Comments on: Make Sauerkraut! A Small Kitchen Garden Guest Post

By: Daniel Gasteiger

Daniel Gasteiger — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:17:57 +0000

Shawn: Sounds terrific! Ideally, you never need to skim mold from your fermenting sauerkraut. The plastic bag and bungee significantly decrease the likelihood that mold could form, and it sounds like it’s working well for you.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:46:23 +0000

I have recently made a batch of Kraut, it has been fermenting for about 4 weeks and I have yet to scim any mold or anything from it because there hasnt been any.
Is this normal?
I have a 4 gallon crock, sliced the cabbage and packed it as the recipe in the book called for , it is covered by about 1/2″ to an inch of brine, plate on top with two bottles of water to hold it down. A plastic bag over top secured with a bungee strap. Tasted it today and it seemed ok.

By: Sauerkraut? Yes, Sauerkraut « Shady Character

Sauerkraut? Yes, Sauerkraut « Shady Character — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:45:11 +0000

[...] final step was topping it with some plastic secured by a rubber band as suggested here. Now all I do is wait four or five weeks and keep the surface of the brine . As of this moment [...]

By: Daniel Gasteiger

Daniel Gasteiger — Sun, 29 May 2011 16:23:53 +0000

Heather: Thank you for stopping by. I love that you make so much sauerkraut! Admittedly, I’ve never been much of a fan of it, but I’ve found that fermenting vegetables can result in so many amazing flavors. My favorite remains fermented cucumbers; I was astonished at how absolutely perfectly pickley my first batch tasted… It’s way more cost effective to ferment them than to quick-pickle them in vinegar and salt brine. My latest fermentation experiment is ready for consumption: I fermented several pounds of chick-peas, and plan to make a felafel-like loaf using a fruity & savory seasoning (I’ll figure that out when I assemble it).

Bottom line: You just can’t buy fermented vegetables in a grocery store that are anywhere near as tasty as veggies you ferment at home.

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 29 May 2011 02:32:54 +0000

Hi–we do a couple 5 gallon pails of sauerkraut every year here in MN, because it gets eaten a lot and also shared with family and friends. Cant even buy the store stuff anymore because we are so spoiled by the homemade taste.
Just wanted you to know this is the way we do things as well, and we let ours ferment in the fall on the back porch at lower temps for about 4 weeks, and it makes amazing kraut. Then of course, it gets canned for use for the rest of the year.
Glad to see someone doing a simple way of preserving this great stuff. Thanks@

By: admin

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:36:46 +0000

wendiann: Two challenges I notice with making sauerkraut: temperature and mold.

While my brother suggests 65 to 75 degrees is ideal, the kraut will ferment at even cooler temperatures… It will even ferment in your refrigerator! At higher temperature, it ferments more quickly, so it may be perfectly acidic in a week.

Mold is a surface phenomenon; it lives on the brine but not in the brine. When you skim mold off the surface, some may sink into the brine. That won’t hurt you, but I’ve noticed that sauerkraut that ferments with mold on the brine tends to develop a less pleasing flavor. So, definitely check daily and clean things up if they don’t look clean.

My best sauerkraut has always been soft. So, in my experience, if you want it crunchy, you need to eat it very early in the fermentation–maybe after two or three days. I guess I don’t recall every having crispy sauerkraut, so the softness seems normal to me.

When is sauerkraut ready for eating? You can start as soon as you want: it should start to be tangy within 2 or 3 days, and much tangier 2 or 3 weeks later. Try it both ways and every way in between, and you’ll have a good idea of when YOUR sauerkraut is ready.

Good luck!

-Daniel

By: wendiann

wendiann — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:20:16 +0000

how do i know what i’m doing is right? My kraut is 6 days old and the saltiness is almost gone, it’s tangy now but it never had much scum. Is it good or bad? when will it be ready for eating? it is soft not crispy. Help me