Basic Sauerkraut (lactofermented) Recipe for a Healing Kraut

Directions for the sauerkraut I have been making lately (along with a link to my previous blog post to give basic directions):

Equal mixture of red and green cabbage, carrots, whey, fresh beets, greens and heirloom carrots, fresh lime juice and zest, cayanne, jalapenos, onion, dandelion greens, ginger

The salts: black and red Hawaiian, pink Himalayan, RealSalt from Utah, Gray North Sea salt.

The spices: Sesame seeds, Curcumin, Turmeric, fresh black pepper.

Prep by shredding the cabbage (reserve the outer leaves for the top), carrots, beets, jalapenos and onions. I use a french Fry blade on the food processor to get a nice, big, uniform size. Make sure that the cabbage is at least half of the total. Don't shred the beets and carrots too small or they ferment too quickly.

Next, mix these in a large container with about 1 tablespoon of salt per medium head of cabbage. Throw a few more tablespoons in for the other stuff too. Add the whey. Add the spices and begin mixing.

I like to give quite a bit of time to this process and allow the flavors to get to know each other and taste as I go.

After this process is working, add your other greens, zest your lime and your ginger, into the mix and hand chop your more delicate greens and anything else you want in there. Remember to taste as you go. You will notice that I am unable to give proportions. I just don't have them. I know that you do not need to have so much salt that you cannot eat it and it is good to use what is available to you.

Pack this into your container. Use some non-clorinated water if necessary to have enough liquid to get everything under liquid. Use one tablespoon of salt per quart of water.

Use the reserved outer layer of leaves and then a plate to push everything down under liquid. Use something heavy to hold the plate down.

Now just keep it all between about 55 and 68 degrees for a few weeks, taste it and if it is where you would like it, bottle it up and it can now go into the fridge to continue fermenting.

Happy Fermenting!
Cindy

Sauerkraut Directions for four gallons 
Fermented Roots and Veggies 

Preserving the Harvest

It has been so long since I wrote a blog post, it just feels awkward.  I guess there is no way to get past that than to just dive in.  

Preserving the Harvest:

 This week brought a large selection of roots and greens, much more than could be reasonably used fresh.  It only makes sense to preserve them.  The best way I know is to lacto-ferment these.

Spending a little time getting these beautiful things cultured has a dual purpose.  First, preservation.  Second, using a lacto fermented food as a condiment with your meal brings a host of benefits.  This has been covered in many, many blogs.  You might check a few of them out to find out the health benefits.

It is really easy to get this going, although somewhat time consuming because almost everything had to be hand chopped.  The steps basically are wash, dry, chop, mix, season, get the mixture under liquid and leave it alone for a few weeks.  The ingredients for today's mixture ended up being:

Sauerkraut from my last batch as a starter 

Fermented Carrot/ginger/lime

Fermented Ginger ale

Cabbage - red and green

Mustard greens

Kale - black and green

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Broccoli

Spinach

Beet Greens

Hot Peppers

Carrots

Parsnips

Onions

Ginger

Fermented Soy Sauce

Sesame seeds

Black Pepper

Salt

Hot curry 

Cumin

After prepping everything, it ended up looking like this:

A few weeks in anaerobic conditions and it should be a wonderful, healthy, perfectly preserved bunch of goodness.  Make some today!