Probiotic Goodness
Here’s an easy-to-make yummy kraut for any time of year. Warmed up, sauerkraut is an excellent accompaniment with sausages, rice and veg stirfry or even turned into krautslaw salad with homemade mayonnaise.
Serves: makes a few jars
Ingredients
Cabbage, carrot & apple
1 tablespoon salt per kilo veg
Probiotic veg culture (optional)
bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, caraway seeds to taste
Essential Utensils: Sturdy wooden spoon, sharp knife & chopping board, fermenting crock.
Method
Weigh vegetables and make sure you have enough salt. Himalayan salt or a good sea salt contain lots of minerals, packing even more nutrition into every crunchy bite.
Chop finely or grate veg/apple. Pack into crock alternating layers of veg and salt. Pop on the lid. Add water to the moat. This allows gases formed in the process to escape from inside the crock without letting in moulds and other free microbes from the air.
A super-quick method is to push the veg down and try to get all the air out and add probiotic culture made up with water. If you have a bit more time, work salt into the veg by scrunching a little by hand. This helps the veg release juices faster and gets the kraut going more quickly. Kraut is traditionally made in cooler weather (when cabbages are in season) and matured over weeks or months. To get microbes activated in your kraut more quickly you can pick up probiotic veg culture in the Big Little shop.
Vegetables will release their juices, so that they’re fully submerged, but if there isn’t enough juice to cover the cabbage after 24 hours add some brine (one part salt to 10 parts water). Leave in a cool place (about 70 F/ 25 C) to suit your taste. Then decant into jars and keep in the fridge.