Winter Crunch: Sauerkraut and More

Sauerkraut and Lacto-Fermented Carrots and Turnips

A forkful of crunch, tang, and summer garden flavor in the midst of winter, in old-school style: This is the joy of lacto-fermented vegetables. Much has been written about the new-found health benefits of lacto-fermentation, this food preservation technique is ancient -- and simple.

A great winter read to get you started is the little paperback by the Farmers and Gardeners of Terre Vivants, Preserving Food Without Canning or Freezing. It will give you some food for thought as you plan next summer's garden. But with cabbage available inexpensively through the winter at supermarkets and farmers' markets, it's a great time to try sauerkraut at home.

Slice, Salt, Pound

I had made sauerkraut a few times in the past, but Summer 2012 was a bumper year for cabbage in my garden, so it was time for a larger sauerkraut experience. I started with a crock -- but no need for one of these uber-expensive, water-sealed lacto-fermentation crocks that are en vogue in the seed and garden catalogs. I just found an old lidless one, about 3 gallons, that my mother had been using as a decorative objet d'art in the living room. Washed it well, then proceeded to production. Using about 5 pounds of cabbage, I quartered the heads and cut out the cores. Then I sliced thinly--about quarter inch to smaller-- with a big chopping knife while my husband layered the sliced cabbage in the crock, sprinkled with sea salt, and pounded it with a heavy piece of broken chair leg. A baseball bat end, wine bottle, or any non-pressure-treated and non-splintery heavy board would do, though again, they sell overpriced sauerkraut pounders if you feel compelled to drop lots of money on this operation.

Eventually all the cabbage is sliced, salted (I use about 3 Tablespoons total for 5 pounds of cabbage, but feel free to use a little less, though no less than 2 Tablespoons or the brine won't be the right chemical blend to spawn the right microscopic critter growth to produce the fermentation), and pounded down. At this point it should be swimming in its own brine; if not add a little spring water and perhaps a pinch more salt.

In lieu of those fancy expensive water-seal lids, I put one plastic food bag inside another so it's a big sturdier, fill it with water, and close with a wire twist-tie, then just to be sure, knot the bags over the twist tie to keep it from poking the bags. I put a small clean plate over the top of the cabbage to help weight them down evenly, then put the water-filled bag on top of this -- the bag spreads to fill the top of the crock to its edges, sealing out air but not so tightly as to prevent the bubbling fermentation gasses from escaping. Voila, a lacto-fermentation crock for cheap.

I set this in the garage in the late summer -- you are shooting for perhaps 60 degrees. Check it from time to time, and add some more spring water and sea salt if it seems to run dry, but unless you are in an extremely dry climate, it probably won't. Don't let it get too cold or freeze.

How long you leave it set is a matter of taste, preference and convenience. I really like my sauerkraut crunchy and tangy, so I like to leave it sit only two weeks. This year, with a large quantity at hand, I removed a quart mason jar's worth at two weeks and stuck that in the fridge to stop the fermentation, and left the remainder to ferment another several weeks, until it seemed to stop active bubbling and changing. Then I put that remainder in jars in the fridge, where it will keep for many long months.

Of course, I kept eating it right out of the crock daily through this entire time period, just because I could.

The two-week sauerkraut has a bite to it that I love, while the nearly two-month sauerkraut has a mellower, richer more complex flavor and a decidedly mushier texture. I have conducted numerous taste-tests amongst my friends, and find sentiments regarding preference between these two are nearly equally divided.

Beyond Cabbage

Meanwhile, inspired by the success of my sauerkraut efforts and the lovely advice of the Terre Vivant gardeners, I experimented with using the same technique -- minus the pounding -- for other  vegetables. I was producing small quantities of these, so I just used half-gallon mason jars instead of the crock to start. I made one batch of julienned carrots and turnips, and one batch of julienned turnips and snappy black radishes. I packed them in their respective jars, covered with a brine made of spring water and sea salt, and put on the two-piece screw-type canning jar lids, though screwed on just firmly enough to seal but still allow gasses to escape. Paranoid about the potential for exploding glass, I also just turned the lid open then closed again once every couple days to release pressure. I set these jars in a small metal tray on the counter and let them fester several weeks.

The result was delightful. The carrots and turnips are sweet yet tangy, with a nearly citrus-type flavor and delightful crunch. The turnips and radish have an almost horseradish-type condiment flavor. Both can work on their own as a little side dish, be served on salad greens, or brighten up a lowly hummus or turkey sandwich out of its winter doldrums.

Many cooks also add a variety of things to their cabbage sauerkraut. Fennel seed and/or onions are common variations, but I suspect there are dozens of possibilities.

Mason Jar Canning Safety and Lids

I've read several food bloggers getting quite dismayed over the use of the standard two-part canning-jar lid for lacto-fermentation in mason jars, on the theory that it lets outside air in. Some now strongly advocate the use of new special, expensive, one-way-valve lids for this purpose. I admit I don't have the scientific credentials to have the last word on this, but I have not been terribly concerned about it because if the jar is filled right to the top, and the lid lightly screwed on, the fermentation process creates pressure within the jar and is constantly pushing the air out. This is the same reason that the air escapes and then, on cooling, creates a vacuum when you boiling-water-bath can using these same lids. If air could get in under such circumstances, then air and water would get in when you were water-bath canning, wouldn't it? As long as you keep the jar filled to the rim by adding brine, the positive pressure (evidenced by the daily leakage into your metal tray) keeps the atmospheric air out of the jar, doesn't it? At least that is my opinion, and it has seemed to work just fine for me without costly special equipment, but I will leave it to each cook and consumer to use her own best judgement regarding her family's food safety. Just do be sure to use SOMETHING that can be vented if you lacto-ferment in mason jars, to prevent the glass from breaking.