If I was nearby, Iād come over and help with the cabbage shredding! 
4 Likes
Weāre trucking two containers of Kombucha to Seattle with us tomorrow mid-ferment.
Fingers crossed.
8 Likes
Iām lucky the cabbage I bought was so fresh because itās taken a week to get the energy to work on this again. Iāve got one cabbage shredded and sitting in the salt I tossed in. Waiting to see if I can fit it all in one quart jar before moving onto the next one.
The specific youtube video Iām working off suggests letting the sauerkraut sit for up to an hour before doing the major massaging so Iām doing laundry, re-re-re-reading Harry Potter, and trying to motivate myself to eat. The only thing I want to eat right now is my celery and, thanks to sauerkraut, Iām fresh out of clean cutting boards. 
Less stressful than the way I usually spend my Sundays, somehow. No one ever bothered to tell me how good cabbage smells.
ETA: Because no fair talking about the sauerkraut without providing at least one progress picture.
1 Like
Excellent! Will you be using an airlock, or covering your jar with cloth, or something else entirely?
Me too!
My daughter tooā¦ sheās ready for the new book based on the play to come out at the end of the month, I think!
Iām using the jar lid, lightly (very lightly) screwed on. Iāve got my fingers crossed not to have any issues this time around but I probably wonāt do it this way again. I just couldnāt remember the second thing I needed when I placed my last online order.
Seems to be working fine for the youtuber Iām watching but I donāt like fretting over the health of my symbiotic bacteria colonies. 
Worse come to worse, Iāll just have to do it again. Which Iād have to do whether it was a success or failure because food is for eating. 
Iām finding it weird going back to read Philosopherās Stone for the first time in years and seeing all these things Iād forgotten about. I havenāt even gotten to the Hogwarts Express yet. But I have been reading in between kitchen, laundry, and sauerkraut processes.
I only just figured out my new Kindle supports Open Dyslexic font. Iāve already read two books on it the hard way. 
1 Like
Here they are. One on the left was made with a cabbage I used less of ā¦ and two serrano peppers. I had to add some brine because it didnāt make quite enough brine of its own. Also why it came out less cloudy, I guess.
One on the right is the first cabbage. And cabbage and salt are all I used in it.
4 Likes
I didnāt feel like the sauerkraut was done on day four so I left it a few more days. It smells like I think it should now so I put it in the fridge. It doesnāt look a whole lot different than it did in the photos above (other than the one on the right overflowed a bit ) so Iāll spare you all additional pictures until itās time to eat at least.
My airlock lids came in so Iām tempted to empty one of the jars and freeze it so I can make the next thing. I need to buy more vegetables before I bother with that though. Youāre safe for now, serrano kraut. 
4 Likes
Sauerkraut is a success. Tastes amazing and itās crunchier than I expected by a fair bit. With my roommateās help, I think weāre going to knock this jar out in no time. Which is good because my airlocks came in and I want to make another one.
12 Likes
Nice work! Looks yummy!
3 Likes
The crunchiness is one of the best things about making kraut at home. One day my boyfriend and I were grocery shopping and someone was giving out samples of sauerkraut that was packaged in a bag with a valve, because it was still fermenting. And it was so nice and crunchy, like we never knew sauerkraut could be, and he said, āHey, I bet I could do that!ā So he started with a food-safe bucket, and when it turned out to be really easy, I got him a crock with a water seal. So now there is kraut in the house most of the time 
10 Likes
I attended my first fermentation intro class. I received taste samples of kraut and kimchi.
I was surprised to learn that the class instructor had not ever heard of switchel, which Iāve been making close to daily in this hot summer. She seems to think itās a shrub because vinegar is added to it. (I use apple cider vinegar with water and minced ginger, with some stevia. Sorry if this was covered before, itās late and hot and Iāll probably read through the whole thread while Iāve got my first ferment going.
I kinda want to bring my fermented stuff over the border but wonder if the alcohol content of a kombucha scoby would concern the border officers.
12 Likes
Two ferments just started:
Red cabbage/onion/garlic on the left. Persian cukes/onion/garlic on the right. (Plus spices and brine from a previous kraut batch.)
6 Likes
I think I am gonna make some kraut next week finally. MrsTobinL stumbled on a kimchee class at the local farmers market yesterday. The kraut I tasted was so yummy, I probably would have scarfed the whole jar down if I had the chance at it.
ETA and I totally forgot she posted it aboveā¦ also should I start using @JemmieDuffs instead of MrsTobinL now?
7 Likes
I has a sad - I neglected to check my pickles over the past couple of days and found some lovely mold colonies floating on top. And the brine was slimy. Damn it! No pickles for me. 
The red cabbage, however, is fine and dandy. Just needs a few more days to mature.
5 Likes
Those airlock lids that Mark(?) mentioned are the wrong size for my jars. Neither screw on but one fits neatly (and reasonably snug without stretching plastic) over the rim of the jar. The other ā¦ not so much. I didnāt know I didnāt have wide mouthed jars. 
Fair warning and all that. If you want a real airlock and you have a drill, itās probably better cheaper to buy the same airlock/bung combo and drill an existing lid. At $28/pair, the advantages were kind of slim anyway. The advantages of the neat plastic lid (and the convenience of getting it all together) are somewhat lost if youāre not already using wide mouthed jars.
1 Like
Started a batch of beets yesterday:
Sliced the beets into thin quarter rounds, threw in 5 garlic cloves and 1T of mustard seeds, poured some brine over it, then covered with a thick beet slice and a pickle pebble.
10 Likes
So what is a good salt/water mix for brine? I used a bit too much for my kraut, but the satly/garlicy flavor was nice for a bit.
I need to start a new non red batch this week.
2 Likes
If I add brine, I use 1T salt to 12-16 oz water. I also add at least 1T of brine from a previous batch, to kick-start the fermentation. I tend not to add any brine when Iām making 'kraut with green cabbage, because I massage the heck out of it to draw out the liquid.
3 Likes
Oh yeah I think I probably used about 2T salt on the last batchā¦ the instructions I found online didnāt really give amounts so I just shook a bunch into the cabbageā¦ still yummy but salty.
2 Likes
