elizardThe Sauerkraut that Went Horribly Wrong, or: Why Are All the Windows Open?
an elizarde tale.
scully@rickscully Your questions about my post are, you will find, answered in my post. 🤣 But yeah, I don't know what went wrong. I followed a formula I'd used. before with great success, the brine level didn't fall to below the weights where the food was, but whoa, there were at least 3 civilizations establishing themselves on top, and none of them had yet developed hygiene.
I think maybe next time I'll put the fermenting jar where I look right at it daily.
@rickscully Oh, sorry! I wasn't clear: that was the whole post. My apologies for making you search to no avail!
@rickscully FWIW, here are my notes. It worked fine before! Maybe the too-thin slicing was the problem?
Experiment 4 (following #3 formula)
Sep. 6/25
1098g reg green cabbage, sliced at #2 in food processor
90g shredded cabbage
33g sea salt
10g slivered ginger
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mustard seed
10 peppercorns
Too finely shredded; didn't take long to release the water: tossed w/ salt, waited 5, (massaged, waited 5) x2, done.
Press into half-gallon jar, top w/ whole leaf+weights, wait 3 weeks.
@rickscully Under the malodorous layer of mold, the rest of it smelled about right. There was black in the mold, though, so out it went. I maybe should've topped up the brine and skimmed off any scum instead of completely ignoring it.
If you have any insights, please do tell!
@elizarde no insights. @sarahscully makes kimchi but not sauerkraut.
@rickscully @sarahscully Oooooh, kimchi is impressive. I'd like to try that at some point, too.
@rickscully @sarahscully I am going to try again! Talked with the guy I buy cabbage from, and we think I let the liquid get too low. No air touching the food, but a bit of one of the weights was exposed, and that was enough. I'll let you know how it goes!