Yes, I do eat vegetables, too.
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| pay no attention to the salami and cheese |
I recently got myself a Gärtopf -- simple, old design, but very clever & effective -- and started turning 2.7kg of cabbage into sauerkraut. I love it. It seems
too simple to work but it is just so good. I used up to 2.5% salt by weight, including top-up brine as needed. It was really nice after a few days. It's two weeks in and getting even better.
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| precision-engineered German crockery |
The biggest problem with making your own sauerkraut is feeling like a complete idiot for paying 100x too much for inferior grocery store stuff for so many years.
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| small jar, did not last long |
4 comments:
3 questions:
1) how many batches will you need to make to recoup your hardware investment, considering the prior 100X mark-up? (I understand you're in it for the long haul... but are we talking 2 years.. 5 years... 10 years of cabbage batches?)
2) how does your spouse like the fragrance of sauerkraut? DDF detests the odor of kapusta, as it nauseates her, and I have promised to only make it when she is not home for an extended period of time.
3) though I know you are not a sugar advocate, have you tried adding a pinch of brown sugar to the 'nearly finished' kraut? It is part of my maternal grandmother's recipe and I like it very much. Not more than one teaspoon for the entire "large batch". Brown sugar in the final stage, as well as low heat for days, repeated rinsing, salt & pepper, and then the pinch of b.s. ...with no preservatives.
(1) Well, the crock was not expensive. Sourced from Germany, where it's common. I took a quick look on amazon USA and they seem shockingly expensive there. But I'll base this on the relatively low european cost.
If I compare vs. jarred sauerkraut, at my current consumption rate, I expect breakeven within a year. However, the main reason I was keen to make my own sauerkraut was to make the live fermented version. It's uncommon to find live, raw, unpastuerised sauerkraut here. As a result it's much more expensive. So comparing like for like the breakeven is about 3-4 months.
(2) She likes sauerkraut. All fine. Stamp of approval!
(3) Just cabbage, salt, and some water (and very happy natural bacteria). I am pretty much onboard with the instructions I linked to (, although I go with more precision in my brine %age. I might eventually add some spices. Caraway seed maybe. But I'm delighted with the very simple version so not yet feeling experimental.
Kapusta is a cooked dish, no?
cooked for many days, on low heat, was how I was taught. Yep.
Yeah, I'm not cooking anything, just making sauerkraut. Fermenting cabbage.
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