sauerkraut

This is my first attempt at fermented vegetables. I got advice from various sources including https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/simple-sauerkraut

One whole drumhead cabbage. About 1.8kg

2tbsp coarse sea salt

tsp caraway seed

1 tsp pepper corns

Wash everything! Hands, bowls, utensils jars.

Core and finely sliced the cabbage.

Layer the cabbage with salt in a large bowl

Massage the cabbage for about 10-15 mins until the salt is dissolved, the cabbage is limp and the juices are flowing.

Toast the caraway and pepper corns and add them to the cabbage.

Put it in a sealed container, preferably with an air lock.

Ferment for at least 5 days. If you don't have an airlock, "burp" the jar every 12 hours.

You'll need about 2 litres of fermentation space. I squished it all into 1.5 litres and it is leaking brine.

Update: 26/3/2021

My fermentation stalled. I think because there was to much salt. I edited the quantity above to 2tbsp instead of 3. 

I drained some brine off and added some boiled water. Fermentation started again about a week later.

I kept it in my wine fridge at 16 degrees for another 2 weeks. It's been in my fridge at 4 degrees for the last couple of weeks. I had a trepidatious meal with kangaroo sausages and mashed potato. No side effects so far.

Also, overfilling is a risk for infection as the brine comes out the air lock. Leave a couple of cm gap in the top of the jar.

Update 30/9/2021

So that last batch worked out ok but not great. I would have liked a stronger ferment, and I want to avoid the stall in future.

I put another batch together last Saturday. It hasn't started bubbling yet. I put a little less elbow grease into the massage step, so I typed up with a few tablespoons of boiled, cooled water. Watch this space.