👩🏻‍💻 👈🏻 🚭 How to ferment cabbage at home: recipes 😤 👩‍❤️‍👩 🌋

Despite the fact that the Chinese were the first to start fermenting cabbage, this dish has been present in the diet of the Russian man for many centuries and has become so “Russified" that it is considered to be originally Russian food. In fact, they know how to ferment cabbage tasty and what to cook from it, they know in Germany, Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Lithuania and other countries. In Asia, spicy pickled Beijing cabbage kimchi is very popular.

What is made of it?

It may seem to an ignorant person in cooking that sauerkraut is used in cooking for a very limited extent. Of course, classic sour cabbage soup, vinaigrette and a traditional snack - cabbage with onions and vegetable oil - will come to mind. However, this is a fallacy. Sauerkraut is a must in dozens of dishes. Cutlets, fritters, lazy cabbage rolls are made from it. They cook dumplings, pies, salads with her. It goes well with mushrooms, cereals, vegetables, meat, especially with sausages and sausages.

Therefore, it is not surprising that for a Russian woman who claims to be a good housewife, along with the ability to make dumplings or cook borsch, you just need to know how to ferment cabbage at home. In addition, this product is not only versatile and tasty, but also extremely useful.

Benefit

Sauerkraut contains a whole scattering of substances necessary for a person. Among them, probiotics and vitamin C stand out. Probiotics are useful living bacteria that form in cabbage during fermentation. They normalize the digestive system, increase immunity, strengthen the protective properties of the intestine, protect the body from harmful microorganisms.

100 grams of sauerkraut contains up to 70 milligrams of vitamin C, and under proper conditions, the product can be stored for up to six months, and all this time ascorbic acid does not break down. In addition to vitamin C, cabbage contains calcium, iron, sodium, vitamins K, D, B, carotene, amino acids and other useful elements that are so needed by people in winter and spring, when the risk of vitamin deficiency is especially high.

For those who want to lose weight, it will also be very useful to know how to ferment cabbage. After all, 100 grams contains only 25 kilocalories, vitamins help to easily overcome the diet, and probiotics make the intestinal flora healthy and normalize metabolism, which contributes to weight loss. Therefore, sauerkraut is a frequent guest in diet and lean menus.

Fermentation

Before fermenting cabbage, it is advisable to know what happens to it during cooking. On the surface of the vegetable there are lactic acid bacteria, and in cabbage juice there is a lot of sugar, which, under favorable conditions, interacts with these bacteria. Fermentation begins. Lactic acid bacteria intensively breed, destroying all harmful microorganisms and converting sugar into lactic acid, which preserves cabbage and gives it a familiar taste.

The optimum temperature of the starter culture is 17-22 ° C. If it is lower, then lactic acid bacteria multiply weakly, fermentation proceeds slowly. If it is higher, then the microbiological process develops too rapidly, the cabbage has an unpleasant taste. This option can be chosen by those who are looking for a way to ferment cabbage quickly. But it’s hardly worth sacrificing taste for speed.

If the cabbage is chosen correctly, then it will ferment even without the addition of salt and sugar. But they are added for two reasons:

Firstly, when grinding, they help better stand out cabbage juice.
Secondly, they improve the taste of the final product.

After the cabbage has been fermented, it must be put in a cool place, for example, in the basement or refrigerator, in order to stop all microbiological processes. Under these conditions, cabbage “ripens” for another one to two weeks.

Picking cabbage

Late cabbage is best suited for starter culture. Experienced housewives are advised to choose strong, flattened heads of medium size, with white leaves, without damage and rotten areas. They have the most sugar. You can sour young varieties with green leaves, but the result, as a rule, is not very good. Such cabbage wanders reluctantly, often bitterly and turns soft. In addition, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage and red cabbage are fermented, however, these options relate to culinary exoticism.

Other ingredients

Carrot. It contributes to the fermentation process, makes the product tastier and more beautiful, therefore it has long become an indispensable component of classic sauerkraut. In the recipes, the ratio of carrots and cabbage varies widely, sometimes 300-400 grams of carrots are taken per 10 kilograms of cabbage. But in other cases, the same amount is added to 2 kilograms of cabbage.
Salt. For proper starter culture, you need to take ordinary coarse salt that does not contain iodine, at the rate of 20 grams per kilogram of product.
Sugar. Someone uses sugar necessarily and adds one or two tablespoons per kilogram of product, someone considers it excessive. A matter of taste. Sugar has three functions: it helps the secretion of juice during mashing; accelerates the fermentation process and gives sauerkraut a sharp, harsh taste.
Spices and herbs. To ferment cabbage, as was done in the old days, you need to add caraway seeds. For pungency put hot pepper and garlic, for fragrance - fennel, bay leaves and currant leaves, anise, cloves, dill.

Tableware

In which dishes is it better to ferment cabbage? Typically, a container is selected according to two criteria: volume and material. Sauerkraut in a cool, dark basement can be stored for up to six months, while retaining its taste and useful properties. Therefore, in such cases it is more rational to cook and store it in large quantities and in impressive containers. If only a refrigerator is available, then you need to ferment in a dish that fits in it, for example, in a jar.

From ancient times, wooden barrels or barrels were considered the best capacity for starter products. They are roomy, chemically neutral, have a large diameter, in addition give the cabbage a pleasant aroma. However, quality barrels are expensive, they have nowhere to put in city apartments. A great alternative to barrels are containers made of food-grade plastic, which does not have a pungent odor. Their advantages: a variety of volumes, shapes, cheapness, affordability, lightness, strength. But many people regard plastic with a prejudice, believing that it gives the product a chemical smell and taste.

In urban conditions, glass jars seem to be the best option. Quickly ferment cabbage in a glass container is not difficult. Glass does not react with products, cans are available, they are easy to wash, you can find a can with a wide neck, so that it is more convenient to put the ingredients in it, and then crush it with oppression. A big disadvantage of glass is its fragility, if the jar breaks accidentally, you have to throw away all the contents so as not to risk health.

Also, enamel buckets and pans are used for pickling cabbage, they are spacious, and it is easy to put the necessary oppression on the product. But enamel should not be chipped, since during fermentation microorganisms will interact with the metal, harmful substances get into the cabbage, and its taste becomes noticeably worse.

When to ferment?

Typically, the cabbage sourdough season begins in the fall and ends in the spring. At this time, the most suitable cabbage varieties ripen, and places with optimal temperature both for fermentation and for storing the product appear in the houses. It is believed that the quality of sauerkraut is determined by the lunar phases, and it is better to deal with its preparation in the new moon or during the growth of the moon.

Sourdough Principles

There are many recipes for fermenting cabbage, but they all obey several single and consistent principles:

First prepare the products. You do not need to wash the cabbage, just remove the upper leaves, they can be put on the bottom of the container.
The stump must be discarded: it often collects nitrates and is tough. Next, cut the head into pieces and chop the cabbage with straws with a knife or using kitchen equipment. There is an opinion that finely chopped cabbage saves better. However, this is a controversial statement, other factors affect the quality of fermentation more strongly: the amount of sugar, air access, the correct temperature. Just a neat straw looks more familiar and more beautiful than large pieces.
Grate the carrots. Prepare the remaining additives: vegetables, berries, spices.
Grind the ingredients in a capacious container, carefully observing the proportions of cabbage, carrots, salt and sugar. And leave for a while, so that the products give a plentiful juice.

Then, in portions, transfer the mixture to a fermentation container, ramming each layer, and then put oppression on top. It is important that the juice covers the products.
Under normal conditions, cabbage brews for about three days, during which you need to systematically pierce the contents of the container with a long stick or knife. So air is released, which is formed during fermentation. If this is not done, the cabbage will get bitterness and an unpleasant smell. In addition, excess air displaces valuable brine from the tank.
During fermentation, foam appears on the surface, it must be collected. The disappearance of foam and air bubbles means that fermentation is completed.
After this, cabbage can be eaten, but it is better to put in a cold place to ripen for a week or two.

Error handling

Sometimes a person despairs, not knowing how to ferment cabbage tasty and quickly. He strictly follows recipes, weighs ingredients up to a milligram, but the result is still bad. The cause, most likely, is a fundamental error that is overlooked.

The cause of bitterness can be: frozen cabbage; excess salt; nitrates; insufficient temperature for normal fermentation (below 18 ° C).
Excessive acid appears in the product if it is brewed in a too warm room, where the temperature is above 22 ° C, or if the cabbage is kept warm.
The cause of softness are: frozen or young cabbage; lack of salt; high temperature during fermentation; air that is not bleed during souring.

How to deliciously ferment cabbage in a jar or other container: a classic recipe

Structure:

cabbage - 3 kilograms;
carrots - 100-200 grams;
salt - 60 grams;
sugar - 4 tablespoons;
bay leaves, caraway seeds, lingonberries or cranberries - to taste.

Cooking:

Remove the top leaves from the head, chop the cabbage, grate the carrots.
Mix vegetables in a basin, add salt, sugar and other ingredients, mix so that cabbage gives juice.
Before fermenting cabbage in a jar, barrel or plastic container, it must be mixed with carrots, add the rest of the ingredients, thoroughly rinse, so that it gives juice.
Then put the mixture in a container, tamp, press on top with oppression.
Pierce cabbage several times a day, releasing air.
After three to four days, when the cabbage is fermented, remove the oppression. Take the finished product to the refrigerator or basement.

How to ferment cabbage quickly and tasty in 12 hours

This recipe allows you not to wait three days, but to cook cabbage much faster. Fermentation speed is provided by hot marinade and the use of vinegar.