Sauerkraut. How to ferment cabbage deliciously?
Recipes at home. For a large quantity of sourdough (not pickled, without vinegar). This is a very useful product! Heads of cabbage for pickling need to select dense, strong, white, late varieties. We have our own cabbage in our garden. We love to use it slightly caught in the first frost.
At home, sauerkraut recipes are helpful. A quick sauerkraut recipe is easy to make.
Cut the heads of cabbage in half, remove the stump, and then chop with a heavy sharp knife. To speed up the process, we use a shredder. We wipe chopped cabbage by hand with salt on a table or wooden trough. This procedure is extremely important for the quality of the future product. However, you cannot crush too much. Then the carrot grated on a coarse grater is added. For 100 kg of cabbage, 2.5 – 3 kg of salt, 3-4 kg of carrots are taken. Based on this, you can calculate the amount of ingredients when fermented in small quantities. Cabbage in a barrel or tub must be carefully tamped, covered with cabbage leaves on top and covered with clean gauze folded in several layers. A wooden circle is laid on top of the gauze, on which it is necessary to put a heavy, well-processed thermally wild stone. Under the weight and during compaction, juice, brine appears. Cabbage should be covered with brine and kept in this condition during storage. If there is little brine, then you need to add a load. The mass will be more compacted and additional juice will be released. In the first days of fermentation, foam appears on the surface of the brine. The process has started. This cabbage gives off gases, begins to ferment. Therefore, 3-4 times a day, the mass should be pierced to the very bottom with a stick, a knitting needle. Gases will come out and the foam will go away. The mug, gauze and cargo should be washed before being taken to the basement. After all, the disappearance of the foam is a sign that it is time to transfer the barrel to a cold place for winter storage. In an earthen cellar, our ancestors buried a barrel 30-40 cm in the ground. Subsequently, it is necessary to monitor the brine level and regularly remove the formed mold from the surface, which contributes to rotting and spoilage. We wash the cloth, circle and oppression in vinegar. Vinegar kills harmful bacteria and microorganisms. You can use citric acid. Additives are added to the cabbage for flavor. It is advisable to lay a few kilograms of Antonov apples. You can add 2-3 kg of cranberries (lingonberries), cumin to taste, allspice peas, black peppercorns, bay leaves, juniper berries. All this is put in different layers of chopped cabbage and whole heads of cabbage, if the cabbage is fermented in pieces or whole.