Sauces
- Thread starter fishonjazz
- Start date
I answered a question on a different site and I got a bit detailed and I don't want to lose it so I'm going to post it here.
The question was something like: "I want to make sauerkraut but I'm not sure how. How will I know if it has gone bad?"
here's my answer:
Store bought isn't bad per se. If you can buy some that indicates that it still has living lactobacillus then it will have the digestive benefits people seek from home made sauerkraut.
Making it is pretty easy. You will need a large bowl and a container, like a jar, that can hold all of it during fermentation.
Step one, shred or finely slice the cabbage. You can use any variety you'd like, green is just fine and the least expensive.
Measure the weight of the cabbage. I'd use grams to keep this part simple. Take the total weight of the cabbage and multiply by 0.025 (or anywhere from 0.02 to 0.03, but I use 0.025). That number is how many grams (if you used grams to keep it simple) of salt you will use.
Put the shredded cabbage in a bowl and sprinkle on the salt. Do this in layers if you're doing a big batch. Now beat that cabbage up! Grab it and crush it, smash it, squeeze it. You're gonna want to do this for several minutes. You could do that for a couple minutes then come back and do it some more after a few more minutes to let the salt help do the work but what you're trying to do is to get the cabbage to release some of the water it has inside. This water mixed with the salt is going to be your brine.
Take the cabbage and pack it into your vessel, again jars are very good for this because they are generally tall and narrow which helps with the next part. After the cabbage is in the jar carefully add all the brine that is still in the bowl. It is very important to cover the cabbage with the liquid. As shown in the video a leftover cabbage leaf can be used to sort of cap the soon-to-be sauerkraut, and/or a sanitized plastic bag filled with water. The idea is to keep all the cabbage submerged.
Why? Why have we done all this?
Okay, that brine, the salt and extracted water from the cabbage has a high enough ratio of salt that pathogens (any micro-organism that is potentially harmful to humans) cannot grow in it, or at least cannot grow well. What can grow in the brine is the hero of this story... lactobacillus. Lactobacillus is a bacteria that is healthy and good for our gut microbiome. It is what is in yogurt, particularly yogurt like Activia.
So the brine stops other bacteria, yeast, etc., from growing but allows the lactobacillus to grow. As the lactobacillus grows and starts to consume sugars in the cabbage it produces two main things; lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide will form bubbles and float out of the liquid. You will need to allow it a way out of the jar or other vessel or else it will build up pressure until something gives, such as the jar blowing up. You can just open the lid on a daily basis or use a different method to let the gas out without letting oxygen in. Oxygen could allow some bacteria or yeast to start forming above the liquid. Under the surface of the liquid the lactobacillus has been producing lactic acid which brings the pH of the liquid down (makes it somewhat acidic and sour like vinegar... or you know, sauerkraut). Once the pH is lower than 4.6 the sauerkraut is considered shelf stable, meaning that it can be left out without refrigeration and not spoil. It's fine to put it in the fridge anyway just to be extra safe.
How do you know if it has gone bad?
This one is pretty easy. Smell.
Rotten food smells rotten. You'd also be able to see the growth of fuzzy stuff, or oily looking stuff on the surface. In most cases you could just remove the nasty looking stuff as long as the cabbage has stayed under the liquid the whole time, but if smells bad then it isn't right. Keep in mind, sauerkraut has a distinct smell and that's what you want. That's not the smell I'm talking about. If it smells like a small animal died in your jar then it's bad.
The process is pretty foolproof if you hit the main points.
--create a brine that is at least 2% salt by weight (total weight including the cabbage)
--keep the cabbage under the brine
--minimize oxygen exposure (everything below the brine is protected from oxygen exposure).
This is a big batch that I have going right now. It's about 2 gallons worth. I'm going to bottle it into quart jars when it's done.
Ingredients:
3 large heads of NAPA cabbage
2 large heads of Green cabage
3 very large carrots
1 bulb of garlic
2 Tbs black pepper corns
The picture is two days after making it just as fermentation really started rocking.
The question was something like: "I want to make sauerkraut but I'm not sure how. How will I know if it has gone bad?"
here's my answer:
Store bought isn't bad per se. If you can buy some that indicates that it still has living lactobacillus then it will have the digestive benefits people seek from home made sauerkraut.
Making it is pretty easy. You will need a large bowl and a container, like a jar, that can hold all of it during fermentation.
Step one, shred or finely slice the cabbage. You can use any variety you'd like, green is just fine and the least expensive.
Measure the weight of the cabbage. I'd use grams to keep this part simple. Take the total weight of the cabbage and multiply by 0.025 (or anywhere from 0.02 to 0.03, but I use 0.025). That number is how many grams (if you used grams to keep it simple) of salt you will use.
Put the shredded cabbage in a bowl and sprinkle on the salt. Do this in layers if you're doing a big batch. Now beat that cabbage up! Grab it and crush it, smash it, squeeze it. You're gonna want to do this for several minutes. You could do that for a couple minutes then come back and do it some more after a few more minutes to let the salt help do the work but what you're trying to do is to get the cabbage to release some of the water it has inside. This water mixed with the salt is going to be your brine.
Take the cabbage and pack it into your vessel, again jars are very good for this because they are generally tall and narrow which helps with the next part. After the cabbage is in the jar carefully add all the brine that is still in the bowl. It is very important to cover the cabbage with the liquid. As shown in the video a leftover cabbage leaf can be used to sort of cap the soon-to-be sauerkraut, and/or a sanitized plastic bag filled with water. The idea is to keep all the cabbage submerged.
Why? Why have we done all this?
Okay, that brine, the salt and extracted water from the cabbage has a high enough ratio of salt that pathogens (any micro-organism that is potentially harmful to humans) cannot grow in it, or at least cannot grow well. What can grow in the brine is the hero of this story... lactobacillus. Lactobacillus is a bacteria that is healthy and good for our gut microbiome. It is what is in yogurt, particularly yogurt like Activia.
So the brine stops other bacteria, yeast, etc., from growing but allows the lactobacillus to grow. As the lactobacillus grows and starts to consume sugars in the cabbage it produces two main things; lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide will form bubbles and float out of the liquid. You will need to allow it a way out of the jar or other vessel or else it will build up pressure until something gives, such as the jar blowing up. You can just open the lid on a daily basis or use a different method to let the gas out without letting oxygen in. Oxygen could allow some bacteria or yeast to start forming above the liquid. Under the surface of the liquid the lactobacillus has been producing lactic acid which brings the pH of the liquid down (makes it somewhat acidic and sour like vinegar... or you know, sauerkraut). Once the pH is lower than 4.6 the sauerkraut is considered shelf stable, meaning that it can be left out without refrigeration and not spoil. It's fine to put it in the fridge anyway just to be extra safe.
How do you know if it has gone bad?
This one is pretty easy. Smell.
Rotten food smells rotten. You'd also be able to see the growth of fuzzy stuff, or oily looking stuff on the surface. In most cases you could just remove the nasty looking stuff as long as the cabbage has stayed under the liquid the whole time, but if smells bad then it isn't right. Keep in mind, sauerkraut has a distinct smell and that's what you want. That's not the smell I'm talking about. If it smells like a small animal died in your jar then it's bad.
The process is pretty foolproof if you hit the main points.
--create a brine that is at least 2% salt by weight (total weight including the cabbage)
--keep the cabbage under the brine
--minimize oxygen exposure (everything below the brine is protected from oxygen exposure).
This is a big batch that I have going right now. It's about 2 gallons worth. I'm going to bottle it into quart jars when it's done.
Ingredients:
3 large heads of NAPA cabbage
2 large heads of Green cabage
3 very large carrots
1 bulb of garlic
2 Tbs black pepper corns
The picture is two days after making it just as fermentation really started rocking.
Last edited: