Making sauerkraut- any tips please!

[OhThePain77]

I am reading Tim Spector's book at the moment, and am also going to do a roast this weekend. We have a small family so I was planning on making sauerkraut with the leftover cabbage. Can anyone share any advice they have got?

One particular concern that I have is that it is very cold at the moment - will it take longer?

Also if anyone has any general tips on fermenting things, other ways of improving gut bacteria, that would be fab. I am reasonably healthy and have lost a lot of weight over the past year (still overweight, but from a BMI of just over 35 to about 26) and I think improving my gut health is one of the biggest things I can do to improve my health.

Also I have an app on my phone that doesn't let me go on mumsnet foe more than 30 minutes a day, so if I don't reply till tomorrow that is why!

Eat 30 different plants a week - there's a thread on here.
Half and half kefir and bio/Greek yoghurt for breakfast (I have it on top of porridge after I've cooked it with water).

Best is like 19-22c for it. Keep it somewhere warmish and stable. I use 2.75%salt, kosher or high quality without anti-caking agents. Make sure everything is clean, the jar, weights, bowl, your hands. I add caraway right in when mixing it and we love that one. You can ferment most things. Aubergines, cauliflower, carrots etc. You can spice them with herbs and spices. Fermented chili sauce hits like a bomb. I simply cut into pieces and mix water salt again at 2.75% so 500ml water - 13.75g salt.
I also made ferment brussels and they were a hit.

Make sure tu burp the jar regularly! Daily should be enough.

The Happy Pear website has a few fermented recipes like sauerkraut etc.

This playlist on youtube will fuel you with ideas
c

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iP05le_c5lE
Dh makes sauerkraut using this video, both the Ohio stoneware and their recipe found online.
just cabbage and salt. It sits on the counter for a few days, then gets packed into jars and kept in the fridge.

I will add my experience of making kimchi when it was really cold, it seemed to stall and went bad.
We had done it fine before, then that was such a waste. We need to make a batch soon, but going to leave it a couple months to get out of the really cold weather.

@WeirdPookah I am now some hot so I figured out I can make mine in temp controlled diy box. Like this cheap carry cooler box, ice pack on top (not in) and thermometer inside. Maybe it would work with hot water bottle on top over winter?

Sauerkraut is really easy and delicious - I make it with savoy cabbage:

Save an outer leaf of the cabbage and shred the rest pretty finely.

Weigh the cabbage and measure out 2% weight in salt (so 20g for 1kg cabbage). Sprinkle the salt over the cabbage and stir well to distribute it.

Leave the salted cabbage for a couple of hours then go to town massaging it and squeezing it to wring as much liquid from it as you can manage. Leave and repeat if you’re not getting much.

find a good-sized jar (tall and thin are best) and pack the cabbage in, pouring the brine over the top. Push it down until the liquid covers the top, and use the reserved cabbage leaf to keep all the shreds and itself submerged. Aim for a bit of air space at the top of the jar.

I put a small jar inside to keep everything pushed down and then tighten a lid on the big jar and place on a plate. The fermentation gases will force their way out! You might have to wait longer if it’s v cold…

Join the Uk fermenting friends fb group - super clear instructions & advice on sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough and all sorts of gut healthy ferments

Make sure you get the amount of salt exactly right. Keep the jars on a tray as they are very likely to overflow during in fermentation.

Ooh wow - amazing tips everyone! Thank you so much! I'm so excited.

I'll try to find the warmest part of the house to do it.

Great tips already. You really need to squeeze the cabbage, you should hear the crunch and you have to do it for a while. I do it at the dinning table not the kitchen as it is too high to really use the whole arm.

I make kimchi in winter & I've never had an issue with the cold. It sits on the side in the kitchen which is 16c or less for most of the day (only have heating on in the evening). It ferments just fine, but takes a bit longer.

I've always followed Sandor Ellis Katz's instructions in The Art of Fermentation - you can really vary the amount of salt to suit your taste, exact proportions aren't critical. The main thing is making sure everything is properly submerged under the liquid.
I used to use a sandwich bag filled with water & tied as the weight, which lets the gas escape nicely. These days I use a sandwich bag filled with glass beads just because it's a bit easier.

@Sadik can you add a picture of the recipe. I have always wanted to try to do Kimchi.

I'm not at home at the moment, but it's not so much a recipe as broad instructions as to the process. If you Google Sandor Katz / kimchi you'll find lots of examples though

Has anyone fermented whole veg...seen some recipes on line for and wonder how they turn out...

I tried twice. I find them too salty.
I was using the boil the water for 10 min, then add salt, put vegetables in jar, add mustard seeds, dill or nothing, cover with liquid, close and forget for two weeks.
They pickled nicely, but I didn't like the taste. Too salty.
Tried again. Less salt. Still too salty.

https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/fermented-beetroot-recipe

I was looking at this one ... no boiling water.

I wouldn't put boiling water over tbh. I always use room temp veg and water.
Sauerkraut and fermnets are usually salty.

I do cauliflower as my fave. Pieces of cauli, stuff in jar as tight as possible, add spices and herbs in between if you like, top up properly (so hit it on table few times to get rid of air bubbles) with 2.75% water salt solution. 4-5 days (depends on temperature) as I like it crunchy for salads.
Keep in stable temp. It does happen sometimes that it just goes off rather than nice off and yeasts rather than fermnets. I managed to trace issues usually to the salt or very unstable temps.

Just make sure you tightly close the jar before putting it in a fridge😂

Thank @Sauerkrautsandwich . Why put the lid on tightly?

I’ve made sauerkraut successfully several times, it only went bad funky once and that was temperature too high. Middle of summer and left in utility which got very hot….

Because fermneted cauliflower is not something you wnat to leak smell in a fridge 😁

I've been getting everything together to make another batch of kimchi this weekend!

I have a kimchi "bin" for want of a better word which allows it to breathe.

Seen some ideas online using things like nashi pear and apples in it. I've had red cabbage and apple sauerkraut before, so I like the idea of it.