Sauerkraut for the winter at home

Sauerkraut is a treasure trove of vitamins. Vitamins of groups A, C, B contained in it increase human immunity, prevent tissue aging and the development of gastrointestinal diseases. In addition to vitamins, the fermented product contains a large number of lactic acid bacteria that activate the digestive tract, saturate them with beneficial microorganisms and suppress harmful microflora. It is lactic acid bacteria that make a tasty and healthy fermented product from fresh vegetables.

You can prepare a pickled snack in several different ways. For example, the Chinese in ancient times fermented a vegetable with the addition of white wine. Today, domestic housewives often use classic recipes, but there are also “outlandish” ways of fermenting fresh cabbage with the addition of honey, apples, beets or garlic. We will try to describe the most interesting recipes and cooking secrets further in the section. After reviewing the proposed options, for sure, each housewife will be able to decide for herself how to ferment cabbage at home, so that it is not only healthy, but also surprisingly tasty.

Secrets of Successful Cooking

Having decided to cook sauerkraut, you definitely need to know some secrets. Indeed, sometimes non-compliance with even one, at first glance, insignificant nuance can lead to damage to a fresh product. So, quite often, housewives get a slimy vegetable salad instead of crispy sauerkraut. In order to prevent the occurrence of such unpleasant surprises, the following rules must be observed:

1. For fermentation, you need to choose only late varieties of cabbage. The leaves of the vegetable should be as juicy as possible.
2. It is better to chop the cabbage in pieces, 5 mm thick. In this case, the pieces of vegetable after fermentation will remain crispy.
3. It is strictly forbidden to use iodized salt for sourdough.
4. Fermentation of the product can be carried out in glass jars, enameled containers. It is impossible to ferment vegetables in aluminum buckets or pans, since this metal reacts with the acid released.  
5. Sauerkraut at home should proceed at a temperature of + 20- + 24⁰C. Exceeding the temperature threshold may cause the cabbage to become slimy. Temperature below +20⁰C will slow down the fermentation process.
6. It will be possible to successfully ferment cabbage at home only if during fermentation it is periodically stirred or pierced with a knife or a wooden stick. Lack of minimum ventilation will result in musty product.
7. It is necessary to ferment a white vegetable under oppression. This rule is especially true in the case of dry fermentation.
8. Sauerkraut must be stored at a temperature of 0-+2⁰C. You can “find” such a temperature regime in a refrigerator or cellar. It is convenient to store the finished product in small glass jars.

Following these simple rules will allow you to cook amazingly tasty sauerkraut and store it for a long time – up to 9 months. Sometimes during storage, mold begins to form on the surface of the fermented product. You can prevent its spread if you sprinkle a small amount of sugar or mustard on top of the cabbage.

The classic recipe for dry fermentation

Many novice housewives do not know how to make traditional sauerkraut at home on their own. But the recipe for classic fermentation is very simple and does not require outlandish products. So, for sourdough you will need a white vegetable in the amount of 4 kg, 400 g of sweet, fresh carrots and 80 g of sugar and salt. If desired, cumin and cranberries can be included in the recipe.

The cooking process is simple:

• Cabbage should be washed with water and freed from the top leaves.
• Chop it into small strips, 4-5 mm thick.
• Wash and peel the carrots, then grate on a coarse grater.
• Salt the cabbage, rub it intensively with your hands so that the vegetable gives juice.
• Add carrots and sugar to the main ingredient, as well as cumin and cranberries if desired. Mix all the ingredients again and place the fresh product in the starter container.
• It is necessary to lay vegetables in a container for sourdough tightly. Press down the caputa with oppression and cover with clean gauze.
• For 3 days, you need to store the filled container at room temperature, stirring regularly or piercing the product with a knife. It is necessary to remove the resulting foam 2 times a day.
• For another 4 days, it is necessary to withstand winter harvesting in a colder room, where the temperature fluctuates between + 8- + 10⁰C.
• Put the finished product into small storage containers and place them in the refrigerator, cellar or on the balcony.

The above recipe for making sauerkraut was used by our ancestors. They fermented it in huge 200 liter barrels in order to stock this useful product for a large family for the whole winter. Of course, how to store sauerkraut at home in such a volume is not clear today, so modern housewives prepare a much smaller amount of this snack and store it on the balcony or in the refrigerator. At the same time, cooking traditions are still preserved in many families from generation to generation.

Original fermentation recipes

Today, if you wish, you can find various recipes that give detailed recommendations on the implementation of one or another method of harvesting sauerkraut for the winter. From the whole variety of cooking options, it was decided to choose the best, proven methods of sourdough. You can check them out later in the article:

Pickling in brine

The opposite of the dry pickling method is pickling cabbage in brine. This method allows you to get a very juicy and crispy snack, reducing the likelihood of slime.

To prepare 3 liters of fermented product, you will need 2 kg of fresh cabbage, 200 g of carrots, 50 g of salt and sugar, a bay leaf, a dozen black peppercorns and 1,5 liters of water. The cooking process consists of the following steps:

• Wash the vegetables thoroughly, chop the cabbage into thin strips, chop the carrots on a coarse grater.
• Mix vegetables and pack tightly into jars.
• Boil water by adding salt and sugar.
• In filled jars, additionally put bay leaves and peppercorns.
• Pour the prepared hot brine into jars.
• Ferment the product at home for three days.
• Once a day, pierce it with a long knife.
• Arrange sauerkraut in smaller jars, cover and store in a cool place.

This method of pickling is suitable even for inexperienced housewives. The recipe is easy to prepare and allows you to quickly and tasty ferment a vegetable for the winter.

Recipe using honey

When adding honey, you can get a particularly tender pickled snack. This ingredient replaces sugar, making the product even more useful. The taste of honey can be preserved in cabbage throughout the winter period.

To prepare a winter harvest according to the proposed recipe, you will need cabbage in the amount of 5 kg, 90 g of salt, 75 ml of natural honey and 5-6 bay leaves. Such a non-standard set of products allows you to prepare a very tasty and healthy snack. The cooking process itself consists of the following steps:

• Remove the top leaves from the cabbage. Chop heads.
• Salt the chopped vegetable and rub it well until it gives juice.
• Dissolve honey in water. The amount of liquid should be minimal. For 75 ml of honey, only 50-60 ml of water is enough.
• Add honey solution to the main ingredient, then mix it.
• Put one bay leaf at the bottom of clean jars. Fill containers with cabbage, compacting each new layer. It is better not to fill the jars completely, leaving a little space for the accumulation of cabbage juice.
• Leave the cabbage in the house for 3 days, with a temperature of + 20- + 24⁰C. Such conditions will allow you to ferment a fresh vegetable faster.
• Drain excess juice from jars, leaving only a small amount of it (juice should cover the top layer of vegetables).
• Cover the filled jars with iron lids and sterilize them in boiling water over low heat for 20 minutes.
• Roll up sterilized jars, then turn over and wrap in a blanket.

The recipe for sauerkraut using sterilization allows you to store winter preparations in the pantry without taking up free space in the refrigerator. This feature is an important advantage of the recipe.

Spicy sauerkraut

Sauerkraut can be not only sour, but also quite spicy. There are many pickling recipes that include garlic or, for example, horseradish. We offer housewives to cook very spicy sauerkraut with horseradish, garlic and beets. In order to appreciate this unique recipe, you need to try the finished snack at least once.

To prepare spicy cabbage for the winter, you will need directly cabbage in the amount of 4 kg, 400 g of beets, 2 heads of garlic, 30 g of horseradish (root), 60 g of sugar and 80 g of salt. The recipe is to use brine. To prepare it, you need 1 liter of water.

To understand how to properly ferment cabbage according to the proposed recipe, you need to familiarize yourself with the following recommendations:

• Peel and chop raw beets and horseradish root. To do this, you can use a regular coarse grater or a grater for Korean carrots.
• Free the heads of garlic from the husk and chop with a knife or pass through a press.
• Cabbage must be finely chopped.
• Mix all vegetables together. Arrange the workpiece in a ripening container, carefully compacting it.
• Boil water, add sugar and salt to it. Fill containers with cabbage with a hot solution, put a load (oppression) on top if possible.
• Pierce the cabbage twice a day with a knife to remove the gases formed during the fermentation process.
• With proper preparation, a spicy snack will be ready only after 7 days.

The proposed recipe allows you to cook a very tasty, savory snack of excellent color. A recipe with a photo allows you to appreciate the unusual and very appetizing appearance of such a product.

You can see an example of how quickly and competently an experienced housewife ferments cabbage at home in the video:

The proposed video will allow you to visually appreciate the ease of preparation of this wonderful, tasty and healthy product.

Conclusion

Thus, the article suggests several different ways on how to cook sauerkraut. Focusing on personal preferences and culinary abilities, the hostess must independently choose the best cooking option for herself. At the same time, it is important to follow the basic rules and secrets of fermentation, which will allow you to prepare a tasty and natural product without spoiling the vegetables.