Maybe your cabbages are still aliveš
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Same. Iām concluding that vegetable fermentation is just a step of the food breaking down and softening is a part of that. So Iāve stopped hoping for crisp fermented cukes. Even when my fermented cabbage (kraut) has a crunch to it, itās still rather soft compared to how it had been. And cukes are so watery, it seems thereās less structure to hold a crunch.
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A lot of old pickle recipes include A cherry leaf or two per jar, or something similar. I think the tannins are whatās in there that improves the crunch.
Just a thoughtā¦
One more aside: there is a recipe for cabbage and fennel kraut on hank shaws website, THAT Shite looks awesome for on italian sausage, brats, etc
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I thought I would post this, which is an excellent youtube repository of all things fermented, really a one stop shop for every imaginable (and some unimaginable) recipe. I am posting the video about fermented apples (I have been using wild apples and pears, which are hard things, with good success. They go well in blends, with cabbage and carrot for example. Cider apples or AB or other hard things will do too), to satisfy fruit related content requirements. Try the fermented sweet potato drink!
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I donāt remember the last time I made sauerkraut - itās been many years, decades really. Itās not that we didnāt like it; we just didnāt eat that much and that really nice 10 gallon crock that my MIL had given us so long ago always tempted me to make way more than we needed. But last yearI got the āFermented Vegetablesā book by Kirsten & Christopher Shockey for some reason (Iām not big on recipe books) but if the photos in the book donāt entice one to ferment something I donāt know what would! Plus itās wonderfully written by folks who have really DONE ferments in a big way. So I bought some cabbage seed and grew a row of green and red.
Then I did what I seldom do - I read what they wrote and actually (more or less) followed their recipe! Made some red kraut (with apple, carrot, onion, caraway). And it turned out very good! Pretty, too. Weāre eating it mainly on luncheon salads - adds a real nice and tasty crunchiness.
So now I have a mostly green with lesser amount of red, with carrot (I have lots of carrots this year), onion and fresh oregano in the crock. Should be done soon. More cabbages out there so Iām trying to decide what combination to try next. Thankfully the root cellar is starting to cool down so it should keep better now.
BTW, the small crock Iām using is a crockpot from the thrift store, inexpensive and almost always a few available, that Steve dismantled. Works nice with a freezer bag filled with water for follower. Sue
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I just jarred my kraut #4 and think I like it best - green cabbage, apple and caraway. Quite mild and tasty. Weāve like the earlier red/green kraut, too, though.
One thing I like about kraut is that it doesnāt require instant processessing when harvested like most things in the garden, and the cabbage gives a lot of leeway, too, both in harvesting and storage. Since the crock was empty I krauted my last cabbages, picked three weeks ago when the temps dropped low, and still in good shape though they were rather small.
Itāll be interesting to see how long it keeps (in root cellar, now around 40 deg). Weāre now eating kraut #2 made two months ago. Iām glad I got back into making kraut. Sue
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I know that is from a long time ago, but how did the pumpkin kimchi turn out?
Sorry forgot to provide feedback
The flavor is ok but the texure is kinda too soft (compare to cabbage) to my taste
Pumpkin kimchi seemed a little risky I guess, I had not seen that upthreadā¦I had heard of seaweed kimchi though and that was the complaint that it wanted to go soft.
As a thread derail, I was growing Korean radishes and I saw thing for roast radishes basically roasting them like potatoes tossed in a bit of oil and whatever herbs you like, that was really good. The radishes tasted more like cauliflower when they were baked but they were good.
And now to try to actually get the thread back on track: I just opened a jar of kraut and then another one that had been in the fridge for just shy of a year and they were almost fully crisp yet, but they were stored at 4Ā° C
This yr i am thinking a kraut w juniper (bought a bunch for pancetta) and a fennel/cabbage kraut
The fennel and cabbage sounds delicious. Keep us updated after you made it
That is the recipe I would probably use, that said I have a love-hate thing with all things aniseā¦I will grill or sautĆ© fennel like twice a year, and I cook with fennel tips once in a while but I usually use about half of what recipes call for
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I have done OK with onion, cabbage, and shredded butternut. It was a fairly hard butternut too, so you might salvage the recipe going to BN or Hubbard. The flavor is good but it takes time for the onion to mellow. Usually I start eating them on the third day but this one needs closer to one week.
Yours is a quick kraut, mine took way longer to do, usually over a month
now for some different ferments and pseudo-ferments
front to back and left to right:
- cranberry vinaigrette
- raw sardines cured in salt and vinegar and in oil (oil is partially frozen, straight out of fridge)
- garlic fermented in honey (coronavirus Bgone)
- preserved lemons
- pickled eggs in beet juice, garlic, chili, and vinegar (some sugar)
- pickled eggs in onion, mustard seeds, vinegar
- beet,ginger, carrot kvass
- apple ginger kvass
- sweet potato fly
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This is impressive!
Recipe please!
I love fermented food. I do a lot of lactofermentation of vegetables. Iāve kept an open mind and read as much as I can find on food safety of fermentation. Iāve convinced myself they are safe when done correctly.
With that disclaimer, Iād just like to encourage everyone who is experimenting, and straying from traditional lactofermentation methods and recipes, to research as much as possible the risk of botulism, listeria and other food borne illnesses. Iām not saying anyoneās recipe is unsafe, because I donāt know exactly what they are doing. Iām only saying be careful and research what conditions and ingredients cause botulism and other pathogens, and what techniques inhibit those pathogens.
Good luck! Stay safe!
cover whole garlic cloves with honey. Cover them again after the honey percolates down. I made these because my own garlic was sprouting in the fridge. You may add some lemon juice if you wish. Ferment at room temperature for one month. The garlic will have lost its bite but the whole potion is an immune booster. Along the way it might develop some unpleasant smells that however dissipate in the finished product which is pleasant tasting. My daughter (I gave her a small jar because she was getting sick) called me to make sure it would not give her bad breath before a date. I said it would not and apparently it does not, according to field reports.
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