Sauerkraut Report

[farnfam]

Well yesterday was day 9or10 of the sauerkraut sitting out in the jar with the airlock gizmo.
When I opened it I was really surprised to see the only brine left in the jar was a little in the inside lid. But everything smelled and looked fine, so I gave it the taste test. YUM! crunchy and strong sauer taste!!
We had it for supper with some brats and declared it is a success!
Really tasty and really easy, no fuss, no muss, the jar is the way to go for our needs. Here are a few things I'll do differently next time:
Mike, the rawdiet guy says to grate cabbage fine, the finer the better, in FP. I will not do that again. It was good, sort of like coleslaw, but for sauerkraut, I will slice in FP from now on.
I packed the jar ridiculously tight and that is probably why it absorbed all the brine, or maybe it was just a dry kind of cabbage, so next time, pack a little less.
I stored it in fridge, as is (brine free) but he emailed me that I could add a bit of briny water to it in the fridge. It probbly won't last long enough to matter
Thanks everyone for the idea to let it sit 10 days instead of 4.
He sells "probiotics" which speed the process and deepen the flavor, I may try these.
Over all the whole projects gets 9.9 for flavor and 10 for ease of preparation

[DFen911]

How much did the recipe make and is the recipe posted here?

Anyone familar with canning techniques, could this be canned and if so would you do it in a pressure cooker or water bath? I was thinking water bath since it's a lot like pickles.

[farnfam]

I've got the 1/2 gallon jar and there's not really a recipe. The jar took about 1 and 1/2 med sized cabbages. You chop it up and add about 3T salt, mix it up and squish it into the jar. It will release alot of juice (brine) make sure there's enough to cover it all ( mine did but 10days later is was all absorbed, didn't hurt anything tho') Put the airlock thingy on, place on plate to catch drips and wait 10 days.
I can be refriged, as is, or moved into smaller jars and kept in fridge. I'm positive hot water bath would work if you want out of fridge storage.

It's all pretty much here:
http://www.therawdiet.com/pdf/KrautInstructions.pdf

[luvnit]

Very cool. I may have to give this a try. We usually get some every year from my MIL, but it is not enough. She also adds dill and green pepper. It is wonderful, but plain would be good too.

[mjkcooking]

This is really interesting- might have to try this - love Saurkraut.



marye

[Cubangirl]

Thank you so much for the report. I bought the jar and have the cabbage in the fridge so I will start tomorrow. What kind of salt did you use? I mainly use kosher (Diamond) for everything, but have some fine sea salt (La Baleine) as well as pickling salt (was going to try to make pickles last year).
As an aside, the jar when not being used for sauerkraut fits the lid from a glass one I had that broke which I used to store flour, so it will never go to waste.

[cjs]

Denise, I used to can mine - water bath method, like pickles.

[farnfam]

Alina, I used Kosher salt, I think that's what they recommend. Next batch I going to slice the cabbage and not shred. This summer I think I'm going to do some garlic dills in the jar.
I'm glad I bought the jar, I might even try Kim Chee

[Cubangirl]

Thanks Cis, I made some early this morning. Used 3 cabbages and the 4mm Cuisinart slicer (tried the 1mm too much like cole slaw and the 8 was too thick, but the 4mm was just right.) Mixed it in huge 2 bowls with 4 TBS. of Kosher salt and pressed it down and left it while I washed the food processor. It was already pretty wet when I packed it in the jar. I had a hard time figuring out the gizmo on top, still not sure I did it right, so will see. Based on your experience I plan on leaving it for 10 days.

[luvnit]

SO where do you get this airlock jar lid thingy?