Of Cabbages and Kings
Oct. 7th, 2011 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Having a yen for sauerkraut, I'd purchased a head of purple cabbage at the farmers' market to attempt that as my next lactofermentation project. Last night I pulled out Tart and Sweet and the big glass jar (I do not have a proper fermentation crock; they're expensive) and proceeded to shred the cabbage. The recipe calls for five pounds of cabbage and three tablespoons of kosher salt. Since the head I used was three pounds, I used just a little under two tablespoons salt, mixed well, and squooshed it all down.
The recipe says that the salt is supposed to cause the cabbage to release water and thus create its own brine to ferment in.
The recipe, it lies.
So this morning I followed the "in case your cabbage does not release enough moisture" (in this case, any at all) addendum and boiled a quart of water and 1.5 tablespoons of salt to make brine, let it cool, and then poured it in the jar, weighing down the cabbage with a ziploc filled with water and draping a towel over the top to keep dust, insects, and cats out.
Theoretically, in three weeks I will have sauerkraut.
The recipe says that the salt is supposed to cause the cabbage to release water and thus create its own brine to ferment in.
The recipe, it lies.
So this morning I followed the "in case your cabbage does not release enough moisture" (in this case, any at all) addendum and boiled a quart of water and 1.5 tablespoons of salt to make brine, let it cool, and then poured it in the jar, weighing down the cabbage with a ziploc filled with water and draping a towel over the top to keep dust, insects, and cats out.
Theoretically, in three weeks I will have sauerkraut.
