A book, a cabbage, an adventure (Part II)

If you caught my post on October 26th, you'll know exactly what's been sitting in a veiled tub on top of my refrigerator for the past three weeks. The mysterious contents of my tub have been patient, biding their time and twiddling their thumbs until their day of glory finally arrives. Well ladies and gentlemen, that day has finally come.

This evening in a moment of culinary epic-ness , I pulled back the cheese cloth to unveil my very first homemade sauerkraut. It was purple. It was sour. It was tangy and flavorful. In short, it was everything I'd ever wanted from a three-week-old fermented cabbage. Perhaps you may find my enthusiasm misdirected. I am, after all, aiming it at a microbe-packed vegetable mash. But allow me tell to you just a few of the reasons that homemade sauerkraut is something to celebrate.

Reason #1: Homemade sauerkraut is culinary alchemy. You start with cabbage, salt, and your own two hands, and you end up with a zesty condiment/side dish that in no way resembles the vegetable from which it came. This, my friends, is what they call getting something for nothing.

Reason #2: Homemade sauerkraut is the embodiment of your individuality. I'm deadpan serious when I say that no two krauts are ever the same. From the vegetables you choose, to the spices you select, to the very microbes that call your kitchen home, there are myriad factors that ensure that each sauerkraut is unique and special. Have you been searching your soul for what makes you different from everyone else? Start by making a sauerkraut.

Reason #3: Homemade sauerkraut is tastier and cheaper than the store bought stuff. Plain and simple, folks.

Reason #4: Homemade sauerkraut makes you a cooler person. Picture this. You're at a swanky party chatting with two dapper gentlemen. After one casually mentions that he recently purchased an original Van Gough, the other notes that he just finished his latest batch of homemade sauerkraut. Yeah, I'd give the second guy my phone number too.

Reason #5: Homemade sauerkraut is one of the world's healthiest super-foods. The vast majority of store-bought sauerkraut has been pasteurized, meaning that all the beneficial live cultures have been killed. Your homemade kraut, on the other hand, is teaming with them. Fermented foods have long been hailed as exceptionally good for the body. When microbes break down the nutrients in a given food for you (as is the case with fermentation), the nutrients become more accessible during digestion. Even better, eating the microbes themselves in fermented foods helps to replace your own gastrointestinal flora, so that other foods are more easily digested as well. Sound unnecessarily medical? It's not. All this simply translates to fewer belly aches, more vitamins, and increased health and happiness.

Reason #6: Homemade sauerkraut isn't the end, but rather, it's just the beginning. Check out this quirky website to learn about the millions of recipes that call for a tasty homemade kraut. Of particular interest is the dessert section...

Happy Krauting!

-Adriana

A book, a cabbage, an adventure

I have an important announcement. As of this evening, I have officially cast off my culinary diapers and embraced legitimate home cook's underwear. That's right. I'm a big girl now.

Today was the day, I set aside my baking bowls, spatulas, and muffin tins and opened my arms to the millions of microbes floating around my kitchen. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my very first raw sauerkraut.

This adventure actually began a few weeks ago when a package arrived at my doorstep containing the book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Ellix Katz (i.e. my personal hero). Now here is a man who makes his living by fermenting anything he can get his hands on: veggies, honey, milk, dough, goat meat...Come on, are you not just a little jealous?

My mother had sent me a copy of his book, and, upon receiving it, I had promptly sat myself down and read it cover to cover. I swear, the book reads almost like a novel (as least as far as cooking books go). As I turned each page, I kept hearing myself think, "my gosh, what will those microbes do next?!" By the time I had reached the final riveting recipe, I considered myself to be a true expert on the art and science of fermented foods. The only problem, of course, was that I had never fermented anything before in my life. "Alright folks," I proclaimed to the helpful microbes serenely bobbing through my kitchen. "It's time to make my very first sauerkraut."

Sauerkraut usually takes 1-4 weeks to finish, depending on how sour you like your kraut to be. Below I've included my (somewhat haphazard) interpretation of the basic steps given in Mr. Katz's book.

Sauerkraut
(makes roughly 1 gallon)

Ingredients and Equipment:

5 pounds of cabbage (green or red - but red's my personal favorite)
3 tablespoons sea salt
1 ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket
1 plate that fits inside the crock or bucket
1 weight such as a jar filled with water or a cleaned rock
1 cloth cover such as a towel

Step one:
Chop or grate cabbage and place in a large bowl.

Step two:
Sprinkle salt on the chopped cabbage as you go.

Step three:
Add other vegetables, herbs, or spices. I decided to be a purest on my first attempt, so I went with bare cabbage.

Step four:
Mix everything together and then pack it bit by bit into your crock or bucket. I had a lot of fun with this step by using my fists, jars, a mallet, and anything else that seemed sturdy enough to tamp the cabbage down. The overall idea here is to squeeze as much water out of the cabbage as possible, with the help of the salt, of course.

Step five:
Cover the shredded cabbage with the plate or another object that fits fairly snugly into the opening of the crock or bucket.

Step six:
Push down on the weight every time you pass by your crock or bucket (or just whenever the tasty kraut happens to be on your mind). Within 4 to 24 hours the brine (the water and salt mixture that has been drawn out of the cabbage) should cover all kraut. Cover the bucket with the towel so that no mischievous bugs get any ideas about settling down and raising a family in your fermenting culinary delight.

Step seven:
Leave the sauerkraut alone in a corner of your kitchen to ferment, but check on it every day or two. If a mold appears on the surface of the liquid, just skim it off and don't worry. Your sauerkraut is carefully protected beneath the brine. Start tasting it after about a week, and when it reaches the right degree of tang for your tastebuds, scoop it out and enjoy!

You can store the sauerkraut in a jar in your refrigerator after it's done fermenting.

Stay tuned for the finale of this microbial adventure in a few weeks time.

-Adriana