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Delicious sauerkraut must be crispy, but not every housewife knows how to achieve the desired result. And only professionals can share some important secrets of making winter pickles. We will try to talk about them in detail later in the article. The proposed tips and recommendations will certainly be useful for beginners and experienced cooks.
Little tricks are the key to successful salting
Every year with the arrival of autumn, the question of how to salt crispy cabbage for the winter. There cannot be a definite answer to this question, since the ripening process is quite delicate and even a seemingly insignificant factor can have a detrimental effect on the preservation and souring of cabbage. So, when deciding to prepare sauerkraut for the winter, you need to consider the following important points:
Variety selection
For pickling Only mid-early and late varieties of cabbage are suitable. Such heads of cabbage are always dense, juicy, large, and contain a large amount of sugar, which is actively involved in the fermentation process. This cabbage can be stored fresh for a long time under certain temperature conditions.The shelf life of some varieties is 6 and sometimes 8 months. Sourdough further extends the storage period: properly prepared sauerkraut can be stored until the next season.
Among all the variety, cabbage varieties such as “Slava”, “Valentina”, “Podarok” and some others are recognized as the best for pickling and long-term winter storage.
When choosing cabbage for pickling, you need to pay attention to the external characteristics of the heads: when squeezed, a fresh, mature vegetable should spring slightly. The weight of the head of cabbage should be at least 3 kg, and on its surface there should be as few green and damaged leaves as possible. They are unsuitable for fermentation and, in fact, will be production waste. Vegetables with cracks, signs of spoilage or rotting are not suitable for sourdough.
Important cooking rules
In order to the salted cabbage was delicious and crispy, you must not only use a proven recipe, but also follow certain cooking rules:
- It is recommended to ferment cabbage in a glass, plastic or enamel container. Having chosen an enameled container, you need to carefully inspect it for internal chips and scratches. Containers with internal damage are not suitable for fermenting cabbage. The best option for sourdough may be an oak barrel, but it is not always possible to find one. Iron or aluminum containers cannot be used for fermentation. Contact of an acidic vegetable with metal will change the taste of the product.
- During the cooking process, you must use only clean tools and utensils.For some, this rule may seem banal, but often it is the presence of “foreign” bacteria that leads to cabbage being fermented incorrectly and its taste as a result becoming indecent. You can achieve purity of preparation using saline (1 tablespoon of salt per 1 liter of boiling water) or alcohol solution. The cook should treat the cutting board, knife, and fermentation container with a disinfectant.
- Iodized salt is not suitable for making pickled snacks or any other winter preparations. For these purposes, it is better to use ordinary rock salt. You can add a preservative to the cabbage to taste, but to make it crispy, it is recommended to add 1 tbsp. l. salt per 1 kg of finished product.
- You need to cut the cabbage roughly equal in slices, 0.5-0.6 mm wide. Smaller cuts will destroy many vitamins, and large pieces may not be salted enough or unevenly.
- With the dry fermentation method, the cook must knead the shredded cabbage so that it releases the juice. In this case, it is important not to overdo it, because cabbage that is too soft cannot become crispy when ripened. Thus, experienced housewives recommend applying only a few clicks on the pre-salted vegetable. After this manipulation, you need to compact the product tightly into the container so that the juice completely covers it.
- As a result of fermentation, sauerkraut produces an unpleasant odor, which is caused by carbon dioxide. The resulting gases must be removed from the thickness of the prepared product. To do this, pierce the fermenting vegetables with a knitting needle, skewer or knife that can reach the bottom of the container. It is necessary to remove gases in this way 2-3 times a day.If this is not done, the product will be bitter, unpleasantly smelling, and slimy.
- Cabbage should be fermented at room temperature for 3-4 days. The exact fermentation time depends on the specific conditions, composition of the product, and the taste preferences of the housewife. Once the cabbage has acquired the desired taste, it needs to be “hidden” in a cool place where the fermentation process will stop.
Our ancestors annually prepared sauerkraut in huge volumes. They believed that a product prepared during the waxing moon would definitely turn out tasty and crispy. Also, according to popular belief, the key to success in cooking lies in the good mood of the cook. Perhaps modern housewives who decide to ferment cabbage would also be wise to look into moon calendar and exchange jokes with your loved ones.
Optimal souring conditions
When the cabbage is moderately fermented, you need to take care of its safety. The optimal condition for storing the finished product is a temperature of -2-+20C. You can “find” such a microclimate in the refrigerator or on the balcony in winter. It is convenient to store sauerkraut in bank, volume 3 l. A tightly packed product does not lose juice and does not absorb foreign odors.
The product can only be frozen once.
The best recipes for making crispy sauerkraut
Most often, housewives prepare sauerkraut according to a traditional recipe with carrots, salt and sugar. Cumin, dill seeds or other seasonings can complement the taste of the winter preparation.A snack fermented with beets, apples or fresh lingonberries, cranberries, and rowan berries has a bright color and unusual taste.
A simple crispy snack recipe
For beginner cooks, the best recipe for making sauerkraut may be the classic one. To implement it you will need a main vegetable, carrots, salt and sugar. Carrots contain a lot of natural sugar, which will also promote active fermentation. The bright color of carrots will make the snack look even fresher and more appetizing. It is recommended to add carrots in an amount of 10% by weight of the main vegetable.
If you decide to ferment the product in a 3-liter jar, then you need to calculate for 4 kg of cabbage. This is exactly the amount of shredded vegetable that can fit into the specified volume. Additionally, you need to use 400 g of carrots, 3-4 tbsp. l. salt and 2 tbsp. l. Sahara. It is worth noting that when making sourdough you can do without sugar altogether. In this case, the taste of the snack will be less bright, and the fermentation process itself will take a little longer.
To understand exactly how to pickle cabbage, you can familiarize yourself with the following sequence of work:
- Remove the top green and damaged leaves from the heads of cabbage. Divide the vegetable into 4 parts.
- Finely chop the cabbage. Sprinkle each 1 kg of crushed product with a spoon of salt and knead lightly.
- Peel, wash and grate the carrots. You can chop carrots using a regular grater or a Korean salad grater.
- After preparing the main vegetable, you should thoroughly mix all the ingredients and place them tightly in a 3-liter jar or other container.
- You need to leave some free space in the jar where the juice will accumulate. During the fermentation process, the juice will be actively released, so it is better to additionally place the jar on a plate.
- During the souring process, the resulting gases must be released from the thickness of the sauerkraut.
You can add dill seeds, caraway seeds, or fresh berries to this simple recipe. By strictly following the proposed algorithm of action and the above general cooking rules, every housewife will be able to quickly prepare very tasty, crispy sauerkraut for the winter for her family. As soon as the entire volume of the preparation has been eaten, you can again take care of preparing the fermented snack, because you can always buy several kilograms of fresh vegetables in the store.
Sauerkraut with apples and caraway seeds
Cabbage and apples are a real vitamin bomb, especially when it comes to fermented products. Among all the recipes based on this combination of vegetables and fruits, one can highlight the Bavarian version of making fermented snacks. It consists of 3.5 kg of the main vegetable, three medium-sized apples, 2-3 carrots and 3 tbsp. l. cumin, 2-3 tbsp. l. salt. If desired, you can also include juniper berries in the composition.
There are some secrets to making this sauerkraut:
- Before preparing the dish, cumin seeds need to be heated in a frying pan (dry). The heated spice should be lightly ground, which will enhance its taste.
- Chop the main vegetable and carrots as usual, and cut the apple into thin slices.
- Cumin, salt the cabbage and knead lightly. Add the remaining ingredients to the mixture.
- Fold the mixture of products tightly into a container and press down with pressure. Ferment for several days at room temperature, periodically releasing gases from the thickness of the vegetable preparation, then place the product in the cold.
Conclusion
When preparing sauerkraut according to any of the proposed recipes, you need to follow a general algorithm of actions that will allow the products to actively and correctly ferment. Choosing the best cooking recipe from the variety of ideas must be based on personal preferences.
As one of the options, you can consider the recipe given in the video:
Natural sauerkraut with carrots and possible other ingredients will always be on the table, and will be an indispensable source of vitamins all winter. It is thanks to its wonderful taste and usefulness that the relevance of making sauerkraut has been preserved from ancient times to the present day.
