I told you that I started studying fermented foods. I have done a good job with plant based yogurt and its derivatives, and now I want to introduce you to the next experiment. Sauerkraut is a fermented cabbage, different from the sour cabbage we are familiar with in that the cabbage is not submerged whole in brine (salt water), but chopped, mixed with salt and fermented in its own juice. The fermentation process is done with the help of lactobacilli, the same enzymes present in yogurt. The lactobacilli convert the sugars in the cabbage into lactic acid, which prevents other harmful bacteria from growing and gives this dish its good taste. Sauerkraut is a good source of vitamins, especially C and K, minerals, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese. Fermentation makes sauerkraut a better source of enzymes, fiber and probiotics than natural, unfermented cabbage and promotes beneficial bacterial flora, thus protecting the gut from a whole bunch of diseases. We just have to be careful and not eat it like desperadoes, because, no matter how tasty it is, if we consume it in large quantities, we can get bloated.
Ingredients:
- Cabbage
- Salt
Method of preparation
Chop the cabbage normally, it doesn’t have to be very fine. Weigh and calculate 15 grams of salt for 1 kg of chopped cabbage. You can put even more, the more salt, the sweeter it comes out after fermentation. But it will be too salty to be eaten plain, it will have to be added, in small quantity, to salads. With 15 grams of salt, it comes out sour, a little sweeter than our native sour cabbage, crunchy and less juicy than if we put more salt, the salt takes the juice out of the cabbage. Okay, that’s cleared up, let’s see what we do next. Mix the chopped cabbage with the salt and knead it with your hands until it is completely soft and looks like it is cooked. That takes some time and muscle. It is left for a few hours, then it is put in jars, stuffed well. I put it in jars with a slightly wider mouth so I could stuff with my fist. The idea is that it must be squeezed in such a way that it is covered by the juice left. No water is added, only salt, cabbage and the juice left by it. Leave for a few days in a warm place, with the lid on, but not tight. Place a plate under the jars, when it starts to ferment some juice will leak out. It keeps in the refrigerator for several months. If you have a cellar, it can be kept there at a constant temperature, close to that of the refrigerator. I didn’t fill my refrigerator with jars of sauerkraut, but I do it one by one, 1 kg-1 and a half kg, cabbage can be found everywhere from summer to spring.
