need sauerkraut help!

[momofmine]

I have been talking about making sauerkraut for years, and I am finally trying ti myself. In Nourishing Traditions, she just says to put it in a jar and cover tightly and leave it out on the counter for three days. That sounds easy enough, but does that mean I can just use a mason jar with a lid? I thought that the cabbage had to be pushed down in there somehow so it was submerged under the juices. Also, she says use a medium cabbage and 2 T sea salt. (I don't have whey so I'm adding the extra T salt.) But how much is a medium cabbage??

In Wild Fermentation, he talks about it being important to have the right concentration of salt, not too much or too little, so it seems important to know how much cabbage to use. But he talks about using 5 pounds cabbage and I don't know how I would even measure that!

Also, he talks about having it in a crock where it is pushed down with a plate, or there's also a picture of it in a wide-mouthed jar, with a smaller jar on top. That seems a little bit harder than just sticking a lid on the jar. So is the jar with the lid only okay?

Thanks for any tips, I am determined to start a batch tonight because I don't have room in my fridge for all this cabbage I bought at market this morning anyway!

[Magelet]

Yes, a mason jar with a mason jar lid will be fine. The cabbage doesn't have to be 100% percent submerged (it floats a bit). I just push it down once a day in the first few days. (eventually, it seems to expand and take up the whole jar, and it turns out fine.)

A medium cabbage is on that isn't tiny, and isn't huge. It really doesn't matter so much. But honestly, chop up your cabbage, pound it with salt, and pack it. You might fill one (quart) jar, or a jar and a half, in which case, cut another half cabbage, pound it with salt, and pack it so the second jar is full.

In terms of salt, add it slowly. You don't nessicarily need 2 T, and 1 T might not be enough. (and I never use whey. I hear it makes it soggy). What you want, is you want the cabbage to taste salty enough that it's WAY saltier than you would enjoy eating (you know, like how much salt you would add if you were eating it like that for lunch or something), but not inedibly salty. It should not be unpleasant to eat, but it should taste very salty. That's enough salt. It's more an... artisan way than a scientific way, but it works really really well. (I haven't yet had a batch go bad, and I've been making it regularly for maybe 8 months? 10 months? It's not a guarantee that my method works, and it's based on buggies I don't control, so I may in the future, but I'm saying, the method works.)

(5 lbs of cabbage is... I'd say it's probably 2-3 medium cabbages).

Yes, a jar with a lid will work fine. So will submerging the cabbage.

Last tip, slice it as thin as you can. I do it with a knife, I had some from a friend who used a mandolin-y thing, and I loved it so thin. Mines great, but her's was so fluffy and delicate.

go make kraut!!

[momofmine]

Thank you SO much. Shoving it in a jar and sticking a lid on top sounds much easier! I just wanted to be sure that was okay, didn't want to have exploding kraut in my kitchen!

So, when you say you push it down for the first few days, you just open it up and push it down in there once a day? How long do you let it go? Does it need to have a towel or something draped over it to avoid sunlight?

As far as salting to taste, do I taste it as I am first making it, do you mean? To gauge the salt factor?

[tanyalynn]

I use a hybrid method, halfway between NT and Wild Fermentation. For my ferments, I use the basic amount of salt (per volume--say per quart container I'm making) that NT calls for, but I let the top stay open, I cover with cheesecloth, using the mason jar lid as a ring. Once or twice a day (2x/day when it's really warm--Texas summers) I use a spoon to push all the veggies under the level of the liquid. And I tend to use a bit extra salt when it's really hot, it slows the fermentation.

I never block it from sunlight, but I don't let it sit in direct sun either, more so it doesn't get really, really warm.

If I were salting to taste, I'd cut the cabbage, mix in salt, and then yes, grab a bit and taste, and see if it seems right. And then pack it into a jar and off you go.

If you're not sure if you put in too much, just stick it on a plate and that'll catch any liquid that flows over. I should've done that with my latest batch of kimchi.

Do you have Wild Fermentation? Sandor Katz's description of how this works made me realize that veggie fermentation is much easier and more flexible than I thought it was after just reading NT.

[cristeen]

Magelet taught me how to make it a few weeks ago (I'm the one with the light and fluffy kraut).

To answer your questions - yes, you salt it as you pound it, and taste as you go. You definitely want it a bit saltier than you find pleasant, but not so much that you want to spit it out because it tastes like sea water.

As for how long it takes, that's dependent on many factors including the weather. I left mine for a week, and it's beautiful, the weather here was mild in the high 60s that week, IIRC. I did have to put it in a bowl to catch overflow, but did not need to protect it from sunlight. Again, you want to taste it. When it no longer tastes like it did when you packed it, then you know it's doing something. And you can pop it in the fridge when you're satisfied with it's progress.

I didn't bother pushing it back down during that week, but my jar was packed almost to the brim - there was really nowhere for it to go.

And you don't have to flavor it to someone else's recipe, either. Magelet used caraway and juniper in the one she made at my house, but I put sliced green garlic and fresh dill in mine.

[Magelet]

in terms of time, it's really up to you. I live in the same area as Cristeen, and I've been letting my sourkraut go 2-3 weeks. It's more sour, and less crisp than cristeen's. Actually, we may have one out for a month.... And definitely put it in a bowl or on a plate or towel, it pretty much always overflows even if you put the lid on tight.

(I use caraway and juniper berries and mustard too cristeen )

[momofmine]

Thanks everyone! So, if I am going to put as much cabbage as fills a quart mason jar, for example, what is an approximate for how much sea salt? (I'm using Celtic.) Just to give me a ballpark to know around what it might be. And can I add just the cabbage and salt? Do I need to add anything else?

Wow, a month! That's a lot longer than three days!

Can I use the plastic storage caps that go with the Mason jars?

What do you use to pound the cabbage down into the jar? How juicy does it need to get.

Yeah, I need someone to just come over and show me how to do this, that always works so much better for me! But I am going to just give it a try today. Will I know if I've done it right?

[Magelet]

Umm, I'd start with a tsp or two, and add salt as you go. 1-2 Tbs a jar does sound about right... You can add spices/herbs/other veggies if you want to. It's up to you. You can also make it without them.

3 days is usually too short, but it depends on how you like it. A week is definitely also fine.

You can if you like. I think I wouldn't because the food always ends up pushing against the lid (though I suppose the lids have bpa too...)

I first pound the cabbage in a bowl (usually a metal bowl with a heavy drinking glass or mason jar as a pounder. a glass bowl with a soft metal pounder (like a kleen kanteen) would work. I've used a kleen kanteen in the metal bowl too.) Then when it's bubbling (you can hear it), and has a small accumulation of juice on the bottom, and it looks pretty wet, I pack it in tightly with my hand.

You'll know if it works. If it doesn't work, it will smell horrible, or look weird or funky a few days or a week or so in. If it does, it will look, smell and taste like sourkraut.