juice from the raw sauerkraut to "jump start" a jar of canned sauerkraut when you open it, to replace the good bacteria?

Can I slice it 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick? I like the look and texture of shreds.

Page one of this thread is 80 pounds of cabbage to make two 5-gallon buckets of fermenting cabbage. How many cabbages was that? @CrealCritter have you any idea what I might expect from my 61 cabbage plants? That is barring insects, varmits, hail, tornadoes and a pine tree falling on them. I also set out 60 kale plants, blue lacinato kale plants. Can I use these in the sauerkraut also? Kale is supposed to be all that, good for you and blah, blah, blah. I have no freaking idea why I planted so much kale, I don't even know if I like it or not. But I bet the sheep will! LOL

I am trying to get ahead of the 8 ball. Normally I am up to my armpits in whatever before I think, "Hey! I need to do something!" Any advice you have, I will be delighted to hear it.

61 cabbage plants and I thought I was going over board with 26 plants. I also got a free pack of cabbage seeds from BC, mine was Brunswick. I've grown Brunswick before and they get pretty big when the mature like 5 ~ 8 or 9 lbs.

After you peel off the bad outer leafs and cut out the cores your going to loose about a pound from the total head weight. The head must be firm and soild when you cut it off the plant. If you get a lot of rain around the time they mature, the heads tend to grow to fast and want to split. If this happens grab the head with both hands and turn the plants about a 1/2 turn, this will sever some of the roots and slow down the growth.

Yes absolutely you can cut into thin strips. I made it that way for several years and actually prefer over using the food processor. My wife likes it cut with the food processor, so that's the way we make it now. No matter how you slice it, you need to mash it in, a wooden baseball batt is as good as anything for this. When you bruise it by mashing it, it helps the salt draw the water out of it and gets the lacto fermentation going. Don't be afraid of mashing it to much, its going to be soft when the fermentation is completed anyways - I have complete confidence you can mash it good

Once fermentation is completed you could leave it in the bucket in a cool dark place, a basement or root cellar would be good place to store it. Then you could dip out what you need. Just make sure you keep it submerged under the brine as much as possible - air will spoil it. You might see a little scum form on top of the brine, you should scoop this off and throw it away.

The most important part however is making sure everything that comes into contact with your fresh cut cabbage is CLEAN and STERILE. You don't want to grow something else when your fermenting your cabbages. Adhere pickling salt to weighed sliced cabbage ratios and also brine. Don't use city water, it won't work for fermenting. Walmart brand spring water works and is cheap .80 a gallon.

I know you have a few questions, ask away and I'll try and answer best I can.

You and you husband are in for an amazing treat when you eat your first helping of home made kraut. It like candy to me, so good and its also good for you too.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Wish I could develop a liking for it. I love boiled cabbage, and slaw. Love it in a stir fry or in a soup. But, can't get kraut into my mouth.

 

[CrealCritter]

@CrealCritter get this figured out, and then we can tackle turnip kraut.

Sounds easier than fermenting cabbages & pickles ---> GRANDPA LESTER'S FAMOUS TURNIP KRAUT

 

[Beekissed]

We'll likely make a bit of kraut this year too, along with the pickled corn. It's a big ol' crock~comes up to the top of my thigh~so we may not have enough corn to fill it...just have to wait and see.

We won't can it, though...ruins all the goodness when it's canned. Just eat it out of the crock all year.

 

[CrealCritter]

We'll likely make a bit of kraut this year too, along with the pickled corn. It's a big ol' crock~comes up to the top of my thigh~so we may not have enough corn to fill it...just have to wait and see.

We won't can it, though...ruins all the goodness when it's canned. Just eat it out of the crock all year.

Your absolutely correct, canning kraut kills it. But its a convenience factor for us.

 

[Beekissed]

Your absolutely correct, canning kraut kills it. But its a convenience factor for us.

No place to store the fermenting vat?

We have a pantry/mud room though it tends to be warmer out there of a summer evening than we'd like, but we'd likely have all that food gone by then anyway!

Wish we had a cellar again...I really miss our cellar.

 

[baymule]

Your absolutely correct, canning kraut kills it. But its a convenience factor for us.

What about adding kraut juice from raw kraut to revive the canned kraut?

 

[CrealCritter]

What about adding kraut juice from raw kraut to revive the canned kraut?

I've read about that, using some brine after fermentation has completed to jump start a new batch of fresh cabbage. But I was always concerned about contamination of the starter brine while it was being stored for use, so I never tried it.

Brine is most definitely salty and I'm not sure what nasties could grow in it. It may just be me being overly concerned, I don't know.

You could ask your question on the old farmers almanac, they seem to answer pretty quickly --->https://www.almanac.com/content/how-make-sauerkraut

I would like to know the question myself.

 

[Beekissed]

Bay, it would have to be a live ferment, so just like any ferment you've stored in your fridge, they go dormant and you'd have to kind of wake them up a good bit at room temps for awhile to use them for that purpose. Folks eating yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese and buttermilk who keep it in the fridge are not exactly eating live cultures, but dormant ones...these were all traditionally kept in a cool place, like a cellar, a spring house, etc, but not in the fridge. Many of the old timers never put their buttermilk in the fridge but used it at room temps.

I was reading on the whole kraut in a jar thing and how people were recommending it be stored in jars where the oxygen couldn't get in and blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of hooey. Kraut is and was traditionally fermented in stone crocks, inside a pillow case or other such thin cloth, with a wt on it to keep it under the brine. Air flow aplenty in that mix. No vapor locks, etc.

People seriously misunderstand the anaerobic nature of LABs...it doesn't mean it can't HAVE any oxygen~H2O is one part oxygen, for pity's sake~ it means it doesn't NEED free oxygen in order to metabolize and free oxygen may inhibit growth...so as long as things in a pickling ferment are kept beneath the brine, they don't get any of that and can continue to grow.

 

[Hinotori]

I ordered some large mouth weights so I can try the small batch method for sauerkraut. I have been meaning to try it.

I wonder if shredded radishes make good kraut as well. I love daikon kimchi.

The best bock choy kimchi always seems to feel a little fermented on the tongue.