It is difficult to imagine a family in which there would be no sauerkraut. This is the most convenient way to store vegetables in winter. There are a huge number of fermentation options. Each housewife has her own little secrets to get fragrant and crispy cabbage.
Many of us remember how in childhood we ate salads, cabbage soup, pies and pies in our grandmother’s village on both cheeks. Her cabbage was extraordinarily tasty. Of course, some secrets of sauerkraut are lost today. But we will try to tell you how to ferment cabbage according to your grandmother’s recipe so that you can provide your family with a natural product for the winter.
Benefits of sauerkraut
We are not in vain talking about sauerkraut. After all, a fresh vegetable loses some of its useful properties during storage. But the cabbage from the barrel is a real storehouse of health:
- In a pickled vegetable, there is many times more ascorbic acid than in a fresh one. Thanks to this, immunity is maintained at the proper level in winter.
- People who consume pickled vegetables daily are less likely to get colds. Their gums never bleed.
- This vegetable, pickled according to grandmother’s recipes, is an excellent antioxidant and is involved in metabolism.
- In addition to vitamin C, it contains the entire group of vitamins B and K. Sauerkraut is rich in potassium and sodium, calcium and iron, phosphorus, molybdenum, sulfur and chromium, copper and fluorine and other trace elements. All of them contribute to the rejuvenation of the human body.
It is also useful to use a pickled vegetable because the iodine contained in it maintains blood sugar in the desired range.
Which cabbage to choose
Important! To ferment cabbage according to a grandmother’s recipe, you must first choose it, because not every vegetable is suitable for this operation.
- Those who have been fermenting white cabbage for more than one year are advised to use only winter varieties. The best are “Glory”, “Moscow Late”, “Siberian”, “Stone Head”, “Amager”. The last variety, when cut, is always greenish, but after lying in the basement, it becomes snow-white. For pickling, it is perhaps the most suitable. Of course, this issue is more difficult to solve in the store, but late-ripening varieties are specially grown in their garden.
- A head of cabbage ready for pickling should be white, juicy, crispy, as in this photo.
- Forks should be large, dense, so there will be less waste.
Cabbage after fermentation becomes soft, bitter.
Grandmother’s recipe
Of course, today it is not so easy, even using all the ingredients exactly, to get such cabbage as our grandmothers did. The fact is that this vegetable is fermented, according to the rules, in an oak barrel. It is its aroma that gives a unique taste and crunch to the finished product. And today they salt forks in enameled dishes, in jars, plastic bags. That’s why we always lose in front of Grandma’s sauerkraut.
Ingredients
If this is your first time fermenting, start with a small amount of food. For one kilogram of white forks according to the grandmother’s recipe, you need to cook:
- juicy carrots – 1-2 pieces;
- coarse salt (not iodized!) – 1 tablespoon;
- black pepper – 2-4 peas;
- lavrushka – 1-2 leaves;
- dill branches with a seed basket.
fermentation process
We don’t start fermenting cabbage for the winter according to my grandmother’s recipe right away, first we prepare the vegetables:
- We remove the upper leaves from the cabbage heads, we clean them from the slightest damage. To ferment a vegetable according to a grandmother’s recipe, we hang the main ingredient in a purified form, since it is by its weight that we will determine the rest of the ingredients. A lack of salt leads to mold, an excess makes it unusable.
- Cut into thin strips.
- Wash the carrots well and peel. Wash again and dry. You can chop it in different ways: grind it on a grater, someone cuts it with a knife. Yes, and grandmother’s recipes allow this.
- We cover the bottom of the container with cabbage leaves, put a few branches of dill (without green leaves) and lightly sprinkle with salt.
- We lay out the chopped vegetable on a clean table, sprinkle with salt and rub it lightly with our hands until juice appears, as our grandmothers did. Add carrots, spices, mix gently again.
- Pour into prepared container and tamp down. We do the same with the rest of the cabbage.
- We fill the container not to the very top, so that there is space for the juice. It will appear by the end of laying cabbage. We cover it with cabbage leaves, dill sprigs on top.
- In order for fermentation for the winter to succeed, the workpiece must be pressed down with oppression. Our grandmothers used a birch circle and a special stone. Today, many housewives replace them with a plate and a container of water.
Sauerkraut for the winter should be kept for 4-5 days in a warm room. Usually the container is placed on the floor.
Already on the second day, foam will appear on the sauerkraut according to the grandmother’s recipe. It needs to be collected, and the cabbage preparation itself for the winter is pierced to the bottom several times a day so that gases come out. If this is not done, an unpleasant aftertaste will appear. The smell will disappear when the fermentation process is over.
Sauerkraut can be stored in the cellar in winter, then it is kept in the house for no more than 3 days. If there is no such room, we take it out into the street, into the cold. In this form, it is stored even better, does not peroxide.
Grandma’s recipe:
Conclusion
There is nothing particularly difficult in preparing a crispy vegetable according to a grandmother’s recipe for the winter. This procedure is on the shoulder even for novice hostesses. The main thing is to choose the right varieties of white vegetables for pickling, follow the recommendations.
Yes, here’s another thing: the indicated amount of salt per kilogram of cabbage is approximate. Each variety requires its own amount of this ingredient. In order not to be mistaken, try the taste. In any case, chopped cabbage should be saltier than for salad.