To prepare a 3-liter jar of sauerkraut in the kitchen, you need to spend 1 hour.
How to ferment cabbage
Hot sauerkraut
Products for a 3-liter jar
White cabbage – half a medium-sized head weighing 2 kilograms
Carrots – 2 medium-sized pieces
Boiling water – 1.5 liters
Coarse rock salt – 2 tablespoons
Sugar sand – 2 tablespoons
How to cook sauerkraut
1. Wash and peel the carrots, cut them with a special board for cutting vegetables. If not, then cut into large strips with an ordinary knife.
2. Peel the cabbage from coarse leaves and chop finely.
3. Mix cabbage with carrots in a deep bowl.
4. Put cabbage with carrots into a sterilized three-liter jar, carefully tamping it until the jar is full.
4. Prepare a brine for sourdough: put 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and rock salt into a measuring cup, pour boiling water over it.
5. Stir the brine and pour it over the cabbage in the jar so that it is completely hidden under the brine.
6. Put the jar of cabbage in a wide bowl or pan so that the cabbage juice does not overflow from the jar during fermentation.
7. Leave the cabbage for 2-3 days at room temperature, periodically (2-3 times a day) pressing the cabbage with a wooden stick (to reach the bottom of the jar), squeezing out the gas and removing the foam.
9. Cover the jar of sauerkraut with a lid and store in the refrigerator.
Cold sauerkraut
Products for a 3-liter jar
White cabbage – 1 small head or half a large head, weighing about 2 kilograms
Carrots – 2-3 pieces weighing 300 grams
Rock salt – 40-50 grams to taste
How to cook sauerkraut
1. Remove the top green cabbage leaves.
2. Shred the cabbage using a board or a special cabbage grater.
3. Wash and peel the carrots, grate on a coarse grater.
4. Mix cabbage and carrots thoroughly, adding the prepared salt.
5. When mixing, be sure to grind a little and crush the cabbage in a large container (you can take a basin), until the juice appears.
6. Place cabbage on the bottom of the jar, tamping well.
7. After all the cabbage is laid, cover it with cabbage leaves on top.
8. Put a plate or dish on the cooked cabbage, and put oppression on top (for example, a full kettle, a jar or a pot of water).
9. Leave the cabbage at room temperature for 3 days.
10. In order for the gases to come out, you need to pierce the cabbage with a stick 3-4 times a day for all three days. You can determine that gases have come out by the foam that forms during fermentation. As soon as the foam disappears completely (for 2-3 days) – it means that the cabbage is ready.
Tasty Facts
– Kitchen utensils for harvesting sauerkraut: a 3-liter glass jar, a deep plate, a cutting board and a measuring cup. To cut cabbage and carrots, you need a cabbage grater board, and if not, then an ordinary kitchen knife.
– Before cutting cabbage, wash it and remove the upper green leaves from it.
– To make the cabbage softer in taste, you should add a little sugar to it (for our quantity – 2-4 tablespoons).
– In order for the cabbage to turn out crispy, you do not need to knead it, it is better to just mix well. Salt for salting must be taken large. And if you want to diversify the taste, you can add lingonberries, cranberries or bell peppers to the cabbage.
– Cabbage can be served simply as a side dish, or used as a side dish. In any case, it is recommended to chop the onion, add it to the cabbage. Then sprinkle a little granulated sugar to taste and vegetable oil. Leave to brew for a couple of hours. The longer it sits, the tastier it will be. Salt in cabbage is used only large, stone. And in order for it to be crispy, after the gases come out, it is recommended to put the cabbage in the cold.
– Cabbage is selected for sauerkraut of late varieties, so that sauerkraut is crispy. Usually it is the middle of autumn. It is necessary to select cabbage in green leaves for sourdough, despite the fact that later you will remove them. They choose it this way because without green leaves it may turn out to be frozen, and this one is no longer suitable for salting.
– You can also diversify the taste of cabbage, for this, during the cooking process, you can add cranberries or lingonberries, fruits or mushrooms to it before you lay it. Can be seasoned with spices.
– Sauerkraut is stored all winter until spring in the refrigerator or on an open balcony.
– Cabbage stalk is not used for pickling.
– The classic proportions of sauerkraut: for 1 kilogram of cabbage, 100 grams of carrots and 10 grams of salt.
– The optimum temperature for sourdough cabbage is +2 – +15 degrees.
– If mold has formed during the infusion of cabbage, it must be removed, and the cabbage and plate should be thoroughly washed under cold water.
– Foam during sourdough cabbage must be removed, and pierced cabbage too. Otherwise, the cabbage will turn out with bitterness.
– As oppression, for example, a cobblestone or a 2-liter bottle of water is suitable. Oppression must be thoroughly washed, because. when stored cold, juice is released – if it comes into contact with non-sterile oppression, it is likely that sauerkraut will deteriorate.
– Sauerkraut is stored for 3-4 months. An open jar is consumed within 2 weeks, otherwise it will become bitter (then cabbage is allowed into cabbage soup ). Since cabbage is sold throughout the year, you can cook it regularly and for a short time.
What determines the time of sourdough cabbage
– The more salt is used in the recipe, the faster the cabbage ferments – from 3 days (for each kilogram of cabbage 25 grams of salt) to 5-7 days (15 grams of salt per kilogram of cabbage). After fermentation in a cold way, the cabbage must be put into jars and put away for storage, it is finally fermented for 1 week.
– The fermentation time also depends on the amount of cabbage being prepared. So, if you ferment a barrel of cabbage, then it will ferment for at least a month.
– It is important that the sourdough method with fermentation (our second recipe) is much longer than the “hot” method, when the cabbage is sour with boiled dressing.