Fermented Vegetables, A.K.A. sauerkraut, kimchi

 

Please don’t leave! It may be easy to think that you don’t like fermented vegetables like sauerkraut or kimchi but hold on! Those mass-produced restaurant and store brands are nothing like the home-made version I can show you here. I never thought I liked fermented vegetables either until I saw a YouTube video on making sauerkraut and realized how easy it is. Once I tried it I couldn’t believe the flavors and crunchy fun it is to eat these foods. In addition, the health benefits are through the roof. Fermentation knocks out most of the inflammatory lectins while adding in K2 and other vitamins along with amped up flavors. Please give this a try before you pass on fermented vegetables.

Basic sauerkraut.

Any combination can do and the photo shows one of the more exotic combinations, purple cabbage, carrot, bok choy, celery and cauliflower. I recommend for your first batch use green cabbage. The amount you need depends on the size of your container. A 1-liter fermentation jar uses about 1 Kg of chopped cabbage. I know, I know, metric system. Sorry folks but for these recipes you really want to use metric. It will make more sense later. A 1.5L jar uses 1.5Kg of cabbage (or total vegetables). See how easy it is? In ounces that would be a 34 oz jar uses 2lb 3oz of chopped vegetables. Stick with metric here.

Next is the salt, about 2% salt by weight. This does not have to be precise. In metric this is also super easy. A 1000g (1Kg) amount of chopped vegetable needs 20g of salt. Weigh your vegetables, multiply by 0.02 for the amount of salt. It does not need to be precise and up to 3% is fine. I like to use the iodized Aegean Sea salt. Don’t use anything with a large amount of potassium or magnesium as these will allow the wrong bacteria to grow. I found this out the hard way.

 

 

Next get your grip workout in by hand mixing and crunching the vegetables with the salt. If you want to add a tablespoon of dill or other herbs, now is the time. Squeeze and mix the chopped vegetables and salt mixture until it starts to wilt and becomes wet.

Scoop everything, including the liquid, into a fermentation jar. I like the wide mouth funnel and wood “sauerkraut pounder” to make it easier. Leave at least 2 inches of air above the vegetable. I like to cut a large cabbage leave into a circle and place on top of the chopped to keep small pieces from floating up. Then add the weight (this comes in the fermentation kit if you bought one), and if the top is dry then make up a small amount of brine to top up. Do not use plain water. Using a coffee scale, add 100g of water and 2g of salt, mix well and use this to top up so that all vegetables are submerged in liquid.

 

 

 

Label the jar with the date and any special treatment like herbs and place the airlock on top. You can fill the air lock with regular water. Only fill the airlock halfway. That’s it. Leave it alone for 10-14 days. You’ll see bubbles starting day one and the colors will change dramatically if you use colored vegetables like radicchio or red cabbage. Note radicchio requires a three week fermentation. A radicchio with bok choy blend is one of my favorites and has almost a wine like flavor.

 

 

 

 

When ready to eat, take the airlock off, close the hole and place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day dump into a container and let it gas off for a couple of hours. There are sulfur producing bacteria that are making some of the amazing compounds. The finished kraut will last for weeks in the refrigerator but will likely be eaten long before that time.  Check out the equipment page to find the jars, funnel and pounder and make your own amazing fermented vegetables!

 

 

Some favorite combinations:

radicchio (x2) and bok choy stems (leaves are great for salad), 2-3 week ferment

green cabbage x1, green onion white including roots, thin sliced ginger (3 or 4), go easy on ginger as it gets very powerful when fermented.